Sun Shade

On last years trip, we made a very simple sun shade, using a Eurohike tarp. It did the job very well, until it rained. Water would collect in the middle of the tarp, and the weight would pull the pegs out slightly, allowing more water to gather. Eventually the light polyester material stretched in the middle, making the problem even worse.


There are plenty of awning and sunshades designed for caravans and motorhomes, but I simply could not find any that would suit a micro camper. The closest was the Fiamma Caravanstor 190cm, but I felt that this was too bulky (and pricey at £200+). NR Awnings do make one that would have been perfect, for £79, however the length at 2.4m was just too long, and they were unwilling to modify. I did like the design however and decided to make our own.

 I wanted the material to have a high tensile strength so that it could be tensioned, to avoid pockets that rain could collect in, but not too heavy, so that it's easy to roll and store.
Dutch manufactured acrylic coated polyester, TenCate all-season WR-18 fitted the bill, with 100/140daN tensile strength and 2daN tearing strength, and at 240g/m3 it's reasonably light weight.
The quoted water column is >850mm, which compares very well to commercial awnings.
I ordered 204cm X 2.7m, and 125m of waterproof thread, from https://www.esvocampingshop.com in the Netherlands, for around €55.


For attaching the main sun shade to the van I used the standard 6mm awning piping, which was sewn on. This is pretty easy to source on eBay.

To fix the shade to van I wanted an aluminum J rail, rather than plastic, for maximum strength.

I eventually sourced a rail used for Fiamma F35 awnings.
The problem with this though, is that it comes in 3m sections, which makes it costly to ship. In fact most suppliers won't even ship it without buying the full awning.
Fortunately Riversway sell them (search for  "Fiamma Adapter Rail") for £15.95 plus £6.95 shipping.


To fix the rail to the roof I used Tiger Seal, which once set has a little bit of flex, so hopefully I wont have problems with expansion stresses.

 

 Notches needed to be cut out to allow clearance for the roof rack mounting points

As and alternative to punching eyelets, which would require reinforcing the surrounding area I'm trying Holdon Midi clips. These push on and claim to be able to hold 75kg, and can be got for about £1.50 each.

Here is the final result. approx 2m x 2m.