Speaking of Awnings..

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Seon

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Aug 30, 2011
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405
Location
Lake Camanche, CA
Saw parked on the side of a busy Interstate Hwy a MH with the awning frame all twisted up and the fabric blowing in the wind.  I'm thinking the frame worked loose or wasn't secured properly. 

On my MH I screwed a webbing strap to the roof then it wraps around the awning and the bitter end is attached with a Side Squeeze Buckle.  This will keep the awning in place while driving down the road.

So who else secure their awning to prevent it from accidentally opening?


https://static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/4TLP4_AS01?$mdmain$
 
I wrap a "gear tie" around each arm of my manual awning. This mainly to stop rattling as mine don't lock in place as well as I like. But before I started doing it I could see some large gaps between them (in my passenger side mirror) as I went down the highway...I know the roller is locked pretty securely (since it is a pain to unlock) but better safe than sorry.
 
Even with the arms locked, it's possible for the wind to get under the awning and turn the roller tube enough for the fabric to unfurl. Once it starts to go, there isn't anything that is going to stop it if you are traveling at 55-60 mph.  A cross wind or quartering wind seems the most likely to cause this, but there are only ad hoc reports reports, not really reliable observations in most cases.

Obviously a weakened roller lock makes that more likely, and it's difficult to tell just from flipping the lock ever when you deploy the awning. The little pawl inside can get chewed up or simply worm enough to make less contact.

I lost one in a sleet storm with a 4 year old coach (it was September!). A wicked wind came across the hill country near Yellowstone and grabbed the awning fabric right off the coach. The arms never budged. Froze my ___ off trying to grab the fabric and get it tied down enough to continue to our next campground!
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
Even with the arms locked, it's possible for the wind to get under the awning and turn the roller tube enough for the fabric to unfurl.

Gary, I have an awning lock which I purchased and is on my to-do list before my next trip. Do you think this would have prevented the issue you had?
 
Just so I understand, is this a problem that occurs with manual awnings only?  Or are electric awnings susceptible to to the same hazards of unrolling?  Does the motor being engaged help to keep it from unfurling off the roller?  We haven?t had a problem, but an ounce of prevention....
 
Does the weather shield that some awnings have seem to make a difference? 
I put a couple of velcro tie straps around the arms of mine, just because I've heard so many horror stories.
 
Gary, I have an awning lock which I purchased and is on my to-do list before my next trip. Do you think this would have prevented the issue you had?

What type of lock? The arms on mine never moved - the roller tube brake just overwhelmed and the fabric unrolled.
Just so I understand, is this a problem that occurs with manual awnings only?

There is nothing inherent that makes it a manual-only problem, but I personally have not heard of an electric getting damaged that way.

Does the weather shield that some awnings have seem to make a difference?
Maybe - there is no real way to know without collecting statistics, which nobody has done.
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
What type of lock? The arms on mine never moved - the roller tube brake just overwhelmed and the fabric unrolled.


This is the product I purchased. I believe it addresses what happened to you but wanted to be sure
 
You might also routinely check the screws that hold the awnings to the RV.  Recently, while at Fleetwood for the fourth time to correct and re-correct problems, while on a test drive, the awning over the dinette/lounge slide out fell down in the front as the screws had come out.  Fortunately we were only doing about 25 mph, so there was no damage to the awning or the paint.  The technician put in larger screws and Loctite  to re-secure the awning.  Was leaving the next day, and had it happened then, I would have been traveling over 60 mph, and had some sever damage at my expense as I am no longer under warranty.
 
Sun2Retire said:
This is the product I purchased. I believe it addresses what happened to you but wanted to be sure
I also just purchased that lock.  I now realize that you need a awning rod to engage and disengage it but since I have an electric awning that did not come with the coach.  I know that I can fabricate something but knowing that others have encountered this problem I thought I would ask for ideas first.  I have not yet installed the lock - saving that for a warm day.  Also if anybody has had any particular problems with the lock feel free to chime in.  Thanks.

Bill
 
Sun2Retire said:
This is the product I purchased. I believe it addresses what happened to you but wanted to be sure

I checked youtube but didn't see any "How install" video.  So has anyone installed one that can share their install?
 
Seon said:
I checked youtube but didn't see any "How install" video.  So has anyone installed one that can share their install?

Have not installed mine yet but it comes with pretty straightforward instructions.  I do wish he had did a step by step on YouTube. 

Bill
 
Bill N said:
I also just purchased that lock.  I now realize that you need a awning rod to engage and disengage it but since I have an electric awning that did not come with the coach.  I know that I can fabricate something but knowing that others have encountered this problem I thought I would ask for ideas first.  I have not yet installed the lock - saving that for a warm day.  Also if anybody has had any particular problems with the lock feel free to chime in.  Thanks.

Bill

I was at an estate sale a couple of months ago and there were like 5 of those awning rods...$1/each.  The people selling had no idea what they were until I told them.
 
Old_Crow said:
I was at an estate sale a couple of months ago and there were like 5 of those awning rods...$1/each.  The people selling had no idea what they were until I told them.

A park we were at a couple of years ago had 8 or 10 used awning rods in a bucket at $2 each. They were "leftovers" that campers had left behind on their sites over the years. I picked one up as a spare.
 
Check to see if your awning has screws holding the end caps on.  They tend to loosen and if they pop out, you will have a real problem.  I took mine out, one at a time, and reinstalled using high strength thread locker.  I recheck the tightness regularly.
 

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