Awning broke

[ekskp]

Here we are out on our first trip with our brand new 2018 flagstaff 823D. We put up the awning because we were expecting rain. First off any little breeze pulls the poles off the camper and the awning falls. Last night it was raining but nothing severe. As I was about ready to fall asleep there was a noise and the camper shook a little. I go out to find one of the poles that connect to the camper bent and the main beam that all the poles connect to bent in half. We used to use a 20 year old Rockwood with that awning in weather I worried about and never any problems. Are these new awning just junk and I need to find an after market awning?

[GalsofEscape]

not sure what awning there would be out there to get - I have only seen two main suppliers, either Carefree or Dometic (and if memory serves me correctly - i think Dometic now owns Carefree). There are a few threads here where people have lamented that the current awnings are not as sturdy as they used to be.


we learned the hard way to always tie down the awning and tilt it so the rain could run off the awning. before we learned to do that, we had some damage to the awning when the breeze flipped it onto the roof and broke a leg off at the corner. since they don't just sell the leg, and i did not want to buy the whole half frame, i lashed the leg to the corner and kept on using it.

we also had a slight bend in the front rail when we did not tilt the awning enough and rain collected on the awning - we caught it before it did any real damage though. We continued to use it and it was still on the camper when we traded it in after 6 years of use.

[nemolomen]

I second that; "learned the hard way" and "always stake the legs".