"Flat Roof" Awnings

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JerryP

JerryP

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 18, 2013
Posts
71
Location
Virginia
I have what are called "Flat Roof" awnings on my toy hauler, that are electrically operated to extend and retract. The issue I have with these type awnings is they are so high off the ground that shade is greatly reduced in anything but a straight up sun position. I am looking at getting the shade curtains which slide into the auxiliary groove on the roller bar. My question is... When I retract the awnings, can I leave the curtains attached and allow them to roll up with the awning on the roller bar? Anyone tried or seen this done?

Thanks inadvance for your inputs.

Jerry
 
Yes you can do that, with a caveat. The material cannot be too bulky, either due to thickness or length. What constitutes "too bulky" varies with the awning mechanism and what works with, say, a Carefree may not work with a Girard or Dometic/A&E. Or even with different awning models from the same mfgr. It's basically a matter of trial and error, I think.

The successful ones I've seen only had 4-6 feet of a Sunbrella-type fabric in the roller tube slot. An additional section of shade is hooked to that when desiredand removed before rolling up.

My Carefree Eclipse has a rather weak motor and it doesn't take much at all to stop it from rolling the awning in. I've had it stall simply because a small tree branch laid across it. I haven't experimented yet, but I'm thinking it couldn't handle more than a couple feet of extra material.
 
Thanks, Gary.
I'll look for least bulky curtain I can find. 4' is the length I was looking at. I believe my awning is a Carefree, but I'm not sure of the model. I'll post my results here after my installation.

Jerry
 
I have rolled up my awning with the shade curtain attached due to inclement wind type weather. But for travel you need to remove it.. The thing will likely not roll up all the way with the shade curtain in the roller as it will add too much to the rolled up diamater.

My awning is an A&E, not a Carefree (yours is most likely a CareFree) I even hand lights and roll it up with no problem....

The lights hang from a messanger line (Cloths line) that is stretchered between the arms,,,, A couple inches inboard of the roller,, I do not think that would work well for you however. .. But I'll bet I could design a system that would.
 
Thanks John. Yeah, I would think that traveling with curtain rolled up in awning may not allow awning to roll up tight/close enough to prevent highway speed wind from introducing itself. I have lights built into the roller, so I won't need to roll any lights up..
 
Carefree now makes a product designed for this - it is called the EZ ZipBlocker. It's a 2 ft long sunscreen panel that slides into the awning slot and has a zipper that attaches an additional panel that can be staked to the ground. It's available in 10, 14 and 19 ft widths. Here's one source:

http://www.rvupgradestore.com/EZ-Zipblocker-10-X-8-p/25-8829.htm
 
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