The Bush Company 180 XT MAX Awning

180 XT MAX: freestanding 180° awning with 8.53m² of seamless shade

The 180 XT MAX is our largest 180° awning: 8.53m² of shade across a 5.84m span, running straight down the side of your 4WD, ute or wagon. There are no poles and no seam overhead, and one person can set it up in under 30 seconds: unzip the bag, swing the arms out, then secure the tension straps on the outer arms to the vehicle to tension the canvas.

That’s room for a full camp kitchen with prep space, six or more people out of the sun, swags laid end to end, or enough cover to work on the vehicle in the rain.

Why choose a 180° awning

A 180° awning keeps the back of the vehicle completely clear. There’s no wrap-around arc crowding barn doors, a lift-up or drop-down tailgate, or a canopy door, so a slide-out kitchen or drop-down table at the rear stays fully usable. If you’d rather have shade wrapped round the rear as well, see our 270° awnings.

Setting up a base camp? Run two 180 XT MAX awnings, one either side of a trailer or canopy, and the whole site is covered.

One panel. No seam over your head.

Most awnings are stitched together from several canvas panels, and every stitch line is a place water can find its way through. The 180 XT MAX awning is cut from a single ultra-wide panel of 315gsm acrylic-treated polyester ripstop canvas, made on a wide loom, so there is no seam above you at all. The only stitching is where the canvas meets the frame sleeves: wet the awning down before its first trip so the core-spun thread swells and seals those stitch holes.

The canvas is tested to a waterhead of more than 1000mm (ISO 811:1981) and treated against UV, mould and mildew, for tropical downpours on the way up the Cape and long seasons of Australian sun.

Truly freestanding, rated to 50km/h

Two fully trussed arms sit at 90° to the vehicle at each end, fully gusseted for maximum strength. The front and rear arms fold out parallel to the vehicle and are reinforced aluminium with a honeycomb cross-section along their full length, for torsional strength without extra weight.

The result is open, pole-free space underneath. There’s nothing to trip over in the dark, nothing to re-peg when you move the chairs, and no trouble setting up on rock shelf, sand or hard-packed gravel where pegs won’t bite. It’s rated to 50km/h freestanding and to over 90km/h when poled, guyed and pegged down securely. Guy ropes and pegs are included.

Stainless steel headstocks: where the strength starts

The front and rear sections pivot on stainless steel heavy-duty headstocks that retain the stainless steel hinge pin shafts for the arms. The headstocks carry the full load of the open awning into the vehicle mounts, so this is where an awning’s strength is won or lost. Stainless steel resists corrosion from salt spray, keeps the arms swinging freely through dust and corrugations, and holds its shape under load.

The rest of the hardware is built to match: B-Tech^® Alloy powder-coated aluminium extrusions, double-stitched seams and reinforced stress points at every attachment. Where the ends of the arms attach to the canvas, the canvas is triple-reinforced for additional strength, because that is where most awnings fail. It’s also why the 180 XT MAX doesn’t need Velcro loops stitched into the canvas along the length of the arms: weaker awnings, with inferior construction and canvas, rely on them to stop the canvas tearing itself apart. It’s made for salt spray on coastal runs, fine desert dust and long days on corrugations.

The heavy-duty PVC awning bag is UV and heat stabilised and generously sized, so the canvas goes back in easily even when it’s wet or dusty.

Fitting it to your vehicle

The 180 XT MAX comes with three height adjustable heavy-duty stainless steel L brackets. An L bracket must be mounted to the stainless steel headstock at each end of the awning, so you need at least 1.8m between those two mounting points on your rack, canopy or load bars. The third bracket is only needed when mounting to load bars or a roof rack, not a rooftop tent, and normally goes towards the centre of the awning. Packed, it’s 2300mm long × 230mm high, and the frame is 170mm wide.

It weighs 26.5kg. As with any roof-mounted gear, add up the awning, brackets, rack and anything else you carry up top, and confirm the total sits within your vehicle’s dynamic roof load rating.

Running a Bush Company rooftop tent? The optional Awning-to-Tent brackets mount the awning straight to an AX27, LX27 Gen 2, TX27 or TX27 MAX rooftop tent for a low, tidy roofline.

Add walls when you need them

A 50mm strip of genuine Velcro^® brand loop runs the entire length of the valance around the outside edge of the awning. It’s rated to hold 3kg per 50mm length, so it’s ideal for securing awning walls. Using Velcro rather than a zip along the awning also means there’s no zip to rub against the canvas when the awning is packed tightly away in transit. Add the 180 XT MAX Wall Kit for a fully enclosed room with somewhere dry to cook when the weather closes in, or start with one canvas wall or mesh wall as a windbreak or privacy screen. The single walls have full-length YKK spiral zips on both sides, so you can zip canvas and mesh walls together to increase coverage as required.

Usage guidance

• In windy conditions, use the supplied guy ropes and pegs on the non-trussed arms to prevent upward movement.
• In heavy rain, run guy ropes off 1-tonne webbing straps between the arms to shed water and reduce the risk of pooling.
• Lubricate the hinge pins in the headstocks regularly to keep the arms moving freely, especially if you use the awning often in salty coastal conditions.
• Don’t leave it up in snow: the weight stretches the canvas.
• Wet the canvas down thoroughly before first use.