Replied to your PM, but will reply here as well. Yes, I'd attach the awning bracket with the inner skins off-- that way you'll be able to put a backing plate on and distribute the point loads better. One other advantage to this that I did not mention in the PM is that with the inner skin removed, you'll be able to buck-rivet the backing plate, rather than using Olympic rivets as I did for the patch that I put on the outside.

I'd say that if you're using a backing plate, a frontside patch isn't really necessary, unless you have some old holes that you're trying to hide.

Please let me know if you have any questions, I'm really enjoying your thread and your progress.

Best,
-Marcus

Do you know if I should install the brackets for my awning, while I have the interior skins off. I recall reading somehwere that it was smart to do so. Just wondering.
Andrew