The future is so bright, I gotta sit in the shade...

Angus, one of the guys from the Cape Town fishing forum, and I got talking the other day about how hot it was on the beach and how we should look at making up some sort of shade for the camping chairs.

I went one better...

I'd been shopping with mother in Longbeach Mall in the morning and had tried a couple of places for tent guy ropes and pegs, maybe even a small shade, but no-one had anything. Thinking I would have to go to the "other side of the mountain", I left it at that for a while.

I am also in the process of making an oak table and after I'd finished laminating some planks, had some time to kill. In the corner of the gargae, there was a camping chair that had broken at the plastic joints which, to fix, I took a couple of pieces of 2mm cable and crimps and fixed the chair. I now have a kewl fishing chair.

I also noticed that I still had our old gazebo which, during a camping trip to Morgans Bay, had had a couple of poles broken by a very strong NE wind. Next to that was something I thought I had got rid of a while ago...the Rally Tent from my old caravan.

Needless to say, my mind went into overdrive and in almost no time, I had come up with this solution to the heat...

The Rally Tent wraps perfectly around the canopy and back end of the Mazda-rati, with the tie down ropes looping perfectly around the rear bumper to keep it taught. With the rear window of the canopy open, it holds the canvas in perfect position. Taking three of the old poles from the gazebo, and a few lengths of nylon rope, I rigged the Rally Tent, caravan-style and this is what I came up with.

This is the prototype and now I just have to test it in a strong Cape Doctor...