My EVC had a poorly designed Dometic awning, and the same thing happened to
me.  Before that, I had a Shady Boy on my '84 Westy.  That was okay, but one
time the wind caught it and the center fiberglass rod shot out into the van
like an arrow, putting a deep dent into the cabinet. It might have put one
in me if I'd been in there.

And, the PO of my son's van had a Fiamma that blew completely off the van
and destroyed itself.  It also ripped the brackets off the rain rail and
partially tore the rain rail away from the body in both places.  This also
caused the seal between the roof panel and the body to separate and leak.
We welded the rain rail back on and sealed the body leak.  I used the
matching paint (Dove Blue) from www.PaintScratch.com,  and it came out
great.

The leak was a difficult one to track down.  Rain would come under that
broken roof seal and run towards the rear along the inner structure, finally
dripping out of the rear onto the mattress.

They are great awnings though!  If I ever get another awning I will always
stake the corners down using these: http://fanchers.com/283/The%20Claw.htm

Stuart

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Dennis Jowell
Sent: Saturday, November 14, 2015 5:03 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: A Westy awning

Just got back from our Gettysburg 6 day trip. Westy ran great had rain the
last 2 days. Now is the time to think about another type of awning. We have
and love our Bus Depot awning which is perfect except trying to put it up
during a cold November rain storm. I thought about getting a Fiamma (price?
Expensive) from GOWESTY because I could put it up easily and quickly in a
rain storm. But I understand that it will leak water at the Westys sliding
door area when raining. It is probably great for shade but I am more concern
about the rain and me not getting soaked opening the awning. With the bus
depot awning , If we are at a camp spot just for the evening it makes a
hassle to put the awning up and then packing it away again. We always cook
and grille our evening meal outside. It would be nice to stop for the
evening, crank out the awning quickly and set up my barbecue grille. Any
thoughts or should I just have fun using the Bus Depot awning and getting
wet.?

Drying off in Vermont,
Dennis

Dennis Jowell
Scotch Hollow Farm
Newbury, Vermont