"there will be a pool of water on the high side, created by the
rafter."

The rafter on mine attaches at the van end of the awning and the outward
extended beam, dead in the middle. There are "hooks" to accommodate it and
as far as I can see there is no other way to install it.
There are also hooked ends on the rafter that fit into the hooks on the
awning.
It results in the awning roof being divided in two, fore and aft, meaning
the vans front and back, and the awning's right and left sides. I haven't
had to deal with rain while using this but would simply slope the outward
edge of the awning by 10-15 degrees so water would tend to run off, and
there does not seem to be a way that water could "pool" at the upper end of
that slope. Pooling, if any would be to the right and left of the rafter
with nothing blocking run off.
bob

> Second, the center rafter for rain on the Fiamma awning.  On the large
> awnings like I have, the center rafter, advised for use by Fiamma in the
> rain, actually can make the problem of water pooling in the awning worse.
> By putting the barrier in the middle, no matter how much you slope the
> awning, there will be a pool of water on the high side, created by the
> rafter.