I had one on my '84 for quite a while and liked it a lot, but I will say you should always tie it down, either from the poles to ground, or to the body.  I say this because once on a perfectly clear and calm day a sudden gust of wind came up and blew it completely over the top of the van, shooting one of the rods into the van like it was an arrow from a cross bow.  Put a big round divot in the cabinet door, and if I've I'd been standing there it would have put one in me.  No damage to the awning though!

Stuart

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Neil N
Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2014 4:21 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Shady Boy: That bad in wind?

Hi all.

Searching the archives, it seems that possible water ingress (I think a solution was found) and how the awning handles windy conditions, are
2 main complaints.

So. Shady Boy owners. How bad is this thing in windy conditions? Do the poles actually help to stabilize the awning?

Recent weather conditions at Ft. Flagler Wet Westy event showed that Mother Nature "always wins", (it got dang windy at times) but the Shady Boy deploys quickly and if I'm not mistaken, can attach to the rain gutter with clamps; no holes need to be drilled?

Thanks,

Neil.