Fiamma F45S Awning

Jun 22, 2014 Abel Longoria Vanagon 1

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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.

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