Two days old and already an annoying awning issue

[ptavares]

Just brought our Imagine 2400BH home to pack for our maiden voyage and noticed this:



Did they even try to hit an aluminum stud? I just hope the warranty repair will look good.

I'll add this to the he list of things to fix at the end of the season. ☹️

[Skiddy]

No, because hitting the stud is completely optional. GDRV used to build a quality product, not so sure in the last few years. They seemed to have joined the turn ‘em out quick and ship a POS if you must “family” of RV manufacturers.

[Brewhedd]

No, because hitting the stud is completely optional. GDRV used to build a quality product, not so sure in the last few years. They seemed to have joined the turn ‘em out quick and ship a POS if you must “family” of RV manufacturers.

Have to agree. It is obvious to me with over 30 issues and build quality, that is exactly correct. As far as the awning, I would let the dealer or mobile tech fix it. Manufacturers are only held accountable when they repair their shoddy work.

[WhittleBurner]

You might request from GD to send you Molly Rivits. Your dealer will just use a larger screw and it will pull away again. If you search the forum you'll find there is a history of awning pulling away in the early days of production.

[Skiddy]

Any awning over 18’ needs a centre support IMO to prevent sag and more importantly bounce while in transit. The support bracket should be located as close to the center as possible where there is suitable backing to hold screws, or as some manufacturers suggest, install a backing plate to the coach wall using moly rivets. I suggest the GDRV installer probably eye balled the mid point and just drove screws into the side of the coach. GDRV should have engineered the location to ensure the support mounting screws have adequate backing support such as an aluminium wall stud, like the OP asked, or have a backing plate, either surface mounted on the outside of the coach or in the wall, like a TV backer plate.
I defer to @WhittleBurner with his experience, if I understand his suggestion a couple of moly rivets might not be adequate.
The right way to do this is to find support, move the bracket to the left or right screw it in place and repair the hole. The alternative is to attach a backing plate to the outside of the coach, using four or more moly rivets, then screw into that backing plate.

[traveldawg]

My last RV had the awning lag bolts pull out at the top. I just drilled through the wall and put a bolt and some washers on to take the load.

But I think Marcy has the right idea - Molly bolts (or in Marcy's case.... 'March bolts')....

[ptavares]

Thanks all for the replies. @traveldawg I like your solution. I think it would provide the most holding strength. The molly rivets sound interesting but I'm concerned about them mushrooming inside the wall, against the outer luan layer(s) and laminate and causing future issues vs sandwiching the entire wall between washers. My only concern is that I may have to also drill through a cabinet to install this. Do you have any pictures of your installed solution?

[traveldawg]

Thanks all for the replies. @traveldawg I like your solution. I think it would provide the most holding strength. The molly rivets sound interesting but I'm concerned about them mushrooming inside the wall, against the outer luan layer(s) and laminate and causing future issues vs sandwiching the entire wall between washers. My only concern is that I may have to also drill through a cabinet to install this. Do you have any pictures of your installed solution?

This is what I had to deal with. The lag bolt simply came loose because it was not into any framing structure (it should have been). After I found one side of the awning loose I checked the other side and had the same thing about to happen.


This is the front anchor point. I got lucky in that it was in the cavity where the room came in and out so it was not visible from inside unless you had a flashlight and knew where to look. Looking at this now, it looks like I used some metal plate as a backing washer, not sure why, probably couldn't fit a round washer in the space. And it looks like I painted it black to help disguise it even more.


This anchor point was inside the cabinet above a sink in our bedroom. So you could see it if you opened the cabinet. I got lucky here too since it was pretty much out of sight.


I don't have any outside photos. I used threaded bolts through the walls. I used the existing holes on the top of the awning bars. Of course, I did a lot of measuring before I did any drilling. Had the front awning been 2 or 3" more toward the front I would have had both inside points inside a cabinet.

[powerscol]

Make sure the pivot shoe (curved portion on top of bracket) holding the awning up pivots easily. It looks like the awning tube hung up on that shoe.

I would probably get some plusnuts to do the repair properly and possibly add another bolt or two in the bracket. Look up my post on "bowed awning repair" for information on the plusnuts.

[ptavares]

I finally found some time this past weekend to investigate how I wanted to do this repair. Unfortunately a through bolt repair using the existing hole won't be possible since the existing hole leads to the edge of the roof and not to an easily accessible inside space. @powerscol how long ago did you implement your plusnut fix and has it held well? Any issues with the awning weight causing de-lamination of the exterior panel as it pulls at the plusnuts