What do you tie your awnings down with?

A few years ago on a July 4th weekend a big thunderstorm blew through. Lots of campers had their awnings tied down, some didn't. I and a few others put them away as the storm began. After the storm two of the awnings that were tied down had the awnings tear away from the camper & rip the awning material - But the arms were still tied down real nice. Couple campers had the awnings blow over the top, don't know if they were tied down. Seems like a matter of how lucky you are & if the wind catches the awning just right (or wrong?)

Lowering it resolves the water polling issue. That is what took my awning.

Unfortunately lowering it all the way won’t help much, it’s still a giant sail and if the air gets under it, it will get torn off…

IMHO if it’s out it needs tied down… seem everywhere I go there is enough wind, or the unexpected gust… but I bought it to use, I bought tie downs to keep from losing it, and I bought insurance to cover the cost if I do lose it…

I have seen hundreds of awnings destroyed, most from not being properly deployed… from pooling water and not enough tilt, not deployed tight enough and battered by slight breezes, and those not tied down often while the camper was still on site… and a few taken out while open or rolled up by falling branches…

I lost a tied down awning, I do not tie the awning down anymore. What I do is put the awning all the way down when I leave. That's if the forecast is good. If there is any chance for storms I put the awning up. $1600.00 is a tough lesson to learn. The 30 seconds that it takes to put it up will save you bundles down the road.

Thanks!

I have used 5 different corkscrew hold downs and snapped them all. Between using them for the dog and the awnining I have broke them while trying to screw them in, if its rocky or heavy clay and its dry its tough, and when its sandy they just pull right out.

For the dog I wrap a cable around a tree, picknick table or the TT steps.

mmiller1013 wrote:
See below link. Has anyone used this style anchor? A little pricey.

Awning Anchor

I have seen them but never bought any… I try to keep the awning legs plumb and that would be hard to do with those… I just use spikes to hold the legs from moving and plumb with an anchor…

I don’t know if I would trust them because anything that is put in straight because it would be easier to pull out straight… I like to toe-nail the anchor away from the direction of the pull to load undisturbed soil…

See below link. Has anyone used this style anchor? A little pricey.

Awning Anchor

JJBIRISH wrote:
Each soil presents its own unique problems like you say… I carry home made pound in anchors of different lengths made of angle iron, and the screw in dog leash anchors… I also have the screw in anchors like RoyB uses and The Claw aircraft tie down that I can take with me if I think I might need them…

For rock or the shell rock I have a long tapered chisel that I can crack the rock with instead of bending my anchors trying to drive them in the rock…

You need more than one type of anchor with you…
Often what works well in one place isn’t good at all in another…

I also use the claw kit. I have 3 claws total because I put up a 10x10 as well and use one from the awning and another to hold it down. The claw will not pull out, but the bag it comes in ripped up quickly and the hammer is cheap, I bought a hammer from lowes and ground the nailremover grove out a little to work. If the weather gets bad I will roll up the awning as the vinyl will rip at the TT long before the claw will pull out.

Each soil presents its own unique problems like you say… I carry home made pound in anchors of different lengths made of angle iron, and the screw in dog leash anchors… I also have the screw in anchors like RoyB uses and The Claw aircraft tie down that I can take with me if I think I might need them…

For rock or the shell rock I have a long tapered chisel that I can crack the rock with instead of bending my anchors trying to drive them in the rock…

You need more than one type of anchor with you…
Often what works well in one place isn’t good at all in another…

Hold downs do give you a false sense of security but can protect against some freak wind gust. I tie down our awning but we roll it up at night or if we will be gone for the day.

I have some 5/8" by 24" rebar rods I have sharpened one end and made a curl eyelet on the other with some large springs. The spring end is roped to the awning keep tention on the awning but allow for some movement. I had a pair of the screw in types but they only worked in sand. Never could get them into the rocky ground around here or the shell campsites at the coast. The rebar can be hammered (carry small 2# sledge hammer) into some really tough ground and knocked loose when you need to pull them.