What do you tie your awnings down with?

[karalyn]

I am looking for a simple way of tieing my awning down so the wind won't take it. Any suggestions???
Thanks

[JesLookin]

A few years ago on a July 4th weekend a big thunderstorm blew through. Lots of campers had their awnings tied down, some didn't. I and a few others put them away as the storm began. After the storm two of the awnings that were tied down had the awnings tear away from the camper & rip the awning material - But the arms were still tied down real nice. Couple campers had the awnings blow over the top, don't know if they were tied down. Seems like a matter of how lucky you are & if the wind catches the awning just right (or wrong?)

[jerem0621]

Lowering it resolves the water polling issue. That is what took my awning.

[JJBIRISH]

Unfortunately lowering it all the way won’t help much, it’s still a giant sail and if the air gets under it, it will get torn off…

IMHO if it’s out it needs tied down… seem everywhere I go there is enough wind, or the unexpected gust… but I bought it to use, I bought tie downs to keep from losing it, and I bought insurance to cover the cost if I do lose it…

I have seen hundreds of awnings destroyed, most from not being properly deployed… from pooling water and not enough tilt, not deployed tight enough and battered by slight breezes, and those not tied down often while the camper was still on site… and a few taken out while open or rolled up by falling branches…

[jerem0621]

I lost a tied down awning, I do not tie the awning down anymore. What I do is put the awning all the way down when I leave. That's if the forecast is good. If there is any chance for storms I put the awning up. $1600.00 is a tough lesson to learn. The 30 seconds that it takes to put it up will save you bundles down the road.

Thanks!

[goingnorth]

I have used 5 different corkscrew hold downs and snapped them all. Between using them for the dog and the awnining I have broke them while trying to screw them in, if its rocky or heavy clay and its dry its tough, and when its sandy they just pull right out.

For the dog I wrap a cable around a tree, picknick table or the TT steps.

[JJBIRISH]

mmiller1013 wrote:
See below link. Has anyone used this style anchor? A little pricey.

Awning Anchor

I have seen them but never bought any… I try to keep the awning legs plumb and that would be hard to do with those… I just use spikes to hold the legs from moving and plumb with an anchor…

I don’t know if I would trust them because anything that is put in straight because it would be easier to pull out straight… I like to toe-nail the anchor away from the direction of the pull to load undisturbed soil…

[mmiller1013]

See below link. Has anyone used this style anchor? A little pricey.

Awning Anchor

[goingnorth]

JJBIRISH wrote:
Each soil presents its own unique problems like you say… I carry home made pound in anchors of different lengths made of angle iron, and the screw in dog leash anchors… I also have the screw in anchors like RoyB uses and The Claw aircraft tie down that I can take with me if I think I might need them…

For rock or the shell rock I have a long tapered chisel that I can crack the rock with instead of bending my anchors trying to drive them in the rock…

You need more than one type of anchor with you…
Often what works well in one place isn’t good at all in another…

I also use the claw kit. I have 3 claws total because I put up a 10x10 as well and use one from the awning and another to hold it down. The claw will not pull out, but the bag it comes in ripped up quickly and the hammer is cheap, I bought a hammer from lowes and ground the nailremover grove out a little to work. If the weather gets bad I will roll up the awning as the vinyl will rip at the TT long before the claw will pull out.

[JJBIRISH]

Each soil presents its own unique problems like you say… I carry home made pound in anchors of different lengths made of angle iron, and the screw in dog leash anchors… I also have the screw in anchors like RoyB uses and The Claw aircraft tie down that I can take with me if I think I might need them…

For rock or the shell rock I have a long tapered chisel that I can crack the rock with instead of bending my anchors trying to drive them in the rock…

You need more than one type of anchor with you…
Often what works well in one place isn’t good at all in another…

[Bonefish]

Hold downs do give you a false sense of security but can protect against some freak wind gust. I tie down our awning but we roll it up at night or if we will be gone for the day.

