Hello - we're Annie and Col Pike - welcome to our website.

If you've come looking for an amazing awning to fit your beloved A-frame (be it an Aliner, Sportsliner, Cruiseliner, Cruiser or anything else for that matter) you're in the right place. 

Designed to be simple, light, convenient and easy to put up and yet be strong, durable, inexpensive and near-as-dammit waterproof, our awning (we call it the "Aifa" for short!) is specifically made to fit your van.

And we have a wide range of great colours for you to choose from.

"Aifa" Awning has side pieces built in for privacy or protection. Just clip one or both of them up when you want to enjoy the view.

Covering virtually the entire length of your van body, "Aifa" is over 2 metres wide. That's a lot of shade

We have two options for attaching it to the van:
The first uses the standard one and a half tracks usually fitted by avan. With this option, we provide a "flapover" fitted with three anchor points. Thin cord (not provided) can be used to easily fasten the flapover to the latch on the other side of the van thus making the awning very secure. This option is the easiest and requires no modification to the van.

The second is to extend the sailtrack on the rear roof to full length. This option makes setup and teardown easier and provides better weatherproofing. Our design for the extended track includes a short, easily removable piece (it slides in and out) so the track extension doesn't prevent use of the canvas annex when desired. It's a "best of both worlds" approach which an increasing number of customers are adopting. It's also a good selling point that the van is able to support both canvas annex and lightweight awning. We've also developed a special aluminium bracket to assist with relocating the bungee mount. (Removable section and bracket available if required - no charge)

Here is a downloadable file containing detailed instructions for installing or extending sailtracks - Installing Sailtracks.

Gas struts? Not a problem! Importantly for us, and many others who have installed gas struts to assist with roof raising and lowering, "Aifa" does not interfere with, or preclude using, gas struts.

Aifa tucks away neatly using almost no space!

Here's the sequence to put it up:

1. Insert first fibreglass rod into channel of awning and push both up the sailtrack.
2. Insert second rod into end of right hand awning channel and into sailtrack.
3. As you push rod up, it pulls awning into sailtrack securing it.
4. If you're using the flapover, secure the ropes on the opposite side roof latch - no need to pull hard.
5. Then it's just poles and guy ropes as normal. (When not in use, the rods live in the sailtracks.)

As proof that putting up our awning doesn't need height, strength or age, here's a quick demo of our heroine, young Claire, putting our awning up for us. It's worth noting that she is eight (just) and had never seen either the van or the awning before. She gets the sides up in about a minute, then it's just poles and guy ropes!!   Demo

How do we compare with a gazebo? Easy, there is no comparison! The Aifa:

• weighs less than a tenth of a gazebo;
• takes a tiny fraction of the space;
• can be put up by an 8 year old girl rather than 2 adults;
• is quicker to put up and take down;
• directs rain water AWAY from the van, not towards it like a gazebo does; and
• will stand up to much stronger winds than a gazebo (many parks are now banning gazebos for that reason).

"Aifa"  might be lightweight (actually, it's only about 2kg), but it's a serious piece of kit, made with care from the very best materials to a great design. Don't leave it up in a cyclone - you might never see your van again!!  Here's a short video demonstrating that "lightweight" doesn't mean "flimsy" - a 3 inch strip of material is happily supporting almost 200kgs!! Video

 We've been asked about its UV rating by people with sensitive skin. The best answer I give is the shadow is as dark as the van's and you can't see the sun through it on a sunny day!

What's that you say? You already have a fully enclosed, heavyweight canvas, top-of-the-range annexe worth thousands of dollars? No problem. This is the one you use when you don't want to set up the big one!