I'm currently using a small easy up and it's one where I can set it up all by myself. So other than pulling it out of the trailer and or van it works well.
It appears I'm going to be moving back to a pick up and of course this got me thinking that perhaps I should install an awning on my enclosed trailer.
For those of you who have done that what are the pros and cons?
We had them on a couple of our trailers - brand was Carefree of Colorado, IIRC, and looking at their site the model was the Fiesta. They're not immune to wind and since they're attached to the trailer, you can't always put it exactly where you want it. They can be a little fussy to extend by yourself - at least, the non-powered ones can be.
They were decent when someone who knew what they were doing worked with them and they'd been freshly lubricated. They have fewer legs than easy ups so there's more clear area underneath, although I don't recall just how far out from the trailer they went. We did have customers walk into the arms occasionally.
We had various problems with cast aluminum parts breaking and general stiction. I had to do a few roadside fixes to them. We eventually pulled them off the trailers, threw them away and now we use actual E-Z Up brand easy ups with weights. They're a lot less effort to maintain if you're not using them constantly.
I don't own one, but from observing other people using them I agree with Keith about the usability tradeoffs. Also, unless you have a really big trailer, the protection they offer is inconveniently shaped for race cars. You can't really get the whole car under it, and if you squeeze in as close as you can now you can't access the tires or open the door very far.
I had an EZ-up brand canopy, but the wind destroyed it at the Utah enduro last year (we had it set up to provide shade in the pits). I have since replaced it with a beefier (but a bit heavier) unit from https://actionsportscanopies.com. The 10x15 that they offer is pretty much ideal for a single race car, but I went with a 10x10 because it would fit in the storage area I had in my trailer.
how big of a trailer are we talking?
The biggest two reasons I didn't get one was (A): I need it for karting, and trailers are side-to-side on race weekends. I can't use an adjacent spot without paying for it. (B) was horror stories about them flying off on the interstate. Given A, B was not helping. If A went away, B wouldn't be enough to dissuade me.
I currently use a medium popup (10x15), and it works great. A little more cumbersome to set up but much sturdier and it covers my stuff + car.
How many times a year will you use these ?
How long are you leaving these up ?
The 2-3 day events I do it gets pretty windy in the afternoon ,
real EZ-UP commercial grade are expensive but very good
Eurmax commercial grade is also used by lots of daily flea market sellers.
Well that pretty much solves it.
I will stick with the EZ-Up for all the reasons listed.
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