Fiamma Awning - Installation on Roof Bars

I had been debating between an ARB and a Fiamma F45s awning for a long time, but finally decided on the Fiamma. The main reason was ease of use. I didn't want to be deterred out of laziness from setting it up. I debated using the rain gutters to mount it, but none of the attachments I found were designed specifically for the Delica and I didn't like where the supports landed on the van. I also felt like it would not work with my roof rack.

I looked around a lot for posts/images of a decent roof rack install for the Fiamma awning, but never found anything, so here's what I did.

The best option I found for the Fiamma awning is GoWesty's Roof Rack Awning Brackets ($40) which will also mount the ARB. Although, for the ARB awning, these brackets look way cleaner from VanagonLife.

The Fiamma comes with brackets made to mount straight into a wall (of an RV). GoWesty recommends that you do not use the brackets that come with the Fiamma and that you drill new holes in your Fiamma awning and through the L bracket (not using the pre-drilled holes) to very cumbersomely hang your awning. Turns out the pre-drilled holes for the GoWesty brackets match perfectly the Fiamma brackets, so I mounted the Fiamma brackets straight to the GoWesty brackets. I put a piece of rubber gasket between them to remove any rattling sound of metal on metal. I tried to find shorter bolts at my local hardware store, but they didn't have any and so I mounted with the really long ones that came with the awning. If I ever need to take this down, I'd probably replace them with shorter ones for aesthetics.

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Next, drill holes in your Thule square bars matching the GoWesty bracket holes. I did this without removing them. Bolt in your brackets to the Thule bars (the photo shows the black plastic end of the Thule awning still there, I removed this completely). Adjust the Thule bars the appropriate width as recommend by Fiamma instructions. I keep my bars pretty wide since I often carry a 15' canoe on top. I bolted the brackets to the very end of the square bar since you have to lift the awning higher than the lip that you rest the awning on. The beauty of using the brackets that come with the awning is that you can do this install by yourself. You just put the awning up there and you can adjust it before bolting it down.

Delica_AwningInstall_00004.JPG

Once you have the awning lined up, drill the small holes into the bottom of the bracket through the awning and bolt it in place.

Delica_AwningInstall_00005.JPG

I just took the van out on a 300+ mile trip with 30+ miles of forest roads and it held up great. If I were to redo it, I'd get shorter carriage bolts as I mentioned, and probably paint the brackets black to match the awning and roof bars.

Delica_AwningInstall_00007.JPG

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I had been debating between an ARB and a Fiamma F45s awning for a long time, but finally decided on the Fiamma. The main reason was ease of use. I didn't want to be deterred out of laziness from setting it up. I debated using the rain gutters to mount it, but none of the attachments I found were designed specifically for the Delica and I didn't like where the supports landed on the van. I also felt like it would not work with my roof rack.

I looked around a lot for posts/images of a decent roof rack install for the Fiamma awning, but never found anything, so here's what I did.

The best option I found for the Fiamma awning is GoWesty's Roof Rack Awning Brackets ($40) which will also mount the ARB. Although, for the ARB awning, these brackets look way cleaner from VanagonLife.

The Fiamma comes with brackets made to mount straight into a wall (of an RV). GoWesty recommends that you do not use the brackets that come with the Fiamma and that you drill new holes in your Fiamma awning and through the L bracket (not using the pre-drilled holes) to very cumbersomely hang your awning. Turns out the pre-drilled holes for the GoWesty brackets match perfectly the Fiamma brackets, so I mounted the Fiamma brackets straight to the GoWesty brackets. I put a piece of rubber gasket between them to remove any rattling sound of metal on metal. I tried to find shorter bolts at my local hardware store, but they didn't have any and so I mounted with the really long ones that came with the awning. If I ever need to take this down, I'd probably replace them with shorter ones for aesthetics.

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Next, drill holes in your Thule square bars matching the GoWesty bracket holes. I did this without removing them. Bolt in your brackets to the Thule bars (the photo shows the black plastic end of the Thule awning still there, I removed this completely). Adjust the Thule bars the appropriate width as recommend by Fiamma instructions. I keep my bars pretty wide since I often carry a 15' canoe on top. I bolted the brackets to the very end of the square bar since you have to lift the awning higher than the lip that you rest the awning on. The beauty of using the brackets that come with the awning is that you can do this install by yourself. You just put the awning up there and you can adjust it before bolting it down.

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Once you have the awning lined up, drill the small holes into the bottom of the bracket through the awning and bolt it in place.

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I just took the van out on a 300+ mile trip with 30+ miles of forest roads and it held up great. If I were to redo it, I'd get shorter carriage bolts as I mentioned, and probably paint the brackets black to match the awning and roof bars.

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Installed the Thule Super High Roof Foot pack on our Delilah (Delica), 11" Rise. At 5'8 This makes unpacking an awning more difficult, but still would like one. I like the how Go Westy's mount is under the load bar, which lowers the awning a bit. I should be able to manage that. I may try Northwesty's rain gutter brackets. I have seen one other Delica that uses them on Instagram, @wanderdustvan.
 
