Awning material replacement questions

[Njmurvin]

My Carefree electric awning is delaminating at the very top. I am sure this is due to sun exposure while stored/rolled up because it's perfect below about the first foot or so - and the awning has no sort of weather guard. It's just rolled up material (vinyl, I believe). I bought my trailer about 6 years ago, used, from a dealer who replaced the awning at that time. I can only assume they used the cheapest material available.

So, it's replacement time. First question, acrylic vs vinyl. Is acrylic worth the price difference (i.e. will it last longer)? I don't really care about breathing or appearance. I just want the most durable product.

I hope to add a weather guard to protect from the sun while in storage. The gold standard as I understand it is the alumaguard which covers the rolled up material with metal. But, there appear to be options for a non-metallic protection that bonds to the cover at the top and supposedly does the same thing for less. Does anyone have experience with this?

Lastly, there is a company called Shadepro who offers a new acrylic cover with alumiguard for $939 installed. I'm pretty handy but not particularly comfortable with heights. So, I might consider this option. Does anyone have experience with the company or its products.

[Njmurvin]

And ShadePro doesn't offer a topper with the aluminum guard. Too bad. I have one topper (bedroom wardrobe slide) that's on the sunny side when it's parked.

[ReneeG]

fj12ryder wrote:

Njmurvin wrote:
Update: The awning was installed by a ShadePro team of 2 guys. It took them less than an hour and one was a trainee. It was SO worth the net $100 to have them do the install. The weather shield option is totally worth it. The first 18" or so of the awning is metal and then it connects to the fabric for the rest of the way. The fabric ends up rolled under the metal portion for sun protection when retracted. I really like the acrylic fabric too. I expect this to last much longer than my previous unprotected vinyl shade. Slide toppers are next!

FWIW, installing slide toppers is pretty much a piece o' cake. I installed three of them on our 351M, and the only one I needed help on was the living room slide, at 10 feet wide. And that was to hold up one end while I slid the other end into the channel, about 5 minutes.

Good to know. DH is going to replace the slide topper on a small slide that is on the south side when we park it. It's deteriorating close to the side due to sun damage. It's on the same side as our awning, but due to the awning having the Alumagard, it covers it from sun exposure when rolled up.

[fj12ryder]

Njmurvin wrote:
Update: The awning was installed by a ShadePro team of 2 guys. It took them less than an hour and one was a trainee. It was SO worth the net $100 to have them do the install. The weather shield option is totally worth it. The first 18" or so of the awning is metal and then it connects to the fabric for the rest of the way. The fabric ends up rolled under the metal portion for sun protection when retracted. I really like the acrylic fabric too. I expect this to last much longer than my previous unprotected vinyl shade. Slide toppers are next!

FWIW, installing slide toppers is pretty much a piece o' cake. I installed three of them on our 351M, and the only one I needed help on was the living room slide, at 10 feet wide. And that was to hold up one end while I slid the other end into the channel, about 5 minutes.

[joebedford]

I replaced our 20' awning this year with a Shadepro vinyl one from amazon.ca. About $350CDN - ~ $250US.

Our RV is as tall as an RV can be so for some smaller RV I'm sure two people could do it. For ours, THREE people were necessary and a FOURTH helped for about 5 minutes when we slid the new awning in the channel and roller.

Because the RV is so tall, it needs a third person to hold up the awning otherwise there's too much of a bend in it to thread it on.

Hardest thing was getting the old awning off - lots of silicone spray.

[Njmurvin]

Update: The awning was installed by a ShadePro team of 2 guys. It took them less than an hour and one was a trainee. It was SO worth the net $100 to have them do the install. The weather shield option is totally worth it. The first 18" or so of the awning is metal and then it connects to the fabric for the rest of the way. The fabric ends up rolled under the metal portion for sun protection when retracted. I really like the acrylic fabric too. I expect this to last much longer than my previous unprotected vinyl shade. Slide toppers are next!

[ReneeG]

Njmurvin wrote:
Update. I ordered the acrylic material fabric replacement with the metal weather shield from ShadePro. Since I live near enough to them that they will do the installation, I opted for the installation. They charge $250 for the installation BUT, they bring the awning with them on their truck instead of charging $150 for shipping. So the install is really only $100 (no brainer for me). They offer free shipping for fabric only orders, but adding the weather shield means they have to ship by truck ($$$$). I'll provide another update when the installation is finished.

You'll be very happy with both. Looking forward to seeing your update.

[Njmurvin]

Update. I ordered the acrylic material fabric replacement with the metal weather shield from ShadePro. Since I live near enough to them that they will do the installation, I opted for the installation. They charge $250 for the installation BUT, they bring the awning with them on their truck instead of charging $150 for shipping. So the install is really only $100 (no brainer for me). They offer free shipping for fabric only orders, but adding the weather shield means they have to ship by truck ($$$$). I'll provide another update when the installation is finished.

[routemaster]

I had a Company in Ventura CA a few years ago to run me up one using Sunbrella fabric.

[Njmurvin]

Great replies!!! Thanks, everyone.

[buc1980]

I use to get material from Tough Top but the last time I order the material was very bad is not like it used to be don't buy from them.

[bobsallyh]

I got material from ShadePro for replacement on our power awning. Did it myself. But ShadePro seems to be very well respected in the Yuma and Quartzite and the Southern California areas for good work. Their trucks are all over the area especially during snowbird season.

[BarneyS]

I replaced both my main awning and also the slideout awning a couple of years ago by ShadePro Awnings and was very satisfied both with the value of the material and the quality. I got the vinyl since our original awning was vinyl and had lasted over 17 years.

The new awning material from them is much heavier and nicer than our original. I did the replacement myself with the help of my son. Watched
several videos and wrote out the steps to follow. Turns out it was quite easy and we had no problems.

Here is how it looks now - You can see the old awning material laying on the ground in front of the trailer 🙂
Barney

[Seneca_35GS]

I had Shade-Pro replace both of my topper awnings and patio awning. One man did the job, but he knew exactly what to do. I no longer get on ladders. I opted for Sunbrella, a canvas product. I used Sunbrella on my boat covers over the years with amazing result and longevity. Very happy with Shade-Pro.

[ford_truck_guy]

We replaced the awning fabric on my brother-in-law‘s RV a few years back. We had no idea what to do or how to do it so we watched a few YouTube videos…

It was fairly easy for the two of us we did need a third to help us guide the new fabric into the rail but that was it.

That was free manual on it, when it comes to electric gonings I have no idea.