I made a rookie move... Always tip your awning at night!

[sharonandi]

This is a bit embarrassing but if I can help save someone else some trouble, please learn from me. I consider myself to be a pretty seasoned camper. I've been camping with several different types of campers (popup, hybrid, TT) for the past fifteen years and have always known that when you turn in for the night, you always drop one side of the awning in case of rain. Last week we spent an awesome week in Wisconsin Dells at a wonderful KOA. Lets just say I was relaxed and I got lazy. Friday night was our last night and there was no rain in the forecast. I've left the awning up when no rain was expected before and I knew I would be fine. Well folks, the weather forecast was wrong...therefore so was I! We slept great with the fan on and never heard a thing. The first thing I notice when I walk outside to take the dog out is the awning sagging from the middle. I knew at that point I had made a huge mistake. So my first thought was, lower the awing and get the water off. I proceed to walk to the inside of the awning bracket and pull the lever to lower the awning. I guess it was too early for my brain to process just how heavy that water is and how much water is there. When I pulled that lever and attempted to lower the awning slow, the awning support came crashing down the slide raking my chest with the handle throwing me back toward the camper. My awning proceeds to dumped biblical amounts of water straight to the ground in a matter of a second. The crash brought my family out of the camper as well as the family next to us. In the end, my side brackets survived. However, the main roller is bent. It was a bit difficult to get it rolled back up for the travel home, but I finally got it in. The moral to the story... Always drop one side of the awning when you turn in (rain forecast or not)!! Please learn from me!

[penguin747]

Me and my buddies camp alot of in pigeon forge and it never fails people will go out to dollywood or site seeing and leave their awning out during the day and of course a storm will roll in. we almost make it a game with our friends to see how many awnings we can save before they get back

[Sharps45120]

We completely lost ours. Camping in Marathon, FL Keys and headed down to Sombrero Beach. Absolutely gorgeous day with no sign of rain nor call for it on the local news. We were only on our 2nd day there.

We had taken the bikes down to the beach when the hurricane force winds came, bending the palms nearly flat and raining horizontally. DH jumped on my trike to get back to the campground, but still wasn't in time.

The awning roller was pinched in the middle and both lower brackets had snapped, with the awning covering the door and the entire side of the RV.

Luckily a local rv repair place was able to remove the awning completely and we had no other damage, and insurance covered the replacement awning when we returned home.

Others in the campground were worse off than us - at least 8 RVs lost awning, with one poor soul whose awning blew up onto the roof breaking a skylight so they had interior damage as well.

Live and learn, and now the awning is never out unless our boohynes are parked beneath it!

[RollandB]

Welcome to the club. Your story is a carbon copy of mine from a year ago. I can assure you it's not just a rookie mistake. Even knowing rain was forecast I just didn't think to tilt it after 3 days of sunshine. When I got up the next morning it was bowed down with water I could barely get out of the trailer. Now I've joined the "put it away when not there" club.

[Mark_and_Linda]

A few years ago I took our travel trailer over to a park so I could recoat the driveway. I had the awning tilted down in front when I left, both sides equal. Chances of rain was about 60 percent with the sun shining when I left. I went home, finished what I was going to do and headed back to the campground. I seen my awning when I entered...40 gallons of water in the middle of it. My rod was bent real bad and the fabric stretched. I was worried about the cost of replacement and then thought...I have insurance. It was replaced with no deductible. I am now very cautious with it...tilt to one side...leaving roll it up.

[CampingN_C_]

There's probably 20 or more Puma rental travel trailers set up at Myrtle Beach Travel Park. They are all fully extended, tilted and tied down with ground anchors. I'd be willing to bet they haven't lost one yet, and they get some nasty storms there in the summer.
I miss my manual awning to be honest. I don't setup anything outside anymore that can't get wet.

[allen8106]

I NEVER leave my awning out over night or unattended. The awning gods will eventually destroy your awning if you do.

[DutchmenSport]

GaryWT wrote:
Glad you survived to tell the story, it is a good reminder. Ours has auto dump but if I know rain is coming I will lower one side. I hate to have to close it as we have thing under it that we don't want to get wet nor do we want to put away each night.

My current Outback has the auto dump feature on it. Tested it out during a rain storm once, to see what would happen. Although it did dump just fine, it dumped with a CRASH - UP, when the weight of the water disappeared. Scared the hee-bee-jee-bees right out of me! So went back to old school and made sure its up at night or when gone.

[GaryWT]

Glad you survived to tell the story, it is a good reminder. Ours has auto dump but if I know rain is coming I will lower one side. I hate to have to close it as we have thing under it that we don't want to get wet nor do we want to put away each night.

[Redterpos3]

the_happiestcamper wrote:

Mine is now bowed, but I found it advantageous - I don't unroll the last 6 inches, and while I still tip one side, it can't accumulate because of the bow shape.

Since mine is bowed also I found this interesting. I'm guessing that you leave it bowed up by not unrolling the last 6 inches, is that right? Hmmm...will try it next time. Thanks!

[Redterpos3]

SDcampowneroperator wrote:
We've straightened many of those tubes. All it takes is tripod pipe stands or good sawhorses at each end, then a couple of big guys to put their weight to it.
Sorry to hear you got caught with a forgetful moment!

I'll have to try this!! Happened to me too, but my awning was tipped, still pooled in middle with very quick heavy storm.

[profdant139]

I made the same mistake, but with even less excuse -- we went to Washington state for the first time, coming from dry California. We saw that the other folks in the campground had set up their awnings crooked -- I smugly told my wife "these people don't even know how to set up an awning."

Sure enough, the rain came. The tilted awnings did just fine. Mine didn't. Lesson learned.

Moral of the story -- if everyone is out of step except me, maybe it's me.

[DutchmenSport]

That exact same thing happened to me many years ago with our Dutchmen Sport. Except, when I lifted the handle, the the awning came crashing down, I had the handle in my hand, and the rest of that arm was down! Yea, broke it right off in my hand. (how embarrassing.) It didn't bend the arm, and I was able to get a replacement just fine. BUT the fabric on the awning was stretched slightly, in the middle and always had a dip in it, even when the awning was pulled tight as I could get it (extended). After that incident, we learned to put the awning up at night. Sure that was a pain in the neck with a manual awning, but at least, we never had that problem again!

[the_happiestcam]

I use tie downs, and have not had trouble with wind. I always tip one side, but a couple of years ago, that didn't stop the water from pooling during a huge gully-washer (I was actually sitting under it reading a book when I noticed the bulge). I also tried to lower one side slowly only to have it yanked out of my hands. Mine is now bowed, but I found it advantageous - I don't unroll the last 6 inches, and while I still tip one side, it can't accumulate because of the bow shape.

I have too much setup outside to bring it in at night.

[sharonandi]

Thanks for all of the input guys! I'll try not to be so lazy next time! I know better for sure! CampOwnerOp, that's exactly how I straightened mine out. I took it off the brackets and put it directly on two saw horses and gave it the "treatment". It took two of us to sit in the middle for just a bit each time to get the "bow" down. While I had it down I gave the spring and extra turn and not it actually zips up better than it did before.