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Thread: Catastrophic Awning Failure
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05-11-2019, 10:49 AM #11
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Surely looks like the arms collapsed due to water accumulating on the fabric. As noted, it doesn't take much water to cause this. We are on our 7th RV and the newer auto awnings are not as sturdy as the manual style. I leave my awnings sloped to one end to let water run off and tie the arms down with spring-loaded straps.
However, when I think we may get strong storms and/or wind at night, the straps come off and the awnings get retracted.2019 Solitude 384GKR
Stored, used at Myrtle Beach, SC
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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05-11-2019, 10:50 AM #12
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Owned our 27RL for 4 years now. Can count on one hand the number of times we've had the awning deployed. They are just too cheaply built combined with a stiff breeze that comes out of no where, it's too much of a gamble to use it.
The older, manual pull out awnings were much more sturdy.2022 Imagine XLS 22MLE
Sold: 2015 27RL
2016 Ram 3500 Crewcab Cummins SRW
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05-11-2019, 12:59 PM #13
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As others have since noted, there was definitely more water on there than you thought, and/or more wind than you thought.
There is a way to adjust the pitch of the awning. We have ours set to maximum downward angle and the rain-collection problem is abated but not cured.
Many people buy or set up things to tie the outside corners of the awning to the ground, which can provide some insurance in light breezes but can also lead to a lack of careful monitoring of conditions. Gusts can come up REALLY fast sometimes, and these fragile awnings won't take much abuse (as you've seen).
So we follow the advice of many others here and have the awnings out only in near-calm conditions while we are right there to watch them.Mark - 2018 Solitude 310GK - 2017 F-350 diesel SRW short box - Pullrite Superglide hitch
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05-11-2019, 03:38 PM #14
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In the last couple of years some/many units have the Longitude awning from Carefree of Colorado. The Longitude’s support arms aren’t the most robust. It’s scary to compare the arms of the Longitude to the arms on the Travel’R on our 2016.
Helping a person who had the arms collapse on his Longitude, I called Carefree looking for stronger support arms. Unfortunately, while stronger arms are available (Travel’R) they are not compatible.
Another thing I learned from this episode was to inspect the end cap closely, the axle may be bent. Was told by a non-Carefree source the entire awning tube needed to be replaced. Nope, the Carefree part number is R001900.Colan and Marilyn Arnold
Des Moines, IA - kind of, on the road full time.
Currently in Durango, Colorado
Momentum 350M originally, now a 397TH
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05-14-2019, 02:40 PM #15
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Still a great business opportunity out there for someone that would bring back the Busted Knuckle style support arms. No sure why the original manufacturer quit building these but they were a great addition to support the awnings. We have had ours since our 2016 337 was new and use the awning every weekend / all weekend, in fact they when though a 55 MPH thunderstorm without damage to the awning.
Del & Vickie
2016 Reflection 337
2015 GMC Denali 3500HD w/Hips - 4WD
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05-14-2019, 03:03 PM #16
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2018 Grand Design Momentum 350M
2018 Dodge Ram 4500 4x4 4 door flatbed Cummins Aisin 4.10s
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05-14-2019, 08:27 PM #17
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A couple of our maintenance men do repairs on the side. Our maintenance head quit recently, and he is doing repairs. Business cards for repairmen are on the bulletin board at Unicoi Springs. I'm like you--doing my own repairs. Thankfully my Grand Design hasn't had but a couple of small issues since we bought it 5 years ago.
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05-15-2019, 08:49 AM #18
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05-17-2019, 08:13 AM #19
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05-20-2019, 03:51 PM #20
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The support arms are just poorly designed. My last RV had dometic arms which performed flawlessly. It could handle rain and light wind just fine. The pistons would compress and dump any water if it accumulated.
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2019 Grand Design Solitude 377MBS
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