Caught in Micro burst in OK City this morning. Awning out!

We are in a RV park just north of downtown OK city. Rain was predicted last night, but nothing unusual. I had extended the patio awning (Paramont) to just cover the slide out. When I put the awning out, it made a high pitch "screech" while extending, but it did go out. I wanted to look at it, but figured I could do it later.

Bad idea. At about 0800 this morning we were sitting inside having coffee. The wind kicked up a little, then within seconds we were in hurricane like conditions. Along with the wind, a thunderous downpour of rain started and continued for about 5-8 minutes. We heard a flapping and looked outside to see the edges of the patio awning loosely billowing.

Trying to retract the awning was futile, it wouldn't move. A huge tree right next to the RV came crashing down, fortunately falling parallel to the rig.

When the storm let up I went up on the roof and surveyed the awning. It had rain so hard and so fast that the awning couldn't close, or shed the water. The awning fabric had sunk down to the level of the slide out, and in between each of the awning arms the patio awning had created huge "basins" of water. The only way I could think to get it off was to get a hose out of the wet bay and siphon it off, one basin at a time. It took a while, but as the basins started to empty, the spring tension on the arms began to tighten the awning fabric.

Trying to retract the awning by power made it want to extend, so I had to use a Hex Key wrench to crank it in manually. All this while the rain was threatening to start up again.

I got the awning all the way closed, but there is a chance of more heavy rain later today, so I won't be able to troubleshoot it until tomorrow. There is a possibility that the awning just has debris jammed against the roller from being parked under some trees recently. I hope so, a new awning motor is $1500, not installed

Sorry to hear that.  Something similar happened to us at Oliver Lee Memorial SP, NM this weekend.  Thankfully one strut was tweaked a little and I was able to straighten it out by hand.

Check this out:

http://www.doityourselfrv.com/repair-broken-rv-awning/

If the awning needs to have the motor replaced I'm sunk. The way that the awning is incorporated into the roof rail, it is impossible to get to without unbolting and removing the whole awning from the roof. And it's incredibly heavy, so  I would need a forklift, or at least 3 healthy techs to get it off. I'm really hoping for the easy fix.

SargeW said:

If the awning needs to have the motor replaced I'm sunk. The way that the awning is incorporated into the roof rail, it is impossible to get to without unbolting and removing the whole awning from the roof. And it's incredibly heavy, so  I would need a forklift, or at least 3 healthy techs to get it off. I'm really hoping for the easy fix.

Click to expand...

Ouch.  I'm hoping with you!

Consider yourself lucky it was only the awning.  My bro-in-law got caught in a micro burst near OK City last summer.  It ripped about 1/2 the fibreglass roof completely off his Winnebago.  This included a brand new Fantastic Fan that had been installed less than a month(which he found laying in a ditch across the road).

I checked the motor today. The awning arms and fabric are OK, but the motor is shot. I am in the process of setting up a shop in Ca to handle it for me when I get back out there next month.  Yep, it's gonna be pricey.

Pricey enough to call your insurance agent? It may be covered under your comprehensive.

Yeah, did the preliminary notification yesterday. It will be my first RV claim ever. Will see how the Hartford handles it.

Our TT is parked by a lot of very large trees, I worry a little every time there are heavy winds.
I have a friend who was rent camping and a tree came down ON HIS TENT in the middle of the night!!! Amazingly, nobody was hurt or killed because it was a large tent and it missed the 2 people in it.

As it turns out I was not alone. This could have been much worse....

www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/severe-weather-disrupts-power-flips-vehicles-in-oklahoma/ar-BBOa1ti

Omg!!!!! As expensive as it'll be, thank God it was "just" an awning!!!

Many years ago, when I was still AD AF, we fulltimed in a 5th wheel. We were living in a CG just outside San Antonio, still remember the name, Tejas Village. Heavy rain hit one night and in the morning I found the awning had collected what looked like most of the rain. I thought I could poke it with a broom and get the water to drain off the edge. The awning ripped right down the center. Called Geico and they sent an adjuster out and he wrote a check for $800 on the spot (this was 1998). The CG owner?s son said he would order and install the new awning for $800. Done deal.

The adjuster contacted me today. After a bit of a discussion making him understand what it was that was broke, it was decided that I would forward his info and claim number to the repair shop. They would send him an estimate and  then they would pay the shop for the repair, minus my deductible.  Sounds easy so far, I will see how it works out.

SargeW said:

The adjuster contacted me today. After a bit of a discussion making him understand what it was that was broke, it was decided that I would forward his info and claim number to the repair shop. They would send him an estimate and  then they would pay the shop for the repair, minus my deductible.  Sounds easy so far, I will see how it works out.

Click to expand...

That's essentially how my awning repair was handled this past summer. The mobile adjuster (if you want to call him that) was just a guy on the phone, and said that they don't have dedicated personnel for specialty situations like RV's... so they would rely on whatever the shop-of-my-choosing says. Since I was on vacation at the time and could not stay put during delays, I opted to pay the first mobile tech myself and be reimbursed after the service call. He assessed and removed the damaged awning. Insurance paid me back instantly (electronically to my checking account) once I sent in an invoice via text message photo to the adjuster, and did so again for the full amount of the shop estimate on awning replacement. At my request, I even got an extra $50 payment for the extra mileage costs to tow my trailer to/from the shop that handled the replacement.

FYI a $0 deductible on Comprehensive coverage is fairly inexpensive, and comes in really handy after damage from storms and other "act of God" situations like this.

scottydl said:

FYI a $0 deductible on Comprehensive coverage is fairly inexpensive, and comes in really handy after damage from storms and other "act of God" situations like this.

Click to expand...

Not always. The more expensive the rig, the Comp coverage goes up quite a bit. But it figures, this is my first ever comp claim in 20 years of RVing.  You play the odds, and eventually  your luck runs out.

SargeW said:

As it turns out I was not alone. This could have been much worse....

www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/severe-weather-disrupts-power-flips-vehicles-in-oklahoma/ar-BBOa1ti 

Click to expand...

Hi SargeW,

Sorry to hear about your problems. Hope the cost won't be too much out of your pocket!! The article above makes mention of four people missing and I think those are people who were at an RV Campground that got wash into the flood waters in TX.

Thanks Al, it's going to be a bit pricey. Yeah, the missing campers were in Tx. I haven't heard any further if they were ever found or not.

SargeW said:

Not always. The more expensive the rig, the Comp coverage goes up quite a bit.

Click to expand...

Good point. I have never owned an RV (or a car for that matter) worth over $20k at the time I bought it, so Comprehensive coverage has always been very affordable regardless of deductible. Although, wouldn't a replacement windshield, awning, hail-damaged body, etc. all cost the same to repair no matter the vehicle's age?

Hi Sarge and all,

I had heard they found two of them but were looking for the other two. They like to put stories on the news but don't always follow through on them. Perhaps they have nothing to report.

scottydl said:

Good point. I have never owned an RV (or a car for that matter) worth over $20k at the time I bought it, so Comprehensive coverage has always been very affordable regardless of deductible. Although, wouldn't a replacement windshield, awning, hail-damaged body, etc. all cost the same to repair no matter the vehicle's age?

Click to expand...

Not necessarily. For instance the replacement cost on just my patio awning is $5000 to $6000. A windshield is $2500. Hail damage on a full body paint vehicle would be really pricey. Just to paint a coach fresh without having to repair body damage starts at $20,000.  They build their coverage costs based on previous experience of claims.