We’ve been wanting to get a sun shade for our awning for some time now. We looked at them at the Tampa RV Show, where we liked the 2-piece versions that we saw, but they were pretty expensive.
When we heard that Beasley Manufacturing has the fabric and all the supplies needed to make the sun shade, we decided we could give it a try. They also make them there, and we could have ordered an 18’ x 7.5’ sun shade for $135, which was a lot less than they were at the RV Show. After seeing one, though, we were convinced that it was a fairly simple project. We were able to buy the fabric (18’ x 8.5’), grommet kit, and splice (for attaching the top portion to the awning roller) for just over $70.
Yesterday afternoon, Tom and I took my sewing machine up to the recreation building, where they have long tables, and sewed the splice into the top section of fabric. That turned out to be a little bit of a challenge . . . Tom thought it was too loose if we sewed it with the splice in place, so we first sewed a seam on the bottom and attempted to feed the splice through. It was too tight, though, so that didn’t work. After spending quite a bit of time fighting with it, I finally gave up and said “I’m just going to sew another seam on the other side of the fabric with the splice in place.” That worked much better!
Today, Tom and the boys installed the grommets used to attach the two sections of sun shade together.
The last step was to add some grommets to the bottom to use to stake the sun shade out . . . but first we had to take a break to watch a new neighbor squeeze into the site next to us.
It was definitely a tight fit!
After our little break, it was time to get back to work.
Bryce marked the locations for the last few grommets,
and with a few taps of the hammer, we were done!
The last step was to install it. Once we got the splice and fabric started into the track, it fed through pretty quickly. Luckily, we only have to do this once!
If we don’t need the full sun shade, we can use the grommets to hang our patio lights, and if we do need it, it’s easy to attach with S-hooks.
We just need to pick up a few more S-hooks! Another project well done!
