Awning tie downs straps

You mean tie down when out, or travelling?

We've got a BUS with 2 Paramount two stage electric awnings and I'll give you our experience. Each is very large and has a wind sensor on it that can be set to retract the awning in varying amounts of wind. Since we fish in Valdez, Alaska we see a lot of rain. Depending on the forecast we may want to leave the awnings out so we throw a rope over each end and tie it down to a 5 gal bucket filled with rocks and water. If we go that way, we have to be careful to deactivate the auto-retract function as these awnings will lift 2 5gal pails of rocks and water right off the ground if they get a retract call. Been there, done that, no damage as I got to the switch fast. If you have a manual awning with a spring on one end to aid in shedding water, Tying the awnings will work in light to moderate wind, but if you catch a good blow, you lost the awning. Sort of a coin flip, especially if you're going to be away from the rig when a storm blows up.

If the wind is strong enough to worry about tie-downs, I would roll it up and not worry about it. When we leave the trailer for any length of time, we roll it up. If the weather forecast is questionable, we roll it up.
We have a manual awning but it still only takes about 2 minutes to get the awning rolled and out of danger. When in doubt, roll it up and don't worry, be happy.

I like support poles AND tie downs:

http://learntorv.com/power-awning-support-poles/

But there's controversy no matter what you do. I've personally had my awning out (supported + tied down) in up to 35mph winds. I didn't like having it out up over 25mph but I missed my window of opportunity for bringing it in safely.

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I built a set out of PVC from the Wildcat forum and have had the awning out when the wind was blowing over 35 mph and not had a problem. With the pvc poles there is no movement with the awning at all. When we were in Pinetop Az the awning would go out the day we got there and come back in the day before we left. 4.5 months.

I watched an awning (tied down with stakes) get ripped on the trailer side due to a good gust of wind. If the wind wants it, it is going to get it. I would put it up and not worry about it.

I’ve routinely used tie downs on both my old and new trailer awnings when I could. The first was manual and the new one is electric (no wind sensors). It’s not a failsafe, but it is a little added insurance for the unexpected. However, if really in question, we just bring ours in. An ounce of prevention is with a pound of cure.

Last year in Florida, I got really frustrated with the lightweight electric awning on our Winnebago Minnie as it would start bouncing in very slight breezes. I ended up ordering a tie down kit and started using it. The straps had a hook and a loop so they were very easy to quickly disconnect when I felt the awning needed to be retracted. I think it's OK to use tie downs as long as you are on site. When turning in for the night or leaving the site, I always retract the awning...I saw how fast things can change years ago while camping near Detroit.

Our seasonal site is across from a farm and can be very windy on an otherwise windless day. We can walk 150 feet south to the lake and there isn't a breathe of wind, but on our site we could have 10 - 15 mph winds.

When we had our Class C, it had an electric awning that did not have a wind sensor. We used an awning tie down kit from Camco that came with anchors and heavy duty springs. Our awning was only 11 feet long, but the tie downs worked very well. The springs allowed the awning to move gently in strong winds so the awning fabric doesn't tear.

We still have the tie down kit and used it with our current TT, but it's a manual awning.

-Michael