Have you gone down the road of figuring out how you'll attach the awning to the roof and what you'll use for slide mechanisms?
I'm not sure the specs/limits of the promaster roof but the sprinter 170 HR is 330 pounds limit. If I do 4-5 panels I'm looking at about a 100 pounds left for mounting hardware.
I'm planning to use aluminum extrusion such as that on 8020.net with either their linear rails, or long drawer slides, or something else (still looking around). In an ideal world it would also be able to tilt (the entire sub frame, so that all panels would be in same alignment), and even better would be if it could be motorized (both the tilting and the awning) because it's pretty high up there... Then maybe I could wire an ignition disconnect or at least a blaring warning if the car starts while the panels are out
![Stick out tongue :p :p](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
I might be asking for too much given I only have 100 pounds to work with
It's obviously absolutely crucial that the panels don't fly off when in motion, so I'll probably add some sort of manual/physical lockdown of some sort and some retaining wires.
If I'm parked in Idaho for a semi permanent stay and get a foot of snow that'll be like 1200 pounds of additional weight, so there might need to be support columns.
An option that crosses my mind but probably isn't that smart is just a hinge, and flipping the panels out 180°. That seems sturdy, and might be okay for normal driving if I used bifacial panels. I'm not quite certain what the breakdown of "awning out" vs "in" time will be, I suppose if there isn't room to extend there probably won't be much in terms of solar potential either.
Anyway, would love to hear what you've come up with in terms of ideas or hardware for all that.