New awning poles vs. pop up shelter?

[DentalDana2]

We purchased our pop up from the parents of very close friends in the fall. It's a '93 Palomino Mustang in overall very good condition. Her parents weren't the first owners, but had just bought it themselves last April (they used it 3 times and then came into a windfall of $$ over the summer and made a bee line to a much larger/newer TT). The awning doesn't appear to have any tears, but the poles are a mess. You can tell that only some of the pieces are original and that they have been rigged up in some way that makes very little sense. I'm wondering if it make sense to A. purchase new poles (if even possible), B. rig our own poles up via Home Depot/Lowes or C. purchase a pop up shelter that can double as a screen room?

My personal top choice is to purchase a pop up shelter for three reasons: size, ability to make it a screen room and the fact that I can use it outside of camping. My only hesitation is this, will the shelter be tall enough to allow proper access into the camper? I know I could just go outside and do some measuring, but I'm snug and toasty inside and DH won't have the time to open the camper up for two more weeks!

Thanks!

 

[WDWCP96]

We had a Rockwood Highwall and during a stay in the Outer Banks a bad thunderstorm rolled through very suddenly and ripped the awning right off. It was not fixable and at the time we couldn't find a replacement for under $1000 so we bought a screen room with removable sides and adjustable length poles. We were able to put it tight up against our pop up so as to provide shelter when entering and exiting but it was a stand alone unit that we could use outside of camping. Ours is an EZ up brand that is 10 x10. Of course we just sold it last year and were able to find a replacement awning complete with new hardware for less than $300 but the EZ up only cost us around $100.

 

[bama_ed]

WDWCP96 put his finger on the issue - height/adjustable poles.

Your stock non-adjustable pole EZ up type canopy is not tall enough to put against the popup and cover the door and the window to the side of it. I guess if you have the adjustable height poles like he did you can cover what you need to.

I had a similar issue. I've had my awning get blown up and over my popup twice and it flings the poles and breaks off the tips and sometimes they can't be found. The first time it happened it was my ignorance. The place we were camping had a big asphalt pad and I could not stake down the poles. So I did without.

The second time it happened (same campground) I had rigged some bungee cords from the pole that ran across the awning down to the frame on both ends to keep some pressure on it to keep it pulled down. I was outside when it happened. The wind blew DOWN on the awning and pushed it in just enough to relax the bungee cords enough for the ends to slip off the frame. Then less than 5 seconds later the big gust came through and up and over she went.

I lost a few tips but thankfully my Jayco dealer was able to reorder the tips for a few dollars apiece and I JB-Weld them back in the poles. But I was tired of messing with the darn thing.

So last fall I did the Home Depot route and I am happy with it. I basically use a telescoping painters pole with a roller brush handle screwed on the roll end. But the roll wire frame is removed and a big eye bolt is in place. The eye bolt goes over the end of the awning pole that runs the length of the awning. The handle ends are held to the popup frame with locking pins using the holes that are on the end of the handle. The fact that the poles are adjustable length lets me dip one side to shed rain.

When poles are fully collapsed the awning stands about 6 feet out from the camper. We do this when we are gone for the day. That 6 feet is enough to cover bikes, etc and is nearly vertical.

I don't have pictures but if you are interested in closeups I'll take some when I take it out in a week or two to get ready for spring.

So probably, Dana, if you can get the adjustable height EZ up that is probably easiest. But we like the awning still, like putting tacky lights on it when we camp, and having the big windows and door covered.

Bama ED

PS - our awning has three spring loaded poles to push the far end away from the camper that was stock and we still use them with our painter pole solution.

 

[Brendonsmom]

Just bought a new awning for my Starcraft pop-up about two weeks ago. Check out Camping World on line. They will ship to you. Depending on the size you can get a new Dometic awning for around $250. Mine was 11 feet long and I was able to get our local camper dealer to match the price. Still had to pay their freight which was more than Camping World ($25). The awning comes folded in a box and you do have to do some assembly which took less than 30 minutes, about the same time it took us to read the directions and assemble our EZ Up tent the first time. The new awning has adjustable poles with the snap button, much better than our old awning with the twist poles that never seemed to stay tight.

BTW, our EZ Up has very high adjustable legs, but I still don't think it would be high enough for our door to clear.