We have been in the habit of rolling our awning in whenever gusty winds come up, especially at night if we want to sleep without hearing flapping noise. Having seen the damage done when an awning flicked over the top of the van, we've just always been extra cautious.
Lately the weather's been a bit unfriendly, giving us plenty of wind and rain. It would be so nice to have the shelter of the awning during rain, so we have been checking out those frames that go on the sides and under the awning... they keep it much firmer so no flapping. But some of those caravans have rolled their awnings in, in bad weather too, others left them out, especially the ones with side walls or annexes.
Questions... Who else rolls their awning in?
Has anybody lost an awning?
And do those support frames make them any safer?
exa41 said
07:07 PM May 8, 2014
Hi there Gerty , we were at Bathurst a few years ago and left the awning out one night in windy conditions, the wind stopped and it started raining 50 mm overnight every thing was swamped and 3" of water running through the shower block. Result was that is snapped the mount on the camper and landed on the race car. Since then i have fitted supports from the awning to camper modified the camper and repainted the old girl. .
The other day we came home to find our awning collapsed and one of the side bars snapped off. When we left in the morning it wasn't even windy but obviously the wind blew up in the afternoon. We always rolled the awning in if we thought it was going to be too windy. We didn't have sides or walls on it. On our last van we had an annexe and had no trouble at all. Thinking we will get an annexe or put side walls up when we get this fixed.
I guess you learn from experience.
Jill
deverall11 said
07:31 PM May 8, 2014
Don't roll it back in. Just tie it down with ropes.
Larry
Rip and Rosie said
09:00 PM May 8, 2014
We leave The support posts braced against the van, and tie it down with double ropes. Nice and taught, no anti flappers, no noise. Always leave one end a little bit lower then the other for run off in the rain.
Of course if it gets too bad we still take it down.
We lost the awning once driving in a wild storm, and since then we tie the arms with a Velcro strap as those clips aren't strong enough.
Zoomtopz said
10:53 PM May 8, 2014
I "peg" the support legs & guy rope the two ends , with a touch of tilt .
But would roll it in & drop th "pop-top" in too windy conditions.
NandK said
12:58 AM May 9, 2014
Guy ropes on each end if wind is under 30kph, 30 and over roll it in.
If I have the annex up I use guy ropes on each end and leave it out.
Mousey said
05:02 AM May 9, 2014
i used 2 spring loaded guy ropes on each corner no problems
Oma said
06:55 AM May 9, 2014
We always use 2 ropes each end, awning on a tilt to catch fresh rain water as well as the full width antiflappers wither end which came with annex. Also the middle support up.
Jonathan said
07:11 AM May 9, 2014
Mousey wrote:
i used 2 spring loaded guy ropes on each corner no problems
.. like Mousey, I do the same .. As I don't use an annex, I mostly don't have the awning fully extended unless stationery for some time.
Deflappers certainly "bind" it together well for me ..
Cupie said
10:04 AM May 9, 2014
Particularly when near the beach or other windy ares I always tie the awning down with two sprung double pegged guy ropes at 45 degrees to each other & roll it in at night time. Can't stand the noise of the thunk thunk or slap slap all night.
The exception is when I put up the annex walls. Even then I tie down the base of the walls & use the 4 guy ropes. Most importantly I ensure that there is ample water run off in the slope of the awning .. even if it doesn't look too pretty.
AS I roll out the awning the first job is to tie it down while I finish setting up & the last thing when leaving.
(My guy rope practice ... one guy rope is along the line of the awning tube & the other at 45 degrees to the first (ie. at 90 degrees to the van) I put in one peg at an angle 45 degrees? pointing in to the van. The second peg at each rope is at 45 degrees to the first ie along the line of the tube but pointing outwards. The power of the triangle!)
neilnruth said
04:38 PM May 9, 2014
Our future son-in-law had his Dad's caravan last weekend and I was very nervous in the high winds. They ended up tying a rope across the top of it to keep it from lifting. I would still rather they had put it back in. While away with a caravan group we had 32ml overnight and the owners of a van were so busy mopping up the water coming in the front window they didn't do anything with their awning. We all heard the noise when the weight of the water ripped it off the side of the van in the morning!! He had to take it to the local tip before he left. stay safe Gerty.
Pejay said
04:45 PM May 9, 2014
Hi Gerty,
Yep, when it is pretty rugged winds etc we do roll in our awning, and have to say we have done it around 1-2am in the morning - rather chilly when it happens down in Tasmania in the middle of winter!!
However, normally Pete will put a rope from the ends of the awning down and peg it out, this seems to work quite well. We have also been told that having the uprights (?) back to the van (on the diagonal) rather than straight down vertical to the ground is a lot stronger.
Hope you are enjoying you trip
Pejay
Gerty Dancer said
09:26 PM May 9, 2014
Thanks for all your replies, we see so many different ways of using awnings, and have been given varying advice.
One piece of advice that never varies is to have the awning on an angle to allow rainwater to run off.
The weather has improved, but its always a bit windy near the coast, our awning gets rolled in often. . (yes overnight sometimes too June)
milo said
09:27 PM May 9, 2014
how do you go with an annex ? in wild weather?
