Tying down an electric awning

[John From Detroit]

I just use a couple of ratching cargo straps with a pair of dog tie down cork screw anchors (usually) sometimes I need more anchor.

I do not worry about holding it up.  Just tying it down.. OH, and I turn OFF the wind sensor since it has never worked properly.

My awning has survived when others.. Failed.

If I know a real house shaker of a wind is due,, I will release it and retract it.. but so far it's survived when, as I said, others did not.

Two schools of anchoring.. One is toss a very long strap over BOTH arms and anchor it down  (not good)
The other is two straps, end of arm to ground (how I do it).

No poles

 

[Angelbunnie13182]

I just use a couple of ratching cargo straps with a pair of dog tie down cork screw anchors (usually) sometimes I need more anchor.

I do not worry about holding it up.  Just tying it down.. OH, and I turn OFF the wind sensor since it has never worked properly.

My awning has survived when others.. Failed.

If I know a real house shaker of a wind is due,, I will release it and retract it.. but so far it's survived when, as I said, others did not.

Two schools of anchoring.. One is toss a very long strap over BOTH arms and anchor it down  (not good)
The other is two straps, end of arm to ground (how I do it).

No poles

Do you have pictures?

 

[BruceinFL]

Hey BruceinFL,
I've actually heard the opposite of what your saying about awnings. Most people I've read about hate their electric awning. Your the first to say you want to upgrade to an electric. Why is that?

Because we hardly ever use it. It's a pain to take up and put down manually everytime we leave the camper. As I said, I have had my awning destroyed when we were away and a bad storm came up...or having to get up in the middle of the night to manually retract the thing when winds came up. I think we would use the awning much more if it were powered and easier to extend and retract.

 

[cpaulsen]

I just use a couple of ratching cargo straps with a pair of dog tie down cork screw anchors (usually) sometimes I need more anchor.

I do not worry about holding it up.  Just tying it down.. OH, and I turn OFF the wind sensor since it has never worked properly.

My awning has survived when others.. Failed.

If I know a real house shaker of a wind is due,, I will release it and retract it.. but so far it's survived when, as I said, others did not.

Two schools of anchoring.. One is toss a very long strap over BOTH arms and anchor it down  (not good)
The other is two straps, end of arm to ground (how I do it).

No poles

Why no poles?? Using my homemade poles keep the awning very stable.....not using them would make the awning drop down in a big wind then pop back up.

 

[Rene T]

I used poles and ratchet tie downs for 4 months last winter while in FL, we never had to retract the awning and we had some bad storms at times. My poles are made from telescoping poles used in swimming pools. Once the poles are adjusted, I install a pin into a series of holes I drilled to keep the poles from collapsing. I also used a real good set of screw in anchors purchased at Home Depot to anchor the ratchet straps. They're much better than the one's you would you for a dog. Lowe's also sells them. They're orange in color and one's screwed into the ground, they're flush with the ground.

 

[Oscar Mike]

Because we hardly ever use it. It's a pain to take up and put down manually everytime we leave the camper. As I said, I have had my awning destroyed when we were away and a bad storm came up...or having to get up in the middle of the night to manually retract the thing when winds came up. I think we would use the awning much more if it were powered and easier to extend and retract.

I use my electric awning often, push a button and it opens, push a button and it closes. It is very convenient to "make shade" without the hassle of a manual awning... I never have to leave the awning open even if we will only be away for a short time.

 

[Angelbunnie13182]

I use my electric awning often, push a button and it opens, push a button and it closes. It is very convenient to "make shade" without the hassle of a manual awning... I never have to leave the awning open even if we will only be away for a short time.

Won't that run the motor out if your doing that constantly? That would be my worry. Plus hubby doesn't think its pointful to have an awning that is retracted so often. "We have it out to use it" he says....

 

[Angelbunnie13182]

I used poles and ratchet tie downs for 4 months last winter while in FL, we never had to retract the awning and we had some bad storms at times. My poles are made from telescoping poles used in swimming pools. Once the poles are adjusted, I install a pin into a series of holes I drilled to keep the poles from collapsing. I also used a real good set of screw in anchors purchased at Home Depot to anchor the ratchet straps. They're much better than the one's you would you for a dog. Lowe's also sells them. They're orange in color and one's screwed into the ground, they're flush with the ground.

I like this idea. How much did it cost to build and do you have pictures so I can get a better idea of what to do.....

 

[Alfa38User]

one of the dreads I always had in my old popup was that storm that would roll in late at night.
Once set up, that bag awning would be a real bugger to roll up.  Near impossible I'd say in a real storm......
A few times I dipped the thing down as low as I could get it to reduce the amount of wind that could get under it.....

Now with the electric, I'm a little concerned what will happen if the motor craps out on me.... there doesn't seem to be a way to manually retract it..... but otherwise it's so easy to roll it in at night if I even think there's a chance of wind...... or if leaving the camp site.  It does help me to breath a bit easier.....

Ahhh that brings back memories!!!

