MY DIY AWNING

I've been after an awning for ages and loved the hannibal ones but had reservations about how much rain they would take before a huge pool formed and ripped it off the car, oh and the price tag. watched a few on ebay go for over £400 (used) and looked at some cheaper ones. Having seen the cheapo ones (£190) and the poles etc they did not look very how shall i say.....robust. Lots of reviews on how great various ones were including arb etc but most stated that they were either no good in rain or that any slight wind and they took it down for fear of it breaking. I did see some basic designs which were basically a tarp attached to the roofrack and then to a tree or couple of tent poles but i wanted something that was mounted on the side of the truck, and extended out. Length wise on the disco i was limited in the end to about 2.1m wide but made it extend out about nearly 3m so its pretty big. Cost was also an issue as i did not want to spend a fortune and also weight was a factor. In the end the whole thing cost me about £100 and nearly a new sewing machine for my girlfriend. The last mins stitching the outer bag were tense on a sunday as i broke 3 needles that morning trying to sew 4 layers of waxed ripstop canvas on a machine more suited to the odd dress or pair of trousers. Leanne was very good and never muttered a word despite the horrible noises the sewing machine made in protest as motor and gears struggled to keep up and needles exploded after being bent out of shape. Who says sewing is for girls. Its a mans game surely? Thats why they have a little accelerator pedal to make it go faster
The ingredients list:
-begged and borrowed some l shaped aluminium channel found laying in yard at work along with some scraps id saved off a vehicle roller shutter door many years ago. (see i told you it would come in useful), surveying poles which just happened to fit perfectly inside the off cut swimming pool poles to make the uprights at the front.
-x2 swimming pool poles, telescopic, about 25mm diameter about 18ft when extended and pretty strong. These were the most expensive part and i bought them locally after looking at various telescopic decorators poles, i did get the two sides out of one and a half and used the other pole for the front edge. Offcuts from the main sides were used for the uprights. Could have got them cheaper on the internet but was working to get it finished originally for billing in July.
-plenty of fabric, ripstop canvas, not the best but i have a few litres of awning waterproofer in the garage so i did not need proper waterproof stuff (time may tell if this was a mistake) Bought 10m off ebay for £20 and only used half so have plenty left for another or a replacement.
-stainless steel fittings, nuts bolts etc.
-webbing, velcro,edging,thread, continous zip (for bag) etc all sourced off ebay. Like the material most of the stuff i bought was 10m or 25m and i have loads left.
- assorted military canvas from shed including webbing and tie downs

The original design was to have the telescopic poles at about 1.8m and then be able to choose how far to extend the awning out, unfortunately despite all the fag packet drawing when we came to cut out the material a major conflict occurred and it had to be fixed at one unadjustable length. Its still okay as the telescopic poles mean they retract down to fit inside the bag for storage but will be much longer when extended. How i fixed the poles together is still a temporary fix. Originally i wanted inserts to go into the pole that i could screw a threaded rod or m8 bolt into. The companies i spoke to were only interested in supplying me 1000 at a time and i did not fancy holding 994 in stock for the future, just in case. In the end i used some expanding anchor bolts from screw fix wrapped in various layers of hose pipe and insulation tape which seem pretty well fixed but its something i am going to refine once i find the right thing. Like wise the fixing to the vehicle for the poles that come out at 90 degrees to the car i wanted to pivot both outwards so they could fold into the bag but also up and down so i can angle the awning downwards in rain so the water hopefully runs off. For this i used eye bolts threaded into my poles and u bolts fixed to the awning mount. After putting it up a couple off times whilst it was attached to my shed the rattling of the u bolts drove me mad and i thought these would rattle in transit so the u bolts were sleeved with a bit of old rubber pipe and it seems to work. I'll try and load some pics up, its been up quickly to proof the canvas and bag although shortly afterwards it tipped it down so i'll probably have to do it again soon. All in it weighs 11.5 kg which is less than the 14kg i was aiming at that the hannibal one weighs. Theres loads i'd do differently and as with most things just as you finish you learn to perfect the task, my sewing has developed now and i'm looking for things to make. A bivvy shelter is first, then i might have a go at a tent!!! If you see me at a show i'll be the the one trying to hold down the ragged piece of material thats threatening to take off into the atmosphere along with the attached poles.

Securing frame to aluminium channel



final test attached to shed before making external bag.



All folded up

Nice piece of kit, its amazing what you can do on the back of a fag packet.

Fair play, now can't wait to see your erection!!!

There I've said it, somebody had to.



By the way, when you post a photo ...

When you click on the 'host an image' button in the menu above and the Serving.com box appears, click on 640px width (for websites) ... instead of 800px width (for forums).

This results in your photo appearing smaller on the page, thus all the text also fits in without spreading so wide across the page. Have a play with the edit button of your post, I bet you can change it from 800px width to 640px width - 'ave a play and see.

I just used the insert image button, not sure there was an option. Will upload a few more pics and try it out. Beware its big and the awnings pretty large too

Is the dog trained to the gun???

Dunno about that, but judging by the avatar photo he's good at fetching grasshoppers.

Assassin wrote:

Is the dog trained to the gun???

No she's not unfortunately. She was from a working farm but think she must have been no good as a gun dog which is why she ended up in a rescue centre. When we got her the spaniel rescue centre said the police had tried her as a sniffer but she did not have much of a nose. Well after 4 years of being with her i can tell you she has a superb nose. She will quarter off the lead well and indicate at sitting birds or hares. I know that when shes stopped pointing in the undergrowth there is 100% chance of live quarry there, fantastic! We dont work her though as her instincts overpower her control when out in the rough and shes a stubborn old girl at 6 years old now and i dont have the time to train her as a gun dog unfortunately. Shame as she loves ripping through the undergrowth and will run all day at full pelt. Its funny because when people see her they are sometimes very surprised as her mouth gape is huge when she yawns or is out of breath and her chest is very broad so that people ask if she is part staffy. Its just that she gets lots of exercise and has a huge set of lungs and is from a working springer line. They are much more compact and stout with smaller ears than the traditional springers you see at crufts. Personally i prefer them and if you ever see one they are usually caked in mud and poo compared to their fluffy long eared show cousins who are more likely to be covered in perfume and glitter.

Tom thats not a grasshopper
Its a sweet chestnut casing, very spiky like a hedgehog. For some reason she is also obsessed with hedgehogs and will find them out and carry them for ages. Never harms them but i never understand why she is so taken with the spiky things. Usually when she finds one she takes great delight running round in the dark just out of torch light spread as happy as could be. I've tried everything and more to get her to release the damn things and have got spiked by the hedgehogs so many times now that i let her carry them home. The chestnut casings are her daytime substitute i guess

They can be daft. My mate has a Staff that has a thing about rocks. He will find one, bring it back and chew it for hours on end. Eventually he will get bored with it but it isn't long before he's off looking to the next 'tasty morsel' ... another rock of course! Gawd knows how he doesn't break his teeth on the things, especially with the sound they make rolling around his mouth. Strange creatures at times.