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New awning

July 12, 2012, 01:34:31 am

Last week, as we were driving through Kansas with a quartering headwind of about 60mph, there was a VERY loud noise on the curbside of the coach...kind of like the sound of a mortar landing 20 feet away.      As I quickly looked out the side window, I could see that the awning had bee torn apart.  Jennifer, the driver at the time, did a great job of stopping the coach on the shoulder of the Interstate..no panic...no hysteria..just cool and collected.  The wind was so strong that the mechanism that locks the awing came off the side of the coach.  Also, the four safety straps that I put on the awning's arms were ripped off.  After getting on top of the coach and cutting the fabric so that the awing would be free, I was the able to remove the mounting bolts for the arms.  If you ever have to do the same, be VERY careful, as there is a great amount of energy stored in the awning's spooling device.  We, with Jennifer still driving, went about 5 miles to the next exit, where she was able to get the coach to a safe location away from the Interstate.  I then had to get back up on the roof (Glad I've lost 20 pounds in the past two months) to remove the metal awning shroud.

In one of the pictures you can see Jennifer holding a strap attached to the awning's arms.  This strap is my belt!  The awning was slapping against the coach so hard, this was the only thing I could think of that could go around the arms to stop the flapping.  Getting the belt around the arms took almost three minutes, as I had to dodge the flapping arms.  My belt was used on one end, while I put shoe laces around the other end.   

Also...I better fix that side window's creeping seal if I'm going to post anymore pictures. 

Ordering a new awning from FOT tomorrow. 

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Re: New awning

Reply #1 – July 12, 2012, 07:30:23 am

Wow - that is a bummer!  I hadn't thought about the awning getting torn loose in high winds but I will now!  I hope to get everything back together OK!

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Reply #2 – July 12, 2012, 07:40:34 am

wow, were did you put the metal cover after you took it off.  It is longer than the compartments.

I was driving thru Iowa and the winds last year were intense. I stopped and I carry the 1/4 inch zip ties and I zip tied my awnings over the slide room closed tight. Could not open the slide till I cut it off but I finished the drive with 60 plus mph winds and no ill effects.  Get a package of zip ties and carry it with you. You will need a nut driver to release a couple square tops up top enough to slide it under the metal and then you can pull it tight. The wind will not gain any traction after you do that.

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Reply #3 – July 12, 2012, 07:41:27 am

You will need the number that is on the awning label to get the right sized and color.  You can order it directly from Zip Dee. I replaced all my awnings that way.

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Reply #4 – July 12, 2012, 08:08:42 am

This happened to us a few years ago with SOB. We managed to stop before the awning destroyed itself. The only way we could keep it from unspooling was to put duct tape on the front end of the awning. Stopped the wind from getting in there and raising cain. Gotta love duct tape.

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Reply #5 – July 12, 2012, 08:20:19 am

Not to hijack a thread, but your post doesn't mention if Jennifer is a commercial or private pilot.

Nice collection of ratings. Funny how many pilots own rv's, boats, motorcycles, aircraft, atv's, etc.

Hate to add up the number of internal combustion engines I own.........

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Reply #6 – July 12, 2012, 09:48:12 am

Hi Tim,

I'll have to change the signature...Jennifer is a commercial pilot..and a very good one.

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Reply #7 – July 12, 2012, 09:54:00 am

Hello John,

I was able to strap the awning on top of the toad until we got to the next exit.  There was a service station that was nice enough to let us put it next to their dumpsters.

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Reply #8 – July 12, 2012, 10:23:16 am

My wife and I where driving west across South Dakota at 63 mph . We started to drive through a large open area with the road about 4' higher then the flat land. Got hit on the right side by 30-35 mph winds out of nowhere. Now I know way its called a ZIP-A-Dee. Used my belt to tie down one end as my wife fought to hold the other.Then I held the free end closed  and my pants up as my wife got out some rope and a box cutter. The only part we lost was a complete rafter arm Assembly still looking for one. Gam

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Reply #9 – July 12, 2012, 07:23:56 pm

Sorry for both of you guys. We were driving through West Texas at 65 mph in 2009 in our then 93, U225 when a 50 mph cross wind opened our patio awning all of the way. Amazingly, there was only about three feet of torn seam, otherwise the awning wasn't damaged at all and rolled right back up. The seam was easily restiched. Carol and Jeff Savournin were traveling with us and none of us could believe that the awning wasn't destroyed. I think the fabric was heavier on the older models than that used on newer coaches.

Until that time I wasn't too concerned about locking the awning. After that I had the roller locks replaced by Zip Dee at a FMCA convention and started using the Velcro straps Zip Dee gave me around the bars.

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Reply #10 – July 12, 2012, 10:43:15 pm

Very interesting problem with awning wind driving damage.  Sorry you had a frightful experience. We have done things to keep our big awning from unfurling while driving, but wonder if it still enough.

Since we never put out our big awning, we latched up end locks with two cable ties on each side of awning. We also added a 2nd swivel lock so each side has locks and these are also cable tied closed. We also strapped vertical arms to the slide bars. Anything to try to prevent wind damage.

We use our window awnings, but since none of the window awnings came with twist locks, I added one to each awning and check them during our drive-away check-list.

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