Electric Awning

[Richard Wisner]

We just purchased a 2011 Montana 3150RL with an electric awning. Has anyone tied down the awning for an extended stay? The frame does not look as substantial as the manual type awnings.

[CORattler]

I haven't tied mine down (yet). Wind gusts can come up pretty quick and I'd hate to be in a situation where I couldn't get my awning in fast enough and wound up damaging my awning or it's mechanism. I'll be interested in reading what others have to say on the subject.

[lasater]

I tie mine down to auger type anchors anytime it is open. For a long stay, I also put on a reinforcing bar and de-flappers. I run a piece of 1/2 inch aluminum "angle-iron" from a drilled hole at the top of the RV mounted vertical support to another drilled hole just behind the large roller. This configuration has been good for gusts up to 40 MPH.

Just for safety's sake, I also put on a pull-down strap such as is used on the manual awnings. That way, if the wind gets too high, I can control the roller while the DW hits the roll-up switch. So far, I have not had to use the strap.

[steves]

I have seem many of them tied down and withstand fairly high winds. It's so easy to put up and down that I only tie mine down when I use sun-screens in the awning track. When I'm in a windy area and I'm going to be away I always put it up.

[bncinwv]

We tie ours down with the auger type strap anchors as well. The only time we retract the awning is when there are thunderstorms in the area and we are leaving the rig. We hang ten garishly bright globe lights on the awning as well. We have had no problems with up to 20 mph winds at the beach.
Bingo

[deadeye]

Things for you to check............. Make sure that you don't have one of the newer types of self retrack awnings that is now available. They have the ones that when a wind comes up, it will roll itself up. When I put mine on in 2010, that feature was available.....Just a caution before staking them down...JB

[c214dick]

We installed the adjustable arm on ours last year so we could angle the awning down at the corner. During our stay in Florida, for three months, we left the awning out most of the time and anchored with the auger type anchors and adjustable straps. It seemed to do the job until.....

When we were ready to leave, the night before we undid everything and put the awning up. Probably because of the continuous tension the arm(s) became twisted. When we raised the awning the front arm would not retract all of the way and hung up against the piece attached to the coach. I tried pulling on it while Louise pushed the button to retract w/o any luck. As we left the unit in Florida I am not too concerned right now but before we do any distance traveling I will need to straighten it out.

[stiles watson]

We don't anchor ours. If we leave, we roll it in. If a wind comes up. We roll it in. Go to bed at night, roll it in. Sounds like too much trouble? It is only to push a button and in it unrolls or rolls up in a less than a minute.

[Recumbent]

I do as Stiles does, roll it up while sleeping, traveling, or during windy conditions.

[CORattler]

Good advice Stiles ... that's exactly what we do!

quote:Originally posted by stiles watson

We don't anchor ours. If we leave, we roll it in. If a wind comes up. We roll it in. Go to bed at night, roll it in. Sounds like too much trouble? It is only to push a button and in it unrolls or rolls up in a less than a minute.

[Jolu]

I tied ours down once. Then I discovered it was just as easy to roll it up if the wind comes up or we go someplace and when we go in for the evening.
I do use a 12' sun shade sometimes and I bungee that to three stakes.
Joe

[billmargie]

c214dick,I had the same trouble as you and thought I had bent the arms. Come to find out that while the awning is out and the wind blows it causes the awning to slide in the tube. The fix was to get on the roof and take out the two screws on either end and the awning jumps back in place. It takes about 5 minutes to fix.

[c214dick]

Thanks Bill I'll check it out next month. Exactly where are the screws you're referring to?

[Pug]

Mine is always tied down when out, period. I have seen to many little gusts (micro bursts) that will rip them off quickly. I use the spiral screw and tightening strap with spring that I got at camping world. I also tie it to my four wheeler or pickup or tree etc. if the spiral screw isn't holding good. If the wind comes up, in they come.

[Lee F.]

Ours is only out when we are using it. Never when we are not there, or at night.

[clutch]

Like others have mentioned. leave camp, roll it up. Sleep, roll it up. Windy, roll it up. I just wish it had a switch on the outside of the trailer so a neighbor could roll it up if we forget.

A friend of ours had bent arms on his because he went to town and the wind came up. His trailer was locked and we couldn't do much other than call him. By the time he got back to camp several hundred dollars of arms were trashed.