We are going to use a Prostor 600 awning on this van a 4m with silver case
The brackets for the Mercedes Sprinter need to be bolted through the roof so we need to get this in position now as we are nearly ready to put the interior roof boards in. Once the roof is up we will not be able get access to the under side of the bolts.
Prostor sell a specially designed bracket kit to fit the Prostor 600 Awning to a Mercedes Sprinter, although they are specially designed kits, it does not fit quite as well as their Ducato kits so we have deviated form the instructions slightly
We have spoken to Prostor regarding their instructions, at present they do not intend to make any changes but hopefully some amendments will be made in the near future. (Having said that the kits are great quality, but instructions needs a little work)
In the kit you get 3 brackets (2 x large and 1 small) with a selection of bolts and screws, you need to position these brackets evenly. The front bracket we have positioned 300mm from the front of the awning case, the back bracket again 300mm form the back of awning case and the middle smaller bracket as close to centre as possible. (You many need to move slightly left or right in order to miss the vans strengthening ribs but as close this as possible would be ideal)
There is a void between the brackets and the gully on the van roof. Prostor supply rubber pads to fill this void, as there is a a curve to the van at the front brackets we only need 1 pad, at the rear we need to double up these pads. The intention is to position these pads in that void and bolt through the bracket, through the rubber pads & through the steel of the van, the idea being these pads will stop any potential leaks.
At this stage it is crucial that you make sure all the bracket are level if they are not it cause problems opening and closing the awnings as it become under tension.
So we have the brackets into position, we have cut the pads to size and thickness, we have checked that where we will be drilling there are not ribs in the way, so we pre drill the brackets, the pads then the roof. We then drill the larger correct size hole for the bolts supplied. Once we have these drilled we remove everything. Clean up to make sure there are not metal shards form the drilling and the area is clean, apply Wurth Bond & Seal under the pads, apply more Wurth bond and seal on top of the pads, apply more to to brackets itself then place into position. Finally before putting the bolts through we have added 1 more circle of Wurth Bond & Seal to where the bolt head will be sitting. We then drop the bolts through the holes and tighten up from the under side.
This does seem a little excessive however with this being a heavy item sat on these brackets there is the potential for these brackets to leak so we want to protect against this at this stage.
We then repeat this procedure for the other 2 brackets
Once your sealant has had time to set (Advise 24-48 hours) then get a friend to help you place the awning into position onto the brackets. These simply hang on the brackets, and then the additional fixing plate at the rear stop the awning from coming off the brackets
