Darche Eclipse 270 Awning Gen 2

G'day Andrew,

The official Darche weight is listed as 23kg, in reality it is a few kilos heavier at around 27.5kg.

G'day Steph,

Darche have had a small percentage of issues with the water ingress into the awning bags so they haven't changed anything about the design of the Awning. If you get an awning and it has this issue it would be best to submit a warranty claim and Darche would be able to assess and replace the bag if necessary. 

G'day Kevin,

Yep, the Eclipse Retreat does extend out on an angle further from the awning.  This is to maximise space efficiency, especially if being used with walls.
If you check out the Eclipse Retreat page here, you'll be able to see a range of photos that demonstrate the shape & how it fits with the 270 awning.
Hope that helps!

G'day Gwen,

You will need to consider the dimensions of your caravan and attachment points. It may be best to contact a professional fitter of Darche products such as TJM or Opposite Lock for the best advice on installing this on your Caravan PopTop.

G'day Alex,

The storm flap on this awning is permanently in place for this one, it helps any water run off so it doesn't get into the transit bag. This one can't be removed and changed. 

G'day Paul,

We don't I'm sorry.  Most awnings should still be able to be mounted to the roof rack system underneath the rooftop tent with their original brackets.
Darche used to do them but they're no longer listed on their website - I'd give them a call and see if they still have any available or if there's a suitable alternative
https://darche.com.au/contact-us/

G'day Molly,

Good question, one of the team has measured these up for you.
The dimensions are 23H x 7.5W x 15.5D cm 

Hope that helps!

G'day Blanche,

We're not overly familiar with the ARB Base Rack mounting system sorry, Hermie, it looks like it has a side mount dovetail system on the newest racks rather than channels. None of the awnings we sell come equipped with brackets specifically for this, so you'd probably need to find out if ARB has something suitable.  Looks like they have some generic adapter plates, etc but they could tell you the best option for this awning.

G'day Matt,

At this point in time, we're still getting customer feedback that the awning bags do let water in when it rains. We've not had any feedback from Darche that they have plans to change the bag design at this stage, however it might be worth a call to them to give your feedback. We do pass on feedback from our customer reviews about this issue, so would hope they take note for future production.

G'day Darren,

We've had this question before so will pop the answer below:

"Generally, you won't be able to fully open the rear lift-back style doors with this awning. I have seen people modify the awning attachments to raise it up a little higher to provide some more clearance, however, the rear aluminium bar of the awning runs parallel to the rear of the vehicle so generally isn't compatible with lift-back style doors."

The canopy glass options tend to work abit better that the top half lift back doors, but you just may not be able to open it up the full extension.  You should be able to get enough lift to have clear access to the cab though.

The awning has to be set up in for 270 configuration, there isnt the option to only open in up 2/3 of the way unfortunately.
Alot of people in your situation opt for a 180 awning for the side of the car, and then a second standard pull out rear awning to go over the back. 
It is extra costs with having to purchase 2 awnings, but it does give you abit more flexibility.

G'day Jordan,

To safely distribute the load of this awning, and to ensure adequate support of the backing plate, you'll need to use all three bracket mounts. The rule of thumb is that you should not have an unsecured length greater than 600mm, which for an awning of this size, isn't possible with two racks/brackets in use.

G'day Derek,

You can see the fixings kit in the 9th product image online, including the brackets.
Ultimately this is suitable for round bar racks or platforms, straight out of the box, but these may work depending on the size of your box tube rails.  If not, I reckon your best bet would be picking up Stainless Square U Bolts.  There are 3 brackets required to install the awning due to its weight, so you'd need 6 in total (2 per bracket).

A max of 600mm overhang each end is correct, so with your 1200mm rack, you'd ideally have your mounting brackets fitted to the awning at 500mm, 1100mm & 1700mm.

Hope that helps!

G'day Max,

The Eclipse 180 & 270 awnings require all three brackets to be installed, with no less than 50cm spacing between them, & no more than 60cm of awning over hang on each end (eg, from outside brackets to awning end)
If your dual cab has a platform or 3 bar roof rack system that can meet those requirements then you should be fine.  

