Yakima Slim Shady – Awesome Roof Mounted Awning

The Slim Shady from Yakima is an awesome roof rack mountable awning. It deploys quickly to give protection from the sun and weather. Packs up nicely into a weather proof pouch.  Pretty nice!

Roof mounted awning

My wife and I are getting more and more into “overlanding light” or “glamping” and an awning was on our wish list.  After meeting with Yakima at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market 2019.  I was intrigued with the Slim Shady.  I had seen some of our Roofnest friends rocking this awning as well.  So, my interest was peaked!

Slim Shady in the Alpine with Roofnest Sparrow

How it works

The entire awning packs into a durable double zippered storage pouch that mounts onto an adjustable rack.  This rack is reversible and universal.  The package comes with a few adapters to fit a variety of crossbars.  I used it on a pair of Rocky Mounts crossbars, but I am sure it will with Thule and others as well.

All packaged up and streamlined

Looks good, does not get in the way

It actually looks pretty sleek all packaged up.  I played around with placement and found it easy as heck to install.  They even throw in a set of SKS locks to keep thieves from taking your awning.  I did not notice any additional wind noise or decrease in fuel economy on my 4Runner.  Even after doing several long highway trips.  Also worth noting, the Slim Shady stayed on the rack even after off roading.

Holds up in rain and wind

I set the awning up in a rain storm just to see how it would handle it.  Actually, I did this a few times to see how it would do!  The first time, I kept the awning as flat as possible.  This allowed the canopy to hold all the rain overnight and really push its limits.  I rolled it back up, sopping wet, after getting a few gallons of cold rain dumped on my head LOL.  Once home, I unrolled the awning and let it dry in the sun.

The next few times I was much more thoughtful and lowered the bars to create a slope.  This worked much better at keeping the rain from holding on the awning.  Dugh!  That is what I do folks, I take one for the team to test out these kind of things.  Obviously, you would want to do the same and create a bit of a slope to shed the rain as well.

Review of the Slim Shady

My wife and I (and our dogs) love this awning.  It has replaced the camp canopies we used to pack for car camping.  It comes in use very often.  Even for sun protection at the lake or outdoor events.  It mounts up really easily and does what it is supposed too.  If you do wind up getting it wet, just let it dry out when you get home.  Highly recommended!  Grab one for $300