Hey all,

We are heading out camping next week and the awning on our old Bigfoot trailer has broken. It's a Norseman, probably original from 1981 and not easy to find parts for. Anyways, I was wondering if anybody here has thoughts on the ARB or Smittybilt awnings that mount to the roof rack. A friend had one on his 4Runner and loved it for camping. He even kept it when he traded in the 4Runner, although I'm not convinced that he's gonna mount it on his Acura... he still won't sell it to me.

Any thoughts on awnings... Brand, models, installation...? I'd like one that can have walls added to make it a room in the future.

On a funny note, I've been looking at hundreds of Pathfinders on Instagram lately, and found myself totally shocked when I came outside today and realized that my roof rails do not have the "Pathfinder" written on them... If you'd asked me yesterday I'd of bet the farm that they did... I thought they all did! lol.

Friend of mine has the ARB awning on his Landcruiser. It works and looks well made.

I will eventually look at getting one too, but I may hold off, now that the new Ford Bronco is out...it's calling my name.

for whatever it's worth - i actually just finished mine... but it's a cheap diy kit.

4 bungee loops for tarps (with the plastic ball)
50ft of paracord, cut into 4 equal lengths
6x8 heavy duty 12mil tarp
2 takedown sectional tent poles
4 tent stakes

everything rolls up in the tarp and fits inside any bag that would hold a yoga mat.

one-person setup takes about 3min.

not exactly what you asked about, but it works, and costed less than $40 for everything.

adding side walls for privacy would be easy with another tarp or two, some zip ties, and a couple more bungees or bits of paracord.

not sure it helps, but just in case!

That sounds great. Can you post some pictures of your set up?

Happy to grab some pictures & post them this week.
Maybe as soon as tomorrow evening...

The rolled up "kit".
The kit rolled out.
Inside the rolled out tarp roll-up.
Bungee loops attached to roof rack.
Sagging bad because I didn't really tension the lines.
Plenty of coverage for ingress / egress from the side door if sleeping inside the truck.
It certainly isn't fancy, but it does what I need it to do.
If you wanted it to be more rigid, and didn't mind it being less compact, you could add pvc pipe to the sides and front pretty easily and it would still roll up and be able to strap it to the roof.

Pardon the sloppy pics, I just threw it together while the kids were entertained between dinner and bath time.

Awesome! thank you so much for posting!

I purchased the MaxiTrac Awning from a local auto parts store. $99.00

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/BK_MTSA ... sionRank=1