RV FEATURE
The Ground Dog screw in pegs with winged collars do an excellent job of securing the anchor plate .
Outback Tracks designed the special ‘ Ground Dog screw in pegs ’. They taper , and this helps each Ground Dog screw in peg to bite firmly into the soil . It was just a matter of fitting one winged collar to each Ground Dog screw in peg , fitting the supplied socket to my portable drill , and screwing each Ground Dog screw in peg through the two holes in each anchor plate . With both anchor plates fitted to the legs , firmly attached to the ground by the Ground Dog screw in pegs and winged collars , my friends let go and the awning felt rock-solid . The strong gusts of wind only made the canvas flap about – the legs didn ’ t move an inch . Brilliant !
Turning my attention to the tiedown straps , I removed the anchor plates from the awning legs , and fitted the legs back inside the clasps on the van . This is an awning position many vanners , myself included , opt for as a quick and easy set-up . However , the awning remains quite vulnerable to high winds in this position .
The supplied high-vis straps simply loop around both ends of the awning barrel , with the other end anchored to the ground by a Ground Dog screw in peg with a hook collar , via one of the unique rubber safety springs . Again , my drill had no difficulty putting the Ground Dog screw in peg into the earth . Should the ground be particularly hard , you could predrill using a 12mm masonry drill bit ( not supplied ). I noticed that the safety springs developed immediate tension , too . If you ’ ve ever caught your toe on a regular steel spring at the end of a guy rope or tie-town , you ’ ll love these rubber springs . Each strap comes with a cam buckle , which gave me no difficulty , and you can neaten off any excess in the strap at the cam buckle by using the retaining clips provided .
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