Shade Side Attachment

Hello!  I 've been selling my watercolor paintings at art market for almost 9 years in the New Orleans area. I've always used an EZ Up tent and love my Encore II, just replaced the canopy on my reliable three year old tent.

But I would really like to extend the shade, and have tried to use the attachment EZ Up includes, which is two 18" rods that go into holes on the frame, and a flimsy strip of nylon that barely reaches to slide onto the rods, which then tends to bow downward. Woefully inadequate design --- are there any inventive solutions out there, something I can buy or make that will work much better and provide extra shade? Let me hear from you --- daylight's burnin'!

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  • Glad to know I'm not the only one with this same issue.  I'll be following this to learn if there is a better solution.
  • Here's what I use for the shade behind the tent. Depending on location I can go as far back as 6 or 7 feet. The key part is the corner braces which cost $6.60 on ebay, located at http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-4-HD-Steel-Flat-Corner-AFGF3-/38021418654...,

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    The rest of the cost can be on the cheap or it can get a little more pricey. You could use fixed length 3/4 inch EMT electrical conduit tubing which is dirt cheap and comes in 10 foot lengths for around $4 each. If you can carry the 10 footer, or at least one of them in your vehicle, that one will be the cross piece. I use painter poles for the legs beacuse I can adjust them for different heights, and three more poles for the horizontal poles to support the back flap as a roof; one down the middle to keep the top from sagging and of course two for the sides. That's a total of 5 painter poles. I use a bungee or zip ties ran through the holes in the ends of the poles to secure them to the tent frame.

     

    If it is just the front awning you need extendeded, the poles can be zip tied inside your tent to the scissor struts and laid across the top of the botom strut, and extended outwards about 4 to 5 more feet if needed. A 12 foot painter poles can be used for the  cross bar and another pole needs to be ran underneath the overhang to take care of the sag. There is a cheaper way to do it using this flat elbow,  http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-4-HD-Steel-Elbow-AFGFL-/380214186512?pt=L...,

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    To really keep the price down on the front awning, use two of the elbows, a 10 foot long or slightly trimmed pole, and a couple of poles cut to 7 or 8 feet long which will be tied inside the tent frame resting on the lower strut and then tied down somewhere further back in the frame. That will get you an awning for under $20 using your front sidewall. Just use several clamps to keep the tarp stretched taut and not sagging.

     

    If you have trouble carrying long poles, the company makes a splice connector that will join two pieces together. This should give you enough information to get something going.

    • Dear Robert,

      Hi, thank you for the great ideas and advice! Using electrical conduit tubing will definitely help cut the cost. I think that I'd like to replicate the shade attachment here at EZUp4U, using four of those flat elbows (which will be most of my cost) and strapping it to the tent legs. Their design makes use of one of the tent walls, which I like, because if weather shows up I can pull it off the shade frame and drop the wall in place. I'm concerned a splice connector for two 5' lengths might weaken it, but I can strap a 10' length on to my truck. I would definitely not be using this on windy days, just for shade on sunny days (which we have a lot of here in Louisiana).

      • On reflection I may opt for using 3/4" pvc due to weight and transport ease. Will update this thread as creation develops!
        • Make sure the outside diameters are the same, and keep in mind the PVC pipe is much more flexible. I would be concerned that a wind gust might break the PVC pipe. The metal pipe is strong enough that tents are made from it.
  • I've learned to zip up all the side panels and attach the front shade before staking down the feet and setting anchors. Allows some 'play' in the structure to get everything to fit/reach.

     

    I used clamps to tighten up the shade panel, but you're right, it's a pretty inadequate design. I started using the front wall panel instead. Folded halfway up and used separate tent poles to hold it out like an awning. Great for shade, lousy in the wind.

    • Thanks, Leslie! That's a good use of one of the walls, but I'm wondering about the tent poles. I need something stable that can't fall or be knocked over by a customer, and some shows don't allow stakes or poles in the ground due to sprinkler systems. What I'd like to find is a stronger, wider version of the EZ Up accessory that attaches to the tent frame.

      • I searched high and low to find an awning (had the poles) and finally found one.  I was so disappointed when I tried it out the first time and it dipped like that.  I'll be following this too.

         

        • I've been searching online and have found two so far. First one offered by Canopies By Fred, which looks well made (but I think the scalloped edges are hokey), is $64. Another is sold by Van Raalte & Co./EZUP4U.com, here. It makes use of the tent's sidewall, folded double, and is $69. I showed them to my husband and he seemed to think if we bought all the materials to make it, the cost would be the same. True or false? I'm on a budget here.
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