Well, it finally happened to me after all these years. Left the camper (awning out) with a wind forecast at 15-25 mph. When we got back, there was the awning flapping in the breeze. Apparently, the wind got it, flew it up onto the roof and then back down. In the process, it broke the rear expandable arm and tore the upper connection from the side. It also cracked the forward upper connection and cracked the forward arm. Fortunately, there was no damage to the roof and vents. Only had a scratch on the wheel skirting. (Alpenlite). Other than the upper arms, all other awning parts were OK. Lucky for us, there was an RV tech in the park whose specialty is awning installation and repair. He had two new awning arms and we repaired the awning. Had to move the rear attachment up because the fiberglass was cracked. Turned out that was a good thing because the new aft attachment is screwed into the metal frame. The old aft attachment was only screwed into the fiberglass sidewall. That might explain why ours was the only awning that was damaged in the park.
MORAL: Retract the awning if you will be away from the coach or if high winds or thunderstorms are forecast and/or invest in a couple of motorcycle tiedown straps and a couple of those auger type dog tiedowns and attach the straps to the awning and the dog tiedowns.
MORAL: Retract the awning if you will be away from the coach or if high winds or thunderstorms are forecast and/or invest in a couple of motorcycle tiedown straps and a couple of those auger type dog tiedowns and attach the straps to the awning and the dog tiedowns.
