Foxwing Verses Freds Arm

Fred's arm, we've had a Gunya awning on a homemade type fred's arm and now a Foxwing which we find we don't use near as much due to its inability to cope with any sort of wind, much harder to erect due to poles, ropes and pegs etc required so it simply doesn't get used unless stopped overnight or there is no alternative. It also has a big footprint and space is not always available to erect it especially in some camping areas.
Whereas the Gunyah was put up regularly for shade or rain protection at morning tea and lunch stops as it was totally self contained, no ropes or poles as it was all inbuilt and only occasionally requiring pegs in the footloops. It was also used just about every night.

i bought another awning for the rear $195 works well. use both side & rear for overnight stays & just the rear for lunch stops quicker & cheaper than freds arm & the foxwing is no good in wind unless its all pegged down

We've composted two Foxwings due to their inability to allow air to escape from that massive sail. Looked at Fred's arm then looked at the weight it adds to the roof load and decided two awnings was a better option

Regards

RobA

I have my awning brackets sitting in some steel tube attached to the roof racks and tied down with an occy or simple strap. I have a 2nd set of the steel tube pieces on the back of the roof rack and I can (relatively) easily shift the awning from side to back of the roof rack. Takes about a minute, no more. It obviously helps if you are tall enough to lift the awning on/off the roof rack yourself.
A lot cheaper than Fred's arm but no doubt just that little more difficult so that I don't swap it over all that often.

Hi vern,
I have a L/C with the same problem of shelter so I made my own.
I used 40mm PVC tubing, one piece on each side of the roof basket, down low for the length of the basket. At the back I have an elbow so that the pipe goes across the back of the basket but meet in the middle at the top of the basket to form a ridge for the tarp. It simply slides back and rests on the barn doors. I have 16mm tubes at the ridge and each side to support the tarp to prevent water pooling. The tarp has elastic cords and plastic hooks which hook to the door bottoms and the mudguards.
It takes about 2 minutes to erect. I should post a picture.
Ian

I have a freds arm on my 200 series and very happy with it. I understand the brackets will only fit the Black Widow Roofrack and cannot be adapted to ARB.
Better than just a rear awning because its around 2.8 meters wide and gives more shelter.
Have only read on LCool that it is easier to use than the foxwing because of its size, difficulty to erect and tendency to struggle in windy situations.
Very simple to switch from one side to the other and it adds very little weight at a little less than 6kilos.
Because of its width, I often use it when free camping putting it up when attached to the van between the back of the vehicle and fits nicely between the van, helps to keep the heat off the fridge in the back of the car.

I've got a Freds Arm fitted to a black widow rack on my 90 series Prado. Very happy with it. Only issue we had was that over an extended period when we did not use it the locking pin bound up and could not be pulled. The original tolerances were too fine. I had the socket rebored slightly larger and make sure I check the pins are free to move on a regular basis.
It is a really a two person job to set it up, but could be done by one person on a still day in a pinch.

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