Like many climbers, I spent a not-insignificant percentage of my teens and early twenties living in my car—an era of my life that, now that it’s over, I still feel almost constant nostalgia for. So I was pretty psyched when, in late 2019, my work went remote and my partner, dog, and I bought a van and hit the road, aiming to sidle from climbing area to climbing area in one endless workcation.
But even used vans with dented doors are expensive. And building out the interior—which requires wood, solar panels, a battery, a mattress, plumbing, a stove, a butcherblock, a fridge, windows, and lots of time—guzzled up our savings and maxed out our credit cards. So we skimped on a few of the luxuries that your Instafamous #vanlifer wouldn’t be caught dead without—things like a heater, a bug net, a fan that actually works, and (my topic here) an awning.
For two years, we lived with whatever the elements threw at us. In the winter we froze. In the summer we baked. When the sun was low in the sky, we blinked through the glare of our computer screens. When it rained, we shut the windows and steamed ourselves inside the van. When there were mosquitos, we drowned ourselves in DEET. It was still infinitely cushier than my first road-tripping vehicle, a Honda Element with a plywood bed in the back, but we humans grow rapidly accustomed to what we have and are easily covetous of what we lack: namely, in my case, one of those big mechanical awnings you see on the sides of $100,000 Sprinter vans that effectively double your livable square footage.
That’s why I was particularly excited by the opportunity to test out the MoonShade—a well-built, reasonably affordable, and highly versatile vehicular awning meant for both vans and cars.
One of the best things about the MoonShade is that it’s not just designed to work on different parts of the car, in different environments—it’s also compatible with a wide array of vehicle types. The MoonShade’s awning is 7’ x 9’. It can be erected with either side attached to the vehicle: i.e., you can connect the 7’ side to your car or the 9’ side. You can also mount it on the side of your vehicle or the rear.
The awning is held in place by two anchor points (see detailed options below) mounted to your vehicle and supported by two vertical aluminum poles (they adjust from 78in to 96in). In windy conditions, it can also be staked down—just as you would a tent.
Setting up the MoonShade was easy and intuitive—but if you find yourself confused, Moon has thorough setup tutorials on their website.
The MoonShade comes with multiple attachment options—some permanent, some not, which is convenient because I wasn’t personally enthused about the idea of affixing a semi-permanent anchor to my vehicle when I wasn’t yet sure how much I was going to like (and therefore use) the product. But more importantly, the fact that there are multiple attachment options means that you can attach it to myriad vehicles.
Here are the options:
Because it’s designed for use on multiple vehicles, the MoonShade’s support poles extend vertically, allowing you to customize how high the shade actually sits. This is great if you’ve got both a low-slung hatchback and a high-roof ProMaster, as I do, since I can use the same shade on both. But I did find that when extended to their maximum height of 96 inches (8 feet), the poles lost some of their rigidity and tended to rattle distractingly in the wind. I also found it somewhat annoying that you couldn’t stake down the vertical poles themselves, since they tended to wander and bounce when the wind lifted the dome-shaped awning. (The poles have rubber feet, a bit like you’d find on a cane, rather than a sharp tip that can penetrate the soil.)
Ingeniously, however, if you’re parked on rocky ground (or in a parking lot) and can’t stake down your awning, you can affix the small suction cups (the ones I typically use to attach the awning to the roof of my van) to the vertical support poles, which you then mount to the side of your vehicle.
The only problem with this system is that, if it’s at all windy, I really need the suction cups top of my van—which means I can’t attach them to its sides. This grievance is easily solved, however: You could install one of the more permanent attachments or simply buy a second pair of small suction cups ($15).
All in all, I’m impressed with the MoonShade’s durability. The 420D ripstop polyester (with UV protective treatment) withstood the rippling wind during several long and blustery weekends of testing, and all the connection points held up admirably. No rips. No fraying. But Moon’s emphasis on lightweight materials comes at a cost: As noted above, I did have one of my vertical support poles bend when the magnet released during what was honestly a pretty mild gust. And I broke one of my guyline stakes when it hit a rock while I was pounding it into some otherwise only mildly firm ground.
A dang solid product. I wish I had a MoonShade in my youth and am glad I have one now.
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