We have had our ShadyBoy since 2003 and have always enjoyed it as a great modification to our Westy.  It is sort of precarious in heavy wind or T-storms, but if you learn how use the downdraft poles in concert with the tie downs, it is fairly reliable.  We have weathered many a downpour under it and it has held up to 9 Indiana and Michigan summers.  

We never experienced a different awning, so this is maybe a biased review.  

Pete O
Sent from my iPhone

> On Feb 20, 2014, at 19:49, mark drillock <mdrillock@COX.NET> wrote:
> 
> We hate ours. Too flimsy to trust unattended in any area where a wind
> might come up. Like almost everywhere we like to camp. A very
> unsatisfactory product for us. We still have it on the van and we still
> use it on a rare occasion. Wish I hadn't bought it. Wouldn't get another
> for my other van if it was half the price.
> 
> Mark
> 
> 
> Neil N wrote:
>> 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.
>> 
>> --
>> Neil n
>> 
>> Blog: tubaneil.blogspot.ca
>> 
>> '88 Westy http://tinyurl.com/c8rlw6p
>> 
>> '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"  http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/
>> 
>> Vanagon VAG *Gas* inline-VR Engine Swap Group:
>> 
>> http://tinyurl.com/d7gd5ej
>>