Awning

Hey guys I am looking at installing an awning to my roof rack. This is the one area of the conversion I know nothing about.

What do you guys have for awnings ? What are the better brands ? Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks
 

Montucky

Active member
I have the Thule rack-mount awning with 3 brackets. I like this awning better than the Fiamma or the Thule roof-mount because it doesn't touch the paint and you can position the brackets anywhere along the awning length. I've got 300W of solar on the roof and a MaxxAir fan, so the flexibility was a must for me. It's a little taller than the others, and you need to McGuyver the crank so that it doesn't stick in the awning, but it works great.
 

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asimba2

ourkaravan.com
3 bracket thule. Here's an install video. In the comments section some indicated that 1/8" thick aluminum fits perfect in the track and you won't have to grind down the 3/16" as I did. The awning is great. Be sure to do the grommet mod on the end of the handle, as shown in the video.
 

MotoXPress

Active member
I’ve got a brand new Thule 10’ for sale. Still in box with two mounts.

$750 in SLC.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Sstromerson

New member
There's a good long thread on here with a custom mount that one of the people on the forum sells and looks like one of the best options to mount the Thule Awning. Here's my take on the Thule Hideaway awning:

1. I have a 144" NVC3 with a 10' rack mount Thule awning. I have it mounted to the side of the Front Runner Slimline tray I have, I didn't use the Thule rack adapter because they are designed to work on crossbars. I ended up custom cutting and drilling a piece of aluminum to adapt the awning to the mounting brackets I already had. The spacing for mounting position on the awning and mounting brackets were different so the aluminum piece just allowed them to work together. I have had the awing for about 8 months and I love it. I had an ARB awning before which is a great awning but when mounted at the height of a sprinter it is a two person and two step ladder process. With the Thule and the telescoping crank it comes with it is a one person under five minute job. I'm probably going to talk myself into one of the side panels for the winter once I figure which one will work best for me.

2. For the sprinters there are two different models of the Thule awning you could get. The Rack Mount model #490010 or the Roof Mount mode #620002.
First the Rack mount: the biggest it is offered in is 10' x 8' Thule offers rack adapter to mount on top or bottom of crossbars which is an L shaped piece of aluminum with a plastic locking cover to block access to the nuts of the mounting hardware. You don't need to use Thule's adapter if you can't or don't want to, this awning is the easiest to custom mount because along the whole back is two T tracks which fit the Thule track bolts.
Second the Roof Mount is offered in 12.3' x 8' which is supposed to fit the 170 better. This one sits flush to the top and looks like it was meant to be there. It does have some limitations though as far as having other things like your solar panels or deck already using the factory tracks. The Roof Mount must use the specific adapter one for factory tracks and one without tracks.
 

Sstromerson

New member
I am looking at adding a passenger-side batwing awning to a 2010 170WB Sprinter with OEM roof rails already installed. Anyone have experience with the Overland Vehicle Systems Nomadic 270? Looks pretty good but I can't find any examples of its use on a Sprinter.

https://overlandvehiclesystems.com/...e-dark-gray-cover-with-black-cover-universal/
I didn't know that this awning was a possibility until now. It looks like it might be pretty great for a sprinter. Mainly because it says the leg poles extend to 8.5' which should work mounted onto a sprinter at roughly 9' high.

The Rhino Rack batwing is a comparable 270 degree awning that I'm familiar with. It doesn't have the extenstion towards the front of the vehicle (which might cover the slider door) and the leg poles only extend 7' tall.

Just with some quick searching I wasn't able to find it mounted on a tall van but I'm going to do some deep digging and I'll report back if I find anything.
 

Kirk

Member
I have a Fiamma and am very happy with it.

I went with the manual one and have it mounted to my roof rack, so no contact with paint and no drilling needed. Aluminess offers nice mounting brackets for it.

Fiamma is certainly more expensive than Thule, but the Thule was not even available when I got my awning.
 

rwmac

New member
I am looking at adding a passenger-side batwing awning to a 2010 170WB Sprinter with OEM roof rails already installed. Anyone have experience with the Overland Vehicle Systems Nomadic 270? Looks pretty good but I can't find any examples of its use on a Sprinter.

https://overlandvehiclesystems.com/...e-dark-gray-cover-with-black-cover-universal/
I'm also wondering if anyone has any experience with the OVS Nomadic 270. Some of the comments refer to it maybe being to high, but overall it looks like a nice option with some great coverage. OVS says that they are selling them to Sprinter owners, but I've yet to see any posts with them on a Sprinter, or anything with a high roof.
 

