Thread: ARB Batwing Awning

Originally Posted by Briar

They discussed about self-supporting awnings in one of their videos. Their comment was that all the self-supporting ones have to use huge hinging on the rear corner and that is a lot of pivoting force on the roof rack at a single point.

The Drifta awning uses a horizontal knuckle arrangement that is quite compact. In addition, Drifta make up special brackets for their awning for the Rhino Pioneer Platform that extends across two of the platform rails to spread the weight of the awning.

Getting the awning next month along with Drifta drawers and integrated water tank. I really like how Drifta integrate a water tank into their drawer system.

We have been using our Alu-cab for nearly three years, and set up nearly every night we camp as it so easy. We are getting close to our two year trip on the road, poles and ropes are something I only wanted to worry about in bad weather. We’ve left ours un-supported in a couple of big storms, and managed to sleep soundly. I am considering upgrading to an ostrich before we leave.

Agree the hinge takes all the load.....but I haven’t seen one fitted to a roof rack so cannot comment on the effect, design a good bracket and you should be right. I wonder if Drifta have actually tried one.... Ours is mounted to the direct to the defender and I haven’t seen any impact with the offset bracket that mine is fitted too, once tensioned a lot of the weight is transferred tot ie tensioning strap.

The swing down poles on the Drifta and others assist with setting up supported awnings, my supa peg had separate poles which added time to set up, and quite often you’d leave the hinge system to support the awning while dealing with poles.

Considering I crossed the simpson with a total roof load of 220kg including the home made roof rack I reckon it would have easily handle the extra load of a self supporting awning....roof rack and defer are long gone, have learnt a bit since those days.

I had Drifta kitchen in the HCPU camper I built. I swapped the orientation of the two draws, Drifta couldn’t really get it when I suggested they should highlight the benefit in there video. Worked well, and they have come a long way since I brought mine eight years ago, I had to integrate my own fridge into the system, than they start offering . I considered Drifta to fitout out my defer, but distance is an issue.

Back to awnings, I see I’m way out of touch with pricing.....self supporting

Alu-cab @ $2100, glad I only paid $1200 three years ago

Ostrich @ $1500 represent good value

Darche start at 1100, I had a close look the other weekend at a 4WD show, not convinced it at the same standard as the above...and that had piles down with ropes on the display, I asked if they could remove the poles so I could see how self supporting it was, they said they couldn’t.

30sec is just under $1000.....I told my mate the ostrich would be a better choice for the long term.....but he’ll probably go 30sec

Lots of options out there, all comes down to budget and effort required.

Originally Posted by mark2

I am leaning towards the 30 second 270 awning. The frame trusses and corner bracket appear very strong and (from the comparison videos I've watched) setup and pack down is very easy by one person. Built in poles also. Another thing I like about it is the range of zip on side panel options and even a dome tent attachment.
The price is about mid-range - appx 1k.

I have to decide very soon if I’m upgrading, my mate is about to pull the trigger on a 30sec awning.

He said he’d buy my Alu-Cab awning