I've used something called an eye-beam clamp. Available at your local
hardware store in the electrical department. Just replace the bolt that
comes with it with an eye-bolt. I've held pretty heavy weight on the roof
with these. I'm sure they would have no problem holding an awning.

--------------------

Martin Jagersand wrote:

> A good way of holding a tarp or awning against the van is to use
> something to snap it on the drip rail. The heavy duty paper clips, or
> laundry clips work, but you need many and it makes it a pain to take
> the awning on and off.
>
> A much better solution is to get 4-5 ft of flexible plastic pipe
> (pvc or the like). Cut it in 1-2ft sections for ease of handling,
> and slit them open lengthwise. To fasten the awning or tarp fold it
> over the drip rail and slip the slotted pipe over.
>
> /Martin
>
> > then go back and clean and apply the
> > other velcro as high and close to the tent-side as possible.  It will
> > be covered by the closed top, so it won't suffer from the sun. [Note:
> > this velcro is the weak point in the system. It's needed to keep the
> > tarp tight up against the tent, but because of the curved roof it's
> > always in "semi pull-off" mode.
>
> --
> Martin Jagersand                 email: jag@cs.yale.edu
> Computer Science Department             jag@cs.rochester.edu
> Yale University
>
>         Slow down and visit the VW diesel Westy page:
>           WWW: http://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/jag/vw
> -------------------------------------------------------------------