Installed the Thule Super High Roof Foot pack on our Delilah (Delica), 11" Rise. At 5'8 This makes unpacking an awning more difficult, but still would like one. I like the how Go Westy's mount is under the load bar, which lowers the awning a bit. I should be able to manage that. I may try Northwesty's rain gutter brackets. I have seen one other Delica that uses them on Instagram, @wanderdustvan.

Height issue was another reason why I opted for the Fiamma instead of the ARB. I really like the look of the awning mounted to the gutter, but was worried about clearance with the Thule foot pack. You might ask wanderdustvan if they are able to use the rain gutter mount with the roof rack bars attached. I noticed they had originally put their awning on the cross bars then switched to the rain gutter mount, but then took off their crossbars. The Thule Foot Pack sticks out a bit and I wasn't sure if it would be in the way for a gutter mounted awning.
 
Height issue was another reason why I opted for the Fiamma instead of the ARB. I really like the look of the awning mounted to the gutter, but was worried about clearance with the Thule foot pack. You might ask wanderdustvan if they are able to use the rain gutter mount with the roof rack bars attached. I noticed they had originally put their awning on the cross bars then switched to the rain gutter mount, but then took off their crossbars. The Thule Foot Pack sticks out a bit and I wasn't sure if it would be in the way for a gutter mounted awning.
Yes, those are my worries. But only one way to find out. I will ask Northwesty if they accept returns if it does not work out. I'm willing to eat the shipping cost. We'll see! I do like the Go Westy ARB mounts and I think that would okay. I'll be doing some more research.
 
Another reason I would like gutter mounts, I will be able to pull in my garage with the awning still attached. In order for me to park in garage now, I will have to remove roof rack which is okay but to remove roof rack and awning. Not something I want to do. Or I modify my garage opening. Lol.
 
Another reason I would like gutter mounts, I will be able to pull in my garage with the awning still attached. In order for me to park in garage now, I will have to remove roof rack which is okay but to remove roof rack and awning. Not something I want to do. Or I modify my garage opening. Lol.

Neither my wife or I noticed any extra noise. To be honest, the van isn't all that quiet so it's sort of hard to distinguish if there's more or not. I don't know how often you plan to use your roof rack, but I wouldn't want to have to take them on and off a lot, maybe I'm lazy. I just looked at my Thule bars and the circular part that you tighten them down with sticks out a couple of inches past the rain gutter. So you'd need to see if they would be in the way of the awning using the gutter mount (i.e. can you have a gutter mounted awning and the Thule bars on your van at the same time). Post photos if you get it working, I'd consider changing to the rain gutter if there's a good solution out there!
 
Our van is not a daily driver so taking the rack on and off would not be too much of an issue. All the other risks I'm aware of, just need to see if NorthWesty would be willing to return the rain gutter bracket. Gonna be tough.
 
I had been debating between an ARB and a Fiamma F45s awning for a long time, but finally decided on the Fiamma. The main reason was ease of use. I didn't want to be deterred out of laziness from setting it up. I debated using the rain gutters to mount it, but none of the attachments I found were designed specifically for the Delica and I didn't like where the supports landed on the van. I also felt like it would not work with my roof rack.

I looked around a lot for posts/images of a decent roof rack install for the Fiamma awning, but never found anything, so here's what I did.

The best option I found for the Fiamma awning is GoWesty's Roof Rack Awning Brackets ($40) which will also mount the ARB. Although, for the ARB awning, these brackets look way cleaner from VanagonLife.

The Fiamma comes with brackets made to mount straight into a wall (of an RV). GoWesty recommends that you do not use the brackets that come with the Fiamma and that you drill new holes in your Fiamma awning and through the L bracket (not using the pre-drilled holes) to very cumbersomely hang your awning. Turns out the pre-drilled holes for the GoWesty brackets match perfectly the Fiamma brackets, so I mounted the Fiamma brackets straight to the GoWesty brackets. I put a piece of rubber gasket between them to remove any rattling sound of metal on metal. I tried to find shorter bolts at my local hardware store, but they didn't have any and so I mounted with the really long ones that came with the awning. If I ever need to take this down, I'd probably replace them with shorter ones for aesthetics.

View attachment 1047

View attachment 1048

Next, drill holes in your Thule square bars matching the GoWesty bracket holes. I did this without removing them. Bolt in your brackets to the Thule bars (the photo shows the black plastic end of the Thule awning still there, I removed this completely). Adjust the Thule bars the appropriate width as recommend by Fiamma instructions. I keep my bars pretty wide since I often carry a 15' canoe on top. I bolted the brackets to the very end of the square bar since you have to lift the awning higher than the lip that you rest the awning on. The beauty of using the brackets that come with the awning is that you can do this install by yourself. You just put the awning up there and you can adjust it before bolting it down.

View attachment 1049

Once you have the awning lined up, drill the small holes into the bottom of the bracket through the awning and bolt it in place.

View attachment 1050

I just took the van out on a 300+ mile trip with 30+ miles of forest roads and it held up great. If I were to redo it, I'd get shorter carriage bolts as I mentioned, and probably paint the brackets black to match the awning and roof bars.

View attachment 1051

View attachment 1052[/QUOTE
Damn, those white Delica's look good!
 
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