Flower Pot Awning Stands??

[orangepridepopup]

I am looking for directions on how to make teh flower pot awning stands for our new to us pop up..  I know I need 2 flower pots, pvc- not sure of the size or length and some cement..is that pretty much the extint of it???Thanks again!!

[Tim5055]

Yup, that's about it

Awning base

[griffsmom]

Just to be completely informative, there is another mod that is similar, but it's not as attractive or as charming. It involves attaching a 5 or 10 lb weight to the bottom of the awning pole to weight it down. Here are the instructions, and I have tried to attach pictures as well. Just clickon the attachment to view the pictures.
 
HTH!
 
1 5 or 10 lb cast iron weight (barbell weight)
1 3/4 PVC pipe to 3/4 female thread adapter
1 3/4 galvanized closed nipple
1 3/4 conduit nut
1 aluminum pin ( I don't the name of these things)
 
The pin is about 1 1/4 long. It has a flat head on each end, one half is male threaded, the other is female. When screwed together it looks like a nail with heads on both ends.
 
Place the awning pole into the PVC adapter until it bottoms out. Drill through the adapter and pole about midway and insert the aluminum pin through the hole, screwing both halves together. Now the PVC adapter is attached to the pole. Screw the nipple into the PVC adapter, then slip the nipple through the hole of the weight. Screw the nut onto the nipple a couple of turns, that holds the weight to the pole.
 
Simple, but should do the trick. Should not cause any stubbed toes because of its low profile. I would have preferred not using the galvanized nipple and instead just used a male PVC adapter, but the male threads on the PVC adapter were too short to pass through the weight.

[rccs]

Why carry all that extra weight along just to hold the awning down?  What I use is two of the screw into the ground type dog tie out anchors and put one in next to each awning pole. Then I have a  length of nylon cord with a small s hook tied on one end which I hook into a hole on the awning front rail and tie off tightly to the dog tie out anchor. This way the anchor is tight to the awning pole so we don't trip on it and it is also fairly light weight to carry along.

[brainpause]

Why carry all that extra weight along just to hold the awning down?  

Cuz putting stuff in the ground is too much work.    What I did was overkill. I actually used carwash buckets filled with cement and a PVC pipe and eye hook in the middle. It works, and they are heavy, but it is much easier than screwing or banging something into the ground in most places we camp.

We rarely use our awning anymore anyway. Was think of taking it off the camper, but no place to put it anyway. We use our Quik-Shade instead.

Larry

[BaysideBruce]

One suggestion about the flower pots.  If you can, make sure the PVC pipe is in line with the hole in the bottom of the flower pot and that the hole in the flower pot remains open as you fill it with cement.  I made three of these for our awning and one of them, the hole is blocked.  It is amazing the amount of rain water that will collect in the PVC pipe.  Naturally I always forget about which one it is, so it always pours out onto me when we are packing up.  One of these days I will take the time and clear out that hole, but...

[tlhdoc]

Why carry all that extra weight along just to hold the awning down? What I use is two of the screw into the ground type dog tie out anchors and put one in next to each awning pole. Then I have a length of nylon cord with a small s hook tied on one end which I hook into a hole on the awning front rail and tie off tightly to the dog tie out anchor. This way the anchor is tight to the awning pole so we don't trip on it and it is also fairly light weight to carry along.

Some sites are paved.  I don't think they would like you putting holes in the asphalt or concrete.

[SkipP]

I've been giving this one a lot of thought and think there might be a decent solution that involves less weight. I intend to buy a couple of the water jugs with carrying handles and try them out for awning weights. At 8+ pounds per gallon each five gallon jug will, when full, weigh plenty enough to hold down the awning. I'm thinking a strap or bungee cord attached from the jug to the awning rail will do the trick. When empty, they will weigh less than a pound for both. As an added benifit, there will also be an outside supply of water for various uses. Another...and potentially more important benifit...is that when returning from a late-night campfire where all the worlds troubles have been resolved, kicking one of these suckers will not result in breaks, blood or bad language. Certainly not as aesthetically pleasing as flower pots but much more flexible.
 
Testing trials to begin soon.....

[Kelly]

Another...and potentially more important benifit...is that when returning from a late-night campfire where all the worlds troubles have been resolved, kicking one of these suckers will not result in breaks, blood or bad language. Certainly not as aesthetically pleasing as flower pots but much more flexible.
 
Testing trials to begin soon.....

You could begin testing in Ohio ... I'll videotape.  You are supposed to record your trials, right?  

With the old Palomino ~ I duct-taped tent stakes to the awning poles and pounded those into the ground.  (I have yet to camp on a paved site, Tracy!)

