Awning Stabilizer

[snakebitten]

After retracting the awning on various occasions when the wind seemed to whip up, I decided to leave it extended once and carefully observe the forces at hand. By doing so, I felt that the most potential for excessive force was actually when the wind got under the fabric and exerted considerable "lift".

The way the structural portion of the mechanism is designed, there is far more leverage against the attachment points when pushing up, rather than down.

So I came up with a simple Home Depot remedy.

It's made up of 4 items.
1. An adjustable length aluminum rod for ridding the up-&-down slop.
2. Heavy duty velcro strap with ring. (For attaching the aluminum "strut"
3. Heavy duty bungee chords.
4. 24" in-ground screw anchors

It'll all make more sense from a glance at the pics below.
And the results are better than expected. I can simulate extreme pressure up or down on the awning tube and it barely will give at all. And it has a nice "damped" feel to it.

Hope it proves to work as well as it seems it should.

[snakebitten]

[wahoonc]

That's the way awnings used to be built... before they got fancy on us!

I am having a set of custom made add on poles made for mine. The mount to the outside of the arms and can be swung down so the awning can be staked down. The current awning can't even take a breeze of 8-10 mph.

Powered awnings are good, but they do have their limitations.

Aaron

[lcv800]

After losing an awning last year, I'm smarter. I pull it in if it gets above 20mph, otherwise screw in dog stakes and ratchet straps for the side awnings keep if from lifting (not too tight so as the shock in the arms still have some give) and bungee cords from the end rail to the deck rail for the patio.
Rusty

[snakebitten]

Hmmm. 20mph might still make me queasy. The noisy racket alone would steal my peace. This is just to remove the worry of the breezy moments and surprise gusts. Not really looking to be too stubborn about it.

[snakebitten]

Seems my hosting url changed. Trying a new technique.

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by snakebitten

Hmmm. 20mph might still make me queasy. The noisy racket alone would steal my peace. This is just to remove the worry of the breezy moments and surprise gusts. Not really looking to be too stubborn about it.

My first camper had an awning... you got the awning out of the box under the dinette and installed it on the camper, you had to slide the awning in the rail, then put the poles in the sleeves, poles to the ground and stake that puppy down.

Thought we had really moved up in the world with the popup with the bag awning, all you had to do was unzip the bag, then unroll the awning and put the legs down, and stake it.

Airstreams and Coleman had more conventional awnings with legs attached to the side, that could be released and staked to the ground.

Now I have one where you push a button and it comes out. However the manual tells you to not use it in rain or any wind.

So now I am modifying it go backwards in technology. Sometimes a hammer is the best tool FOR EVERYTHING!

Aaron

[snakebitten]

Similar history Aaron

Coleman popup with the awing zipped up in the bag. It never seemed like much of a burden until I got the Aerolite with its fancy smancy remote controlled awning.

Actually, I LOVE it. It is huge. Big enough for everyone to enjoy. And the tilt on it is easily adjustable. So many things to like it for.

But no rain or wind? I'm ignoring the advice. Thus the red-neck modifications.
Got a nice front that moved through down here on the coast this morning. Got pretty breezy and dropped a good bucket of rain in a short period of time. Awning did what I want an awning to do. Keep me and the porch dry.

Cheers!

[lcv800]

Originally Posted by snakebitten

Hmmm. 20mph might still make me queasy. The noisy racket alone would steal my peace. This is just to remove the worry of the breezy moments and surprise gusts. Not really looking to be too stubborn about it.

No flapping or noise, but you're right. Better safe than sorry. When in doubt, especially at night, roll them in!

[rich2481]

our awning goes over the kitchen slide out, not over the BBQ area as it appears in his picture,, My wife constantly asks what were they thinking? unless you sit in front of the door, the awning only extends out about 2 feet over the edge of our kitchen slide out.. it was not out at the show we bought her from,,,

[persistent]

I would love to see your awning strut pictures. They don't appear to be available on the dutchmenowners.org forum anymore.
Paul

[persistent]

I know this is an old inactive thread. I am adding to it for any new readers.
Thanks for the pictures. I like the idea. It may need a little more tie down. I have a Chalet Alpine folding camper. It has a canopy that unrolls and then unfolds. It has poles attached to lower side that extend to the two far corners of the canopy for support and came with two tie down ropes. All similar to the system shown in this thread.
When I watched it move in the wind I knew it needed additional tie downs. The canopy needs side to side as well as up and down stabilization. That is two ropes for each corner. One at a steep angle or vertical to hold it down against the poles and another at a shallower angle to stop side to side motion.
The Alpine canopy has screens all the way around so it is more susceptible to side to side forces, but the same principle applies here.
The attached picture shows the canopy without the tie down ropes.

[persistent]

Ok, it looks like the picture did not make it. I will try to add it again.