Connecting an awning

When I had a VHT (early version of Trident) I bought a freestanding, metal-framed awning which itself had a sort of porch (top flap and 2 sides) which attached to the van. The porch / flap gave protection, such that you could leave the sliding door open in rain. To attach to the gutter I used those strong metal clips which market stall traders use to attach their awnings etc.  Indeed, I bought a few from a market. I protected the van's gutter from being scratched by putting some tape over the ends of the clips.

After any excursion from site, the trick with that drive-away awning was to return the van to the precise position whereby the awning's porch would be aligned. That was easy to do: upon first arriving on site, put up the awning and attach its porch/ flap to the van. Then go to the offside of the van, armed with some string and two short metal tent pegs which, when in the ground, would be safe to drive over. At the rear wheel, insert one peg, with cord attached, into the ground next to the centre of the bottom of the tyre; do the same at the front wheel with the peg, and tie the string to that peg. When you want to leave the site temporarily, detach awning, leave pegs in ground and go away. On return, lean out of window; line up with the string; and drive along the string to stop when front wheel is just next to the peg. Perfect alignment. Keep the pegs with string attached for next site.

Cymro