We went for the 1.4m Eclipse Awning by Darche. Based on a recommendation from Trekoverland.com. Not only does it look great, fitting it was super easy.
The plan for the awning is to make an additional piece to attach to the side of the tent. Creating a bat wing style coverage.
One things for sure we’ll not trip over the bright orange guy ropes.
We also bought a side wall that can slot into the outer rim of the awning or attach to the side using some velcro straps we sewed on.
The Darche Eclipse awning comes with 2 black angle brackets.
If you’re using the Slimline rack you can mount the brackets underneath. You will need to add a few penny washers to get the bracket to sit flush against the bars T-slots.
If you’re simply mounting it onto their load bar (as I do now) they sit on top of the Front Runner load bars securing to the T-slots with 2 short nut and bolts.
This is our preferred way to mount the awning walls.
If Darche or another good quality manufacturer made a 1.5m or maybe 1.6m awning in hindsight I’d have gone for that instead. 1.4m is just long enough to allow us to open the passenger door but more clearance would be better. This isn’t really an issue if you’re not trying to connect it to a rear mounted roof tent with the awning extension I made. Obviously you can mount it further forward to allow the door to open unhindered.
As always, I hope this article helps.
Do you any of the Darche 1.4 awnings left in stock please
Kind regards
Hi Bryan, you’ll need to speak with your local Darche seller. The company I bought mine from is Trek Overland based in the Uk.
Have you mounted them on 2 or 3 roof bars? If so how far apart are the roof bars?
Hi, I used 2 bars for that awning (same with the one I run now). Can’t remember the recommended gap between the bars as it’s setup for the tent primarily.