| Author |
Message |
FAST FRED (65.154.177.19)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 02, 2003 - 3:16 pm: | |
After over a decade the instalation of an awning has finally got to the top of the "Honney Do" list.
I have most of the goodies on hand but lack a source for a Quality bolt rope holder.
That's the part that gets attached to the roof of the bus and holds the inboard end of the awning.
At the local Camping world its just rolled junk.
Wondering if there is a source for nice ones?
I have seen really nice extruded aluminum rope race attachment for sail masts , but am hoping for a cheaper RV part that will work as well.
Also as all awnings are swopped for ,
does anyone have a URL for instructions on mounting?
TIA ,
FAST FRED |
Peter E (Sdibaja) (67.117.218.131)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 02, 2003 - 3:23 pm: | |
FF: I see lots of small boat masts around in the graveyards... seems one could be cut and adapted for an excelent awning thingie
swing by my place in Baja, I know where we can find a couple in good shape ;-}
Peter |
Scott Whitney (69.35.6.233)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 02, 2003 - 6:16 pm: | |
What would be wrong with a standard awning rail? The fabric will rip to shreads long before the awning rail would ever break.
Installing awnings is a pain in the butt. Best to have three people. One on a ladder and one guy at each end of the awning. The first guy holds the awning up in the air and walks the whole kit and kaboodle along side the coach. The second guy is holding the other side of the awning up. The third guy is on the ladder and keeps feeding the awning fabric into the rail like you would feed a sail. I am sure with experience two people could do it or a clever guy could rig a way to single handly do it.
If you are cobbling all sorts of parts together, the exact procedure may need to be adapted.
When I robbed an old style awning off my RV, I put the entire thing up single handedly by leaving the rail attached to the awning. That way I didn't need to slide it in and be in three places at once. I just balanced the awning against the coach and screwed the railing down with the fabric still in it.
If you don't have a couple of helpers, you might be better off taking it to an RV shop and letting them do it for you. It is one of my least favorite RV jobs and even after doing a few of them, the whole procedure seems dicey at best. Getting them centered on the roller, and the correct number of spring turns and the arms attached straight and parallel is a whole other ball of wax. . .
Scott
(And watch out when turning that spring! If you let go of the vice grips it will slap your hand something fierce. Set the awning across some big plastic trashcans or other soft surface so you don't tear the fabric while working on it.) |
jmaxwell (66.81.51.21)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 02, 2003 - 8:54 pm: | |
FF: You found the cheaper RV version at Camping World. It'll outlast you and you can't see it after you install the awning. |
Dale MC8 (69.19.170.6)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 03, 2003 - 12:28 pm: | |
Some small, but important things to do when installing an awning are 1] open the entrance side opening of the awning rail, kinda flare it out, and smooth it out with a file. 2] use sone spray lube on both the inside of the rail and on the awning where it goes in the rail. Use a colorless, water based, non-staining lube.
3] When you get the awning to to proper position, shove the arms as far towards the coach as you can, this will allow the roller to stay away from the coach and not wobble back and forth. 4] After putting the right number of turns on the spring, pin the roller in place using the holes made for that. Clothes hanger wire makes a good temp pin.
HTH, Dale |
FAST FRED (63.234.22.76)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, December 04, 2003 - 5:09 am: | |
Am I correct in mounting the rail where the awning tube 'Naturally " rests against the coach roof?
FAST FRED |
Jim Wilke (12.46.52.74)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, December 04, 2003 - 11:09 am: | |
Fred, make sure you mount the rail & inboard edge of the awning higher than the rolled up tube. The guy who installed mine mounted it about mid tube which creates a gutter there that fills up with leaves, pine needles & crap. It also collects condensate from the A/Cs You want the thing to be angled about 45 degrees so all runs off. Had an Airstream trailer with a factory installed awining that was done correctly. All the difference in the world!
Jim-Bob |
Dale MC8 (66.81.140.191)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, December 04, 2003 - 11:50 am: | |
Jim-Bob, if you move the arm stops a little lower the arms will be able to rest below the rail and take care of your awning problem. Of course then the awning may cover part of your window.;]
Dale |
jimbob (64.12.96.105)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, December 04, 2003 - 7:26 pm: | |
Dale, since the arms are mounted near the top of the wheelwells, they are all the way down. Good idea though. I have thought of cutting the arms a smidge but so far have procrastinated.
I was just trying to optimize Fred's new install.
Jim-Bob |