Topaz awning

Hi all, can anyone tell me which awning adaptor bracket kit I need for a Fiamma F45s and/or the Thule Omnistor 4900
to go onto my 2010 Topaz? Thanks

The kit that comes with the Fiamma F45s has the correct standard brackets but you will need the "blocks" from Autosleeper to bolt these onto for the correct angle of the awning, the blocks are not cheap and come out at £108 for two.

Hope this helps.

Bartlett wrote:Hi all, can anyone tell me which awning adaptor bracket kit I need for a Fiamma F45s and/or the Thule Omnistor 4900
to go onto my 2010 Topaz? Thanks

Hi
Welcome to the forum from Bridington 
Boaby

pat01 wrote:The kit that comes with the Fiamma F45s has the correct standard brackets but you will need the "blocks" from Autosleeper to bolt these onto for the correct angle of the awning, the blocks are not cheap and come out at £108 for two.

Hope this helps.

Hi
Welcome to the forum from Bridington 
Boaby

pat01 wrote:The kit that comes with the Fiamma F45s has the correct standard brackets but you will need the "blocks" from Autosleeper to bolt these onto for the correct angle of the awning, the blocks are not cheap and come out at £108 for two.

Hope this helps.

Hi pat01
Thank you very much for your reply. It sure helps, I've been going round in circles trying to find the answer.
I guess there is no other way to fix it to the roof? As you said it is a pretty steep price for 2 brackets.
Also, is the awning fixed to the actual side of the roof or to the black trim between the sliding door and the roof?
Thanks again

Nope, not the black surround. You will find that the Autosleeper blocks (yep, those expensive ones!) fit to the profile of the side of the roof above the black surround, they are shaped to fit exactly, I have the Trident, your Topaz is pretty much the same but longer.
If you go down the path of fitting the awning (mine is the Fiamma F45s) I think that you may need the blocks to do it properly.
I dare say that there may be members who might be able to say if they’ve done it differently on here but that’s how I did it.
Ps, you will also need longer coach bolts than the Fiamma supplied ones, I got mine from EBay, stainless 6m, 150 length, cost about a fiver for 4.

pat01 wrote: Nope, not the black surround. You will find that the Autosleeper blocks (yep, those expensive ones!) fit to the profile of the side of the roof above the black surround, they are shaped to fit exactly, I have the Trident, your Topaz is pretty much the same but longer.
If you go down the path of fitting the awning (mine is the Fiamma F45s) I think that you may need the blocks to do it properly.
I dare say that there may be members who might be able to say if they’ve done it differently on here but that’s how I did it.
Ps, you will also need longer coach bolts than the Fiamma supplied ones, I got mine from EBay, stainless 6m, 150 length, cost about a fiver for 4

I think you're right.I will bite the bullet and get the proper blocks. Many thanks for your insight. 

From memory, Fiamma do a range of blocks/brackets for mounting the F45.    Try googling "Fiamma awning mounting"    OR
could a skilful woodworker make suitable profiles to fit your van contours .

Hi, just reading this thread about fitting F45S awning to the Topaz. I am about to do the same. I have just purchased the two wedges to fit to the hi top. Looking internally I am now wondering how the bolts are to be fitted through the hi top. I have the T6 so no small windows at high level. I am wondering if it’s a case of taking the high level panel off, then there is a void behind it which gives access to tighten the bolts. If so has anyone had the panel off, and how do you get it off?

Hi all,

Recently changed from a T4 Topaz to a T5 Topaz that came with out a Fiamma Awning fitted. Having looked at how and were the Aning was fitted in the T4 expected this to be fairly straightforward.

It's turning out not to be !!

The fiamma came with the 3 standard flat mounting brackets when offered up to Topaz high top sitting just above black side trim. The existing square coach bolt holes are very close to the swage line in the fibreglass high top roof.

And it appears due to curvature of Black trim only two brackets can be fitted.

T4 trim was level and 3 brackets were fitted.

My neighbour has a T5 with Fiamma fitted so we removed his Awning to see how brackets had been fitted.

It appears holes had been drilled in mounting 
Plates lower down but we also found front bracket loose that was very strange.

We replaced bolts and out a packet behind bracket to give clearance on awning from roof that it was fouling in the middle due to roof profile bulging out in middle.

