Awning issues

[Paul Wirtz]

So we are probably the only people left in the RV world with an manual awning.

In the spring my wife and I purchased a Jay Feather Sport (226) it has a Carefree by Colorado Awning.

We have made about 7 weekend trips and never had any issues at all with the awning.

last weekend we were out and clearly it got very windy during the night, and the next morning it was starting to get windy again. So I decided to roll up the awning. I did my normal thing and then switched the lever for it to close....nothing. I did the lever thing a few times and nothing happened.

So then I got smart (not so much) and I thought that i would help it by twisting the tube by hand and maybe help it..it clicked while it was twisting so I thought I was doing a good thing..not so much I was actually rolling it up inside out.

So now at this point it wont roll out or in it is just stuck, I ended up twisting it by hand inside out all the way to the roof. The of course it would not lock because it was in "open" mode so i cable tied it to the bracket so it could be towed home.

questions.

1- I am sure that it was flapping in the wind the night before (wife and I sleep sound). Did the spring over extend and get stuck? I really don't know what caused it to not roll up in the first place.

2- What do I do now that i have it rolled up inside out. The awning is pretty much stuck rolled up about one inch from the roof. Do I just cut the thing off and start with a complete new awning??? Or is there a way to take the end caps of the tube and reset the spring inside?

thanks for your help

Paul

[2edgesword]

Can't help with a fix but we are in the habit of bring the awning in for this very reason. At night in the summer you never know when a storm or strong winds might kick up and do some damage to an awning that's been left out. That said hopefully some one on the forum has dealt with this issue and can help you with a fix.

[Screwby]

I’m not sure if you did damage rolling it closed inside out by hand. I’ve never heard of anyone doing that before so maybe someone else can chime in. As far as being inside out, I’ve heard of people holding down the power button too long and after extending all the way the awning will just keep going and begin to roll itself up inside out. There are no mechanical stops built into the mechanism which is why you can retract it until it bangs against the camper and you know to stop or extend it so far it begins to come back inside out. I’m hoping you can find out why there is no power to your switch (fuse, loose wire, bad switch, bad motor) and then just hit the button and unroll it back to normal and the bring it in the correct way. If it were mine I’d check fuses, then pull the switch out of its panel and make sure the two wires on the back are still attached.
As said above, don’t leave your awning out unattended. These new awnings are cheap and flimsy (we are on our third one). It takes the slightest wind gust and they will twist up like a pretzel. Rule of thumb is bring it in if it’s going to storm or your walking away from it or sleeping. I’d never in a million years go to bed with my awning out.

[RedHorse1]

Since you were able to roll it backwards it sounds like the winding spring has failed. Did some work on my neighbors manual awning a couple of years ago. IIRC only one end of the tube has a spring and the “spring cartridge” is pop riveted to the tube. Search YouTube for repair videos for manual awnings. One detailing the fabric will probably be a good start. Again, IIRC we had to remove the spring end to get the old fabric out and the new in.
His fabric was shot and both arms were damaged. I found the necessary parts for the repair on eBay.

This vid may help you. I expect there are variations over the years but they’ll be pretty similar. https://youtu.be/3FrH_86YRMs

[Paul Wirtz]

Thanks all I will see what I can do

Appreciate the help