Forum Discussion

onemilmhz's avatar
onemilmhz
Explorer
Mar 18, 2015

Awning fell off yesterday

Thankfully it happened in the driveway and not on the highway! Just purchased a used 2007 Fleetwood Utah and the factory awning fell while putting it away. Apparently the stitching between the tubing that runs through the retaining track and the bag itself dry rotted and completely failed. I can't imagine the chaos that may have ensued had it been at 70 MPH! Thankfully the bag had a large enough lip that I simply ran it down the track and used a few self tapping aluminum screws across the entire length. Painted the screw heads to match and now it looks fine and works perfectly. Anyone else ever have this happen?
Seeking Advice
  • onemilmhz's avatar
    onemilmhz
    Explorer
    Mar 24, 2015
    navegator wrote:
    Your repair might put a lot of strain on the small areas of the screws, if you can sew the fabric it will spread the tension of the fabric on the channel rather than concentrating the pull force on only small areas, this can rip the fabric.

    Agreed. That's why I used screws that were long enough to go all the way through both top and bottom sides of the track, completely tthrough the fabric of the bag. This was never meant as a long term fix. Once the thread failed I knew the bag, and therefor the awning itself, was on borrowed time. I've been shopping for a custom awning since buying the trailer anyway, not crazy about the three post design of this one.
  • PopcornJunkie's avatar
    PopcornJunkie
    Explorer
    Mar 20, 2015
    We have a 2004 Fleetwood Utah we bought new. Never happened to us. Glad it didn't happen while you were going down the freeway.

    My husband and I still have the original bag awning though we need a new one. We are considering going to a different type of awning. Can't remember the name of it.
  • MitchF150's avatar
    MitchF150
    Explorer III
    Mar 20, 2015
    Nope.. My 2003 Prowler still has it's original awning and no tears and still works great.

    Mitch
  • navegator's avatar
    navegator
    Explorer
    Mar 20, 2015
    The thread is the weakest link and the sun's heat and uv will rot out the threads, I just sewed the 36 inch window awning, the threads rotted and unwound on the arms, the big awning started ripping on the front side last year so it was replaced, white thread seems to rot faster than the black thread

    Your repair might put a lot of strain on the small areas of the screws, if you can sew the fabric it will spread the tension of the fabric on the channel rather than concentrating the pull force on only small areas, this can rip the fabric.

    navegator
  • onemilmhz's avatar
    onemilmhz
    Explorer
    Mar 20, 2015
    Really :? 574 views (as of this post) and NO ONE else has ever had this happen or doesn't feel like sharing? Wow, I guess I'm just unlucky (or unliked).
  • onemilmhz's avatar
    onemilmhz
    Explorer
    Mar 18, 2015
    I you look closely you can see where the threads USED to be, and how black they were with rot. Again, super lucky it didn't happen on the road.

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