Agnes16

Active member
Very interested in their 270* or 180* Awning setup as well... 170 4x4 High Roof. Curious how it would be for deployment....have a Flatline Rack up top already... Looks like you can set it up w/o the poles too for a quick shade....
 

Built.Vans

2024 170 AWD
I just installed the Dometic 9500e on my custom rack. Happy with it so far. Push-button shade. What’s not to like.
@Boathik any chance you can post a photo of your mounting method to the rack? I have a Roambuilt rack on the way and am trying to figure out awning mounting.
 

woodyak

Member
There's a good long thread on here with a custom mount that one of the people on the forum sells and looks like one of the best options to mount the Thule Awning. Here's my take on the Thule Hideaway awning:

1. I have a 144" NVC3 with a 10' rack mount Thule awning. I have it mounted to the side of the Front Runner Slimline tray I have, I didn't use the Thule rack adapter because they are designed to work on crossbars. I ended up custom cutting and drilling a piece of aluminum to adapt the awning to the mounting brackets I already had. The spacing for mounting position on the awning and mounting brackets were different so the aluminum piece just allowed them to work together. I have had the awing for about 8 months and I love it. I had an ARB awning before which is a great awning but when mounted at the height of a sprinter it is a two person and two step ladder process. With the Thule and the telescoping crank it comes with it is a one person under five minute job. I'm probably going to talk myself into one of the side panels for the winter once I figure which one will work best for me.

2. For the sprinters there are two different models of the Thule awning you could get. The Rack Mount model #490010 or the Roof Mount mode #620002.
First the Rack mount: the biggest it is offered in is 10' x 8' Thule offers rack adapter to mount on top or bottom of crossbars which is an L shaped piece of aluminum with a plastic locking cover to block access to the nuts of the mounting hardware. You don't need to use Thule's adapter if you can't or don't want to, this awning is the easiest to custom mount because along the whole back is two T tracks which fit the Thule track bolts.
Second the Roof Mount is offered in 12.3' x 8' which is supposed to fit the 170 better. This one sits flush to the top and looks like it was meant to be there. It does have some limitations though as far as having other things like your solar panels or deck already using the factory tracks. The Roof Mount must use the specific adapter one for factory tracks and one without tracks.
You seem to know a lot about the mounting on these racks. I have a T1N sprinter with a Vantech rack. I currently have an ARB awning mounted directly to the rack support bars plate. I just had to drill a couple holes in the plate for the awning bolts. Could I do the same with the Thule? Would I be looking to purchase 620002 model? This is what the rack looks like.
1595270031472.png
 

Boathik

Tinkerer extraordinaire
@Boathik any chance you can post a photo of your mounting method to the rack? I have a Roambuilt rack on the way and am trying to figure out awning mounting.
Here is the best picture I currently have of the mount. It’s just 1/4” x 6” flat bar welded flush with the outside of the tubes.

Saw you on Instagram recently on the Cape and I’m in Brewster so if you’re back out here this summer I’d be happy to show you in person.
 

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Built.Vans

2024 170 AWD
Here is the best picture I currently have of the mount. It’s just 1/4” x 6” flat bar welded flush with the outside of the tubes.

Saw you on Instagram recently on the Cape and I’m in Brewster so if you’re back out here this summer I’d be happy to show you in person.
Cool thanks. Wish I had started talking with you before I ordered my Roambuilt roof rack. I wont be in the cape for a few weeks, headed up to VT the next couple of weekends.
 

Boathik

Tinkerer extraordinaire
I sure would like to know how its mounted. I have an aluminess rack about 8 week out.
If they haven’t finished building your rack, could you ask them to add some flat bar? The Dometic instructions have the dimensions for where the bolts are in the extruded mounting plate.

I went with the 13’ awning and mounted it as far forward as I could and I just barely got it over the front of the slider.
 

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