Finding an awning shade.

TNFLineage

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2013
Posts
1,023
Location
Huron Twsp, MI
We would like to add a shade to our awning but with the track lights in the awning slot what's out there we can use? It seems that add-on awnings depend on that slot in the awning roller to install. Is there a shade out there that attaches differently?
 
There is a 2nd slot in the roller that the shade will fit into. Check out VistaShade from ShadePRO: http://www.shadepro.net/product/Shade_Drops/rv_awning_electric_awning_shade_drop.html

We purchased the 15ft wide one with an 8 foot drop last March from ShadePRO. We use it all the time and love it. Price was good, shipping included, support was good, and it arrived sooner than estimated. It is really good quality (thick material) and a lot cheaper than the one from "Carefree" It's easy to install and use.

Ours has a 2 foot screen panel that installs in the roller tube and stays there permanently. The 6 foot panel zips on and of very easy.

Notes on installation. Regardless of which shade accessory you buy, the Carefree awning (installed on our Solitude) has a few issues that makes installation a little tricky and was confusing until we found out that the awning is tapered.
1) Carefree did not make a slot on the electric awning head at the end of the awning tube. You have to bend the nylon cord with the screen insert around the head to insert it into the awning roller slot. Just feed it slowly and it will work. The good thing is that once it's installed, you never have to do it again because the top screen insert rolls up with your awning when you travel
2) Make sure to position the screen insert so that the front awning edge covers the shade insert to prevent the wind from catching it when in transit
3) The Carefree awning width tapers down by about 6 inches at the awning roller tube. The Carefree awning width is 15ft on my Solitude where it connects to the trailer wall at the top and then tapers down to approximately 14'-6" at the roller tube. Make sure to align the shade insert with the leading edge of the awning material at the top of your trailer otherwise it will catch the wind when you travel dow the road and it will probably damage it
 
I to have a VistaShade from Shadepro and it works great I like that it is in two pieces we had the threat of thunder storms and high winds the other day so I unzipped the bottom put up the awning folded the bottom part and put it away and it took about 5 minutes and I was sitting down with a beer. Really nice setup.
 
We had the same installation question on our 2019 384gkr. We bought a tentproinc for our 18 ft awning. My question - is it possible or advisable to leave the shade attached when retracting the awning?
 

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