Inexpensive Roof Rack Awning - $45

[boyfester]

Built a quick awning after learning an easy way to make telescoping poles out of PVC tubing. I used 1 1/4" OD tubes as the base and 1" OD tubes that slide into the larger ones. Drilled a few holes through all of them so they have extended heights of 5' or 6' tall. I used regular PVC end caps for the tops and bottoms and drilled a small hole in the tops and placed a bolt through it and nutted it off on top for the awnings grommet to slide over. I plasti-dipped the bolts so they're not as sharp. The poles unextended length is 4' long so they can be easily strapped to the roof rack. The 5' x 7' awning was purchased at Harbor Freight for $4. Since the awning width was longer than my roof rack, I had to make another pole that extends to just over 5'. All told, I spent about $45.

And yes, as you'll see in some of the pictures, our neighbor's house did get TPed. That type of teenage amusement still exists around here.

 

[JAvendan]

great job!!!

joel

 

[loudboy]

Lightweight, cheap, and dead simple = perfect. Can we get another shot of the stowed awning from the passenger side, please? I can't quite tell how big it is/how it stows. Thanks!

Here's a link to the E-How page: http://www.ehow.com/how_6104518_make-telescoping-pole.html

 

[c_mack9]

I like the pvc pole idea. I too am working on a DIY awning to extend off the back side of my RTT with a harbor freight 4x6 tarp.

As you can see, it's the perfect length to use the regular grommets, just place the tent pole hook through them. I have not yet made the 2 poles and guy lines for the other side though. I had planned on buying some adjustable tent poles from REI but they're about $50 for the pair and I haven't needed to make an awning bad enough yet. This PVC idea might give me a little motivation to complete it.

 

[rayra]

Ah great, thx for posting this. Just what I need for my silnylon awnings project. Been having trouble finding extendable tent fly poles at a price I was willing to pay. I've done enough oddball stuff with sprinkler pipe that I OUGHT to have thought of it. HAM ribbon antenna mast, IPSC target stands, costume chain maille, etc. Smacking my head this is so easy.

 

[boyfester]

Lightweight, cheap, and dead simple = perfect. Can we get another shot of the stowed awning from the passenger side, please? I can't quite tell how big it is/how it stows. Thanks!

Here's a link to the E-How page: http://www.ehow.com/how_6104518_make-telescoping-pole.html

The awning simply connects to the roof rack and PVC poles via ball bungee ties. During transport I keep the awning, ball bungees, stakes, and tether rope in the back of the car. The poles are short enough that if I want to keep them in the car, I can do that too.

 

[boyfester]

I like the pvc pole idea. I too am working on a DIY awning to extend off the back side of my RTT with a harbor freight 4x6 tarp.

As you can see, it's the perfect length to use the regular grommets, just place the tent pole hook through them. I have not yet made the 2 poles and guy lines for the other side though. I had planned on buying some adjustable tent poles from REI but they're about $50 for the pair and I haven't needed to make an awning bad enough yet. This PVC idea might give me a little motivation to complete it.

What are you using to connect the grommets of the two awnings in this picture? It appears to be some type of fastener instead of rope.

 

[JamesDowning]

I like the simplicity. Simply to add to this, I found that the extendable paint roller poles work great as tarp poles. I keep a couple in my truck with a tarp incase it rains.

Its not a perfect setup yet, the tarp is a bit too big for the tailgate, and ends up getting bent in an odd shape that will pool water if you don't slacken the poles. I guess I just need to have a little length of pvc like you have in your design to help straighten it all out.

 

[jhawk]

I like the simplicity. Simply to add to this, I found that the extendable paint roller poles work great as tarp poles. I keep a couple in my truck with a tarp incase it rains.

Its not a perfect setup yet, the tarp is a bit too big for the tailgate, and ends up getting bent in an odd shape that will pool water if you don't slacken the poles. I guess I just need to have a little length of pvc like you have in your design to help straighten it all out.

I'm running a Smittybilt Trail Shade. It was roughly $60, sets up in a couple minutes, and packs up nice and small.

 

[c_mack9]

What are you using to connect the grommets of the two awnings in this picture? It appears to be some type of fastener instead of rope.

Nothing. Just the natural tension from the tent poles on the RTT window. They act like a spring. Here's a different view of teh same window, It's the window on the passenger side of the truck:

 

[schaefer21285]

I have thought about doing this for the Jimmy instead of buying a sunshade. How well do you think the pvc would hold up to the wind on the beach? Does it seem pretty sturdy?

 

[boyfester]

I'll find out this week on our trip to Four Corners.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rayra]

Should be plenty strong for any wind you want the awning fabric itself up in. Only area I'd be concerned about in the design is making the thru-holes for the pin at least an inch away from the ends of the tubing. And use Sched40 PVC.

I did something similar a couple years ago with PVC sleeved together for an easy-up HAM radio antenna. The mast was in short segments with couplers glued to each, with a ribbon antenna suspended inside the tubing. The bottom segment socketed into a larger pipe mounted in the bed of my pickup.

A 1" diia sched40 pipe just fits inside a 1.25" Sched40 pipe. That's plenty stout for any sort of awning pole. Especially if you size the upper / skinnier pipe so several inches remain inside the base pipe when the rig is at full extension. Unfortunately a 3/4" pipe of the same dimension does not fit in the 1" pipe. Suppose I'll have to go to the hardware store and look into other size pairings to find something smaller and lighter that fits well together.

The nice thing with the 1.25"/1" pairing is that there's enough room / play that a nice thin coat of paint can go on the smaller pole (too). A short bit of work to round over and smooth the mouth of the bigger pipe should prevent the paint from getting scraped off as the pole segments are manipulated. Likewise chamfering the pin hole openings in both pipes.

The painting poles are nice if you have them already for painting, but they're more expensive than standard tent awning poles. And about 7x more than what it will cost to create these PVC poles.

I'm going to get busy building some of these tomorrow, should be quick and easy.

 

[rayra]

Went ahead and banged out 3 poles in about 2-1/2hrs today. Essentially the same design but I used a coupler on the bottom end instead of a cap on the theory that it would work better on the sandy hardscrabble ground I'm usually around. No nice turf to sink a cap into. I likewise used a 1/4"x1-1/4" bolt thru the top cap as a pin for grommets and to tie stays to. I'll likely cover it with a piece of gas hose rather than plastidip. I also seated the upper pole fully into the lower before drilling the thru hole for the 'wire lock pin', so it can be pinned fully retracted. I then drilled a series of holes every 6" down the upper pole section for adjustable heights.

I used 4' pole segments both top and bottom. total overall length retracted is a little under 52", which will work great in my future drawer system, which will have 56" deep drawers. Max height extension is about 7'4"

Chopsaw, drill press and tablesaw to turn a chunk of 2x4 into a V-block to set the pipes on the drill press. Just hit the pipes with some satin Rustoleum Dark Taupe, which is quite similar to Coyote Brown / Full Dark Earth.

I'll be using these with my home-sewn awnings. Got more fabric inbound right now.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...eas-for-a-lightweight-compact-flexible-design

 

[chet6.7]

Some good ideas here,thanks for the pictures.