By Cheri Sicard
Steve, of Xplorer Steve DIY, wanted a low-cost awning for his car camper. In the video below he shows how to transform a $7 Harbor Freight tarp into an easy DIY camper awning project. This DIY shade will work for cars, SUVs, vans, and more.
Before we begin the actual project, Steve takes us on a shopping trip to Harbor Freight and points out some of the deals he found there.
Steve had a Harbor Freight coupon for the 7’ x 9’ grommeted tarp. The tarp came with a lot of great qualities:
- Reflects the sun for greater cooling
- Mold resistant
- Mildew resistant
- Rot resistant
- Weather resistant
- Rust resistant grommets
In addition to the tarp, Steve ordered poles for his awning from Amazon. He also picked up some paracord, and some inexpensive plastic stakes.
You will also need to know how to tie a tautline hitch knot for this project. Learn how here.
The actual how-to starts at 6:09 in the video.
##RVDT2186
Only one thing wrong with this setup, when he hooked his bungee cords under his fender he failed to protect the side of the car from the bungee cord ends to keep them from scratching the paint when the wind blows.
Yeah, the one time I tried to use a HF tarp to cover our trailer (one trailer ago) I neglected to do anything to protect the side from bungie slip syndrome. We got four distinct bungie lines on the side of our trailer. Grrr.
Agree, I noticed the same thing
Great hack! My shade structure uses 9×12 Aluminet that has about 90% reflectivity rating. In stead of rigid guy lines I add bungee cords to the guy lines so that in gusty winds there’s more give as the bungees stretch and retract with the wind…kind of like the palm tree in the hurricane principle. Love those poles!