I have some 5/8" by 24" rebar rods I have sharpened one end and made a curl eyelet on the other with some large springs. The spring end is roped to the awning keep tention on the awning but allow for some movement. I had a pair of the screw in types but they only worked in sand. Never could get them into the rocky ground around here or the shell campsites at the coast. The rebar can be hammered (carry small 2# sledge hammer) into some really tough ground and knocked loose when you need to pull them.

[RoyB]

I have a couple of problems to deal with on my OFF-ROAD POPUP camper.

My front and back sides move a great deal in and out when I have the roof top up. I can stand at the entrance door push in at the top of the door a good 6-inches of play in and out. When some winds get going in the right direction it may move so much to knock off things I have sitting on my portable shelving I put up to hold things when setup. When my 22-inch HDTV went flying to floor one day I knew i had to get this problem solved haha...

To solve this I added one-inch eyebolts in the four corners of the POPUP roof that has its bolt going thru to the inside which is bolted down with a heavy washers on both sides of the wall.


Then I picked up a set of four 1/2-inch web ratchet Tie Down Straps 15-feet long so I could hook into the eyebolt


Then I picked up some of these 15-inch earth augers with the 3-inch blades on them and can easily screw these into the ground off the four corners. These leave no signs when removed and really hold up great in higher winds. Takes only a few minutes to install into the ground with just a long blade screwdriver.


This setup works wonders for my side to side sway of the POPUP roof.

When I deploy the awing where my awning setup goes to the ground with poles I can run two addition 1/2-inch tie downs from the extended awning side and attach to the 15-inch long earth augers. This holds down the awning as well.

These are really neat as being the ratchet type actions you can remove them real fast if you need to take all of this down with big wind storms coming up. Wish I had found these types of tie down straps in my tent camping days. It only takes a couple of minutes to totally break down my web straps when I need to.

NOTE: I forgot to add that on the inside of the trailer I can also install another eyebolt set using a coupler adapter with the bolt end and install a couple more eyebolts on the oposite wall of the trailer down on the bottom hard wall side. Then I can run two 1/2-inch web ratchet straps crisscross at the unused bed end entrance on the inside which will also keep the roof top from moving side to side in the wind. I will do this if I have to remove the outside 1/2-inch web straps because of bad wind storms coming up...

All of these parts were available from LOWES

My tie down story for my off-road POPUP...

Roy Ken

[JJBIRISH]

If you use it much the day will come when a unexpected straight line wind will come and your un-tied awning and it’s arms may end up on the roof before you can get out of your chair to try to save it…

40 pound pots and filled buckets can be hurled half way across the CG like BB”s from a sling shot… I have seen awnings tied to heavy picnic tables lift a table and in one instance and would have thrown it had the rope not broke…

If the awning is out it should be tied down but tied down adequately… it doesn’t matter if you choose to bring it in or leave it out… never had an automatic awning and I don’t want one…

[mowin]

We are seasonal campers, and never retract our awning. I unhooked the support arms and anchored them to the ground as well as used ratchet straps from the roller tube to the ground anchors. When I left for the week, I would lower the legs so the awning had a steep pitch.
Neighbor has been doing the same for 10+ yrs, and never lost a awning.

This spring, DW and I got a new camper, and it has a power awning...I hate this awning. anyone want to buy a 1 month old 21' power awning?.. I want a manual awning that I can leave out and anchor.

[CincyGus]

rjsurfer wrote:
Never use any type of strap or hold down for awning.

It just makes it harder to pull in the awning when a storm hits. Trying to hold it down is a waste of time and hold downs give you a false sense of security.

Ron W.

Same here. When we leave the camper, the awning goes up. Too many stories of wind gusts ripping them up or throwing them up on the roofs and doing significantly more damage than one would expect. The way I figure it, it takes about 2-3 minutes for me to deploy or retract my manual awning. I'd feel like the biggest dummy on the planet if I had a torn roof membrane, awning supports pulled out from the camper or damaged or bent awning because I was too lazy to spend the time to put it up before leaving the camper. And if I'm at the camper, I don't need it tied down because if it's windy, I'm putting it up.