Awning failed

[Dwntwn]

I left my awning out for a week and when I got back,this is what I was greeted with,has anyone else encountered this?

[JohnB]

I have been fortunate to not have that happen to me, however I have seen it on others campers many times.

Your awning looks like it has the center rafter which ours does too so your awning I'm assuming is in the 20 to 21 ft long range as they really need the center rafter on that length. Regardless of size, during a heavy rain the manual awnings need to be pitched to allow enough water to run off and not pool in the center. "enough" being the key word that is hard to define so you generally go overkill on the run off angle. And high wind is as bad with mega buffeting up and down.

Due to my outdoor kitchen setup under the awning, I have a lot of things stored under the awning over night. Every night before I turn in I lower the one end bottom arm all the way down for maximum water run off, the other end comes down a few holes worth enough that I can still get in the door. The awning tube is tied down on both ends and I have 4 deflappers on the fabric to the top side arms.

The bigger the awning, the faster the problems can happen but they all are affected. Our prior camper had a 16 or 18 ft awning and while it had no center rafter setup, the water and wind issues were just as important to guard against.

If we leave the campsite during the day, both side arms are lowered to the bottom and the ratchet straps on the tube ends are tightened. A wind blast can come up at any time so we always try and prepare for it.

Hope this helps

John

[BenB]

We have a 19ft awning on ours with no center rafter, the first time I forgot to tilt it down overnight for water runoff it rained a lot. The next morning it was full of water and bent the aluminum roller tube. I was not expecting the amount of weight the collected water created when I let the one side down to drain the water, I could easily see if the water had been up there for a longer period of time it would collapse the aluminum roller tube. A hint if this happens relieve the water by pushing the awning fabric up from the bottom, not letting down the end, I was lucky my fingers weren't in the way when it slid down and smashed against the stop bolt.

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[MACK C-85]

We lost our awning (roller snapped at the hole where the center rafter attaches) when the water collected behind the center rafter on the upper part of the awning, when the one side rail was all the way down. We were attempting to relieve the water by lifting the fabric from underneath when the roller snapped right through the rafter hole in the roller.

We were fortunate, it was later determined a tornado had gone through the campground and our rain damage was nothing compared to some others.

Lake Glory Campground in PA just south of Williamsport.

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[Sunline Fan]

Agreed with everyone else, this definitely looks like rain damage and not wind damage. The whole thing would be torn up if it were wind.

If you are comfortable with some DIY, you can replace the parts yourself. If you are lucky, the fabric is ok and will just be difficult to remove from the old tube. If you would rather have an RV dealer replace it, they can too, especially to do the dangerous part- winding the springs. The tube doesn't cost that much, but the truck freight to get it to you does.

That said, sometimes they will only sell or insist on selling an entire new awning over replacing parts of it.

[Janalee]

I had this happen to one of mine..check your insurance!!..I have AARP Hartford Ins.on my auto and camper with $100 comp deductible. they have been fantastic with any claim we have had.( I am not an AARP member though) They sent an rv dealer to my campsite to remove the awning--then when the new one arrived we took it to them for installation.Total cost to me was $100! I used to carry a separate RV policy but found I could save many $$ and have great coverage (my premium cost for my '95 Sunny is only $23 year!).When I traveled I carried a separate roadside assistance policy.