How to make a pop-up camper awning on a budget

Look Out for More Pictures to Come and a YouTube Tutorial!

How to make a pop-up camper awning on a budget

When I bought my pop-up, it didn’t come with the awning. The owner before me said he had taken it off and couldn’t remember where he had placed it, but said the poles were all there. So, I tried to come up with an idea of how I might be able to use the poles provided and obtain a large tarp to replace the awning fabric. After coming up with a plan, I needed to put it together and do a trial-and-error analysis. Reasoning well our Kansas winds can be brutal and could blow down the awning quickly. Well, guess what, after a little tweaking it worked, and here is what I found out. I have found it lasts up to 30 MPH which is kind of scary for a pop-up camper.
Since I was already redoing other items in the camper, I wanted to make sure I stuck to a budget of no more than $50. I spent no more than $20 on this DIY project. I had found a good deal on items or had some things lying around the garage. If you were to do this, I would expect to spend around $30-$50. Here is what I had to work with when creating this awning. If you don’t have them, don’t frit you can purchase this as well.

A Problem!

Well first, it comes out that I was missing 2 key components. The rod that is connects the awning and poles that are sewn together and the awning bag that attaches to the camper. This is attached to the railing on top of my camper. Without this, I won’t be able to attach it to the camper without some thinking and planning involved.
I came up with more questions than answers. For example: Did I want to use a tarp or awning fabric? What color or tarp do want? What size of the tarp should I use? Do I want it attached to a railing or drill into my camper? But after drawing a plan and thinking about a budget I needed to use what I have. Therefore, I decided to use my existing railing and poles.

The Awning!

After walking into a new Orscheln Home & Farm store, I happened to find a large white tarp for $9.99. This bad boy was massive! A 10′ X 16′ HEAVY DUTY PREMIUM WHITE POLY TARP. Perfect size for the width of 10’ but 16’ was too long. So, I bought it anyway and brought it home to see if I could cut or fold the tarp in half. I didn’t want to cut it, so I folded it in half, and it was a perfect size, 8’! I noticed folding the tarp made it more secure to withstand the crazy Kansas winds. But how to connect it to the pole?

Connecting the awning to the poles

I had 3 awning poles but only needed 2. Two of them had a sharp pin on them that connected to the awning with two small hooks at the bottom to connect to the ground using stakes. I figured I needed something light but sturdy to connect the poles at the top. The poles had 2 in. pins that weren’t flush, I considered cutting them off, but needed to see if I could use them for grommet holes or a way to tie down the tarp.

I looked around my garage and found an extra 10’ PVC pipe up against the wall and inserted that in the folded part and noticed that it worked perfectly. I wondered how I was going to connect the poles to the pipe. As a result, I drilled a hole through the ends of the pipe to allow the pin from the awning pole to fit. It worked now I just needed to find some way to connect the tarp to the camper.

The rail and hanging clips???

After searching online, I ran across a Pinterest picture showing a paracord and a plastic rod fitted together. It was man-made and I would have to find the items or make something similar. I wanted something stretchy. After thinking about some, the next day walking through a Walmart, I notice a container of Hyper Tough 10 Pack Canopy Tie Bungees, packed in a Plastic Jar. I cared that they came with a plastic ball to hold the tarp into place, after all, I was doubling the tarp and it needed to hold 2 grommets instead of one. This was for extra strength against the winds. The ball was large enough to not fit through the grommets. Excellent!!! Later that night I pulled out the container a noticed that the black bungee cord was too long. As a result, I decided to cut the bungee cord in half and replace it back in the black ball provided. Now it was a perfect size, but how will it fit in the railing?
While at a Bomgaars, I found a bag of 3 steel rods. They were small enough to fit into the track of the old awning camper. I bought 2 packages with 6 steel rods and now have 2 steel rods leftover in case I lose one or one break.
I started to assemble the hanging hooks by slipping the steel rod onto the bungee cords, that I previously cut smaller then reattaching the black ball. I made four hanging clips for my tarp. I figured since I only have 4 grommets on the 10’ side my tarp would be sufficient to hold the tarp to the old awning tracks.

Assembling it

I slipped the hanging clips I made through the awning grommets (Remember I had 2 grommets from folding the tarp in half.) Once all four were on the tarp, I began slipping the hanging clips onto the preexisting railing, one by one. Yes!!! It worked.
Once now with the tarp connected to the camper, I put the 10’ PVC pipe on the other end. I lifted the pipe and added one pole at a time into the holes I created.

I could now stack the poles to the ground or lay them on the camper. I decided that I was going to put the poles on the camper at an angle. I notice that the side camper lights were high enough and even to the floor. I laid them on top of the lights, this stretched on the bungee just a bit and gave it some stability.

Side Note:

With the wind being 18 MPH that day I decide to use two extra-long bungees on each side of the PVC pipe and attached the bottom of the trailer. This allowed more strength to awning poles.
On a previous trip to Cheney Lake, the wind was over 25 MPH, and I was parked West to East. At this point, the awning was moving side to side when a big gust of would come. I added 2 paracords to the top of the camper awning following the camper. This allowed the awning to stay in one place and not sway back and forth.

Storing it

With a long piece of PVC pipe being able to fit on the top of the camper. With the same hanging clips, I rolled up the tarp up to the camper railing and used the remaining black bungee cords to tie up the awning. I also put on a bungee cord in the holes of the PVC pipe where the poles fit and twisted it to wrap around the tarp. This bad boy wasn’t going anywhere.

For a longer storage method, I just used the DIY small clips and wrapped them around the PVC pipe. This allowed the PVC pipe to stay on the top side of the camper, with no wiggle room, and the tarp folded up and put in a plastic tub.

Weather???

If it was heavily raining or really windy (higher than 40 MPH), I just removed the tarp and fold it up tied. Then I would attach the PVC onto the roof using the same hanging clips. My logic was I didn’t want water getting into the tarp or having it slip off while driving. I also didn’t like to do that on long trips just in case I hit a bump and the canvas rolls out on the highway. EEK!

All in all, this was a good DIY project and great for your budget!
Here are the items I used; Note: some items shown are not exact items but very close to what I used:
10′ X 16′ HEAVY DUTY PREMIUM WHITE POLY TARP (9’6″ X 15’6″)
$33.18

https://www.canopiesandtarps.com/white-tarp-10×16.html?msclkid=6fc536b739b71093c03c578fed5fc614&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ECI%20-%20Google%20Shopping%20-%20All%20Products&utm_term=4577679225849880&utm_content=Ad%20group%20%231

I was able to snag mine for $9.99 at Orscheln Home & Farm but I see that they no longer carry them at that store.