Latest update March 21st, 2015 4:45 PM
Fiamma F45S Awning
So… I decided to move on from the Bus Depot EZY Awning Plus (Review HERE) and opted to go with a mounted 11’6″ Fiamma F45s hard case awning instead. I’ve taken the EZY Awning Plus a several camping trips and its great for extended stay camping outings BUT the trips I have lined up are 2 week long road trips where we’ll be camping daily in a different spot. Hence why I decided to move to an awning that was much easier to deploy that what I currently had.
The one thing I did like about my EZY Awning Plus was that it was 11′ long and stretched from one end of the van to the other. This I LOVED and I wanted to get as close to that as possible with the Fiamma. I purchased my awning from Van-Cafe.com and I spoke to Chris which makes their Fiamma orders. I explained that I knew they (and others) offer 8′ and 10′ lengths but I noticed Fiamma also sold a 11’6″ length. Chris said if the 11’6″ awning is what I want then they could easily order it for me. SCORE!
Van-Cafe sells their 10′ awnings with 3 mounting brackets and since this was another 18″ longer I asked if I could purchase a 4th. Not a problem. So I got the awning mounted as shown and also got my 4th bracket modified so I can place it above the passenger side door in order to also help stabilize the awning and add additional support.
The EZY Awning Plus took I dunno maybe 15-20 minutes to setup complete with guy wires etc and this new Fiamma awning I had set up within 45 seconds. It was a breeze! I’ll post a followup post on this 11’6″ Fiamma F45s Awning once I get it out on some more camping trips and see how it fairs.
UPDATE: October 19, 2014
When I purchased the Fiamma awning from Van-Cafe I order 4 GoWesty mountingg brackets total. I’ve seen a lot of vanagon owners opt for 3 mounting brackets for a 10′ awning and I wanted to add a 4th bracket right above the passenger side door.
I took the 4th bracket to my local fabricator that built my steel Aluminess galley Box base support and explained that I wanted the bracket modified in order to run it above the passenger door while still being able to open and close the door. He chopped up the original bracket and modified it to the state you see below. 30 minutes later this is what I got. It’s perfect!
Most will think the 4th bracket is overkill and it may be but I like having the front end of this 11′-6″ awning supported instead of it just “hanging” there. One thing of note is that I don’t have the 4th modified bracket bolted to the awning case like the other 3 stock GoWesty brackets. Since the awning is nice and secure by way of the other 3 brackets, this fourth bracket is just there to help support the front end of the awning and carry some of the weight.
The bracket is sitting in the groove of the awning case which helps the case from ever sagging but as I mentioned before there is no bolt installed tying the two together.. Since the rain gutter at the front of the van curves inward towards the center of the van, the flat vertical plate of the 4th bracket does not butt up to the awning case. There’s a gap in between the two which does not exist on the other 3 brackets. This is perfectly ok. If I had the case bolted to the plate and tightened down the case would bow/bend which is not good. That’s the main reason I opted to not bolt the 4th bracket to the awning case.
I love being able to have the 4th bracket installed and be able to open and close the passenger side door without affecting it.
10 thoughts on “Fiamma F45S Awning”
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Owning an awning was not high on my Want List until I spent a full day trapped...
But does it have the same kind of headroom as the other? This one is flat, and your old awning had a peak in the center.
This Fiamma awning does not have the same amount of head clearance as the EZY Awning Plus I had previously. The EZY Awning bowed upwards in the center which provided about 18″+ more head clearance than this one. The plus side is this Fiamma awning sets up in under a minute and does not need to be stored inside compared to the 20+ minute setup the EZY Awning Plus took and required a place to store the bagged awning during transport. So far I’m very pleased with the Fiamma…
Hey Abel! So did you sell your bus depot EZY awning? I would be interested if you haven’t already sold it 🙂 I just bought my first vanagon 3 weeks ago and am in the honeymoon phase with learning how to attack different projects like you have been doing with your Libby! Let me know thanks!
Congrats Laura! You’re in for a fun ride thats for sure… =). My EZY Awning Plus is already sold but they’re not all that expensive so getting a new one from BusDepot.com is a great option. I would recommend however getting the 2 extra gutter clips for it. It really does help with the mounting on the van. Enjoy!
Hey Abel! I like your setup. I’m from Chile and I have an 87 red Vanagon Westy but TDI, the german model “Joker”. I am buying this awning this week and until now I was going with the 8′ model mainly for aesthetics reasons, because the 10′ that I have seen installed in photos doesn’t look good mounted as it will go passed the rear door. Yours looks like the perfect fit and covers the front passenger door, I’m curious, how do you mounted this 11’6″ model over the passenger door? What mounts did you buy and from where? Could you make a video or show in photos where did you put the mounts? Thanks a lot!
Hello there Christoper… I just updated this blog post to add a photo of the 4th bracket I had modified in order to use it above the passenger side door. I used GoWesty mounting brackets from Van-Cafe.com or GoWesty.com and they worked fine for the 3 regular locations. I just had to have the 4th one modified to work.
Wow, that was a quick response and update. Thanks a lot! I was looking at the pictures and notice that you don’t have the mounting brackets bolt to the Van, I mean, you didn’t drill a hole into the van and put a ribbed nut as shown in the GoWesty installation video and you are only holding the brackets from the rain gutter? How is that working?
Correct. GoWesty recommends trying the awning without drilling the holes into the van first. I’ve noticed mine has been fine and doesn’t move at all. I think the ones that will benefit from drillingholes into the van and mounting those Rivot Nuts is those that do a lot of heavy off roading were the van bounces a lot. So far for my use jut the rain gutter attachment is fine.
Hi Able, l was thinking of getting one of the EZY Plus awnings as well. The extra head room seamed like a very good part of the whole set up. The more l thought about it though the more l wondered if having that bow in the middle and having 1/2 the rain that hits the awning running back to the open sliding door area was a good idea. Have you had any experiance with that when you had it?? Living in Houston l know you are well aquainted with rain. Being just outside of Austin had to put that in. Thanks for all the posts.
Hey there Ken. I’m trying to remember if I ever used the ez awning plus in the brain or not. I think if I did it was a light rain and I didn’t notice anything draining where the Sliding Door opening was. One thing is I definitely recommend ordering extra gutter clips for the awning. I have the ez awning plus which was the longer version and I had a total of 5 gutter clips holding it in place.. I was more worried about windy days more so than rainy ones. The awning is very light and can be blown around pretty easily.
You’re in the Austin area? We’re having a get together in a couple of weeks as well as a Vanagon campout at Buescher State Park… You definitely ought to come and hang out!