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.

[fj12ryder]

We bought vinyl awning material from Shadepro and it seemed to be very sturdy material, reinforced where it attached to the trailer. We sold the trailer a couple years after we put the new material on and it was still looking good. It was the heavy duty vinyl, 20 feet, and cost us $199. And installation was about $300 by a local RV tech place. It doesn't take that long to do if you have the personnel and tools, like ladders and such. I didn't feel like tackling it myself, so had it done.

[agesilaus]

We replaced with vinyl after our 2016 aqning delaminated. We patched it with replair tape and it lasted another year. The replacement process is easy for two adults and a ladder. Took less tha 90 mins with my wife as the helper.

The old fabric is double layered and that is why it delaminates. The claims for acrylic is that it will last longer. Time will see but all is well a year or so after the swap.

Acrylic is a couple of hundred bucks at Amazon and I do not think it is worth 700 to get someone to do the job. Pros online at YouTube can do the swap in 30 mins. And there are many tutorials up on YT too. Carefree is easier than Dometic because of that spring on the Dometic awnings.

[opnspaces]

I've replaced my awning twice in the last 17 years. If it helps on the fear of heights area, you can do the whole repair with two people and a few six foot step ladders. There is no need to get up on the roof.

[ReneeG]

No experience with that company or product, but we replaced our vinyl awning with acrylic and added an alumaguard. Our RV tech recommended the acrylic for durability, and he added the alumaguard at no extra cost since he had one off another repair. We were fortunate in that area. I believe the acrylic was around that much - $900 from Carefree. We've had it now for about three years. No mold to have to wash, no fading of the color (we got navy), no deterioration, and although it's breathable, it is rain proof.