Thanks for the helpful comments, Steven. I removed the small screw from
the middle bracket last night, but the poptop still hits the top of the
middle bracket when I close it. I may need to remove that bracket -- but
I like the security it provides.

> I wrapped the "tongue" of the bracket that goes into the drip rail
> with cold shrink tape, to keep from scratching the paint.

The lower bracket tongues were also wrapped in black tape on the unit we
saw at EveryBus. While my brackets are all clear of the body, I may wrap
or dip mine just in case.

> I glued the odd little nuts (that the clamp screws screw into) onto
> the brackets, which makes it a little easier to tighten or loosen the
> clamp screws to put the awning on or take it off.  Plus, of course,
> I never have to worry about losing the nut.

Glueing the nuts is a great idea. The biggest PITA during installation
was tightening the brackets -- the nut kept turning and there isn't much
clearance to clamp them.

> I didn't use the lower leg brackets - I didn't want to drill into the
> side of the van.  and there didn't really seem to be any advantage
> over the "carport" configuration with the legs on the ground.

The carport configuration was one of the selling points for me. I don't
want people (me) walking into the legs and ceratinly don't want more
holes in the bus.

John
'85 Westy