Cupie said
12:06 PM May 10, 2014
milo wrote:
how do you go with an annex ? in wild weather?
Make sure that the window covers are down & secured.
Bottoms are pegged down.
Awning is on sufficient angle to prevent water pooling.
Normal guy ropes are in place.
Never set under trees, particularly gums
Yabbie said
01:47 PM May 12, 2014
We broke the middle stabilizer bar on ours when it was hit by a gust of wind which also turned it inside out.
I saw a picture of pool noodles being used over each end, to stop people from walking into them, I also thought they might add a little more strength to the bars if the awning was left out.
Yabbie said
01:48 PM May 12, 2014
We broke the middle stabilizer bar on ours when it was hit by a gust of wind which also turned it inside out.
I saw a picture of pool noodles being used over each end, to stop people from walking into them, I also thought they might add a little more strength to the bars if the awning was left out.
Gerty Dancer said
04:09 PM May 12, 2014
Thanks Yabbie, we were interested to hear if those stabiliser frame thingy's would prevent that type of incident. We were going to buy a set but they are expensive.
Oh well, out we go to roll the awning in again!
Cruising Granny said
05:38 PM May 12, 2014
My old awning held about 500 litres of water during a storm at Batemans Bay. I went out for a tour and came back to a large bag of water hanging below the roller. No permanent damage fortunately. I've since replaced the entire awning because the old one started to delaminate.
I use anti-flap kits at each end, peg the legs down, and tie ropes to each end, but NOT over the roller axle.
I also use bars from the van to the roller for strength and stability, and to stop the flap, flap, flap.
We have been in the habit of rolling our awning in whenever gusty winds come up, especially at night if we want to sleep without hearing flapping noise. Having seen the damage done when an awning flicked over the top of the van, we've just always been extra cautious.
Lately the weather's been a bit unfriendly, giving us plenty of wind and rain. It would be so nice to have the shelter of the awning during rain, so we have been checking out those frames that go on the sides and under the awning... they keep it much firmer so no flapping. But some of those caravans have rolled their awnings in, in bad weather too, others left them out, especially the ones with side walls or annexes.
Questions... Who else rolls their awning in?
Has anybody lost an awning?
And do those support frames make them any safer?
The other day we came home to find our awning collapsed and one of the side bars snapped off. When we left in the morning it wasn't even windy but obviously the wind blew up in the afternoon. We always rolled the awning in if we thought it was going to be too windy. We didn't have sides or walls on it. On our last van we had an annexe and had no trouble at all. Thinking we will get an annexe or put side walls up when we get this fixed.
I guess you learn from experience.
Jill
Larry
Of course if it gets too bad we still take it down.
We lost the awning once driving in a wild storm, and since then we tie the arms with a Velcro strap as those clips aren't strong enough.
I "peg" the support legs & guy rope the two ends , with a touch of tilt .
But would roll it in & drop th "pop-top" in too windy conditions.
If I have the annex up I use guy ropes on each end and leave it out.
.. like Mousey, I do the same .. As I don't use an annex, I mostly don't have the awning fully extended unless stationery for some time.
Deflappers certainly "bind" it together well for me ..
Particularly when near the beach or other windy ares I always tie the awning down with two sprung double pegged guy ropes at 45 degrees to each other & roll it in at night time. Can't stand the noise of the thunk thunk or slap slap all night.
The exception is when I put up the annex walls. Even then I tie down the base of the walls & use the 4 guy ropes. Most importantly I ensure that there is ample water run off in the slope of the awning .. even if it doesn't look too pretty.
AS I roll out the awning the first job is to tie it down while I finish setting up & the last thing when leaving.
(My guy rope practice ... one guy rope is along the line of the awning tube & the other at 45 degrees to the first (ie. at 90 degrees to the van) I put in one peg at an angle 45 degrees? pointing in to the van. The second peg at each rope is at 45 degrees to the first ie along the line of the tube but pointing outwards. The power of the triangle!)
Yep, when it is pretty rugged winds etc we do roll in our awning, and have to say we have done it around 1-2am in the morning - rather chilly when it happens down in Tasmania in the middle of winter!!
However, normally Pete will put a rope from the ends of the awning down and peg it out, this seems to work quite well. We have also been told that having the uprights (?) back to the van (on the diagonal) rather than straight down vertical to the ground is a lot stronger.
Hope you are enjoying you trip
Pejay
One piece of advice that never varies is to have the awning on an angle to allow rainwater to run off.
The weather has improved, but its always a bit windy near the coast, our awning gets rolled in often.
Make sure that the window covers are down & secured.
Bottoms are pegged down.
Awning is on sufficient angle to prevent water pooling.
Normal guy ropes are in place.
Never set under trees, particularly gums
I saw a picture of pool noodles being used over each end, to stop people from walking into them, I also thought they might add a little more strength to the bars if the awning was left out.
I saw a picture of pool noodles being used over each end, to stop people from walking into them, I also thought they might add a little more strength to the bars if the awning was left out.
Oh well, out we go to roll the awning in again!
I use anti-flap kits at each end, peg the legs down, and tie ropes to each end, but NOT over the roller axle.
I also use bars from the van to the roller for strength and stability, and to stop the flap, flap, flap.