Awning wet?

sunline1950 · 10-07-2006, 08:10 AM

I always put my awning away dry, but whenever we get to a campsite and open it, there is water inside. ALWAYS! And all the way through! I assume water is getting in there when it rains at the storage facility. We keep it outside. Is there anyway to prevent this besides covering it with a tarp?

rich2500 · 10-08-2006, 05:56 PM

not really because alot of the water in the awning is from condensation.

VT_Camper · 10-12-2006, 10:45 AM

Yep, sounds like condensation. I had this problem on my now sold pop-up. No matter what I would do, it was wet when I opened it. I made a habit of opening it periodically to let it dry even if there was no camping trip planned. And even in the winter on those few warmer days.

sunnyseagull · 10-12-2006, 04:27 PM

happens to all awnings not much you can do about it except wash it often to help keep it from getting moldy . good luck

sunline1950 · 10-16-2006, 05:01 PM

Thanks everyone. And now a silly queston...but what is the best way to wash your awning?

donreitz · 10-17-2006, 05:00 AM

I don't know if it's the best way, but we scrub ours down (both sides) with a deck brush and a dilute bleach/soap solution. Leave the solution on for awhile to let the bleach work and then rinse with clean water. Wear old clothes as you're likely to get dripped on. Do this spring and fall and the awning will stay in good shape.
Don

kanyonkitty · 10-17-2006, 07:52 AM

I forget the exact amounts, but the bleach, soap and water is the correct way to clean the awning. I "THINK" it's like 1/4 cup bleach per gallon of water and soap, apply it to the top of the awning, roll, YES ROLL the awning up, wait about 30 minutes, unroll, use longhandled brunsh to scrub if neccessary, and rinse. By using bleach you kill any mildew, and that is what causes a lot of the nasty black stuff on your awning.

donreitz · 10-17-2006, 02:15 PM

I don't recall the amount of bleach either, but the label on the bleach bottle will have a dilution table. Just pick the dilution for the use closest to what you're doing. You're not trying to disinfect the awning so don't go overboard. Also, I use ordinary diswashing detergent instead of stuff like Awesome or Simple Green since it's cheap, does the job and won't damage the vinyl.
Don

rich2500 · 10-18-2006, 07:06 PM

I do it the same as kanyonkitty

rebellious78 · 11-13-2006, 01:43 AM

I'm a little late on posting a question on this thread...but while we are on the subject. Has anyone else had the problems with a pinkish stain on their awnings? We just noticed this last past time of taking her out. There is no way anything red or pink has gotten on it. It is not parked under any trees here at home. We just can not figure it out. Wondering if anyone else has had this happen to them and just what it is.

Thanks!!!

kanyonkitty · 11-13-2006, 04:27 AM

Good Morning Rebellious1,

Welcome to the group, and hey, your like my next door neighbor

I'm glad to see word of our group is spreading. Geesh, wouldn't a Sunline get to gether be neat some time, just think about all those wonderful Sunlines in one place at the same time. A friend of mine with a 1982 Sunline drives a shuttle bus for Harpers Ferry Nat. Park on weekends. We both drive school buses for Berkeley County Schools, so the summer is our play time.

Not sure about the pink stains, but then again "WHO" really knows what's in our AIR these days. Do they come off when you wash it? Please tell us about your Sunline. I'm sure others will chime in and maybe have a solution.

Kitty

donreitz · 11-13-2006, 05:23 AM

We used to get pinkish mold on our boat cover and on the underside of our vinyl sunshade when we lived in Beaufort, South Carolina. Haven't seen it elsewhere so maybe it's limited to areas of high humidity. We could remove it by scrubbing with a dilute bleach solution (as described elsewhere in this thread).
Don

**JohnB** · 11-13-2006, 06:21 PM

Fellow Sunline owners.

There are 2 types of awnings. The vinyl type and you do use the bleach on them. And then there is the more cloths type and you DO not use bleach on them. In my Sunline owners manual it gave a Dometic brochure that talked about the bleach concentration. I do use it on my vinyl awing. Wet it, light scrub, roll it up, wait, come back and then scrub a little more if needed, rinse well and Wamo, It's clean.

Only have to scrub on the bad spots.

Here is the link to the Dometic site with the cleaning instructions along with the bleach, soap and water % for vinyl awnings. [/url] http://www.dometicusa.com/pdf/Awnings.pdf [url]

Now to the water. I have actually come up with a way to stop about 95% of the water from getting in. It wicks in from the top sewing threads up by the roof channel and it can wick in from the ends. Plus the sun beats down hard on the part that is exposed and the UV does a number on the part exposed over time.

I posted a while ago on RV net if any one ever found a solution to this and I could not bump into anyone who had yet. They said that they all have the problem with water getting in and just deal with it. But one member gave me a tip on something he heard and I took it to the next level.

I have made PVC pipe covers that I slip on when I get home. A long experiment but I now have it to be 95% dry. If thre is no rain, it is dry. If I can find a 6" sch 10, PVC pipe I think I can get closer to 99%. I’m now using a 4” sch 10 pipe.

I have a lot of pics on how I made these and willing to share, just have to figure out how to post pic's on this site and the size limitations.

The covers also keep the sun from killing the fabric.

Anyone else made a cover? Glad to compare notes.

Thanks

John

Rob Mac · 11-13-2006, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rebellious78

I'm a little late on posting a question on this thread...but while we are on the subject. Has anyone else had the problems with a pinkish stain on their awnings? We just noticed this last past time of taking her out. There is no way anything red or pink has gotten on it. It is not parked under any trees here at home. We just can not figure it out. Wondering if anyone else has had this happen to them and just what it is.

Thanks!!!

Rebellious78-
We have the same stain. It seems the bleach and soap mixture took care of the black mold, but not the pink. Don't know what it is- my wife thinks some type of mold, I was thinking more along the lines of some sort of stain. After several washings it does not seem to be spreading. I can't tell if it is lessening either, though. Will continue to monitor the thread to see if anybody knows for sure.
Rob Mac

Woodstock · 11-15-2006, 06:33 AM

Hello everyone....'been lurking since this site was conceived and thought that it was time that I registered. After many conversations with the good people at Sunline regarding cleaning solutions I picked up some Reliable products at a RV show. In the past I tried several other cleaning solutions including Simple Green & nothing came close to the Reliable Cleaner. Early this season I used it for the first time on my awning and was surprised at what a good job it did. Check out their website.

GoodoleBob · 11-15-2006, 04:56 PM

Hello Woodstock,
Glad your here with us. We sunliners need to cling together in case we end up going it on our own. Sharing tips and technigues we've found helpful in caring for our trailers will benefit us all.

I have a feeling that we are likely neighbors out here in Connecticuts quiet corner. Near Danielson for me.

Best regards

Bob

Woodstock · 11-15-2006, 05:39 PM

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the welcome. I had hopes yesterday that there might be a beneficial solution to Sunline's problems, however, from all that I have read Sunline is no more. RV TradeDigest wrote on a blog about the closing and titled it "Screwed, Enron Style". In the blog it was stated that the initial sadness and disbelief will soon turn to anger. I don't know about that, but I think that it will get pretty messy before it all shakes out...i.e. warranty claims (I have one) deposits on TT's that were to be built, etc. Sad state of affairs to say the least and I really feel for all the employees....they were all great people to deal with.

So, I concur....this site will be an important meeting place for us Sunny owners to swap lies and help each other out with fixes, upgrades and the like.

Yup, we are neighbors.....I am about 20 miles northwest of you.

Take care,

David