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Old 01-10-2019, 05:23 PM   #1
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Location: Tennessee
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Sunseeker 2420MSF Awning Pinholes

Has anyone had the same or similar experience?

Our 2018 Sunseeker 2420MSF has an 18' power awning (black) that we really like. Unfortunately ours has a few pinholes near the top, where it is exposed to the sun all the time, extended or retracted.

We notified our dealer who then got a new awning fabric under warranty. Unfortunately they lost it. No worries, just order a new one. When they received it they discovered it had pinholes in it, So they ordered another. Same thing. They ordered another - this is now the 3rd (fourth if you count the lost one). Same thing. Apparently the manufacturer is folding the awning fabric such that holes develop during shipping.

For now the dealer is going to choose the best of the awning fabrics they have (which might be the original one) so I can pick up my rig until they can get this straightened out.

Needless to say we and the dealer are very frustrated.
The dealer has spent a lot of time on our behalf dealing with this issue so I'm trying to learn whether anyone else has ever experienced anything like this.
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Old 01-14-2019, 06:06 PM   #2
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An Update: (You can't make this up)

We left to pick up our motorhome on Friday 1/11/2019 (about a 4.5 hour drive), expecting to stay the night in a hotel then spend Saturday morning reviewing the warranty fixes and decide on a strategy for fixing the awning fabric. The weather was great so we got there early, about 3:30pm local time. When we arrived it was clear we were now a "story" in the dealership as we were greeted by a few dealership staff with "You are the awning people?" Everyone knew what had been going on with our rig.

As the rig was being wrapped up I went to the parts dept. to pick up a swivel seat base I had ordered back in September. Two boxes were brought out, one pretty large but not heavy, the parts attendant carried it on her shoulder, and the other a slightly smaller, but very heavy, she brought this one out on a cart. Then she said "Here's your two swivel seat bases", yet I ordered only one.

The parts manager and I looked at each other and I said "let's see what in the larger box". He opened it, felt around the peanut packing and exclaimed "this is not metal, it feels like awning fabric". The lost awning had been found. Four of us got together (two from parts, one from service, and myself) and carried the fabric out to the service parking lot like an anaconda where we opened it up and held it up over our heads - NO PINHOLES!

Did I mention you can't make this up.

Needless to say everyone was shocked. To the credit of the dealership, they offered that if we could wait about 90 minutes they could have the new fabric installed. They literally dropped everything and got it done for us. They even spent the time to fetch every service tech that touched our coach to have them explain each resolved issue in detail. I felt very confident that everything was done with meticulous care.

It was just before dark, and since there was a chance for rain and maybe a little snow predicted for the next day we opted to drive home that night, saving a hotel bill.

Here was the problem: The manufacturer (Lippert - it's an 18' Solera awning) or whomever might have been subcontracting the fabric was folding the awning fabric and apparently stuffing it into a box small enough so the folds basically overstretched/compressed the fabric. When it was unfolded and stretched out there were many pinholes as a result. Ironically, the first awning fabric they shipped they rolled, then loosely snaked it into a fairly large box. It was ordered in late September 2018, yet any folds were loose enough so as not to cause any pinholes. The other problem was that the dealer wasn't initially expecting or looking for a box, they were looking for a tube - everybody ships awning fabric in a tube. We saw as much in the dealership service area, many tubes, some 20 feet long, clearly awning parts or fabrics.

The rig is now home, in a neighbors RV barn while they are in Florida. I've installed the swivel base (about an hour) and am waiting for my new Hellwig sway bars to arrive later this week so i can install them in preparation for new adventures in 2019.
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