And the Wind wins again

[Topperace]

Posted this on IRV2 as well...we are at Lake Conroe TT park and the trailer next to us had the awning ripped from the trailer frame by the wind...looks like it has been there a while...awning arms extended and the fabric flapping in the wind still connected to the awning roller... not sure if TT notified the owner or not, so thought would post in case owner reads these forums...would post a picture but
out of privacy I will not...

[TaftCoach]

Someone is going to have a bad day.

[Murff]

I learned in the early days of RVing to not leave the awning out. We were at Fort Canby State Park and the RVers in a site across from ours had left for a day of sightseeing, as did we.

When we returned, the Ocean winds had taken their toll on his awning.

Murff

[RedHorse1]

Similar experience summer of 21 in Galveston. Unexpected t’storm payed a visit. 2 near by TT’s had their awnings “removed”. Both were brand new and the owners were new to trailering. Walking thru the CG it seemed like 75% of the units were new and all the associated gear looked fresh from the box.
Experience is a tough mistress (cleaned that up a bit)

[DustyGeek]

While you can certainly shoot yourself in the foot with an awning and wind, sometimes things just happen.

We were camping at Powhatan State Park in VA on Labor Day weekend two years ago, with a handful of other couples. One of them had an awning arm literally fall off the side of their 5er TH when the wind was perfectly still. Upon further examination, it looked like the manufacturer only screwed in every other screw hole in the awning arm and didn't bother actually burying it into one of the wall studs (or stripped the holes out), so out of the blue, the screws just pulled out of the wall.

Upon hearing the crash and scream of surprise, everyone in our group rallied (running joke with our group that I have one of everything stashed in our rig, and in this case, it was my telescoping ladder and several bundles of rope), got it secured well enough for travel and it was *permanently* fixed a week or two later at our other friend's house, almost certainly more secure than the dealer would have.

Imagine if that had fallen off when they were underway.

[Midnightmoon]

On our last trip out in October, the family in the site beside us lost their awning in a very brief storm. I actually had rolled ours in overnight and thankfully hadn't extended it for the day yet.

I really felt bad for them. It punched a couple of decent sized holes in their roof as it went over.

[Tunce the traveler]

I’ve actually used my tie down straps and moved my neighbors picnic table under their awning and saved them some money.

[THE MEEKER]

Every time we leave the campsite - awning in, hot water tank turned off, water pump turned off.

Usually I left manual awning out when gone for a few hours. With these electric awnings - never.

I still prefer the manual awning. (Yes I do wear black socks when wearing sandals )

[KCSA75]

Originally Posted by THE MEEKER

Every time we leave the campsite - awning in, hot water tank turned off, water pump turned off.

Usually I left manual awning out when gone for a few hours. With these electric awnings - never.

I still prefer the manual awning. (Yes I do wear black socks when wearing sandals )

Other than the black socks, I'm right there with you.

A couple years ago, the missus stayed at the campground for a couple days while I came home to go to work. A storm blew in we lost the awning. Ever since, I roll up the awning if I'm going to be more than five minutes away.

[tgundy]

In January of 2021 my wife and I were in the Greyhawk on I-10 driving from Phoenix to Tucson. There was a pretty stiff crosswind from the south (right). A MH was pulled over on the side of the interstate with the awning flapping over the top of the MH and some really messed up arms hanging off the side. Not sure how that happened but it looked ugly.

[Bayoutalker]

I've learned from other people's mistakes. Unless I'm outside and close by the awning gets pulled in. I've seen far too many awnings ripped off by the wind.

[SmokerBill]

I guess the automatic/electric awnings are much more fragile than the manual ones, like mine. One time in Quartzsite the extended awning on my trailer survived a direct hit by a pretty big dust devil with no damage. I did have the front door and all windows open, which might have helped some.

Using tie down straps on the front corners of the awning is a big help in supporting the arms on windy days.

