On Aug 28, 2008, at 9:53 AM, Jake de Villiers wrote:

> "That means if the sliding door is open, water will wet the inside of
> said door."
>
> Small thing?  In my view that's a deal breaker.  I had a feeling
> that it
> might work that way, which is why I haven't bought one, even though
> Wolfgang
> lives just a few blocks away. Thanks for the report though.

It doesn't rain much here in the desert of Utah, & maybe I have been
too sloshed to notice, but that has not been a problem for moi-use it
for sun shading more than rain shielding.

YMMV,

Mr. BZ

>
> On Thu, Aug 28, 2008 at 8:41 AM, Alistair Bell <albell@shaw.ca> wrote:
>
>> I bought a Shady Boy awning directly from Equinox (Wolfgang). Its was
>> the silver fabric model, didn't buy the down draught poles (I have
>> poles if needed), was about 280 Canadian.
>>
>> Installation requires drilling holes into van, pretty easy, took me
>> about 30 minutes to get it all attached.
>>
>> The fabric appears to be a fairly light ripstop nylon, coated with (I
>> am guessing) urethane. Has a slightly rubbery feel.
>>
>> Deployment (without down draught poles) must take all of 3 minutes.
>>
>> In all but still air I guyed down the awing with supplied lines. The
>> awning will get blown up towards vertical in a breeze.
>>
>> I never did use my poles, I didn't encounter any down draught
>> situations :)
>>
>> It looks very good, plenty of headroom. One can adjust the guy lines
>> to alter the "pitch" of the awning to shed water outwards. But....
>>
>> There is one weakness, the side extensions, either side of the awning
>> case, do not lie over the van gutters so any water will spill towards
>> the van and down the van sides if the awning is not dipped enough.
>> That means if the sliding door is open, water will wet the inside of
>> said door.
>>
>> Its a small thing, but can be annoying.
>>
>> Rolling the awning back up and into the case was not a problem for
>> me, I could get the poles wrapped up tight in the fabric and the case
>> lid shut easily. Takes about same time to stow as deploy.
>>
>>
>>
>> All in all I would recommend the awning. It really does look tidy and
>> cool.
>>
>> Alistair
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Jake
> 1984 Vanagon GL
> 1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
> Crescent Beach, BC
> www.crescentbeachguitar.com
> http://subyjake.googlepages.com/mydixiedarlin%27