Possible rain guard for stowed awning

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by LKicklight

Think you may have something here, been wondering what and how to do the same thing, if you have some more photo's, shoot them to me, might try it on the Crusader.
The Check Valve for my condensation fix came in wrong from RV Country, sending the correct one tomorrow, everything else looks great.
kickster

Remind me tomorrow and I will take some more pictures. It's raining now or I'd do it now. Have to go to Lowes in the morning and get the material to make another awning lock for delivery to Goshen.

[LKicklight]

Did see somewhere that another awning manufacturer had something that covered the entire awning when rolled up. Thought that was a pretty good idea, never looked into the mechanics of it, but interesting idea.
thanks. No more brake fluid tonight, I have a headache from all the rain and thunder we just had, poor cat, he is hiding in a closet somewhere.
Kick

Originally Posted by OldCoot

Remind me tomorrow and I will take some more pictures. It's raining now or I'd do it now. Have to go to Lowes in the morning and get the material to make another awning lock for delivery to Goshen.

[OldCoot]

Getting another downpour, so the testing continues.

[kc8lvy]

Originally Posted by LKicklight

Did see somewhere that another awning manufacturer had something that covered the entire awning when rolled up. Thought that was a pretty good idea, never looked into the mechanics of it, but interesting idea.
thanks. No more brake fluid tonight, I have a headache from all the rain and thunder we just had, poor cat, he is hiding in a closet somewhere.
Kick

My Silverback 5W awning has a full cover over it.

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by kc8lvy

My Silverback 5W awning has a full cover over it.

Dometic sells a replacement awnings that the material is attached to a hinged metal or vinyl cover. I think it is called a weather shield.

[OldCoot]

Got a 5" rain last night according to the rain gauge and the awning was dry. Now in about 30+ days we'll see how it works on the road.

[OldCoot]

Finally painted them and here are the pictures taken this morning just before it started raining again. May take a heat gun and take some of the curve out of them. Just haven't decided yet.

[LKicklight]

Looks as if they were store bought, good job, think I will give that a try, as soon as it quits raining again, maybe tomorrow. working on lubing up the coach bearing today.

Originally Posted by OldCoot

Finally painted them and here are the pictures taken this morning just before it started raining again. May take a heat gun and take some of the curve out of them. Just haven't decided yet.

[KA1VCQ]

Now a couple of questions.
What is the influence at either end, of the camper not being completely level?
Does rainwater creep into the rolled up awning by capillary action? Would there be any benefit to designing this to cover the entire awning?

Do you find any water intrusion at the stitching where the seam meets the mounting rail? I ask this because it appears our awning has had water leaking not only through the stitching but also into the layer of fabric between the vinyl. Which has caused a somewhat permanent mildew type stain.

Thanks again for the great idea!
ET

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by KA1VCQ

Now a couple of questions.
What is the influence at either end, of the camper not being completely level?
Does rainwater creep into the rolled up awning by capillary action? Would there be any benefit to designing this to cover the entire awning?...

Regardless of how level the camper is, the water goes into the ends depending on the direction from which the rain comes. As for running it the entire length of the awning, it is 6" pvc pipe and would be quite heavy and I doubt the motor would be strong enough to lift it. I don't know if it will stop all water intrusion, but so far, with all the rain we've had here in the last few weeks, it has remained dry after each rain. I took the lh end off last night to re-shape it and paint it and of course it rained. Opened the awning this morning and it was wet on that end. Don't guarantee they will work, but it sure looks promising.

[mjones12]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

TOWTA and I have wondered that ever since I installed our first awning in 1975 as to why would anyone design an awning with the white exposed all the time. Why do ALL the dummies making awnings don't just reverse the material and put the dark section at the camper and the white down on the roller. DUMB, DUMB, DUMB!

OC: The newer Surveyors with all the black trim and accessories actually come with an awning that shows only black when rolled up. Of course, that only hides the problem.

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by mjones12

OC: The newer Surveyors with all the black trim and accessories actually come with an awning that shows only black when rolled up. Of course, that only hides the problem.

Dometic sells them with aluminum wrap also, but to get the replacement it is pretty costly. Us po' folks got's to do what we can afford.

[OldCoot]

Got the mod finished and installed. Flattened the curve a little and had to split the front one to utilize the end cap. Not too pretty, but hopefully it will work also.

[LKicklight]

Our original awing on the Crusader developed bubbles on the under side. Could not have been caused while it was actually rolled up, so it had to happen on the next to the last outing we had when the rain was tropical in quantity. When we returned home and after the awning had been rolled back up, the bubbles somewhat disappeared only to return again in the next rain. With that said, it was determined that the fabric at the top next to the camper roof had in fact separated allowing the water to seep in between the two layers of fabric. Was told there had been a rash of these lately.
Awning has been replaced an all seems to be fine at this point and we have been through two terrible rain storms since.
kickster

[LKicklight]

Looking forward to see this in person, like the installation very much, pretty straight forward..
kickster

Originally Posted by OldCoot

Got the mod finished and installed. Flattened the curve a little and had to split the front one to utilize the end cap. Not too pretty, but hopefully it will work also.

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by LKicklight

Looking forward to see this in person, like the installation very much, pretty straight forward..
kickster

If they survive the tow to Goshen, have no idea how they will react on the road.

[OldCoot]

In anticipation of them flopping while towing, I just drilled holes in both to facilitate tying them down in a couple of weeks when we head to Goshen.

[WBrian]

We'll... How'd they work out?

[OldCoot]

They worked great, never flopped around while towing and have kept the awning dry. Came thru a torrential rain storm of about 30-45 minutes on I 40 coming home and when we stopped for the night, I unrolled the awning and it was dry, so they are doing the job intended.