OT: awnings after a heavy rain

[MMFanCipher]

Hello Camping Gurus,
We had some guests staying in our camper last night and we had the awning
out. While we slept there was a heavy down pour. When I came out of the
house this morning there was a HUGE water sag in the middle of the awning.
We had the awning slanted, but obviously not enough. Well, I thought if I can
slowly lower one side, the water would roll off. So I start lowering the side arm.
For those of you who don't know, water is heavy. Needless to say the arm
came crashing down, water flies everywhere and the main crossbeam crumples
in the middle like...aluminum. So the awning is ruined. I'm trying to figure out
what I could have done differently to prevent breaking the awning. I haven't
come up with anything that wouldn't have needed an awning repair in the end.
Any ideas on what I could have done differently? Other than putting the awning
up before going to bed.


David

 

[flash828]

Hello Camping Gurus,
We had some guests staying in our camper last night and we had the awning
out. While we slept there was a heavy down pour. When I came out of the
house this morning there was a HUGE water sag in the middle of the awning.
We had the awning slanted, but obviously not enough. Well, I thought if I can
slowly lower one side, the water would roll off. So I start lowering the side arm.
For those of you who don't know, water is heavy. Needless to say the arm
came crashing down, water flies everywhere and the main crossbeam crumples
in the middle like...aluminum. So the awning is ruined. I'm trying to figure out
what I could have done differently to prevent breaking the awning. I haven't
come up with anything that wouldn't have needed an awning repair in the end.
Any ideas on what I could have done differently? Other than putting the awning
up before going to bed.


David

Well only thing I can think of is alot more slant. I knew someone that climbed up on a ladder to bucket some of the water out before lowering the arm.

 

[MMFanCipher]

Yes, I thought of bailing, but I didn't know if I could reach the water. I guess I
should have looked at that first. Oh, well, live and learn.

 

[VAN]

We have a freak wind that ruined our awning at Ft Wilderness many years ago. The insurance company paid for a replacement! I wouldn't have thought to report it, but someone mentioned it so I called and it was paid for by them. I don't recall having to pay a deductible either (but could be wrong).

 

[ftwildernessguy]

I guess that proves the old saying to be true - an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

 

[Live4FW]

You could have used a hose to siphon it off. With it being above you, should be really easy to get a siphon going.

 

[MMFanCipher]

We have a freak wind that ruined our awning at Ft Wilderness many years ago. The insurance company paid for a replacement! I wouldn't have thought to report it, but someone mentioned it so I called and it was paid for by them. I don't recall having to pay a deductible either (but could be wrong).

I ask my DW to call the insurance company to see if this is covered. Hopefully
it will be.

 

[MMFanCipher]

You could have used a hose to siphon it off. With it being above you, should be really easy to get a siphon going.

Oh, man!! Never even thought of siphoning! And there was a hose 40 feet
from me!

 

[ElementCamper]

Just don't use the 'Disney' provided hose to syphon, especially starting it with your mouth. You don't know where that things been!

 

[Kurby]

We have a couple of those tents without the walls that we put over our outdoor chairs and they all pool with water.

we use and i'm wondering it it would work with the trailer awnings, one of those 2 foot brooms brush side up so the wood doesn't rib the canvas. and slowly push it up to get the water out.

 

[MMFanCipher]

My DW mentioned that, but I was afraid of putting too much weight on the
cross-piece. But who knows, that might have worked.

 

[retired and happy]

We have a 21 foot main awning. Several years ago we suffered a similar sag. The main roller is still bent a little. After that we bought two sets of Awnbrellas that stretch from the MH sidewall to the awning roller and arch the fabric up to prevent ponding. We still lower the rear end of the awning a little and we get a little ponding in one section in a HEAVY rail. Most just runs off. The drawback is that the Awnbrellas somewhat stretch the fabric, but if water has already stretched it, there's no more harm done. It's worked well for us for several years.

 

[MMFanCipher]

Thanks for all of the helpful advice!

 

[3girlsfun]

Ohh the awning. The awning brings us so much stress while camping. When we are looking at buying a new camper, I really want the one with the "button" to magically make the awning go up. It stinks because we like the cute little lights, but, again, the awning causes us so much stress.

I am not kidding when I say that my Dad still calls us to tell us the weather where ever we are, and to put our awning down! I would be embarrassed in saying this, but, he has saved us several time!

I have no idea, but thank you for posting this, bc, I am certain at some point, I will have this problem!

 

[rksbb]

We've used the push broom method a few times. (note I said a few times...guess we didn't learn the lesson the first time to pull the awning in when it rains)

Just know your not alone.

 

[LONE-STAR]

When we bought our first trailer we never put the awning up because we were afraid it would break in a storm. But then we decided we weren't using it so who cares if it breaks. So we started putting it up. Never had a problem in many years. But I put so much slant on it it could be a water slide at BB.