PVC Awning cover

[nbking]

I noticed on Youtube that someone used a PVC Pipe to make an awning cover. Anyone know how well that works? Would it be safe to leave it on the awning while travelling?

[Ron3rd]

Almot wrote:
The pics I've been talking about: Clicky.

Note the notches in the gutters ends. For highway speeds I would want more reliable attachment, definitely would glue the end-caps to the gutters. Better yet - would make it a 2-piece and remove it for travel.

I tied the gutter to the awning brackets with a piece of wire on both ends, since my attachment is of a more permanent nature.

That's very similar to how I did mine but I did not put the end caps on.

[rhagfo]

IAMICHABOD wrote:

Ron3rd wrote:
There is a guy online that sells one that you can drive with and costs around $100. It's a plastic tube that snaps around your awning.

Here is a LINK to that.

Or like the guy in this video you can make your own! I believe that this would stay on while traveling, and the awing would operate with it in place.

Link

[IAMICHABOD]

Ron3rd wrote:
There is a guy online that sells one that you can drive with and costs around $100. It's a plastic tube that snaps around your awning.

Here is a LINK to that.

[Ron3rd]

I can't find my old post with pics, but I made mine out of white plastic rain gutter from Lowes, 2 pieces overlapping. Worked good if there is no wind and of course you can't drive with it. There is a guy online that sells one that you can drive with and costs around $100. It's a plastic tube that snaps around your awning.

[TurnThePage]

korbe wrote:
My previous awning finally fell apart after 12 years, and the only area that fell apart was where the sun hit it while retracted. So I built my own cover for the new one, and I only use it while my 5er is stored in the driveway for more than a couple weeks.

My 13 year old awning was the same way for pretty much the same reasons. I ended up using left over Eternabond 4" wide tape and made two passes for about 8" of coverage. It's been that way for 2 or 3 years now and is still going strong.

[2012Coleman]

Almot wrote:
The pics I've been talking about: Clicky.

Note the notches in the gutters ends. For highway speeds I would want more reliable attachment, definitely would glue the end-caps to the gutters. Better yet - would make it a 2-piece and remove it for travel.

I tied the gutter to the awning brackets with a piece of wire on both ends, since my attachment is of a more permanent nature.

Thanks for finding this and posting it. It's the one I had in mind, but could not find it. Been wanting to do this mod so I think I have something planned this weekend now...

[Gonzo42]

Our rig has what is probably the original awning and it has serious sun rot at the top, which is where it is exposed. The rest looks good. I plan to replace it early this year. There is a company called Shade Pro that looks good to me and they have a cover I want to investigate which only covers the rolled up awning.

[Almot]

The pics I've been talking about: Clicky.

Note the notches in the gutters ends. For highway speeds I would want more reliable attachment, definitely would glue the end-caps to the gutters. Better yet - would make it a 2-piece and remove it for travel.

I tied the gutter to the awning brackets with a piece of wire on both ends, since my attachment is of a more permanent nature.

[Almot]

Under the fierce SoCal and Baja sun my awning started falling apart after 2 years - while still rolled. The vinyl on the top exposed part was crumbling to dust.

Following nice pictures by somebody posted here, I put a cover made of 2 pieces of aluminum gutter, overlapping and sliding into each other in the middle. Plastic gutter shape didn't worked well for me. In heavy wind those 2 pieces have lifted up in the middle, separated from each other and fell down, hanging at the ends where they were attached to the awning mounts. Winds here throw lawn chairs and small items around like they are made of toilet paper, I rarely even unroll this awning, but it sucks watching it crumbling. So I riveted 2 pieces together in the middle.

[BarneyS]

My awning is 13 years old and still looks almost like new except for a place where a tree jumped out and hit it on the end. 😮
Barney

[Gjac]

korbe wrote:

SoundGuy wrote:

korbe wrote:
My previous awning finally fell apart after 12 years, and the only area that fell apart was where the sun hit it while retracted. So I built my own cover for the new one, and I only use it while my 5er is stored in the driveway for more than a couple weeks.

12 years service from any awning is pretty good ... guess you'll have to wait another 12 to see if this gutter cover helps extend that. :R

My guess is that the original awning would still be working just fine if I would have covered it from the beginning.

I had the same problem with mine and in addition the PO scraped that area on a tree limb and it leaked when extended. I tried several types of latex sealers over the years which worked for a while but eventually cracked. Last year my BIL gave me some fiber reinforced rubber about .030 thick and I cut a strip about 2 ft the length of the awning and bonded it to the awning, it stopped the leak from the holes and covered the area exposed to the sun. The rest of the awning is good and it is 20 years old.

[korbe]

SoundGuy wrote:

korbe wrote:
My previous awning finally fell apart after 12 years, and the only area that fell apart was where the sun hit it while retracted. So I built my own cover for the new one, and I only use it while my 5er is stored in the driveway for more than a couple weeks.

12 years service from any awning is pretty good ... guess you'll have to wait another 12 to see if this gutter cover helps extend that. :R

My guess is that the original awning would still be working just fine if I would have covered it from the beginning.

[SoundGuy]

korbe wrote:
My previous awning finally fell apart after 12 years, and the only area that fell apart was where the sun hit it while retracted. So I built my own cover for the new one, and I only use it while my 5er is stored in the driveway for more than a couple weeks.

12 years service from any awning is pretty good ... guess you'll have to wait another 12 to see if this gutter cover helps extend that. :R

[korbe]

My previous awning finally fell apart after 12 years, and the only area that fell apart was where the sun hit it while retracted. So I built my own cover for the new one, and I only use it while my 5er is stored in the driveway for more than a couple weeks.

I used white PVC drain gutter which fit over the rolled up awning just fine. However, it wasn't real tight and would slip off. So I cut some 4" dia. PVC Pipe into 3" long sections, cut them lengthwise and rounded off the sharp edges. I used these as "clips" to hold the gutter sections in place at the ends and the middle joint.