On 05/25/2015 08:45 AM, Kris Seago wrote:

> Buy the reflective fabric—the blue fabric actually magnifies the heat underneath.

That it does. Hot air pools up under the awning and then flows into the
van. Radiant heat from the fabric bakes one's headbone.

I solve this by clipping up some large cheerfully-colored tie-dye
2-1/2-foot by 6-foot cotton 'scarves' or flags under the awning with
bulldog clips, forming a ceiling. The scarf fabric blocks the radiant
heat from the top of my headbone, and with attention to how the edges
are clipped to the awning fabric, the hot air between the two flows out
of the sides, and not into the van. Additional scarves are clipped to
the outer edges of the awning as needed, to hang down and shade the area
under it.

With proper rigging of the awning and use of these cheerful scarves I
find that I have a very flexible arrangement that works in both
mid-summer desert heat and for the heaviest hail, rainstorms, and gusty
winds.

--
Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
1984 Westfalia, auto trans,
Bend, Ore.