OldRadios wrote:
nomad297 wrote:
willald wrote:
I guess we need to start a thread called, 'I Love My Electric Awning', and create 9 pages of posts in it, too. ;)
It'll never happen. It's not possible. :B
Bruce
Sure it could. There are a lot of people that don't want to do anything but press a button. Not me. I like the fact I can angle my manual awning so watter will run off and I can still sit under it in the rain. Have a manual awning on deck at the house also for the same reason.
No powered awning, no power steps (had them removed), and no slides means less potential problems.
Two comments. One: My power awning does tilt on either side. And, in the event of heavy rain, the way it's built, if water begins to pool, for whatever reason, it's designed to spring lower either side so the water will pour off before too much weight can damage the awning.
My Dutchmen that I owned had a manual awning. One night it rained while we slept. (Had on clue it was suppose to rain, and slept right through it). Next morning there was a swimming pool above our door, and the awning was stretch enough to fit a VW in it.
I attempted to lift the middle of the awning, hoping to get the water to splash over the ends. Nope! Stupid me ... don't know what I was thinking, I decided to manually lower one arm. As soon as I pulled that lever ... ka-whap! Down she came! Not only did I get all 10 million gallons of water right on top of me, the arm of the awning slammed all the way down. If I couldn't push the water out from underneath, I don't know why I though I could hold that arm up from crashing and slide it down slowly.... Sheesh!
Well, it didn't hurt the arm, but it did sheer the pin off. I was able to replace the pin and all was well. Except, the awning was forever stretched, and always had a sag in it.
Second: My first 2 TT's did not have any slides or power anything. I was a stickler (and proud of it) for NOT having automation on my camper. My reasons were exactly the same as yours, the more electronics, the more chance of something breaking down, and the more expense it will be to fix it. Yup, that was me 100% through-and-through.
Then came the day we realized we absolutely did not like our current floor plan, and we weren't in the "camping mood" much like we use to be. We've always done winter camps in the driveway at home, but the last winter we had our Springdale we did not spend a single night in it.
When Spring rolled around (2013), we went on our first camping trip, and the claustrophobic, tight, uncomfortable feeling returned. We loved the camper. But in retrospect, we really did not "love" the camper, we loved the idea of owning a camper! (We had the Springdale for 8 years, and this all happened in the 8th year).
So, on that trip, my wife and I both (really) at the same time .... said ... we need a different camper! So we started our search. There again, I only considered manual everything and no slide trailers. And the more we looked, the more disenchanted we became. Finally we really sat down and asked ourselves, what are we really wanting? We identified what we wanted, and amazing ... (maybe because of our age now), it included all the electronics and slides.
Been very happy with or decision, and our current camper (so far) has functioned wonderful! No problem with any electronics. And... we're back to drive way camps every week-end when we're not on the road, back to camping as much as we can, and the thrill and excitement is back. And you know what? Those electronics (and slides) are pretty cool! When you get up there in age a little bit ... you may begin to rethink your options.
Sorry for the long rant, but felt compelled to share!
