What awning do you have on your Vario or other high MB truck?

[ianc]

We spent a few weeks driving pistes in the Pyrenees this summer and a lot of it was on trails through forests where nothing bigger than a Land Rover had been in a long time.

I put this simple protection on before I went and it made a huge difference pushing through.





The Seitz windows are properly "Polished" afterwards.

 

[ianc]

We have a Fiamma which we have also damaged While it still works, we have been exploring with some solar shade fabric. Its cheap $30 vs $800 of the fiamma, and it sheds winds, so it doesnt flap around too bad. Its killer against the sun, but does allow some rain through,so not great to sit under in heavy rain, but we just go inside for that. Here is a pic, the first day we got it. We string it out to a tree, or a peg in the ground. We are still refining it, and plan to post once more once we dial it all in. This particular one is cut as a triangle, we are also testing a square, but honestly the triangle is nice because its just one tie off point. We can deploy it just a tad slower than cranking the fiamma. Forgive the less than epic camping spot. ha ha

View attachment 363732



I don't think any awning, that isnt recessed into the side of the camper will be safe on a big rig and branches. Due to the way our box is mounted, it moves independent of the cab, so as i am threading us through the narrows, its impossible not to have something scrape in the narrows.

Kiomon - What's the legal situation on the front bike rack? Have you had any issues from the local constabulary?
I was thinking of the same thing (albeit on an Irish registered truck) but I couldn't find anything to clarify if it would be acceptable in other countries.

Ian

 

[Kiomon]

@Ianc we have had zero issues with the bikes on the front thus far. If anything they are a distraction for the police and they seem to fixate on the little motorcycles and want to talk about them and rarely even ask about the sealed up box on the back. That said this has been across the US and now all the way down through central America. I am not sure if you could get away with it in Germany .

 

[charlieaarons]

On my camper Unicat wisely put a tapered "deflector block" just in front of the awning to deflect branches etc, like ianc's The awning has been replaced once but the failure was in the wind-up mechanism, nothing to do with an impact. Sorry no picutre the tuck is currently at Unicat and I'm at home.
Charlie

 

[part time nomad]

I am still considering options for my Vario! the lower the awning the more effective it is. (wind or sun)
I have a touring caravan as well, and I used to have an awning on it that you had to roll up manually, but I found it quite difficult to wind up tight enough to get it in to the sock attatched to the van.

I have replaced that with a THOULE awning that you wind out with a telescopic handle, (much better) I am thinking of using a similar one on the Vario but not sure about the height? the caravan one fixes on top of the roof, but you can get them to go on the side.

So still looking!!!

 

[thebigblue]

I am still considering options for my Vario! the lower the awning the more effective it is. (wind or sun)
I have a touring caravan as well, and I used to have an awning on it that you had to roll up manually, but I found it quite difficult to wind up tight enough to get it in to the sock attatched to the van.

So still looking!!!

Seems a bit strange to me, I have a Fiamma Caravan Store on my Gwagon, it´s just 2,25 m. but I can easily roll it tight enough single-handed, never failed... Anyways hope you find what you need

 

[part time nomad]

The caravan is too high to reach, it would be far too high on the vario at 3 metres.

 

[nicknoxx]

Here's ours. Made from a modified caravan awning. Takes ages to put up but gives us a whole room.

 

[Squiddlydiddly]

I am still considering options for my Vario! the lower the awning the more effective it is. (wind or sun)
I have a touring caravan as well, and I used to have an awning on it that you had to roll up manually, but I found it quite difficult to wind up tight enough to get it in to the sock attatched to the van.

I have replaced that with a THOULE awning that you wind out with a telescopic handle, (much better) I am thinking of using a similar one on the Vario but not sure about the height? the caravan one fixes on top of the roof, but you can get them to go on the side.

So still looking!!!

I have fitted Fiamma wind out awnings to previous motorhomes and they were fine. I decided to fit a Thule unit to my new rig as I think it is a better, more robust awning. Its certainly more expensive!

I also wanted to have a safari room and decided their Panorama unit was the one for me. I have used it three or four times now and its a great bit of kit. Much stronger than the similar Fiamma room you can also buy.

https://www.thule.com/en-gb/gb/motorhome-caravan-accessories/motorhome-caravan-tent/thule-panorama-_-thule%20safari%20panorama

As for fitting, its not difficult. I added more placements than the manufacturer suggested to make sure it stayed on though. I was also going to fit a front deflector but in the end realised I'm not going to be bombing down tree laden tracks thanks (I have damaged too much stuff from trees in the past!).

The maximum mounting height for the room was dictated by the awning (they come in three height sizes) which was 2.75m to the underside of the casing. If you don't have the safari room you could still fit it a bit higher and it would work fine.

Oh. . . and I sprayed mine the same colour as my rig so it looks OK.

Cheers

Steve

 

[jostein]

I have ordered a dometic PW wind out for my Vario. To me the Fiamma, Dometic and Thule looks pretty similar, but I have no practical experience With either of them. For some it might be interesting that Dometic has one without the need of supporting legs.
Main reason for choosing Dometic was the availability of high side walls and front wall, making mounting height up to 320 cm under the housing possible. It also became a part of package deal With a Dometic dealer together With fridge, seitz Windows, hatches, toilet and other stuff. Deflector is a good idea I think.