A lesson learned on Mothers Day

[rockwood06]

Return to our seasonal site for the second time on Mothers Day weekend the weather was bad as far as rain go's the week before. Our awning of course was rolled up when we left the week before so I open the awning so it would dry out, the weather was good a lot of sun shine but just a little breezy. We left the awning open and then decided to take the dogs for a walk. We were gone for a good while, meet a nice couple from Boston, they were first time campers with a class "A" motor home, anyway when we returned to our camper I notice that the awning was setting on top of the camper roof. The supports that are attached to the roof cutter that keep the awning from lifting snapped at the rivets on both sides causing the main supports to come apart but still attached to the roller. The supports that snapped were laying on the ground but everything else was on top of the roof. I was able to get everything off of the roof that was left and put the main supports back together and was able to roll the awning back up, however checking damages I found that one of the main supports skipped across the roof and tearing the material in two places, when the roller came down it hit the sky lite over the shower and cracked it and a hole was put in the middle of the awning material for the antenna that was in the up right position. I used duct tape to cover both the damage roof and the sky lite until I can get back on Memorial Weekend hopefully with replacement parts for the awning and sky lite and a repair kit for the roof. Here is the worst part, I had the ackers in the ground for the awning tie downs and did not use them, I deserved this I can only be mad at myself So let this be a lesson, if you have tie downs use them and if you don't have them get them. You just don't know what will happen. I am hoping I can buy just the upper supports for the awning with out spending $1,300 bucks for a complete awning.

[cma659]

You can get the parts from Reicharts RV you'll need your model and serial numbers to order them had to replace one of my support arms last year luckily no other damage was done, now I use the awning tie downs. We where at Fort Whaley in Ocean City this past weekend and our neighbor lost his awning in a thunderstorm that came though they wasn't there at the time it happen and the storm only lasted 5 minutes or less but the damage was all ready done, I did go over and and was able to get it roll up so no more damage would happen but one of the sliding support arms brackets was broken and the arm was bent. When he came over the next morning he thank me for rolling it up so no other damage would happen and said he was going to get the tie down when he seen mine. It's a cheap fix for something that could cost you alot more in replacement parts as I found out

[rockwood06]

Originally Posted by cma 659

You can get the parts from Reicharts RV you'll need your model and serial numbers to order them had to replace one of my support arms last year luckily no other damage was done, now I use the awning tie downs. We where at Fort Whaley in Ocean City this past weekend and our neighbor lost his awning in a thunderstorm that came though they wasn't there at the time it happen and the storm only lasted 5 minutes or less but the damage was all ready done, I did go over and and was able to get it roll up so no more damage would happen but one of the sliding support arms brackets was broken and the arm was bent. When he came over the next morning he thank me for rolling it up so no other damage would happen and said he was going to get the tie down when he seen mine. It's a cheap fix for something that could cost you a lot more in replacement parts as I found out

Thanks for the reply, I have there phone number and I am waiting for them to open. This is the 3rd time I have had to replace the awning on this camper. The first time it was replaced because of a factory defect at time of delivery, the second time was because of a storm at Frontier Town in Ocean City the awning filled up with water faster then it could drain and bent the roller in half, I had to cut the awning off the first day of a weeks vacation there, this time it was all me. One problem I have found with this Rockwood is that the awning has to be completely straight out on one side to keep the door from hitting the bottom of the awning, it must be the design of the low roof and the tall exterior door. Did not have this kind of problem with my first TT which was a Fleetwood Mallard. By the way I bought both of my campers form Reicharts.

[rockwood06]

Just found out that A&E awnings are made by Dometic, Dometic had a fire at there plant so if you are waiting for parts they may be delayed, the last I heard they will not be shipping anything before the 18th of May.

[midnightpumpkin]

Sorry about your awing mishap.

We had a seasonal site for 8 years. The awining was rolled out on April 15th each year and rolled up again on October 15th.

Tie downs and multiple de-flappers on each end, plus maybe a smidgen of good luck!

John U

[NWJeeper]

Originally Posted by midnightpumpkin

Tie downs and multiple de-flappers on each end, plus maybe a smidgen of good luck!

John U

Oh so true. Before we got our new rig with the power awning I used tie downs and two sets of de-flappers per side ALWAYS! I sure miss the old awning. The power one is convenient but can't be tilted to let the rain run off so I can't tie it down either, have to be able to roll it up if the water accumulates.

Sorry about the awing and associated damage though. Will insurance cover?

[rockwood06]

Originally Posted by NWJeeper

Oh so true. Before we got our new rig with the power awning I used tie downs and two sets of de-flappers per side ALWAYS! I sure miss the old awning. The power one is convenient but can't be tilted to let the rain run off so I can't tie it down either, have to be able to roll it up if the water accumulates.

Sorry about the awing and associated damage though. Will insurance cover?

Yes, insurance will cover It, but I may be able to do the repairs my self. By the time I pay the deductable it could cost me more in the long run. Just need some replacment parts and rework the inner supports, cut and redrill.

[donjuanss]

NWJeeper call your local dealer about the fix for the awning. That is if it is a Dometic electric awning. I got one for my V-Lite and it works great.

