Every worry about your awning opening when driving

pnichols wrote:

4x4van wrote:
Yup, it CAN happen even if the arms remain locked to the side of the RV and the ratcheting mechanism inside is intact and in the correct position, exactly as Dutch_12078 writes.

It happened to me on our first outing with my last RV. A&E 9000 with the aluminum weatherguard. Strong wind coming in at about the 1:30 position, roller started to unroll even though the ratchet lever was in the correct position and intact and the legs were still locked; the wind was strong enough to overcome the mechanism. It was a bear to unroll and re-roll in the heavy wind, but eventually got it done. And to verify that nothing was "broken", we continued to use that awning with no changes for 12+ years. I did, however, fabricate a metal strap that wrapped around the roller and locked it against the side of the RV.

On my current RV, the first mod was to add this, which is almost exactly like what I made for my previous RV.

I did, however, fabricate a metal strap that wrapped around the roller and locked it against the side of the RV.

The above is what I have on our Class C awning roll ... except that I bought a commercial version, which can be loosened from the ground using the stock roller ratchet lever wand that came with the RV.

Yes, my original hand-made metal version required me to go up on the roof to lock/unlock it. For my current RV, I too bought the commercial version that I linked (although I bought it in white). It's definitely nicer to be able to lock/unlock from the ground using the awning wand.