Motraveler
New member
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2017
- Posts
- 4
We have a 2017 New Horizons 33' TT that has 2 Carefree of Colorado Latitude model awnings. Both have failed at the seam where the protective cover material joins the fabric. They are only joined with a small width of tape. While in Arizona in June it was hot with zero wind. I looked at the awning prior to closing it as I always do and noticed that the tape was only stuck to one side and there was about a 3 foot long open gap at one end. Apparently, Carefree puts one stitch of thread on each end and then puts the tape in the middle. I then opened up the other awning and checked it. It had the same problem, however, it was only a few inches long. My 1 year warranty was expired by a few months, but I thought that I would call a Carefree dealer and ask if defective material/workmanship would be covered. The answer was no and furthermore, this is an ongoing problem that Carefree is having with this Latitude model. I then decided to contact New Horizons and see if they could get anywhere with Carefree since they(NH) is installing them on their trailers. Again the answer was no, and it will cost me $800 per awning to have the fabric replaced. Now. I had to ask myself "Why would I pay $1,600 every year or so to relace my awning fabric with a known seam failure design"? I think that is the definition of Insanity. I guess that I'm going to have to fix it myself if I want it to last for my FT use. I'm going to remove the awning and take it to a good canvas shop and have them sew the entire length of the seam using Gortex thread and then seal the seam. Then at least the seam will last as long as the fabric does. I just read on Facebook about another NH owner that had the same problem 2 weeks prior to his warranty expiring and Carefree replaced his under the warranty, so they are only replacing them if you get in under the wire, however, the next one is going to be at your expense. One more design flaw with this model is that the plastic awning end caps fall off during travel. Three of mine were replaced by NH within the 1 year warranty period so now I have corrected this design flaw by securing them with black zip ties. It doesn't look so great, however, the end caps now stay on while I'm driving. I'm posting this so that others that may have this Carefree Latitude model can check their seams and end caps prior to the 1 year warranty expiration. If after the warranty, the sooner you notice the tape starting to fail, the easier it will be to remove and repair. I only wish that I had known about this defect in material/workmanship prior to my purchase. After 30 years of RVing this was my first and last Carefree of Colorado awning. I never had any problems with any of the other brand awnings on my previous rigs.