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kokois1's avatar
kokois1
Explorer
Jul 14, 2013

Camping at the beach

My first wife and I are volunteers with Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama. We have been here since May. A word of advice if you are planning on camping along the Gulf of Mexico: if you put your awning out and go to the beach or pool or shopping you may return to find your awning torn off! Thunderstorms develop quickly on the southern coast during the summer and are accompanied by high wind gusts even up to 60 mph. During these last few months we have seen, and I have actually lost count, but at least 10 torn off. We had a quick developing storm this afternoon with high wind and it destroyed two awning in the park. It only takes a minute or two to take your awning in but a split second for a high wind blast to tear it off! Just a word of advice and happy camping!
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  • Blaster_Man's avatar
    Blaster_Man
    Explorer
    Jul 14, 2013
    Ours has a wind sensor, but even if it starts rolling in at the first gust, it is way way way too slow. In parts of the country where gusts are normal, we roll it up prior to leaving.
  • dad4papa2's avatar
    dad4papa2
    Explorer
    Jul 14, 2013
    We have an older model awning which is a manual one but I have added a sun screen to it while we are in Texas during the winter. We get lots of wind and sometimes large gust but mine has stayed put. I also boought some nice tie downs with the tightning clamp and snug it down on each end. I use really good stakes on the sunscreen I think there is about 7 or 8 on my 18 foot awning and use bungie cords to secure it across the bottom of the sunscreen. It hardley even moves in the high winds.

    Just a bit of info.

    Dad

    PS: Awnings are to be enjoyed as much as possible-not rolled up lol
  • AllegroD's avatar
    AllegroD
    Nomad
    Jul 14, 2013
    Same happens on the Pac coast. Rarely put our awning out on the shore and never leave it out when not at the site.
  • rockhillmanor's avatar
    rockhillmanor
    Explorer II
    Jul 14, 2013
    Ditto X10! B

    I'm on the east side of the gulf right now and the locals here are real excited that the summer weather has finally returned to normal ......rain storms EVERY SINGLE DAY! Sunny and hot one minute and black skies and downpours the next. And the past few weeks they have been pretty heavy with high winds and downpours.

    We will be getting hit with additional storms from the blow apart from that tropical storm that died all the way up till next week. I wouldn't even put the awning out if you plan to leave the RV at any time.

  • GENECOP's avatar
    GENECOP
    Explorer II
    Jul 14, 2013
    I am always Hyper Vigilant when it comes to putting our awning in....Ours has a wind sensor but I am afraid to trust it....my giant Girrard Awning would be very expensive to replace....

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