Awning tie downs

I just loop ski rope around the ends. Drive big stake into the ground, and tie it off. You can buy, or make guy wire tightners to use to tighten the ropes. If need be. they can be realeased with the flick of a hand. We put our awing out when we setup, and don't take it down until we break camp to go home. Unless there is a hurricane or like. Contrary to what some think. they can take a pretty strong wind, and tying them down. Keeps the wind from shaking the TT.

No tie downs.

Storms come up quick and it takes longer to remove tie downs and get awning rolled up in time. And rolling it up is what saves the awning.

Good suggestions above and Welcome to the Forum..

I'm not a fan of tying down awnings... A tied down awning takes longer to roll up and that extra time can be a problem if a sudden wind comes up or a storms sneaks in....and it does.

If it gets goo windy for the awning to "survive" on its own, we roll it up. Have seen a number of awnings destroyed while tied down...usually causing damage to the trailer as well.

Also if we leave camp for the day, we always do two things:
>shut off the water supply
>roll up the awning

Notice this one was tied down....:E

If you have an electric awning, you don't want to tie it down. If it gets 'that' windy, roll it up.

If you have a manual operated awning, you got a couple options. 1) Roll it up, or 2) tie it down. However, if the wind becomes too strong, you want to roll it up regardless.

But for moderate wind, air movement, to keep it from flapping, there's several ways to do it. The thing you do not want to do is anchor the awning down solid with ropes directly to a tree or to a tent stake. You need some kind of flexibility in the line which will prevent you from over tightening the line and potentially bending your awning arms.

Here's a very easy and inexpensive way to do it. Get a couple dog screw anchors that you'd leash a dog to:



Screw these in the ground about 5-10 feet out from your extended awning. Then use a bungie cord on each anchor (to act as a spring), and then tie a rope around the awning roller arm and catch it with the other end of the bungie cord. You do not want to draw the bungie cord tight, just nice and springy.

All you are doing is keeping the awning from flipping over the top of the trailer in the event of a huge wind gust. The bungie cord 'spring' will allow the camper to shake and wiggle in the wind without stressing the awning arms being anchored to something fixed. Also, will prevent you from over tightening the rope (or if you perfer, use a ratchet strap).

The reason you do not want to tie down an electric awning, is because they are spring loaded, and actually made to move in the wind, and self-tilt if they pool with rain water.

There are inexpensive kits available, from most RV supply houses. Basic kit consists of hooks that screw into ground (like canine ties) and lines that loops over both ends of the awning tube. This type of kit has kept our carefree awning secure at ocean beach and AZ desert. Hint, do something to make the line to the ground visible.