DutchmenSport wrote:
First, awnings are designed for shade, not rain, although they do shed water. Remember that and you'll never have problems with an awning.
Being from a not so dry climate I use the awning a lot to shed water and so I can leave chairs and such out without them getting soaked.
Of course, when it gets really bad and wind blows, everything gets put away and the awning comes in
Second, when you took delivery of your camper, didn't you get a full explanation of how the awning works? When taking delivery, the dealership should have explained in detail how the awning works.
I've never been able to buy new off a dealers lot. I wasn't smart enough to secure my financial future when I was younger.
Every RV I have ever bought has been used, some of them very well used!
Third, even after you took delivery, didn't you try the awning sometime before it rained, to understand it's limitations, or its abilities, or lack of ability? Pull, tug, shake, extend, retract, inspect it for knobs, set screws, anything that might enable a way to tilt it or lower it? If you did and nothing truly does exist to tilt or lower, then you should have retracted the awning when it rained. Having had previous campers and using previous awnings, you were aware of the potential for the awning to "pool" with water, and stretch the awning material out of shape (which happened with one of my previous trailers and it was a manual awning, but I wasn't thinking. When I went to dump the thing, the arm collapsed, breaking it, and I got a thousand pound bucket of water right on my head. Luckly, the arm that collapsed missed me.) I can't blame anyone but myself for that miss fortune. It wasn't bad design, it was user error.
The awning was attached to the rig and was not even close to a primary consideration for getting it. Awnings can be replaced as in the one in the pic in my sig. Floor plan, age, overall condition etc are more important to me than the awning.
I did run the thing out and in and didn't like it then either.
But that's ok, it does work and it does cover things.