G'day Brad,

We're not 100% sure sorry!  The awning comes with U bolts which look like they would work with the OCAM rack, but we dont know anyone with this platform/havent heard feedback from any customers who've given it a crack.
I reckon your best bet here is to contact OCAM directly & they'll let you know if there are any considerations you'll need to make.
The awning requires all 3 brackets to be installed, with no more than 60cm of unsecured length on either end - so the minimum distance between brackets 1 & 3 is would be 130cm.

G'day Brendan,

No, the awning has to be installed correctly on appropriate roof racks or platforms, as will the rooftop tent.
The awning does not attach to the rooftop tent itself.

G'day Col,

As far as I'm aware, yes, but you'll need to grab a few sets of the Channel Bolts.
We don't have any of the team with a platform rack and 270 awning here to be 100% sure, so we do encourage you to triple check with Rhino Rack before you go ahead.

G'day Josh,

As far as I'm aware this doesn't come with a wind rating as it's not a free-standing awning.
It needs poles & guy ropes pegged out at all times...to assist your awning in poor weather, make sure to orient your vehicle side against the wind wherever possible, pick up some trace springs to chuck on the end of your guy ropes, and consider walls for the awning - these help to keep it anchored down.

G'day Craig,

It will, but depending on which type of roof racks you have you may need to pick up some extra Channel Bolts from Darche.
We don't currently have any in stock, but you can find them here - you would need 3 packs, or 6 bolts in total:
https://darche.com.au/product/view/289

G'day Matt,

Generally barn doors suit this awning a little better than lift back styles. Depending on how you mount it, you may have the clearance to open the doors without any trouble, however, there is a range of factors that will impact this. If there isn't enough clearance you may have to grab some different brackets from a roof rack supplier.

Hi Brian,

I agree there is some feedback out there about people having issues with their bag and performance in wet weather, it doesnt seem to be a consistant thing though and majority of people are happy.  We are aware that if you do happen to have issues with the waterproofness of your bag you can contact Darche and they will be able to provide a solutions.
In terms of the bag being too small, that's basically down to the attention and care when packing the awning up.  If you're not packing it up well, its not going to fit.  It can take some getting used to to nail the pack up well, but once you nail it you cant go wrong.

G'day Colin,

You probably wouldn't set the awning up with your tow hitched, its primarily designed to be set up when you are set up a camp or off somewhere for a day trip.
Some people choose to mount the awning to their van instead, alternatively you could look at a 180, or a large pull out awning which should both allow you to set up whilst still hitched.

G'day Danny,

Great question! They're not actually as the awning isn't symmetrical, and the Walls have to have an inside and outside for seams and waterproofing.
When you head to pages for each wall set, you'll need to choose a Drivers or Passengers side option.

G'day Rick,

Theoretically, this is possible, however, you'll want to make sure that the awning has enough room to fully extend out, and for the poles to be able to clear the camper and support the awning.

G'day Todd,

The awning has to be physically mounted to the Tub Rack itself, it cant be attached to the RTT.
You may need an additional fixings kit to do this, these are usually available from your rack manufacturer.

G'day Jacinta,

It's not something we'd recommend attempting, as you might damage your tent and/or awning in the process. The 270 awning is designed to be mounted directly to a roof rack using the supplied brackets, if you're wanting to customise mounting, we'd recommend reaching out to your local 4WD accessory fitter for safe ways to do this.

G'day Harry,

From a quick google search, it looks like it's possible for the Darche Eclipse 270 Awning to be mounted to a Jayco Pod Sport, however, you'll need to get in touch with your local roof rack specialist.
The brackets that come with the awning are for standard roof racks and its likely you'll need additional fitting or customer brackets. As we're not actually qualified to provide installation advice, the Roof Rack Specialist will be across all the legalities of securing loads on unique set ups.

G'day Keith,

Darche 270 Awning walls attach to the awning using zippers that run along the underside of the awning.
Each wall set also has a zipper connection vertically that starts at the top and zips down towards the ground.