[rockwood06]

My inner supports have been ordered. They are called rafter supports, these are the ones that are attached to the campers gutter and once the awning is open they slide up in the main supports and lock in place at the roller. My rafters broke at the revits where they are attached to the gutter on both sides. I wish I had taken a pic of It.

[NWJeeper]

Originally Posted by donjuanss

NWJeeper call your local dealer about the fix for the awning. That is if it is a Dometic electric awning. I got one for my V-Lite and it works great.

Mine is new enough that it already has the automatic spring arm installed on the rear leg of the awning. The problem with that is that because motorhomes have a natural rake built into the rear suspension to help carry the weight of gas, water, stuff, etc, if I pull into a spot that is perfectly level the floor of my rig is still running down hill to the front. Therefore to level the rig my front levelers will raise the front wheels all the way off the ground, which doesn't bother me but it doesn't usually get the awning high enough on the front end to allow water to run to the rear and allow that arm to do it's job. I am considering buying the adustable section that most have been getting as the retrofit and putting it on the front arm so that I can manually tilt it a bit. I'm sure the awning works great attached to a wall at the factory when they test them but in the real world they have a lot of shortcomings.

[NWJeeper]

Originally Posted by rockwood06

My inner supports have been ordered. They are called rafter supports, these are the ones that are attached to the campers gutter and once the awning is open they slide up in the main supports and lock in place at the roller. My rafters broke at the revits where they are attached to the gutter on both sides. I wish I had taken a pic of It.

Rockwood, did the rafter arms collapse that you can see? The problem with the rafters is that if they collapse then they allow slack in the awning which allows it to billow and then do more damage to itself. I saw a trick a guy did at a campground one time which I then adopted which is that once you have your rafters adjusted to where you want them, you drill a hole through the outer one so that it just misses the end of the other section on the inside and insert a hitch pin through them so that the rafter can never collapse. You could also run the hole through both arms but lining up the holes to insert the pin could be a bit of a pain. No matter how hard you turn down that tension screw, mother nature can overcome it. The pins worked great on our old awning.

[rockwood06]

Originally Posted by NWJeeper

Rockwood, did the rafter arms collapse that you can see? The problem with the rafters is that if they collapse then they allow slack in the awning which allows it to billow and then do more damage to itself. I saw a trick a guy did at a campground one time which I then adopted which is that once you have your rafters adjusted to where you want them, you drill a hole through the outer one so that it just misses the end of the other section on the inside and insert a hitch pin through them so that the rafter can never collapse. You could also run the hole through both arms but lining up the holes to insert the pin could be a bit of a pain. No matter how hard you turn down that tension screw, mother nature can overcome it. The pins worked great on our old awning.

NWJeeper, from what I can tell the rafters did not collapse, they snap at the revits where they are attached to the hardwear that are attached to the gutter. I saved the rafters and I have them here at home. Maybe I will take a picture of them and post them. My camper is two hours away and I will be going up this weekend. I had thought about cutting both broken ends off and redrilling them then install a pin as you mention. Now the way it works with my local RV shop, I have to pay for the parts in full before they would order them. Because the service Manager knows me he had all ready ordered the parts with out payment, so at this point I will have to wait for the parts to come in, I don't want to get him into hot water with his boss since he didn't follow proceedure. As far as the tension screw, It was in the same position as I had it, which is strange. I wounder if the rafters were cracked at the revit to start with.

[rockwood06]

NWJeeper, here are the rafters as they came off the camper, they are fully intact, but as you can see by the ends where they had snap off at the roof. This is the revit end that is connect to the hardwear that clamps to the gutter.

[Colorado High]

Rockwood06 stated that the power awnings can't be tilted nor tie-downs used. Does anyone know why? Isn't it very important to have the tie-downs?

[wboudx]

My daughter and her family were camping, and during the night a wind came up and put the awning over the roof of the trailer. In the adjacent camping spot were their friends. The awning was blown over their roof also. Both were staked down.

Point is, no matter what awning you have, and whether it is tied down or not, if you are going to be away, roll it up.

Walt

[rockwood06]

Originally Posted by Colorado High

Rockwood06 stated that the power awnings can't be tilted nor tie-downs used. Does anyone know why? Isn't it very important to have the tie-downs?

Colorado High, when the power awnings First came out they were not design to tilte as far as tie-downs I am really not sure of that, but I do know is that with the power awning, once full extened the roller sets high off the ground where one may have trouble reaching it to install tie-down straps with out a ladder. With me at 5' 6" I would need all the help I can get. There have been complaints because the power awnings not titling, the manufacture made a design change last year and I saw it on a V-Cross at the Hershey rv show. As far as deflappers, they can be installed but you have to buy the ones that have the adjustable straps that attach to the upper rafter, the hard gray ones will not work and that's because they are in a fix postion the part that attaches to the upper rafter must be able to ben. The awning material is higher then the side supports, with a standard awning, the upper rafter and the awning material are even.
As far as have tie-down.....I will never open my awning with out using them again, Some people have been luck, but I well tell, It is a $1300 mistake x 2.