Still a bit in dark as to correct mounting position has anyone successful fitted one themselves and did you remove trim to do this.

Any info would be great.

Thanks

Hello there, I can't reply to your PM as I have not fulfilled the criteria as I've not posted enough on here, oh well!

If you read the original post, I can't deviate much from that other than to say that the Topaz is the long wheelbase Volkswagen Transporter and the Trident is the shorter one, this may be the thing about the slightly longer roof and the third bracket?

Anyway to enlighten the subject further, I did this job in an afternoon (nice weather) on my todd apart from a helper to do the 2 person task of lifting the awning onto the brackets (heavy piece of kit, that awning!).

I have had a Toyota Hiace camper (grey import from Japan) and this had the awning bolted directly to the roof so it's probably possible but Fiamma don't recommend, this is why I went down the path of doing as per the book.

It's a bit of a Dockyard job and a bit of patience is needed, when you drill through the blocks and into the van side wall the insulation will keep winding around the drill bit, the bolts will need to be longer than you think so that you can get a bite on washers/nuts, after tightening up (with the backing plates (Fiamma with awning kit supplied), tighten up and the clip off the ends with bolt croppers, you can then use the tidy white covers over the nuts/bolts.

Once the job's done, stand back and admire, until it rains and you realise that there is a gap between the awning and van! Yup get onto EBay or the place where you got the awning and order the rain strip (Fiamma part), 2.5m for Trident maybe a bit longer if a Topaz with a longer awning?

It's abit fiddly but if you use the actual slot in the awning itself and push the rubber all the way along, you can tuck the bottom edge behind the black roof surround, trim off a couple inches of the strip to align with the end of the awning and you're done.

Probably the best/most useful addition to your camper van you can make, rain/sun protection.

Anyway, that's my twopence worth, happy to answer any further questions if needed (no I don't work for Fiamma!)  

Ok, to add after reading your dit above.

Black surround trim does not have to be removed! The awning sits approx an inch and a half above this.

T4 is a different beast (I had one) T5 blocks/brackets are probably needed due to curvature of the roof.

The mounting blocks from Autosleeper fit the exact profile of the side wall/roof, the Fiamma brackets are mounted on these, I used Sikaflex to stick the brackets onto the blocks the drilled them, placed them in position against the sidewall/roof and drilled through, pushed the bolts through and connected the other side with the backing plate/washer/nuts.

Use lots of Sikaflex or similar to weatherproof!

We have had several panel vans and only one had an awning on it which we removed and stored as we are always moving on so the fiamma was really just extra baggage.
True it will be handy should one spend time on a site though up here with the wind & weather we found it to be more of a nuisance than a help! Though everyone to their own way.
fredric

Many thanks to those that replied to my request for info on fitting a Fiamma to T5 topaz.

Being not too far from Autosleepers I popped down to see if they had any info they could provide me with. I was quite lucky and manage to speak to a technician who was there when they built them.

I was told that they put reinforcement blocks in as I suspected to support the awning and managed to take a picture of a drawing more a sketch of the location positions. 

I also purchased a pair of the very expensive mounting blocks that are tapered to set the the awning at the correct vertical angle.

These blocks are fibre glass and shaped to locate in the detail groove on the fibreglass roof.

You would think armed with all this it should be a simple job, the sketch seemed to pose more questioned than it answered and the mounting block profile fit to the roof for the price was very poor.

Not being able to accurately determine the mounting position, I completely stripped out the van quite a big job, but glad I did. I found the front reinforcing blocks these are 2 x 12mm plywood blocks 100mm x 230mm that are stuck to the fibreglass presumable with sikaflex. 

Obviously when you drill through from the outside these blocks spread the load, to get at the rear mounting position I had to remove the rear upper cupboard this comes out as a complete assemble.

Removing this I discovered that no rear reinforcement plywood blocks had been fitted!! 

I assume if the build spec did not list a Fiamma it was a bit hit and miss as too if they were installed its not like you would notice.

In the process of bonding some plywood blocks in place.

I will provide some pictures and further info as it may help others when completed.

I have just removed my awning, on my Topaz, didn`t use it, suppose to take it in when wet or windy, defeats the object in my book, I find it much better without it, can clean out the gutter easier on the near side, but each to their own. rarely stop on a site for more than one day as travel around .