G'day William,

I've checked with our gurus, and this awning comes with 6 guy ropes

G'day Kristeen,

I've just checked this one with Ben from the video, and he said at the time of filming the weight was correct. Darche has made a few changes to the awning since then, and the current weight provided by Darche is 21.8kg. 
The physical box that your awning is shipped in has a stated net weight for the complete awning, including brackets, etc, as 23.4kg.

G'day Jake,

We've double-checked this one with Darche before, and the maximum pole length is 2.5m, so you should just be fine with a 2.4m roof rack. One thing to note is that awning walls are designed to be used at a maximum height of 2.3m, so you might need to make some adjustments there.

G'day Mark,

Generally, you won't be able to fully open the rear lift-back style doors with this awning. I have seen people modify the awning attachments to raise it up a little higher to provide some more clearance, however, the rear aluminium bar of the awning runs parallel to the rear of the vehicle so generally isn't compatible with lift-back style doors.

G'day Rob,

Darche doesn't explicitly say you can't use two, however, we would advise against this. They do specify that the unsecured length of each side of the awning or the distance between the ends of the awning and the supplied brackets should not be greater than 600mm. Distances greater than these may cause excessive vibration through the awning resulting in the potential failure of fixings. So in summary, I'd say stick with all 3 as they supply 3 brackets.

G'day Nick,

You might be able to angle it down a little with some custom made brackets, however, I don't think you'll be able to angle it down far enough for the poles and walls to meet the ground.

G'day Nick,

Darche doesn't have an explicit list of compatible roof racks, however, if you have a look at the image with the bracket kit you'll see that there are a few options for attaching the L brackets to your roof racks. They're fairly universal and will work with most roof rack styles and shapes.

G'day Luke,

Yes, you can fit an Eclipse 270 Awning to a van with no worries at all. You'll just need roof racks for the awning brackets to slide into.

G'day Anthony,

Generally, you won't be able to use these on a dual cab that has no canopy as the un-secured awning length will be too long. Darche indicates that you must not have more than 60cm of unsecured length at either end, so if you set up your roof racks as far apart as possible and measure the distance between you should be able to work out whether it will suit your set up or not. 

Hi Duncan,

I honestly couldn't recommend one over the other, sorry, they are both top quality awnings. A few thoughts on their differences below though.

I always look for lightweight items to strap to my 4WD, the 23Zero Awning wins out here, but only just. The Darche awning, however, has been in the market for longer so it's been tried and tested more times over. 

Probably the biggest difference is the rear section whereby the 23Zero omits one rafter at the expense of coverage to cater for lift up tailgates. The Darche option has an extra rafter here which provides extra coverage but some tailgates may collide with the frame.

It's also worth checking out the differences in the wall kits to see if there is anything that best suits your needs/wants. If all else fails, the 23Zero awning comes at a pretty good price point, so if you're not brand biased then you'll save yourself a few dollars here.

I hope that helps.

G'day Carlie,

We don't currently have one of these on display at Brendale. The aluminium arms are 2m long so you'll get just under 2m of coverage from the back of the aluminium backing plate. 

G'day Ben,

Depending on the size and shape of the wear holes we think the Coghlans Tent Repair Kit will probably be the best option. It comes with some canvas pieces, canvas cement and cotton thread.

G'day Tina,

At this point in time, Darche doesn't make an external awning tent that can be attached to the 270 Awning. You can however attach 3 different wall options to enclose the area under the awning, or opt for the under awning Darche Eclipse Retreat.

G'day Alan,

The Eclipse 270 Awning isn't designed to be set up and left in its freestanding mode, this is really just to aid in the setting up process. Darche recommends that it is always set up with the poles and ropes. Check out the Setup and pack away video on our website for more details.

Hi Kayden, The Gen 2 Eclipse now has a new aluminum hinge system that is hinged from both ends, a stronger 320gsm poly/cotton grid ripstop canvas, and new lightweight box tube alloy rafters.

