I would welcome comments on the following. I visited my local Camec store yesterday to enquire abot froll out awnings. It was suggested to me that the Carefree brand was the best for my Pop Top application but as i only have 5cm from the top of the door frame to the top of the Van (excluding the pop up part) i was concerned that if i have a need to roll in the awning is that roll of fabric going to hang down over the door. My plan is or was to mount the track on the side of the Pop Top roof which means that the roll of fabric is extended out away from the van but as i said when folded back against the van and only having 5cm of clearance is the roll of fabric going to interfer with me opening and closing the door. Camec staff could not advise me so i hope forum members can, also if anyone has comments on the Carefree brand I would appreciate it
We have a Carefree awning on our van, now 12 years old but still serviceable. The height of the roller can be adjusted higher if needed by simply re-positioning the stop bolt on the main leg so I could not see a problem with fitting one. If the people you spoke to did not know this I would go see someone else that knows more about them for fitting.
If you wish to mount the awning on the van body then consider the Aussie Traveller Coolibah. This is the one on my van plus the detail of how it fits to the top of the body.
Our Coramal Pioneer Seka 505 XC had a Fiamma awning fitted to it when we bought it. It is fitted to the roof and works well. Only problem is that it is a manual set up that we have to roll out and in ourselves. No big deal. The extra weight of a hefty solar panel on the roof and the awning only means that we use a prop on each side to take the load off the gas struts. The awning is perfect for what we need, and, gives the added benefit of being able to leave the zipped air vents on that side open in the rain. I will add a photo later. Cheers, Brownie
-- Edited by Brownie2 on Wednesday 10th of December 2014 08:33:12 AM
-- Edited by Brownie2 on Wednesday 10th of December 2014 11:36:24 AM
I have had two Carefree roll out awnings on my pop tops, both had a rail attached to the top of the pop up and the roll came away from the van so no probs, I do put the telescopic posts under the pop top to take the added strain off the roof when tensioning up the awning.
