An awning is such a great accessory to mount to your car, 4WD or van. They’re so quick to setup, and almost instantly, awnings provide fantastic amounts of shelter whether you’re at the beach, out in the bush or even down at the park with the kids. Most people would assume that setting up an awning is a two-person job, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. If you have the technique down-pat then it’s extremely easy to set up your awning by yourself with no-one else helping you, and it’s just as easy to pack it away yourself. All you need to do is understand the technique and you’ll be using your awning more than ever!  Follow these simple steps outlined below and you’ll be able to set up your awning in 30 seconds and pack your awnings away just as quickly.

1. UNZIP THE AWNING’S STORAGE BACK AND UNBUCKLE THE RESTRAINING STRAPS
   First, unzip the awning’s storage bag the entire way. Make sure that you unzip it almost to the end of the length of the zip, but if you can avoid it, don’t unzip the zipper right to the very end of its run. If you stop it about an inch or two before the end, it’ll make zipping it back up that much easier as sometimes it can be a little tricky to pull the zipper away from the extreme end of the run. Undo the restraining straps with one hand while holding the awning in place with the other.
2. BEFORE UNROLLING THE AWNING, PULL IT OUT A LITTLE AND SIT IT UP ON YOUR ROOFRACK

Here’s where most people get it wrong! Don’t unroll the awning just yet – not to its full length anyway. Unroll your awning one or two rolls, and then sit it up on top of your roofracks around the back of the storage bag. You don’t want to unroll the awning yet if you’re doing this by yourself as it will be tricky to extend the horizontal support legs.

1. PULL OUT THE HORIZONTAL SUPPORT LEGS AND EXTEND THEM TO THEIR FULL LENGTH

With the awning sitting on the roofrack, now pull out the horizontal support legs and extend them to their longest length, and then lock them into place by twisting the section of leg that’s closest to you. Do this for both sides, and then position the horizontal support legs so that they sit just out past 90° from the vehicle. You want the legs to be a little wider than they’d be when the awning is completely setup.

1. UNROLL THE AWNING TO ITS ENTIRE LENGTH

Now you can go back and grab the awning and unroll it to its full length. The horizontal support legs should still be sitting out a little past 90° to allow you to easily open up the awning. When you get to the end and the awning is completely unrolled, you’ll be able to access the vertical support legs.

1. DROP THE VERTICAL SUPPORT LEGS AND LOCK THEM IN AT THEIR FULL LENGTH

At this stage, now drop the vertical support legs down, extend them and lock them in at something close to their full length by twisting the lower part of the leg. Do this for both of the vertical support legs and sit them down into the ground. Now you should be able to comfortably hold the awning’s aluminium frame with one hand and support it easily.

ATTACH THE HORIZONTAL SUPPORT LEGS
With the other free hand, simply attach each of the horizontal support legs one by one. Fit the end of the leg into the hole in the awning’s aluminium frame and extend the leg as far as you can, twisting to lock into position. Don’t worry about getting the tension on the vertical support leg perfect yet – get the other vertical support leg into position and then you can make small adjustments as you need to. By now the awning will be free-standing and you’ve set it up yourself, congratulations! Finish by securing all the Velcro straps and of course by pegging the awning down with the included guy-ropes. Make any small adjustments you need to each of the legs and you’re done! Packing away is simply a reversal of this same procedure.