G'day Abs,

Unfortunately there isn't anything that attches to the 270 Eclipse, but it is a very common question!  The 2m Extender is going to work the best with most sides of the awning, and as its free standing it should but up nicely against the edge.  Whilst theres nothing to connect the two, it may be something you can get knocked up custom by a canvas or awning specialist.

G'day Janine,

There's not an 'off shelf' installation solution for you, it definately can be attached to your pop top, but you'll need to employ a little improvisation and DIY.

We've got a video you can check out here, that runs through the installation process on a few different set ups.  That should give you a good idea of how it's going to need to attach to your Pop Top, and what sort of considerations you'll have to make.

G'day David,

The mounting kit supplied with the Eclipse 270 Awning will generally fit direct to most roof rack channels. If you have a look at the final image (with an orange background) you'll see what it comes with. You'll also need to ensure that your roof rack and roof load rating will allow for the full weight of the awning. Our suggestion would be to get a roof rack specialist to mount it if you're not sure how to safely mount the awning to your rack. 

G'day Kelvin,

Darche doesn't actually give the 270 Awning a rain load rating but they have integrated a few features to help prevent water pooling during wet conditions.
Primarily, the guy ropes that attach near the top of the awning, when pulled tight create small valleys in each segment of the awning to allow water to run off the outside.
As long as you take precautions and string out all the guy ropes if you know foul weather is on the way, you should be just fine.

G'day Will,

The 3 poles on the Darche Eclipse 270 Awning are pivoting poles with spigot bases. There are purpose drilled holes along each rafter should you wish to add extra poles. Hopefully that clears it up!

G'day Matt,

Yes, the 3 extra poles have balls on the ground end and spigots on the awning end.  The ball ends give the pole and anchor point on the ground to stop the base of the pole from slipping. This is the only way they could design it to have space for the poles storage. They may have previously done these with a flat bottom.

G'day Andrew,

You should be able to attach the Darche Eclipse 270 Awning to a trailer of suitable height. You'll obviously just need to find a way to suitably mount to the top of the trailer.

These awnings come complete with mounting brackets to suit most commercially available steel basket and flat rack roof systems Steve. I'm not familiar with the Rhino Pioneer platform, it's not something we sell sorry. If your rack has M8(or similar) channels for accessories, then it is likely that the brackets that come with the Eclipse will be compatible. You may just need to get a couple of suitable nuts & bolts to suit your roof rack specifically.

It's not uncommon that every awning set-up would require some level of customisation of modification of the brackets to fit is with the dimensions and constraints of each vehicle set-up. I know when I set mine up (different brands altogether) I had to but a couple of rated M8 nuts and bolts and drill out the holes in the brackets a little to make it fit.

G'day Cory,

We've not actually tried this ourselves so we can't say for sure. We don't think it would work all that well though. You'd probably have some issues with getting everything to pack away inside the cover. 

G'day Jacob,

No such luck, I'm sorry mate! The Darche Eclipse 270 Awning has a zip on the end to attach any extensions on, it doesn't have a sail track. 

G'day Kayla,

We've had a bit of a look at the Darche Eclipse 270 Awning for you and would recommend that it be set up as the full 270 degrees when you use it. The way it sets up means that if you only folded it out to 180 degrees, you'd have a sagging section that could damage your awning and that's not what we want for you if you're going to invest the money in such a great product!

G'day Ryan,

I've just spoken with Darche and while they haven't specified anything, their recommendation is to ensure both outer brackets are mounted no further than 45cm in from the end of the awning.  With a total awning length of 220cm, this means that the minimum distance between the 2 outer brackets will be 130cm, and with the middle bracket in the centre, the minimum spacing between all 3 is 65cm.

G'day Tom,

No UV Protection Rating has been provided by Darche for the Eclipse 270 Awning, so I am unable to answer your question directly. However, the fabric is 320gsm poly cotton ripstop canvas which is a pretty thick fabric, and depending on the sun even goes as far as to block light coming through.

G'day Ed,

The distance between the two tracks on the back of the Darche Eclipse 270 Awning mounting plate (i.e. the track that the bolt head slides into) is 112mm.