Awning Side. Passenger or Driver?

[Estee]

It makes sense to have your awning on the passenger side as thats the side that we drive on. Easy, convenient and safe if you pull over to the kerb and want to put up the awning.

The H3 has a 5th door which swings out to the left so the logical side for a 270 degree awning would be on the right side, which leaves you ease to walk around to the back to access stuff if you leave the 5th door open.

What are your thoughts?

[jfh]

Jip, passenger side. 110 rear door opens to the right.

[Estee]

Jip, passenger side. 110 rear door opens to the right.

Yip. English design so would make sense. My fuel filler is on the left which makes more sense for left hand drive and the door opening to left makes sense for loading and unloading if you drive on the right

[Spook]

I would also go for the passenger side, because I would not like to sit in the road when ever we might decide to stop for a lunch break.

[Ama-newbie]

My thoughts are that if you drive a sensible car like an Amarok, the tailgate goes down and the canopy door goes up, so put the awning any side you damn well like...

Seriously, I would put it on the passenger side away from the road. Same reason I put my fridge on the left in case I stop along the way for a cold one... (or a snack)

[DCTheron]

Nope, right hand side because I access my fridge this side using the canopy side door, so when I jump out I don't have to walk all the way to the passenger side.

I have never felt the need for an awning to be deployed for a quick stop next to the road. Security risk as well preventing a quick getaway.

Awning can be deployed without legs, I add these to ensure no surprises with strong wind, which can potentially flip or damage it.

[Estee]

Thats kind of my leaning at this juncture DC. On the right. I have been trying to think of scenarios where I would pull up to a kerb and deploy an awning and cant think of any.

[DCTheron]

Thats kind of my leaning at this juncture DC. On the right. I have been trying to think of scenarios where I would pull up to a kerb and deploy an awning and cant think of any.

Nope, done Nam, Bots and Moz, never stopped long enough to require the awing deployed. Or if we did stop we would choose a suitable spot in shade away from the road. We never cooked a meal on the side of the road, always be prepared with either leftovers or sarmies, etc.

[Ama-newbie]

Fair enough; my inexperience is showing...

[DCTheron]

Fair enough; my inexperience is showing...

each to his own Rob. My setup require the awning on the driver side.

With the FJ for instance the rear swing door open to the left, thus here it’ll also be more practical to have the awning on the driver side.

[Spiceman]

Right hand side makes sense in your case or you need to exchange the Hummer for Jap scrap to break even wrt the V8 like a LC200 or a Patrol. Then you can put it on the left hand side.

[Peter Connan]

Because of the way I built my RTT i had to put my awning on the driver's side.

I have never felt it to be a handicap. If there's enough room to open the awning, there's also enough room to turn around.

I have only used it next to tar roads a couple of times, when stopping and actually cooking brunch (bacon and eggs), in the baking Karoo sun in December. I usually only stop in an area with enough space that I can pull well off the road. Don't feel the need to become a statistic (again).

[mikeml]

When I built my canopy for my Defender PUP, I had the fridge slide on the right, directly accessible through the rh side doors. I did this on purpose not to be too far away from the driver's side, within quick reach of the vehicle controls such as ignition, handbrake etc. My back door hinged along the roof line, so was out of the way when open.

Naturally my awning went on this side as well, as this also became the kitchen area. This worked really well.

When I designed our camper, the builder said that the entrance should be away from the road, ie on the LHS. The reason was that when you stop at the side of the road that you don't step into the traffic when exiting the camper.

Luckily this is not law (yet) so I had him make the access door on the RHS, pointing out that we never park that close to the road traffic in any case, and that it's no more dangerous exiting the rear camper than me exiting the cab from the driver's position. This has worked well for us.

We also help out with HAM radio coms on various events, and it is just so much practical to set up your table on the rhs, with quick access to the vehicle controls.

[Toccata (Roelof)]

Mine is on the left, also based on the initial side of being away from the road side if you pull off.
But secondly, the narrower back seat is on the left as well, and the seat has been taken out and an Engel fridge mounted in its place. So left works for us.

We don't use it that often, though.

[Estee]

Thanks guys, I think the right side will be the side. This will allow me to have the 5th door open (where my drawer system is) without having to walk around it from the shade side.

[Sheldon93]

I put my awning on the left hand side, mostly due to all the previous reasons given namely you tend to build the left as the camp area.

However, now I'm looking at getting or making a shower cubicle (as made by alu-cab, quickpitch etc). As my awning is the full length of the Landy, I have to put it on the drivers side... My first thought was that 'oh no! now the camp side is separated from shower' however if it's serving as your shower/toilet area that works out perfect as it can give you a bit more privacy from your camping area especially if group camping. As mentioned you never stop on the side of the road and set up camp you normally drive a bit away so there is no real argument with regards to that. My point being is that nothing can tell you where to put things except experience and testing your setup. It's easy to think of things one at a time and not consider the whole/big picture especially with slower things like building up a vehicle.

[Craig Van der Poll]

Thanks guys, I think the right side will be the side. This will allow me to have the 5th door open (where my drawer system is) without having to walk around it from the shade side.

Seems like the logical option! I fitted mine on the passenger side to keep the missus side of the vehicle in shade when pitching.

I don't believe there is a right and wrong answer here rather what suites your purpose!

[Estee]

I don't believe there is a right and wrong answer here rather what suites your purpose!

Indeed. The first question a new tailor would ask me was, ''which side do you dress to sir''.

Its personal preference and individual practicality.

(PS, for those unfamiliar with tailors, your dressing side is the side of the crotch seam your wobbly bits sit)

[JohanMaree]

It makes sense to have your awning on the passenger side as thats the side that we drive on. Easy, convenient and safe if you pull over to the kerb and want to put up the awning.

The H3 has a 5th door which swings out to the left so the logical side for a 270 degree awning would be on the right side, which leaves you ease to walk around to the back to access stuff if you leave the 5th door open.

What are your thoughts?

The G-wagen's too.

So I installed the 50L Waeco behind the driver's seat and the Alucab 270 awning RH side. With the rear door open it hides wind and help with a little privacy under the awning. The vehicle layout determines the positioning.
I have never experienced a situation where I wanted the awning on the other side. We open the awning anywhere but have not tried next to a kerb.

[PierredW]

Passenger side without a doubt