Originally I was going to purchase an EZ-up canopy, but I've seen both setups at the track. What's your preference, an EZ-up or a traditional, put-together, poll canopy?

Just another in the string of trivial questions I'll be asking in the next month as I prepare for W2W.

 

EZ up works great and gets my vote.

 

EZ-Ups are alot better. You can get them pretty reasonable at Costco (Although not the EZ-Up brand) and they seem pretty sturdy.

The put together ones are nothing but a pain in the ***, although they cost less and store easier.

 

The big Easy-Ups are expensive. The big pole+tarp canopies do not.

Small tarps are nearly useless. Have to keep moving your chair as the sun crosses the sky. Big tarps = more seating room + room for car + room for junk.

 

I got a 10x10 easy-up at sports athority near christmas for $50. Not huge but big enough for my uses.

 

I would take the costco 10ftx30 over a 10x10 ez up.. But if there was a 20x10 ez up I would probably opt for that...

 

Pole here.

Replacement parts are easy to find and the tarp can be replaced if damaged.

If you get enough spare parts you can have a different sized canopy to suit your needs.

If the wind tosses it you can pick up some spare conduit and fix it up.

Cheap = good.

 

The pole canopies can be a pain in the *** to put up and take down, but they are big, cheap, and easy to repair. I bought my 10x20 for $139 at Northern and I can easily get my car, my stuff, and my crew under it. We are also able to work on the car in the rain without getting wet at all. Its almost like taking a garage to the track with you.
The poles go in a box I made and installed on the trailer, the tarp and tie downs go in a rubbermaid box. Takes up very little space this way.

10x20 EZ-ups are awesome. But they are a far cry from $139.

 

I also vote on the EZ Up. Our club has the pole type and it takes 10-15 minutes for us to put it up (10x20 foot).

My EZ Up goes up in 1 minute with two people. About 2-3 minutes by myself. And I feel the EZ Up takes up less room in my car and weighs less.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CivicSiRacer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">weighs less.</TD></TR></TABLE>

You know your a racer when the weight of your canopy is important!

 

Yeah I was originally thinking EZ-up because I was autocrossing almost exclusively, but now that I'm in the process of getting into club racing, I was thinking that the time it takes to put one of those poll things together wouldn't be as much of an issue.

I've had a traditional poll design canopy, and it was a pain because the polls seemed to get dented and bent pretty easily. But it is easy to get replacement polls for this?

What about when the weather starts to get rough, are either of these two options better for withstanding wind/rain?

Thanks for everyone's input.

 

I think maybe some of these autocross guys are referring to the 8x8 and 10x10 EZ-ups, which as you probably know just don't cut it from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon at the track.
I have an old 10x10 ez-up (the blue one) from my autocross days and it doesn't even cover the whole car. You definately can't get the car AND people under it. This doesn't work when its raining and you're in a sand paddock (VIR?) trying to replace a half shaft. You need enough canopy to cover people and car and tools.

 

Pole canopy.....not so bad once you do it a few times. Well, unless you are my wife...lol

 

I have a 10x20 pole-type with a canopy (/ not ^ ) roof. I cut the poles so the higher side is the same height as my (enclosed) trailer, and set it up next to it. I run a couple of light ratchet straps from the eye-bolts on the corners down to the trailer and pull them tight, and the canopy never moves.

 

I have both, and which one gets set up depends on where I'm at and what I'm doing there. I haven't really used either all that since buying the RV, which has a 20' awning.

Foe single days, the 10'x10' Ez-Up knock-off I bought for like $89 at Sports Authority can't be beat. Only useful though for sitting under it, and be prepared to move your chairs around to hide the sun as the day goes on. the 10'x20' EMT conduit one is much more useful, but obviously takes time to put up and take down. I can do mine by myself in about 15 minutes. The conduit poles get carried around in PVC pipe with threaded ends mounted in the trailer bed, with the brackets, bungees and tarp in a rubbermaid box. Both will do a Mary Poppins in anything more than a 2mph breeze unless well tied down. And I've seen both self destruct in windy conditions. At least with the pole one, it's readily bendable and fixable. If I was doing exclusively W2W weekends, I'd do the pole deal, though by the time you get done buying all the bits and pieces, the total will probably be over $200, which is about what I think I spent at Racer Wholesale and Home Depot in '95 for mine.

Related to canopies, make sure to have something to put down on the ground too. Whether it be a tarp, fake grass, old carpet, or some combination....Nothing like laying in dirt, or on hot pavement, while working on the car.

