I was wondering if an electric awning can be stablized permanently like a manuel patio awning. Since my RV is stationary I would like to leave the awning out.
I have seen electric awnings tied down and left out. IMO I do not think it is a good idea. We were in an rv park this summer when a minor storm went through-just a garden variety thunderstorm. Six awnings were destroyed and a couple did significant damage to the rvs they were originally attached to. Two of the six destroyedf were electric - one tied down and one not. All of the others were manual awnings that had been tied down. Obviously you can do what you want. Ours is retracted when we leave, go to bed, or if weather is coming.
QUOTE(joez @ Nov 3 2010, 02:27 PM) [snapback]24786[/snapback] I have seen electric awnings tied down and left out. IMO I do not think it is a good idea. We were in an rv park this summer when a minor storm went through-just a garden variety thunderstorm. Six awnings were destroyed and a couple did significant damage to the rvs they were originally attached to. Two of the six destroyedf were electric - one tied down and one not. All of the others were manual awnings that had been tied down. Obviously you can do what you want. Ours is retracted when we leave, go to bed, or if weather is coming. Thanks much for the info
At one of the campgrounds we hosted this summer, there were a total of seven awnings damaged by different storms by being left out and unattended. Some were collapsed and some were torn. One or two were tied down, but it didn't matter. One really unfortunate fellow had his awning blown up over the roof. The awning mechanism was so badly damaged that he had to get someone to come out and remove it completely from the rig. I have an electric awning with a wind sensor. The convenience of it being electric means that it can be retracted in a few seconds. Anytime I leave, I retract it about 2/3 the way in. That's enough to prevent damage, but still provide a bit of shade on the side windows. I don't trust the sensor enough to leave the awning out when I'm away from the rig. If it fails once, then I might lose a very expensive accessory.
We are fulltimers. We rarely tie our awning out as we too have seen too many damaged, sometimes fabric simply torn, and other times arms bent, etc. DW's sister has a manual awning on a trailer and when the wind took it a year ago, the awning flipped over the roof and an arm went THROUGH the roof. Even with our caution, a sudden gust of wind bent the arms on our electric awning last April. I salvaged the fabric and the roller tube ...new arms plus labor came to nearly $3k.
