Not destroying the awning

I see a lot of awnings out and tied down. By the end of the season, that awning is stretched and rippled and doesn't roll up well.

Dale

About the only rule of awning use I go with is to not tie them down...

If it's too windy that you need to tie it down, it's too windy to have it out in the first place.

It'll just take you that much longer to bring it in if you need to quickly.

I've had my manual awning out and been out in the middle of the night in my under ware bringing it in before.. Funny for sure, but was able to do it quickly.

Now I have the electric awning and it's just a push of the button if needed to bring it in in the middle of the night..

I'll watch the weather forecasts and judge from there what I do with the awning.

I've left it out all weekend at times and sometimes it never comes out..

Just depends on the location and the forecast..

Have never lost an awning in 20 some odd years of this RV thing. :)

Do whatever works best for you and go from there..

Good luck, Mitch

midnightsadie wrote:
I disagree all people should play safe, not take a chance on the weather.just think of the damage that 25mph wind could have done.

Whatever, but its not your awning it's theirs. The point is power awnings can be modded to be a lot more wind resistant than theyre designed to be and thousands of folks do so. If you don't want to modify yours, then dont.

I disagree all people should play safe, not take a chance on the weather.just think of the damage that 25mph wind could have done.

I never leave an awning out when leaving the campsite or going to bed. Very surprised a experienced RVer would do so.

The awning by itself is weak but there are mods that can be done to make power awnings bulletproof in the wind. Search for "electric awning support poles". Do a search for the same at the Forest River Owners forum, some folks there made them and sold them as kits. There is also a mod that adds another pole so deflapper clips can be used.

I have both mods. My awning has been out for the last 3 weeks in N central PA mountains. Last weekend we had 25mph sustained winds with gusts tob40 mph from the remains of Ian. The awning is fine.

RVing for over 40 years in trailers, Class C, Class B, Class A's. Never left an awning out when we left the site. Fulltimed for 15 years. Never lost an awning. We had one microburst hit it on a very calm day at a campground. It actually caused the fabric to move forward on the tube enough that when we retracted it, it would not completely close. This was on a 40' Phaeton. So we visited our favorite service center the next morning on our way out of town. Two guys and 20 minutes they had it slide back down into place. We couldn't have done it, but they knew what they were doing.

I have our small B+ now and the awning was old and deteriorated. I had the fabric replaced and learned how to open/close this manual awning. I still never leave it out if I leave the site.

Dale

I've seen plenty of the old manual style destroyed when left open and the wind picks up.

The advantage to the electric as I see it is it only takes a few seconds to close up if you aren't actively using it.

Leaving either manual or electric awnings out when not present and ready to quickly react is a bad idea.

You could put stakes in the ground and tie it to them but it will reach a point where you do not destroy the awning but rip the mounts off the side of the camper. If you keep things outside that cannot get wet the best bet is to put them in totes and store them under the camper. Keeping the awning out in the wind is not a very good idea. Awnings and campers are not built the way they used to be.