Thanks for the link Reid.

Had developed something similar (jack point pieces) 3 or more years
ago. I wonder if water seeps in against the canvas/strip on
davidvickery' design? Or maybe I'm not understanding what he did.

If I ever get mine to work the way I want, it would be "free
standing"; attached to van only.

When I had posted my concept a while back, (not claiming it to be my
own idea) someone on thesamba (or here?) kindly suggested adjustable
painters poles for the poles. Adjustable, and collapsible to some
degree.

My 1" EMT jack point pieces already fit "ok", but would eventually
make pieces with a twist lock cutaway. There is a tab hanging down at
jack point hole. Pretty sure if one made these pieces correctly, one
would turn the piece in place so cutaway would slide over tab. If that
makes sense.

That stow away is neat. Right now I'm carrying full length poles
inside the van. Not my cup of tea. Another thought. 1/2" copper,
reduced a little, fits in the ID of 1/2" EMT. It's a tight fit but if
more copper material removed, one could make them assembleable
(another perfectly comulent word) like tent poles.

In theory, the way my awning would work, the jack point pieces would
twist in place CW for front, CCW for rear. The poles would be
tensioned outward by bungees pulling on PVC "T" and tarp corner, and
upward by tarp tension. This should keep enough friction between pole
and jack point piece so pole doesn't slip down and obviously jack
pieces wouldn't come out of jack point. But keeping poles in place is
easy to fix.

In theory anyway.....

Neil.

On Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 11:33 PM, Reid Erikson <reiderikson@gmail.com> wrote:
> I've been looking to do something similar and came across this thread on
> thesamba recently:
> http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=462083
> If you look for posts by "davevickery" on page 2 (and elsewhere) of the
> thread, he details a cheap and simple DIY awning that only needs a 7 foot
> wide tarp and a couple tent poles with guy lines (or attached to the jack
> mounts via pvc pipe). Looks like it would attach to the van a couple of
> inches above the gutter on late-model westys under the pop top canvas
> mounting strip. Rolls up and stows under the pop top when everything's
> closed.
> On my to-try list, so not sure of the details...
> -Reid

--
Neil Nicholson '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"

http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/

http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines