Bowed Awning Roller

[Rob0702]

I was working on my TT screen door, and it started to drizzle, so I rolled the awning out so I wouldn't get wet. I went into the house for dinner, and stupidly forgot that I had left the awning out, which I never do. In addition, I didn't drop one side, I just extended it fully while working on the door. As things will have it, Murphy, from Murphy's Law showed up, and it rained overnight. The water pooled on the top of the awning, which bowed the roller tube slightly, about 6 feet in from the front of the trailer, but enough that I couldn't retract the awning back in. It's a power awning, and I didn't want to burn out the motor, so I got on a ladder and tried to pull down on the roller slightly to straighten it out. But then the side arms drop down and offer no resistance to pulling down on the roller. I had my wife push the retract button while I used my hands to manually roll the awning in along with the motor doing its job. We got the awning all the way in, but it kind of flapped as it was retracting. I feel stupid for leaving the awning out. I should mention that the awning is 18 feet in length, so there is a lot of flex in the roller. Any suggestions? A new roller tube is about $350.00, so I'd rather not have to go through that expense. I'm wondering if the dealer can straighten out without having to replace it. Or can I do it myself? Has anyone else had to deal with this, and what did you do to fix it?

 

[5picker]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune.
I successfully straightened a 16' awning roller tube I purchased at a Camping World that they had removed from the exact same thing happening. I wanted an inexpensive awning to mount to a structure and I got the roller tube and the bent arms for $25. (had had an awning fabric)

I straightened it in the "Y" of a tree using a 2x4 inside as a lever but the roller tube was off (of course) and had no fabric on it. I'm not sure for $350 I'd go through the motions of trying to straighten. That's a pretty fair price for the tube if it is new.

 

[bikendan]

Moved thread from the General Community Discussion section to the Windows, Awnings and Doors sub-forum since the OP's questions are specific to that sub-forum and are not general questions.

 

[Rob0702]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune.
I successfully straightened a 16' awning roller tube I purchased at a Camping World that they had removed from the exact same thing happening. I wanted an inexpensive awning to mount to a structure and I got the roller tube and the bent arms for $25. (had had an awning fabric)

I straightened it in the "Y" of a tree using a 2x4 inside as a lever but the roller tube was off (of course) and had no fabric on it. I'm not sure for $350 I'd go through the motions of trying to straighten. That's a pretty fair price for the tube if it is new.

Thanks for the advice and information. I called my local dealership, and they said to bring my trailer in, and they'll see if they can straighten out the roller tube for me. So I think I'm going to let them straighten it. Fortunately, it's not bowed too badly, but enough to inhibit retracting the awning. I'm just a bit wary of making it worse if I try to straighten it out myself.