We had a soft top tent trailer with a BIG awning. One night, camping near Fredericton New Brunswick on our way to PEI, we ran into the tail end of a hurricane with very heavy rains and wind.  I did not stand a chance in rolling it up, so instead, I flipped the whole thing over the tent trailer and tied it off on a picnic table on the lee side of the trailer. Thank goodness I had, otherwise we would have been soaked inside without the double layer of canvas!!! The next morning the rain had stopped but we had to pack the camper wet and move on. By the time we arrived at our destination that evening, I found the tent had shrunk and I was no longer able to button the sides down. Next step was to lower each of the 4 tent support brackets which was successful.

We still refer to that trip as the trip to Hell and back. One broken leaf spring and, as a result, one blown tire. The springs had been originally installed using 4 oddball U-bolts with the nuts welded on, the 4 replacement U-bolts I had to have made were not hardened (and unknown to me) when I picked them up and the first one twisted on installation. The axle itself had two nuts welded into the hole in the saddle which I had to get removed before proceeding. Thank goodness for that nights campfire!!. And one wheel that passed us on the highway on our way home. (It seems that after re-installing the axle and replacing the springs I had forgotten to re-tighten the wheel nuts fully on the back (left) side after taking the trailer down off the temporary supporting logs).

 

[Rene T]

I like this idea. How much did it cost to build and do you have pictures so I can get a better idea of what to do.....

No I don't have pictures but I picked up the poles for nearly free at a place that installs pools. They we're used. Then the top end of the polls has a saddle made out of a piece of 3" pipe I believe. I had to machine a plug out of a  piece of aluminum and it goes into the poll and fastened to the poll with a couple of small screws through the side of the pole. Then I drilled and taped the center of the plug which was used to fasten the saddle. I  glued a piece of rubber on the saddle so it wouldn't scratch the roller tube.

 

[Angelbunnie13182]

Ok. So we just got our 5th wheel. Its got an automatic awning. Trouble is finding a way to tie it down. I've heard of awning poles then tying it down. Anyone have trouble tying down awnings that are automatic? Here is what I found on another site. See picture. There is a guy named Old Coot who makes these poles. Just wondering if there is something else out there like this cheaper? Or should I get these from him? Here more info.


"I now have the Dometic Power Awning Tie Down Kit with PVC schedule 40 electrical conduit telescoping poles. These poles are grey and have the same high quality workmanship as the previous alum. poles. All the attaching brackets and stow brackets are still 6065T6 alum, stainless steel bolts & nylock nuts. Rivets are included to install the stow brackets as well as the hitch pins. Installation takes an ave. of 30 minutes. Pole attaching brackets utilize the existing factory bolts.

Price of the new PVC pole kits is $100 + $10 shipping tube + UPS Ground."

Ok everyone - I finally got things figured out. Here are some pics of the awning all finished. Old Coot is still making the kits just not the poles with them. Took awhile to figure out how to put it all together as his instructions are straight forward to someone who knows the lingo. But we did it.

 

[John From Detroit]

How I tie mine down and it has survived some serious blows.

Turn off awning sensor (Toggle switch on side of awning control box in cabinet over door (in my case may be elsewhere on yours).

Two ratcheting cargo straps

Two screw in Dog Anchors (See note)

Hook the ratchet hook in the end of the awning arm (Front) and the strap to the dog anchor (I actually use a swing set anchor, LIke a dog anchor only the handle is different (An eye) so it's a bit stronger and less to trip over)  Tighten slightly (not much just enough to be tense)

Rear arm,  Same procedure but keep pulling down till the spring arm "Bottoms" (This is an A&E that has a spring loaded rear arm so as to let rain run off the rear).

A couple weeks ago this rig was a-rocking something fierce, I mean it was scary level wind gusts,  Awning held.

NOTE: Ground matters.. The dog tie-outs are good in clay, heavy loam, Well grassed, Not so much in sand..

I have tied to picnic table, Fixed into concrete,, Angled the anchor so it went UNDER concrete,  Used alternate anchors,  "THE CLAW" and such the choice of anchor depends on the ground.

If I can hook the strap on it, Wrap around my wrist and by straightening my legs pull it out of the ground.. NOT going to work.

 

[Jeff]

The only advice I will add is to use two anchors at each end of the awning. We were parked for a month in south Florida on grass hard enough to support a lot of heavy DPs but after two days of rain a sudden T-Storm pulled our front anchor out of the ground. Damage amounted to $9000 on our new paint job.

 

[Mavarick]

Here is a pic from last year you might be able to zoom in enough to see. We do exactly as John does and use ratchet strap on each side.  You can pick up a set of 4 at Harbor Freight for about $12. I loop one over each end of the roller tube and tie the other end to a dog tie out stake that screws into the ground. I just put them on snug, not tight. The awning will flex a bit and that's ok. This is down at the ocean where a gust of wind is the norm and we have never had any problems. We also roll it up when we leave or at night just to be safe in case a storm rolls in. I also never use our wind sensor, they are just a pain as far as I'm concerned. The other pic is the wind sensor on the roof, it is the small item in the center just in front of the satellite dish that looks like a vent. This is an A&E system.