Warning -- wind damage.....awnings!

[amandasgramma]

I've been doing a little research about electric awnings. I ran across an RVNet thread from last year discussing electric vs manual. One person said he ties down his awning, has the de-flappers, and uses buckets to hold down the awning. Attached is the result of a gust of wind that ruined our friend's awning. The awning was being held down by TWO FORTY pound cement BLOCKS. You ask if the straps broke.....noooooo. He found one of the blocks on the back side of his rig. The wind took the awning up and over and the 40# block went with it........he found the block in the field behind his rig. Thankfully, his rig wasn't damaged and there was no one camped behind him!!!!!! So, if you think those buckets full of rocks will hold down an awning in a big gust of wind.....think again. 🙂

[linnemj]

I worry about wind damaging our 28' awning. Since we camp mostly to tour, we rarely use our awning. We do very little sitting - always going somewhere or doing something!

[wbwood]

austinjenna wrote:

The manual awning allows me to put one side lower so no water collects and we can still be outside when it rains.

So does my electric awning.

Our electric awning has the dump feature. Just tighten the knob on one side and if the rains gets to heavy, it will "dump" on the other end. Stays level until it needs to dump. Just got to remember to loosen the knob before bringing it in.

[wbwood]

We do not leave our awning out if we are leaving the park/campground. If at the beach and the weather is ok with a slight breeze, we will strap it down. If it gets to wear we feel it's getting too strong, then we will pull in the awning. If we leave the park/campground, we pull in the awning.

We have done the same practice on the manual awning on the TT we had and still do it the same on the motorhomes auto awning. We do not use lights on the awning in case we need to pull it in quickly. We used to with the TT, but had stop before we got rid of it.

[GoPackGo]

What we need is an awning with big built-in flaps that will flip open when the wind comes along, just like the NASCAR boys have in the roofs of their cars. I can see some problems that need to be overcome but if we can put a man on the moon . . . .

Any inventers out there ??

[Lantley]

Good Point Dutchman Sport on not hanging things on the electric awning.
I have gotten away from using awning lights more so do to laziness vs. the awning issue.
I have devised a way to attach lights to side of trailer using suction cups to avoid hanging them on the electric awning.
But for convenience sake and to maintain the ability to retract the awning in a hurry I agree not to hang lights on them.
In order to like the electric awning you must focus on the convenience factor. You must learn to enjoy the convenience over any other issue

[DutchmenSport]

Lantley wrote:

hotpepperkid wrote:
I have my first and last electric awning. I hate it. There is no flexablity. Its either in or out.

Originally I felt the same way you did about my electric awning.
I disliked it as well. It's either in or out.
But eventually I caught on that either I was in or out as well.
If I was going to be out push the button and awning goes out! If I was coming in push the button awning comes in just as easily. No set up or take down either way. No worries. As mentioned earlier electric awning
takes a different mindset.

Totally agree. And agree with austingenna too about being able to lean one side lower. Do mine all the time.

The only down-side I have found to the electric awning, especially if you want the EASE of pushing a button any time ... you don't want to hang a bunch of stuff on the awning because if you push the button, all that stuff has to come off first. But that is true for a manual awning too. So we don't hang anything on the awning any more, like we use to with a manual awning. Haven't missed that "junk" hanging there either because the ease of pushing a button in the middle of the night because the wind picked up, butt naked is priceless!

[austinjenna]

The manual awning allows me to put one side lower so no water collects and we can still be outside when it rains.

So does my electric awning.

[Lantley]

hotpepperkid wrote:
I have my first and last electric awning. I hate it. There is no flexablity. Its either in or out.

Originally I felt the same way you did about my electric awning.
I disliked it as well. It's either in or out.
But eventually I caught on that either I was in or out as well.
If I was going to be out push the button and awning goes out! If I was coming in push the button awning comes in just as easily. No set up or take down either way. No worries. As mentioned earlier electric awning
takes a different mindset.

[OldRadios]

No motorized awning and don't want one. Don't leave it out at night or when we're not there. Sometimes it rains with no wind. The manual awning allows me to put one side lower so no water collects and we can still be outside when it rains. Only takes me a minute to bring it out or roll it up anyway.

[hotpepperkid]

I have my first and last electric awning. I hate it. There is no flexablity. Its either in or out.

[dodge_guy]

I too used to have the rope lights draped across the awning. One night around 2 in the morning a storm came out of nowhere! By the time I got dressed and got out the door the wind was blowing pretty good and it started raining. I never removed the lights so fast before! at one point when I got the top arms slid down the wind pushed the awning up into the stowed position without rolling up the awning. had to pull it back down and then retract the material. by this time It was raining pretty hard and I was soaked! no damage but I have not done that again! Sometimes I`ll put up the rope lights for the day if there is no storm forecast. but they come down before I go in. that way all I have to do is roll up the awning. it takes me less than a minute to roll it up. it takes longer to remove any lights and hooks on the awning.

[IND_navyvet]

I'm a slow learner. Paid for 2 repairs to awning and hardware, before I learned. Now planning to be away from camp awning stowed, water heater off, turn off water at spigot. Also keep a weather radio in camper check frequently.

[fj12ryder]

Amen!! My feelings exactly.

[FlatBroke]

Will admit electric makes a lot of sense. To bad they can't make one that won't flop like a fish out of water in a light breeze. Had two electrics, one Dometic and one Carefree, Carefree was superior. I'll stick to my latest manual until they can stiffing up the electrics.