Replacement awning from RVawningsmart.com?

[Woodtroll]

Hello everyone,

My 13-year-old trailer needs replacement fabric for its awning. After researching sources, it looks like an outfit that's called RVawningsmart.com, that also trades on eBay as top-shade, has the best prices. My question is, how is their quality and ease of insallation? Has anyone here used one of their awnings?

Thanks,
Regan

[wvcampers]

Good luck with getting 5 years. I just replaced the RVawningmart product after 2 years. It stained between the fabric layers and was impossible to clean It also had one spot where seam between at two sections was coming apart. I did not contact the company because I did not want a replacement from them.

[rhagfo]

Woodtroll wrote:
Thanks very much to everyone for taking the time to provide feedback - I really appreciate it!

Rhagfo, my awning is 18', so almost as long as yours. Please do post back and let me know how it went if you are able to complete the project.

Many thanks!
Regan

Well Mother nature didn't work out last weekend, so we did it this weekend.
We did as a two person install me and DW, and we were still talking once installed.
I watched a couple You Tube install videos I found this one to be the best help even though it isn't for a RVAwningsmart awning. I also had the DW watch them also, great help in her understanding what we were doing.

Awning Replacement Vid

We took our time and truly communicated each step. We only removed the latch end of the tube.
Once we had the valance cord pulled in, the question was how to press the fabric in to the grove to push in the spline. My solution was the BACK edge of a table knife, with two layers of electrical tape, and two layers of strapping tape so as not damage the awning. I used the wrapped up knife to press the awing fabric into the grove while DW pushed the new spline in lubricated with silicone spray. The spline for the 21' came in two pieces each with a square cut end and an angle cut end. We pushed all 21' from one end. Once the 1st piece was in I pushed it with the back of the knife a head of DW pushing in the 2nd piece. First one went angle cut first, second square end 1st.
Well all was well until a caught the edge stitching with the pointy end of the 1st spline. We solved by sticking the leading end of a couple zip ties behind the spline and over the stitching.

With only two people to put the spline on the trailer just takes time. Ladder at the entrance, electrical tape and strapping tape over the opened end of the channel. Just a quick note(^&$*^*^$%) if you have an eyebrow over your door protect those sharp edges also!!!!

So I moved the rear standard and feed the fabric covered spline into the channel I would place the bottom forward of the top, then while DW pushed her end I would feed about 2' until the top of the standard was about 1' ahead of the bottom, then move the bottom again, and repeat.

We will see how it holds up, at $155 for the fabric, and $19 for shipping I will be happy with 5 years, the old one was OEM and 10 years old.



Finished install 🙂

[subcamper]

I just replaced our 14' awning fabric with a replacement from RVawningsmart.com. The fabric came fairly quickly and was folded up in a box along with instructions for mounting it onto the awning tube and molding on the trailer.

I suggest you watch the youtube videos to get a better visual idea of what you need to do.

A longer awning really doesn't change the procedure much. I put a long board (10') on a couple of sawhorses so I could work at a comfortable height. As long as more than half of the length sits on the board its long enough, with the ends overhanging.

The instructions show the material being folded, pushed into the slot in the tube and then the spline being pushed into the slot.

I found that having a piece of plastic (with dull or rounded edges)slightly thinner than the slot width let me push the material down into the slot as I went along.

The spline got VERY hard to push once it went about 2/3 of the awning length. If I was doing it again I would definitely use some sort of lubricant in the slot (that didn't attack the fabric material).

Steve

[Woodtroll]

Thanks very much to everyone for taking the time to provide feedback - I really appreciate it!

Rhagfo, my awning is 18', so almost as long as yours. Please do post back and let me know how it went if you are able to complete the project.

Many thanks!
Regan

[rhagfo]

We will hopefully post back after this weekend. We if weather holds we will install this Saturday, should be interesting as 21'.

[Huntindog]

I have done this job twice on two different TTs.
A lot of the cheapest fabrics are poor quality. As you go up in price, it gets better. There is a pretty good jump in price depending on how it is packaged due to shipping. The folded fabrics ship much cheaper than the ones that come on a roll... The boxed ones need to be unpacked and laid flat ASAP. The rolled ones do not. Some companies sell both types. I got my last one on a roll from Dyers RV. It was a little over 200.00 for factory fabric. I am happy with it.

[Wrong_Lane]

I bought from them two years ago.

The product has been good and durable. Gets lots of use and has no rips or exceptional signs of wear.

It is vinyl and when I installed it the wrinkles took a few uses to disappear. When it was deployed you could smell "new vinyl" for a month or so.

The company was fine to deal with. I got exactly what I ordered and it was delivered in the promised time frame.

Have at least 3 people available to install the new fabric. The instructions say it's a two person job and you can likely do it with two but the third person makes it an easy job and minimizes the chances of ripping the material when installing.

Would I use this supplier again? -- yes without hesitation.

[Peg_Leg]

Got one last year. Good price and material seems fine. Installing the spline and getting the wrinkles out was a challenge. I suggest a couple of extra sets of hands.

[darsben1]

I bought from them and the install was standard. Serves me well so far but only bought it in May so no long term experience

[ScottG]

Deleted orig content.

15 oz is a good thickness of material. I bought something much cheaper and thinner and will have to rip it out after only two years.