Jeep Soft Top Friendly Awning

[chris_nc]

So without a roof rack, or a way to mount an awning on my Jeep since I have a soft top, I always felt like an outsider, rather than an Overlander. Well not anymore!!!

I had been engineering a way to build an awning that was light weight, and could mount to the soft top some how. I didn't want to just use bungee cords, or clamps and wanted the entire thing to look professional. I also didn't want to use one of the spare tire mounted awnings as they are shaped like a wedge and the shape limits the amount of surface area dramatically. Here is what I came up with.

My design leverages two of the snaps installed on rear, upper bow of the soft top from the factory. These are meant to be used with those lame elastic bands to hold the rear window when you roll it up. I've added two additional snaps, and used a light weight 210d polyester oxford fabric camping tarp with some modifications to develop a 6" reinforced "tab" that is 41" inches wide, located in the center. It snaps to the bow as the connection point to the vehicle. Then there is a long 1.5" wide pocket sewn into the vehicle end from one side to the other, that I can insert a fiberglass dome tent pole into, from one corner to the other. This pushes out the corners on the vehicle end and allows full use of the width of the tarp.

Just unzip the window and flip it onto the roof, snap in the tab, slide in the tent pole to make it rigid, and then set up the far end with normal tent poles, guy lines, and stakes. Done!

I haven't tested it this way yet, but I'm thinking that I could even fold it in thirds, roll it up towards the vehicle with the tent poles all collapsed and rolled up in it, and then strap it to the bow to allow it remain on the vehicle (inside, protected from the elements and trail dust).

Only caveat/design flaw so far is my CB antenna and hi-lift are mounted on the tailgate and will definitely rub inside the awning. I don't think it will be too big of an issue as they aren't super tall.

I just got it all finished up and tested today, and works great! I'm excited to set it up at my camp in two weeks at the American Adventurist Appalachian Rendezvous in Uwharrie!

 

[SubeeBen]

Very nice job& great idea

 

[Theofam]

As a fellow soft-top guy, thanks for the inspiration! Looks great.

 

[Dunewheeler12]

Can we get a few pics of how it mounts up

 

[chris_nc]

Can we get a few pics of how it mounts up

Here are a few additional pics that might help. In the last pic in my original post, you can see how it is snapped in place inside the Jeep. This first pic shows the snap on the upper, rear bow a little better. Where the snaps are installed, the fabric is doubled and a nylon web strap is sandwiched in between for reinforcement. It's pretty sturdy.



Here are the snaps installed along the edge. You can also see the stitching for the tent pole pocket that runs the full width. It's about 1.25" - just wide enough to slide the pole in and keep it straight. The ends of the pocket are reinforced with nylon webbing as well.



This last pic shows the end of the tent pole pocket. It closes with velcro. The idea behind this component is nothing more than to provide a rigid guide at the vehicle end, and keep the corners out to keep it all square. Instead of zipping the rear window completely off (which you could do), I just unzipped each side and fold it up on top of the soft top.



Because it doesn't have vertical poles on the vehicle end, I don't think this is a great solution for a heavy downpour. High winds are probably not going to work well with it either. That's ok though, we're coming up on the tail end of hurricane season anyway!

 

[jscusmcvet]

AS I mentioned elsewhere, great idea and well executed. When I was a jeep guy I always ran soft tops and the only awning I could find was the smittlybilt one. When we moved to the truck and camper I became jeepless for the first time in my adult life. See you at AAV.

 

[ari_climbs]

Thanks for the excellent photos and write up! I'm hoping to do something similar with my soft top.

 

[FonzyFD]

I know this is an old thread but does anyone have dimensions of this tarp? Awesome write up and idea. I have been trying to design something similar for a while.

 

[chris_nc]

I know this is an old thread but does anyone have dimensions of this tarp? Awesome write up and idea. I have been trying to design something similar for a while.

Mike - Here is the actual tarp that I used to make it. Amazon - KampFit

It worked well, but I did learn that it wasn't quite tight enough to keep a hard rain from pooling in the middle while it was deployed. I still have it, but I now have a hard top and I'm trying to figure out how I could leverage it maybe in a different way.

 

[FonzyFD]

Mike - Here is the actual tarp that I used to make it. Amazon - KampFit

It worked well, but I did learn that it wasn't quite tight enough to keep a hard rain from pooling in the middle while it was deployed. I still have it, but I now have a hard top and I'm trying to figure out how I could leverage it maybe in a different way.

Thanks for the reply. I am going to try a fab up a center arch with a fiberglass pole from one grommet to another. Similar to how a tent does. We will see if it works

 

[Tommy9610]

Now patent the thing before someone steals your awesome invention.

 

[Tommy9610]

And sell me one

 

[chris_nc]

Here are a couple more pics from it getting used on the Georgia Traverse a year ago. It really did work out great. I thought about doing the same thing Mike mentioned above, adding a crossed/arched tent pole section from corner to corner, but haven't done anything else with it lately.

 

[Trail_pilot]

Did you have any issues with rain running into the jeep at the top of the window?

 

[chris_nc]

Did you have any issues with rain running into the jeep at the top of the window?

I didn't really have issues with rain running in at the window. Where I had the largest issue was the night of that first pic, it really rained hard, I mean a massive downpour. I woke up in the middle of the night, looked out and saw the middle of the awning sagging almost to the ground with a giant pool of water. I had set it before bed at an angle to help with run-off but it was just too much. Yep, that was fun to deal with in the dark...