Cleaning the awning, bubbles appearing

mine didn't have any bubbles earlier in the spring. I brought it home and washed it Memorial Day weekend and I just watched the bubbles grow before my eyes. I have little bubbles and big bubbles. They are scattered throughout the awning. I was ordering what these were. So you are saying the may be the beginning of the end or my 2 yr old awning?

Weldon. Yes. Seguin Canvas and Awning on Hwy 123 North

I got one more summer out of mine when it frist appeared. Good news is you can replace it your self for proberly under a couple hunded bucks. Two people changed mine out in a couple hours. Youtube has some good viedo's to show you how. PPL was the a lot of help in ordering new fabric.

JJBIRISH wrote:
These newer fabrics are only cold laminated… 2 sheet of vinyl glued to the center fiber… technology has allowed them to make the vinyl so thin that it isn’t uncommon to find pinholes in new fabric… the exposed area will weather faster but I have seen the vinyl cracking and peeling at or near the seams at both ends…
Almost all of them have bubbles in them and if there is a pin hole near the bubble water will get in a separate it much faster…

One awning I saw looked like a half inch thick water bag at the lower end on the tilt side and the water weight was causing it to delaminate even faster… we put a pin hole in the underside and water dribbled for several hours from the fabric… the separated vinyl was so thin and brittle when you handled it, it cracked as if it were dried peeled paint…

Older awning fabrics were hot vulcanized… the upper, lower, and center fabric were cross-linked and didn’t delaminate… my one Franklin trailer has a 24 foot awning that was installed in the mid-90s and is still in useable condition… the comparison photos of the two awnings is one reason Dometic replaced my long out of warranty awning fabric on my Hornet (as a good will gesture)…

Hopefully it stores well because instead of installing it I bought a complete used awning and switched them… when it wears out, and its beginning to, I will use the new fabric…

JJ,

Good info. I never realized this. I just bougt a new awning and it is thicker in 2 different areas then the Dometic one it replaced. I had sun rot up top and last year the big bubble, 2 foot long started showing up. I linked the install on reply to Moss up above. Time will tell if this new one if better.

Thanks

John

mosseater wrote:
Since I lost my Webshots hosting account (Grrrr!), I haven't signed up to anything else, so pictures won't be coming any time soon. I'll work on it.

Moss, get a Photo Bucket account. This was a tip from the forum here many years ago. I ended up getting so many hits on it from camper forums....I had to go Pro but it took me several years to get to this point. After a lot of hits per months they limit the bandwidth. It got to the point in 1 week I was over the limit.... I must say, paying a few dollars for Pro with unlimited bandwidth and the lack of ads... suer makes it nicer.

This is a good thread. I'm now curious on how yours is starting to die. The info JJ posted on the heat bonding is new news I had not found before. Or heard of your type of failure.

Have a good one

John

JBarca wrote:
Hi Moss,

I'm "assuming" you have a vinyl awning? And does your awning live outdoors all the time? (meaning not stored inside)

The sun bakes the top 1 foot to death.... I bought my current camper about 2 1/2 years old. The prior owner never gave it the TLC like I did on my smaller one I bought new. Using some 303 UC protectent really helps ward off the sun bakes.

As to years, mine was built in Oct 2003 and last weekend I replaced the awning fabric. A Dometic Sun Chaser vinyl awning originally. I was on borrowed time and had awning repair tape about the entire length to hold it together. The camper lives outside all the time, unfortunately. This fall it will move indoors finally.

Here is my awning change in case you want to do this yourself. Have not made it to posting here yet.

Main Awning Replacement - Lot's of pics

Good luck and hope this helps

John

As usual, John, great job on the post. I'd be more likely to tackle it if I hadn't seen the job layed out. HA! I'll build my resolve until the time mine fails completely. Thanks much!

Actually guys, no, the section near the roof is relatively unchanged. The bubbles are spread across the lower section that is deeply rolled on the drum. The section that is bubbling is dark brown and gets lighter in gradient near the trailer. The white part nearest the trailer that is exposed virtually all year has no bubbles that I can detect. Some vague mildew between the plies is visible, but no bubbles. I am suspecting it's because the darker color absorbs more light and gets hotter. I have felt it on summer days and it gets pretty darned hot. Since I lost my Webshots hosting account (Grrrr!), I haven't signed up to anything else, so pictures won't be coming any time soon. I'll work on it.

JJBIRISH wrote:
These newer fabrics are only cold laminated… 2 sheet of vinyl glued to the center fiber… technology has allowed them to make the vinyl so thin that it isn’t uncommon to find pinholes in new fabric… the exposed area will weather faster but I have seen the vinyl cracking and peeling at or near the seams at both ends…
Almost all of them have bubbles in them and if there is a pin hole near the bubble water will get in a separate it much faster…

One awning I saw looked like a half inch thick water bag at the lower end on the tilt side and the water weight was causing it to delaminate even faster… we put a pin hole in the underside and water dribbled for several hours from the fabric… the separated vinyl was so thin and brittle when you handled it, it cracked as if it were dried peeled paint…

Older awning fabrics were hot vulcanized… the upper, lower, and center fabric were cross-linked and didn’t delaminate… my one Franklin trailer has a 24 foot awning that was installed in the mid-90s and is still in useable condition… the comparison photos of the two awnings is one reason Dometic replaced my long out of warranty awning fabric on my Hornet (as a good will gesture)…

Hopefully it stores well because instead of installing it I bought a complete used awning and switched them… when it wears out, and its beginning to, I will use the new fabric…

Boy do you have that right!
My original awning was years old and looked like brand new.
Tornado took my awning off and I had repaired in the field. Pin holes and bubbling and cracking.....within the first year. :(

These newer fabrics are only cold laminated… 2 sheet of vinyl glued to the center fiber… technology has allowed them to make the vinyl so thin that it isn’t uncommon to find pinholes in new fabric… the exposed area will weather faster but I have seen the vinyl cracking and peeling at or near the seams at both ends…
Almost all of them have bubbles in them and if there is a pin hole near the bubble water will get in a separate it much faster…

One awning I saw looked like a half inch thick water bag at the lower end on the tilt side and the water weight was causing it to delaminate even faster… we put a pin hole in the underside and water dribbled for several hours from the fabric… the separated vinyl was so thin and brittle when you handled it, it cracked as if it were dried peeled paint…

Older awning fabrics were hot vulcanized… the upper, lower, and center fabric were cross-linked and didn’t delaminate… my one Franklin trailer has a 24 foot awning that was installed in the mid-90s and is still in useable condition… the comparison photos of the two awnings is one reason Dometic replaced my long out of warranty awning fabric on my Hornet (as a good will gesture)…

Hopefully it stores well because instead of installing it I bought a complete used awning and switched them… when it wears out, and its beginning to, I will use the new fabric…

Hi Moss,

I'm "assuming" you have a vinyl awning? And does your awning live outdoors all the time? (meaning not stored inside)

The sun bakes the top 1 foot to death.... I bought my current camper about 2 1/2 years old. The prior owner never gave it the TLC like I did on my smaller one I bought new. Using some 303 UC protectent really helps ward off the sun bakes.

As to years, mine was built in Oct 2003 and last weekend I replaced the awning fabric. A Dometic Sun Chaser vinyl awning originally. I was on borrowed time and had awning repair tape about the entire length to hold it together. The camper lives outside all the time, unfortunately. This fall it will move indoors finally.

Here is my awning change in case you want to do this yourself. Have not made it to posting here yet.

Main Awning Replacement - Lot's of pics

Good luck and hope this helps

John