The sun can turn a fun party into a burn party. Getting too much sun while you’re at the tailgate can lead to sunburns, over heating and even skin cancer. Finding shade at a tailgate has historically been all about getting under a pop up tent, but wait there is something new out there to help you keep the sun off while you’re out enjoying the next tailgating party. Meet the HatchAttach. (Updates thoughts on new edition of HatchAttach at bottom)

The HatchAttach is a tailgating umbrella that can attach to the back of your SUV hatch to give you a more portable way (than setting up a big pop up tent) to keep the sun off of you whether you’re at the tailgate, camping, hunting, or any outdoor adventure where you’ll be around your SUV.

Lets take a look at some of the specs for the HatchAttach:

-6ft diameter umbrella canopy

-Double canopy wind vent

-SPF 50 UV protection

-360° flex-tilt coil adjustment

We tested ours out on a 2019 BMW X3 with a motorized hatch and you can see all of the steps in our video below. First step, open up the hatch:) Then you’re going to put the air pump wedge at the top edge of the hatch to use this as a bumper to help support keeping the hatch open (once you add the additional weight to the hatch from the HatchAttach, it will want to close). Next up, you’ll hook the master bracket on to the U bracket on your vehicles hatch. This has the ability to also adjust the angle of where you’ll install the umbrella. Speaking of the umbrella, it’s time to open the umbrella up and then you’ll also notice what looks like a spring. This is the flex -tilt coil adjustment where you’re able to bend the pole to adjust things perfectly for your set up. Finally, hook on the stabilization straps from the umbrella to the rim of your vehicle.

During the set up on the BMW the motorized hatch started to come down when we were setting the HatchAttach up. No matter how I positioned the Air pump wedge the hatch would still come down a few inches. Other vehicle set ups yield different results.

When working the adjustments to the umbrella pole on the flex-title coil the adjustment takes some time and feels kind of ‘clunky’ at first. Once you break it in it starts to adjust more easily.

PROS: portable, easy to set up, looks great, good area of 6 feet of shade, only needs one person to set up

CONS: The air pump wedge works better on some vehicles that others, Hatch Attach won’t work on every type of vehicle (trucks)

Overall, this is a great alternative to the standard pop up tent.  If you’re looking for something different to keep the sun off the HatchAttach could be the item you keep in your vehicle, so you’re always prepared.

You can learn more and get your own by visiting HATCHATTACH

Update

Since our first review the HatchAttach made some updates with the strapping system. It can now hook on rims, or wrap around your SUV hatch for better support and stability. We have been using the HatchAttach since 2020 to help keep the sun off and it has held up well with our tailgating adventures. Below is a new short video showing the HatchAttach on an SUV and on the all-new Ford Bronco.

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We NEVER get paid to complete a review. This way we can keep it real with you! We were provided one sample to test out with the understanding of getting our honest opinions.

Written By: Luke Lorick 11/1/20 and updated 10/25/23