[K Holbrook]

A mishap can happen to the most experienced RV’er. We’ve been camping for nearly 40 years and have seen some pretty bad storms. We’ve always been aware of the dangers that wind can present in regards to your RV awning. But last summer we got hit with a doozy! We had awning tie downs just to keep the awning from billowing up when a gust of wind would come by. It always made my cheeks pucker up when I’d see the awning billow up like that. The awning tie downs worked great. Except they didn’t help us during a mild sprinkle when a freak down-draft pushed the awning downward and broke the right awning arm. Which caused the left tension arm to snap. My whole awning dropped down to a 45 degree angle and the awning arms looked like a gigantic grasshopper with busted back legs! Needless to say, we hobbled home after duct-taping the awning arms to the frame. Good thing for RV insurance. I have to admit I said to myself, this kind of thing is supposed to happen to other people. Mishaps can happen to anyone.

[Florida Ranger]

Had people next to us at campground go to leave we mentioned to them that thier awning was out. He said not to worry it had a wind sensor on it and would roll up automatically if wind was blowing to much. While they were gone we had a storm and the awning ended up on top of there Diesel Pusher. When they came back he ask me what happened I told him we had a storm and I guess the Automatic awning roller had an argument with the wind and Lost the argument…….

[Bayoutalker]

Originally Posted by SmokerBill

I guess the automatic/electric awnings are much more fragile than the manual ones, like mine. One time in Quartzsite the extended awning on my trailer survived a direct hit by a pretty big dust devil with no damage. I did have the front door and all windows open, which might have helped some.

Using tie down straps on the front corners of the awning is a big help in supporting the arms on windy days.

They absolutely are more fragile. I would much rather have a mechanical one but I don't think they install them anymore, at least I haven't seen any.

[LittleBill]

I'm still learning from my own mistakes.

Back in Nov 2018 during my 1st trip for deer hunting my awning came out at the rear arm as I traveled down the road when it was extremely windy. I found it when I did a walk around at a rest stop. I was able to get it retracted, secured it better (bungeed) and continued on my way with no further problems.

The following Jan (2019) I got a call from my storage facility that my awning was broken and laying on top of the trailer (I figure the winter wind got ahold of it) Mainly the front bracket broke and the fabric was trashed. I had to tie up the roller to the bottom of the front arm to get it home (a 20 foot roller is not going to fit into the back of a short bed truck).

The following year (2020) I finally found a replacement bracket and awning material on line for a total of about $200. Made a slight adjustment so the roller retracted properly and tighter to the trailer.

Fast forward to Nov 2022. During my 2nd season trip (again in extremely windy conditions) within the first 90 miles of leaving home I lost basically the whole awning except for part of the front arm and about a third of the awning material. I travelled with no problems during the 3 trips each in 2020 & 2021 or during the 1st trip this year I've made.

I figure that in crossing some railroad tracks the locking mechanisms got jarred loose and allowing the roller to open in the extreme windy condition while traveling at 55-65 mph. No damage to trailer except for loss of the awning itself (20 foot roller, 2/3 of awning fabric and the rear arm). Fortunately no one was hurt and no damage to anyone else. I didn't realize until about a couple of minutes before stopping when I saw the front arm hanging out by the brace part of the arm assembly.

I'm thinking I will get it replaced (have contacted insurance). But when I travel with it again, I will probably ZIP-TIE the arms, so hopefully it won't happen again when travelling in windy conditions.

Pics are from storage 2019 (awning roller on top of TT), new awning fabric 2020 and now sitting in storage 2022 (no rear arm/roller).

Be safe -

[RVNooby]

Long time ago, I was driving to a dog show with someone over the Tappan Zee bridge in NY. I think it was a class C. Not sure of the model. I wasn't into RVs then. Manual awning, retracted (of course) must have unfurled and fabric ripped completely off. The roller was on top of the RV making a racket. We didn't know what had happened. He pulled over on the bridge to check it. It was very, very windy. A tractor trailer had gone off the bridge just days before. After getting off the bridge we pulled over to get the roller off the roof. Someone came up behind us with the awning fabric. That could have caused an awful accident. I don't remember anything about the arms. We drove to the destination after that.

[Old and soft]

I was taking a nap one afternoon when a storm popped up. Did not damage any awning parts. It started tearing the rain gutter off. The same gutter that secures the roof membrane after it's folded down over the side. So don't forget to look up.