Camping/Fishing Rigs and Routines

[Robert Engleheart]

@Thomas Mitchell, l like the awning but it looks like it needs to be installed on their rack? I have an ARE cab-high shell and Yakima racks, looking at the awnings installation instructions it doesn’t appear to work without their rack of a permanent installation of the awning housing. Am I wrong?

 

[ThomasM]

@Thomas Mitchell, l like the awning but it looks like it needs to be installed on their rack? I have an ARE cab-high shell and Yakima racks, looking at the awnings installation instructions it doesn’t appear to work without their rack of a permanent installation of the awning housing. Am I wrong?

No, I don't think that's 100% the case. If you look at the photo I posted of my Jeep, you'll see I had one installed there too and the Jeep didn't have a rack at all. It does, however, need something solid to bolt it too. For the Jeep, the pop-up camper had a set of generic awning mounts that we re-drilled to match the bolt pattern for the awning, was super easy. I would remove the awning and leave the mounts when there was a long gap between trips.

I'd look to see if there are Yakima-compatible awning mounts that could be modified. The benefit of that particular awning is the dome. If the dome isn't needed, there might be easier options. Hope that helps.

 

[MT_Flyfisher]

@Thomas Mitchell, l like the awning but it looks like it needs to be installed on their rack? I have an ARE cab-high shell and Yakima racks, looking at the awnings installation instructions it doesn’t appear to work without their rack of a permanent installation of the awning housing. Am I wrong?

I also have an ARE cab high shell and factory installed tracks on my Ford F-150, with Yakima’s JetStream crossbars.

Here is a pretty good video from ETrailer showing how that Rhino dome awning is installed:

In looking at the video, it appears that the awning could relatively easily be installed on the side of the truck using the tracks that are on the ARE shell. (I assume the tracks on your ARE shell are the same as mine.) In my case I believe the awning could also be installed at the back of the truck using the Yakima JetStream crossbars, however it would require taking off the rubber strip on top of the crossbars, and removing the end cap on the crossbars too, which is more involved than I, personally, would want to do. Other types of Yakima crossbars might require a different install.

As much as I’m intrigued with that Rhino awning, after looking at that installation video I think I’m going to opt for a simpler, flat top awning mounted on the side of my truck. Since my Yakima roof rack already sits about 7’ above ground level, I don’t need the extra height that that dome top awning provides.