Ezy-Awning Meets the Promaster

We opted for the 8x11 foot awning for full coverage

From the first time we took the Buster-mobile on our first outing, we have wanted to add a canopy.  We cobbled one together from an old sail and old dining fly poles, and it worked OK, but not great.

Most of the canopies/awnings we looked at didn't appeal to us for these reasons:

1.  They were too expensive.  $1000 or more just for a little rain protection or shade seemed looney to us.

2.  They needed to be permanently mounted to the roof of the Van which meant putting holes in perfectly good sheet metal, AND making us too tall for the cheap seats on the ferry.

3.  If they weren't permanently installed, they took up WAY too much space to haul around, were heavy, and involved an engineering degree to deploy them.

Ezy-Awning bags

Then we found Ezy-Awning from the Bus Depot.  It met all our needs.  It was cheap, at $119 plus shipping. When not in use, the awning fit in to two bags about the size of those fold-up camp chairs.  When in use it has shock-corded tent poles holding up the roof, so it sheds water like a champ.

This video shows an Ezy-Awning being set up on a VW Westie.  She actually labors it longer than need be, mainly because she's trying to make it all clear to the viewer.  From the decision to set it up, til we say, "there, that'll work", takes us about 10 minutes.  Same with taking it down.

homemade bracket to adapt Ezy-Awning to the Promaster

The Esy Awning is made for VW vans that have rain gutters.  It comes with three clamps that clamp the side toward the van to the rain gutter.  Unfortunately the Promaster doesn't have rain gutters, so we need to come up with plan B.  Howard used the Ezy-Awning clamps and bolted three adapters that he machined from C-channel aluminum.

Their are three mounting pegs on the roof of the Promaster, presumably for roof racks.  Howard's key-hole slotted brackets drop over the pegs, and slide about an inch toward the rear of the van to lock in place, and make a very sturdy connection.

So in a nutshell, here's what we like about the Ezy Awning:
1.  Cheap
2.  Easy to set up
3  Drains well with not puddles.  The back edge drips into the channel on the  van roof.
4.  Only two poles makes for a very useable space.
5.  Tie downs and the shock-corded support poles make the awning very wind resistant.
6.  It's light weight.
7.  No storage problems either when we are hauling it around with us, or when we store it between camping trips.