SoundGuy wrote:
BlackSilver wrote:
A few points for you.....
As I pointed out, I thought my older Dometic product was strong and well designed.
Agree, but your wording suggested Dometic only offers manual awnings which is not the case at all. The Dometic 9100 power awning, which I own, is also well designed ... your problem isn't so much manual or power, it's the fact this awning which you've now modded is a poorly designed, lightweight Carefree of Colorado product.
Yes, it's a Carefree product, and as I pointed out, the design is structurally weak.
Which you did not identify by brand in your original post. I repeat, the problem isn't the fact you have a power awning vs a manual but the fact it's a Carefree rather than a Dometic.
Whatever the "manufacturer intended", we prefer not to tear that space apart for every passing breeze, so I cobbled together something to compensate for the weakness in his "intention".
Exactly my point - if your awning was well designed you wouldn't have to "cobble together" anything, just use it as intended. If this is such a problem for you the better solution would have been to return to using a manual Dometic 8500 which because of it's design offers the best in durability in dealing with wind and rain, particularly if equipped with de-flappers. Hey "cobble away" if you can't accept your awning's limitations, I'm just pointing out that it's unnecessary if you use it as the manufacturer intended.
Couple of final points before I start ignoring your unsolicited tirades about my "choices" and "manufacturers intentions".
(1) My DIY solution cost me about $70.00 out of pocket. Ripping the awning down and replacing with a manual product would cost several hundred dollars.
(2) I was mistaken. The awning is not a Carefree. It's a Dometic. And it's still flimsy. But I fixed the flimsy part.
