ARB Batwing Awning

I had a nice canvas about 3 mtrs square made up 20 or so years ago for an awning. Length of square bar which attaches to the vehicle roped to one side (been on 5 or 6 different ones so far), round bar at the other which it rolls up on. It's got eyelets down both sides and when out I put poles in about 1.5 - 2 metres out and the end hangs down and tied to give some weather protection. Guy ropes used on each pole of course to keep it out.
Can also be attached to trees if they're handy. I never leave it on the vehicle when not in use and it's a 5 minute job to put 2 bolts in to keep it locked solid onto the Rhino roof rack attachments.
Had it first on our Disco 1 and got quite a few comments when we parked up with the kids on beaches. Since then awnings have appeared everywhere on so many vehicles and I wonder how many actually get used.
Ours is not fancy but is effective.
AlanH.

270 is pretty pointless and the 180's are tapered at the ends so hardly more coverage than a standard side awning.
A 180 that reached from nose to open tailgate would be a winner.

Mines not quite that long but provides good cover for the Cook to do what cooks do. The poles can be put right out for about 3 x 3 mtr cover or as is usual with us, put out about 2 mtrs. from the vehicle side and that's quite enough.
Much better than some of the pocket hankie sized ones we see on many vehicles.
AlanH.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by loanrangie

270 is pretty pointless and the 180's are tapered at the ends so hardly more coverage than a standard side awning.
A 180 that reached from nose to open tailgate would be a winner.

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When your trying to cook on the rear tailgate and it’s windy, pouring with rain or hot sun it’s not pointless
cheers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by loanrangie

270 is pretty pointless and the 180's are tapered at the ends so hardly more coverage than a standard side awning.
A 180 that reached from nose to open tailgate would be a winner.

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Isn't that a 270??? [bigwhistle][wink11]

I drive on beaches quite a bit with a missus and kid so I’ve often toyed with the idea of upgrading from the standard kings style awning to the 270, main reason being speed And ease of set up but this is only a benefit if it is self supporting - crazy as it sounds the simple act of having to fiddle with poles is enough to sometimes not bother.

haven’t made the jump for two reasons:

1 it’s not overall a large addition of Usable shade, Having to stand in the sun to get a beer from the boot Occasionally isn’t a big deal

2 more often than not when I’m using the kings awning I have to drop the front down low to make sure there is ample shade as the sun moves - this is not possible with self supporting ones, and would often leave the shade less than adequate

I have a Rhino Batwing on my daily driver/camping ute, a 2018 Hilux Rogue. I went with this over the Drifta awning for 1. price ($650 compared to ~$1500), and 2. it connects to my Oztent as well as other zip on/off accessories.

I know a few people with the Drifta one and while it is great, the only real difference is the quality of canvas used. The Rhino uses the same canvas material as the Oztent, so pretty good. The Drifta uses better stuff, but can't justify the $850 price difference. They both use similar swivel knuckles, which I did break one on Fraser Island, but a 2 min job to replace is easy.