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Keith_Haw's avatar
Keith_Haw
Explorer
Jul 29, 2016

Electric awning swapout

Hey there everyone. Haven't been on lately, don't get online when traveling much.

My new trailer has an electric awning and I'd like to replace it with a manual one. We really like using our screen room when setup for the winter and I'm not really sure that's a good idea with an electric awning. When we use the screen room we usually have the awning staked down and can't now. We've been through some pretty high wind like that with no problems and it adds extra shade and shelter from winds.

So, has anyone swapped out there electric awning? If so, how has it worked out? Any down side t doing it?

Thanks
Keith
  • Another thing, they fail to roll out and in at the most inconvenient time.
  • Keith Haw wrote:
    The electric one is nice and easy to put out but afraid it would handle much of a wind.


    They don't. Our current Coachmen Freedom Express came with a Dometic 9100 power awning that does tilt a fair bit so we're quite happy with it and wouldn't now change back to a manual as deploying / retracting the power version is so much easier & quicker. I usually don't retract it when it's raining, just tilt it down, and it sheds water just fine but if the wind comes up that's the time to retract it. The Dometic 8500 manual awning the dealer installed on our previous Spree would tilt even more and I don't ever recall putting it away just because it was raining or if it was windy, within reason of course.
  • Thanks for the reply SoundGuy. Kind of figured there would be holes left to plug but hadn't thought about plugs. The electric one is nice and easy to put out but afraid it would handle much of a wind.
  • Keith Haw wrote:
    So, has anyone swapped out there electric awning? If so, how has it worked out? Any down side t doing it?


    Our previous KZ Spree was a lot model equipped with a Carefree of Colorado power awning with almost no tilt so the dealer agreed as part of the deal to swap it out for a Dometic 8500 manual awning with plenty of tilt. Mounting hardware is entirely different so holes left in the body once the power awning was removed were sealed and plugged with plastic caps before the manual awning was installed. In six years there were no negatives other than the plugs being visible.