The new trailer has a Carefree of Colorado awning ... problem solved  

[brainpause]

The new trailer has a Carefree of Colorado awning ... problem solved   [/COLOR][/FONT]

There ya go! That's a good way to solve this problem!

Larry

[tlhdoc]

With the old Palomino ~ I duct-taped tent stakes to the awning poles and pounded those into the ground. (I have yet to camp on a paved site, Tracy!)

Assateague Island National Sea Shore and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake sure both have paved sites.  At Assateague I think they are paved so that they don't loose the campers into the sand and have to pull them out.

[Dwayne N]

Hey Gang,

It's been 30 years since I've camped in a PU.  We're breaking in our new to us camper in a couple of weeks and I was just wondering;

Are these ideas for the canopy supports to take the place of the support lines that double as tripping hazzards?

That's what I'm guessing, but wanted to double check.  If so, I'm thinking of casting my own decorative concrete textile blocks to dress them up a bit.  I'll let you know how that goes.

Thanks

[brainpause]

Hey Gang,

It's been 30 years since I've camped in a PU.  We're breaking in our new to us camper in a couple of weeks and I was just wondering;

Are these ideas for the canopy supports to take the place of the support lines that double as tripping hazzards?

That's what I'm guessing, but wanted to double check.  If so, I'm thinking of casting my own decorative concrete textile blocks to dress them up a bit.  I'll let you know how that goes.

Thanks

Dwayne,

Welcome to PUT!

These ideas are to make the use of the canopy easier. That is, to keep from having to drive stakes, mainly. At least in my case.

I still use the support lines, only they are hooked to an eyebolt that is in the concrete, right beside the PVC pipe. Keeps the line from blowing in the wind, and keeps the pole/canopy from jumping out of the PVC pipe, in case a big gust comes up.

Like I said before, our Quik-Shade has pretty much made our canopy obsolete anyway. Rarely take the buckets o' concrete with us anymore!

Larry

[Camping Coxes]

Man, I'm reading this thread and no one's answering her question about how to make them.  Most of the answers are the guy-engineering thing build-a-better-mousetrap type!  We're women here!  We don't get it.  I'm so confused. :eyecrazy:

So here goes, with my flower pot version:  I made three, one for each pole, because as stated previously, the ropes can be a pain and a trip hazard, sometimes we've camped at paved sites or sandy sites where you really can't nail in the stakes, and I wanted an easier way to put up the awning and not have to worry about staking, etc.
 
I went to my local home improvement store and bought the cheapest plastic pots I could find.  They were about 8-9" tall.  I bought two boxes of plaster of paris (found in the paint department) and I ended up using both boxes.  I bought a piece of PVC that the poles would fit into (take a pole with you to measure) and use the cutters there at the store to cut them just about an inch higher than the flowerpots are.  I also purchased from a craft store some colorful rocks/marbles to decorate with.
 
I put a piece of the cut PVC right in the middle of the pot, over the hole as mentioned, and my daughter held it in place.  I used a rubber spatula to scoop up the P of P (already mixed in a separate container) and poured it around the PVC piece (work quickly as it starts drying pretty fast).  I filled it to about 1 1/2" from the top.  Then we pressed the marbles into the P of P (you could use shells, silk flowers, whater you want) and let it sit in the sun to dry.  They were easy and fun and work great.  Only problem was that my daughter didn't press the marbles in very much and some came loose, so I just glued them back into their indentions in the P of P.
 
I don't worry about the added weight very much because I'm not that close to the edge on my max weight allowed.  We've not had a problem with kicking them in the night because they're not very big, as opposed to a five gallon bucket.  In the past we'd forgo even putting up the awning because it was such a pain, but the flowerpots have solved the problem.  DH loves it because the kids or I can deal with it without calling him over to figure out the ropes for us.
 
Ihope that helps.

[orangepridepopup]

Thank you all so much for the help, opinions, and ideas for doing the awning bases and even the ideas for the other unique ways to go about making them. I did have one question though..is plaster  of paris more lightweight than the cement to go in the pots?? I liked the idea too of how you decorated them..that could be alot of fun too!!!  I was thinking about putting my girls handprints in it either way and letting them help decorate- ages 1 & almost 3...lol  messy fun!!  I am going to go to Home Depot this afternoon to get my flower pots and then to Hobby Lobby to get the decoritive stuff..I'll decide while I'm at the store if I'm going to use the p of p or cement..weight isn't really an issue for us either so it comes down to what medium I want to work with..  Thanks again!!!!
OrangePridePOPUP