Made a Dumb mistake with my Front Awning

[joesmainship]

I opened my large front awning to let it dry out and, maybe, try and clean some leaf stains. An unexpected rain shower came by and the weight of puddling water on the front awning pulled the awning frame out by the self tapping screws near the entrance door. I was lucky. Nothing on the awning was broken, the top of the awning wasn't pulled out of the track, and the falling frame didn't damage the outside of the camper. I plan to buy several screws one size larger than what was in there and reattach them with generous use of sealant. It looks like it was attached to the aluminum upright frame member with self tapping screws. I learned a valuable lesson not to leave my awnings out in mod-heavy rain showers.

[FT4NOW]

Awnings are ok in the rain as long as you offset the sides so the awning is at an angle to allow water runoff. If it is setup to not allow water to pool up you will be ok in light to moderate rain; it's really the wind you need to worry about.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[Cate&Rob]

Joe - Awnings pulling loose was a big problem a few years ago. The fix is to use "Molly" rivets that expand behind the luan plywood wall. Production is now supposed to have a few rivets and each end where the stress is the highest and self tapping screws across the rest of the rail. See this thread and the ones linked to it for the whole story. As noted in this thread, I couldn't source the right rivets anywhere locally, so ended up asking GDRV and they shipped them immediately. https://www.mygrandrv.com/fo...=awning+rivets

Rob

[Rich T]

I am new to this type of awning (auto w/elect motor) my previous campers had manual awnings and I always had one side adjusted a little lower to help water drain off. With the newer auto types is it possible to get one side to be lower?
Rich

[joesmainship]

Talked to the dealer and he suggested the fix that I was going to do with the one size larger bolt and sealant. He said they probably are tapped into one of the upright aluminum studs. I suspected as much because of the metal filings that came out with the bolts. I'm not sure how one would pull one side lower for rain drainoff. Guess you could use tiedown straps.

[FT4NOW]

There should be adjustment holes as shown in the picture on each arm. Do not exceed a difference of 3 holes per side per the tech manual from Care Free(assuming you have the same type). Push the silver "button" in and adjust the arm until it clicks into desired setting.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[WhittleBurner]

Talked to the dealer and he suggested the fix that I was going to do with the one size larger bolt and sealant. He said they probably are tapped into one of the upright aluminum studs. I suspected as much because of the metal filings that came out with the bolts. I'm not sure how one would pull one side lower for rain drainoff. Guess you could use tiedown straps.

Our dealer thought the same thing and added an extra screw or 2, it did not take long for the awning to pull away again. I would either do it yourself or insist the dealer do it the right way and check they did it right.
We did not go back to the dealer for another fix. Did not use the awning until the 1st GD Rally. It got fixed with the Molly rivets at the 1st GD Rally by GD and has held ever since. If we ever had to change the awning rail it likely would look like swiss cheese under it.

[TucsonJim]

When my awning came loose in 2015, GDRV suggested using Oscar Rivets.

Jim

[Canyonlight]

Joe - seems you are saying that the awning arm which runs vertically next to the door pulled away and some responses here are talking about the horizontal rail at the top where the awning fabric slides into. Several of us with 2014/2015 years including our 303 had the issue with the horizontal rail pulling loose from the RV at the edges. If your issue is the vertical arm pulling loose, I do not recall seeing this issue come up on the forum before and is a little concerning based on what you shared unless it was stressed from previous incidents and/or installed incorrectly.

Hope this is not a potential problem for some Solitudes and if so GDRV Customer Service s/b alerted for research and feedback. Awnings s/b able to take water even when adjusted flat and yes it will pool and eventually run off in a cascade of water. Heck as mentioned high winds and wet snow can place more stress on the awning and I do not recall the arms pulling away from the walls on any GDRV product on the forum.

Dan

[joesmainship]

Joe - seems you are saying that the awning arm which runs vertically next to the door pulled away and some responses here are talking about the horizontal rail at the top where the awning fabric slides into. Several of us with 2014/2015 years including our 303 had the issue with the horizontal rail pulling loose from the RV at the edges. If your issue is the vertical arm pulling loose, I do not recall seeing this issue come up on the forum before and is a little concerning based on what you shared unless it was stressed from previous incidents and/or installed incorrectly.

Hope this is not a potential problem for some Solitudes and if so GDRV Customer Service s/b alerted for research and feedback. Awnings s/b able to take water even when adjusted flat and yes it will pool and eventually run off in a cascade of water. Heck as mentioned high winds and wet snow can place more stress on the awning and I do not recall the arms pulling away from the walls on any GDRV product on the forum.

Dan

I don't think it is a recurring issue. I just screwed up. The front awning is very large with not much drop for water runoff. I didn't adjust for water runoff and should have known better. I think it will be okay when I get around to the fix. It is under my Carolina carport now and I plan to fix it after Christmas on a dry day. It is okay and we still love our Solitude!!