 

I use my spare and tool box to hold my tent down. No problems yet. Although two years ago I forgot to weigh it down and POOF EZ up on the car scratching it up bad. So I learned my lesson

But yeah I have the 10x10' and it will not fit your car AND people. BJs has the 10x20' which I'm thinking about for this year because my family has our annual beach trip and we all (30 of us) tried to fit under my 10x10'

 

http://www.caravancanopy.com

10x10 is $189 at Costco. One person operation and they come with walls also. I have two, and the guys I pit with have a total of 5 more. We're tent city.
PS. roll bar padding works as rain gutters.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by johng &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

PS. roll bar padding works as rain gutters.

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Cool!!

Now I can get my canopy "tech'd"!

 

i have the caravan one as well. Yup, comes with walls and weight bags as well as nice roller carrying case.

It is only 10x10 by 10x20 as well now. I would opt for the larger one if you are going to spend the money. EZ-up also makes the 10x20 but they are very expensive.

Pep Boys is selling Quick Shades now, $69 for a 10x10 and $99 for the 12x12. They are decent but the legs come down at an angle wich makes putting a few together a little difficult. As you can see in the tent city picture above the straight legs make it much easier to put a few right next to each other.

I have to look into the 10x20 caravan shades, definitely will buy one if I can find it.

The pole types are nice as long as you don't have to set it up or break it down in any type of weather and you have a few people to help you. If you are on your own stick with an EZ-up style canopy!

Hope that helps your decision!

Anthony Dowd

 

I had (well still have I guess) an Ez-UP Speed Shelter (believe that's it, its the one with the two high points vs. the single) that I believe was an 8x12 or 9x12. Not important. Great shelter, great convenience, pretty heavy (like 70 lbs.) but the turnbuckles broke in a gusty morning at VIR about 3 years ago. I looked for replacements for them for a month or so and couldn't find any so bought a 10x20 canopy (pole/tarp). Its nice and roomy (but I'd suggest the 3 leg per side version vs. my 4 leg per side version as you can only get one car in one way w/ the 4). The downside of the pole/tarp type is that they are very very difficult to put up yourself (especially in a tight paddock). In real high winds, I wouldn't trust any of them to stay in place .... probably have pushed my luck a few times and glad I never lost a fender

 

My daily race routine was starting to get out of hand with everything I had to do before and after the event. For me, my goal was to streamline all of that work so that I could focus on racing. The ez-up tent was one of the best purchases I made so far and it replaced a pole type tent of the same size (10x10). I would never go back at this point.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by johng &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">http://www.caravancanopy.com

10x10 is $189 at Costco. One person operation and they come with walls also. I have two, and the guys I pit with have a total of 5 more. We're tent city.
PS. roll bar padding works as rain gutters.


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Teh Caravan is what I used. I took one of the sides (that come with it) and put it up as a roof between them, to make more room. (not going to work in the rain!)

 

I have had a 10 x 20 pole style canopy (a Halliday Canopy brand, to plug a fellow Honda racer's business) for at least 10 years and have been really happy with it. I know I don't have more than $150 in it total and have I used it for many race weekends, garage sales, etc. It takes 10 minutes or less to put up or take down and is no big deal at all otehr than needing a second person to put the legs on.

Mine has gone through some major storms including the very end of a hurricane in 1997. It was Hurricane Daniel I think but it really screwed up the Carolinas an finally peetered out three or four days later of central Ohio...Mid-Ohio to be exact on a race weekend Saturday night. We had over 60 mph wind gusts and it was the only time that I ever had to take it down overnight. Lots of canpoies the next morning looked like pretzels or modern sculpture but mine was fine. I usually hold it down by taking my trailer tie downs and tying off to a small stack of race tires on each corner. The wind was so bad, it flipped up and threw two race tires over 50 feet and cleared at least three vehicles and landed in open paddock area. The ratchet strap actually was thrown through the side window of my freind's motorhome. After all that, we just took the cover off until the winds died down and put it back on good as new the next day. It was cheap, it covers well, it took a hell of a beating and is in perfect shape. I can't think of any reason not to use it. My only complaint is that the cheap ones don't have any provision for side walls.

I have never used an Easy-Up larger than a 10 x 10 simply because I was chased off by the high price but didn't care for the 10 x 10s I have used. That small size is simply unacceptably small for using as a race weekend shelter as I want to put most of my stuff, chairs and cooler and some or all of the car under it. Less than 10 x 20 is a waste of effort and money IMO.