Forum Discussion

RicB's avatar
RicB
Explorer
Feb 20, 2018

Sunscreen for patio awning

I would like to add one of those sunscreens that utilize the unused slot in the awning rail of my patio awning. I have a Dometic awning. Will the Carefree awning model work in it or is there some other brand that works well? Have any of you done this?
  • chuckftboy wrote:
    I have a Shade Pro. You can go to their web sight or give them a call. Mine is two piece so a section always stays on and rolls up with the awning. When I need full shade or privacy I zipper on an additional 6 feet.
    I use it on my Care Free but used the same shade on my previous coach with a Dometic awning. They all fit the same way.


    They indeed do all fit the same way. Ours is a Care Free bought on Amazon. You have a choice of the length (drop) of the piece that remains on the awning. The bottom piece that zips on is the same. It depends on whether you want a straight down drop or one that slants out giving you a little more room. We then ordered end pieces from Arizonarvproducts.com to give us a nice "Arizona" room.
  • I have a Shade Pro. You can go to their web sight or give them a call. Mine is two piece so a section always stays on and rolls up with the awning. When I need full shade or privacy I zipper on an additional 6 feet.
    I use it on my Care Free but used the same shade on my previous coach with a Dometic awning. They all fit the same way.
  • We made ours and a shade for the front windshield. We bought the material at Lowes, they sell it by the linear foot in a six foot width. We bought 15 foot for the patio and 11 foot for the windshield for about $60. It is found in the outdoor dept as shade cloth. My wife hemmed up 1 inch around the patio piece. On the windshield she hemmed 1/2 in on the vertical sides, 1 inch on the bottom and we folded the top down to fit. She sewed that about 1 inch in but there is about a 2 foot flap. For the patio I bought a grommet kit and placed a grommet every 2 foot on top and at each end on the bottom. I also used Goop brand glue at each grommet making about a 2 inch patch of glued fabric around the grommet. It was a trick I learned in the Army to keep grommets in stretchy fabric. I bought a package of hangers from an RV place that slide into the grove on the awning and use an S-hook to the grommets on the patio shade. I tie down my awning when I use the shade and use bungee cords at the bottom of the cloth to the stakes on each side. When I roll up the awning I take the S-hook off but leave the rubber hangers in the groove.

    One thing I noticed is that the rubber hangers for the awning has two sides that are different in size (one thicker than the other). I am not sure if the different manufacturers have a different size for the slot or if it is different models of the awnings (ie electric vs manual). But this indicates that the slot can be one of two different sizes.

    For the windshield my wife sewed loops on the shade and we use command hooks to hang from. I remove the hooks before we travel. I have placed a small mark where the hooks go.

    Might not be as easy as the pre-made patio shade and custom windshield covers but for $100 all in for both it works pretty well.




    Mike
  • There are some that the upper portion stays in the roller, and you unzip and remove the lower portion. Cant remember the name - Pro- something.
  • It should work. I ordered a generic one from Amazon. Tabs slide into the roller tube slot and hooks from the tab to the screen. Some are 2 pieces, one smaller piece slides into roller tube and you can leave there all the time. The other larger piece attaches to the smaller piece with a zipper. That piece you remove before closing the awning.