Awning bolts pulling out of sidewall

[Rolling_Fortress]

Hi all, I have an issue. Seems the top 2 bolts on the left side of my main awning on my 377 are pulling out. Tried screwing them back in but no luck, the holes are stripped. Looking for ideas on how to fix. Thank you!

[Magnolia Tom]

Two solutions:

Get bigger screws or relocate the screws and fill in the holes.

I’d probably do the bigger screw method AND add a couple extra

[MadJoker TX]

Oh man, yea I would do what Tom said.

[jasum]

You might try putting a piece of dowel rod in the holes and put same screws back in.

[Rustic Eagle]

Prior to your fix I would first confirm that the screws are in fact catching the wall framing and not just the fiberglass.

Bob

[Dr. Cujo]

+1 on what Bob had to say.

I might also add, and I really hope this isn’t the case for you, that the last time I saw someone with that issue it was because there was rotten wood behind the awning. You might want to rule that out.

[Rolling_Fortress]

Thank you all for the replies!

So I got longer screws and also 2 extra to add. Here’s the thing. There’s no wood behind the whole length of the awning post. Wherever I drilled was just through the fiberglass and that’s it. What like drilling through sheet rock or and not hitting a beam. Bit went through the fiberglass and into some styrofoam. No wood anywhere. For kicks, I tried tightening the remaining good screws and they were in all the way but did turn and could feel that if I went to far I’d get that stripped feel. And this is on both sides! I have no idea how this awning is still stuck to the camper.

[Rustic Eagle]

Originally Posted by Rolling_Fortress

snip...... No wood anywhere.....snip

I believe your fiberglass sidewalls are aluminum framed, not wood. You might want to request wall framing drawings from Jayco and measure out the frame locations. Jayco will forward drawings via e-mail, pdf file.

I would like to think Jayco would have located the awning frame screws to catch either the vertical or horizontal wall frame behind the fiberglass.

Isn't your 2017 North Point still under warranty

Bob

[jimp]

You may be able to find the metal studs on a cool or cold morning with some condensation on the sides. The metal stud pattern usually shows up on the exterior wall.

[Rolling_Fortress]

I ended up putting in 2 large lag bolts. Look at the size difference from the factory bolts. Did the other side instead of waiting for those to pull out too. She ain’t going anywhere now :-)