Securing awning while at the Fort.

[ynottony99]

I think the length of awning has to be considered. Our awning runs most of the lenght of the 33' TT. Even with a lot of slant, I have had it fill with water in middle and really sag. So much so once that the center support broke and came down. So I just roll that baby up if we are going to be gone long, or if there is even a hint of 'weather'. I don't know if it is just urban legend or not, but I have heard that the right gust of wind can grab an awning and roll a TT right over.
I don't think staking it out would prevent that.

 

[auntie]

Im not even looking for another cart, but just like to check craigs to see whats out there...I also check o RVs all the time, as well as utility trailers. I window shop for some weird crap, huh!

If you don't mind my asking...since you've done the window shopping...what do the utility trailers run? We usually rent one from U-Hall to take our cart to our seasonal site and back twice a year. Used the bed of a pick up once..but it's kind of tricky loading it up, and with the rear seat now, I'm not sure it would fit in a six foot bed.

 

[VACAMPER]

Our awning blew apart last year and i was there. My husband had told me to always roll it up if it looked like a storm was coming but that day my dad convinved me to leave it down. Should've listened to the hubby instead i had to listen to him afterwards. I told you to.....................

 

[BigDaddyRog]

If you don't mind my asking...since you've done the window shopping...what do the utility trailers run? We usually rent one from U-Hall to take our cart to our seasonal site and back twice a year. Used the bed of a pick up once..but it's kind of tricky loading it up, and with the rear seat now, I'm not sure it would fit in a six foot bed.

Well...as with anything on a site like craigs or ebay or anything else prices can fluxuate tremendously...but Ive seen several in the $500 range that seemed good enough. Keep in mind, you can get one new at HomeDepot for $1000

 

[WildDisNut]

I lost an awning with my last TT because I was away in the ICU after an ER visit with DGD...we saw the storm through the windows...but we were so worried about her it didn't even register to us to call the campground to ask if they would try to take it down...they did...but too late....DGD was diagnosed with a brain tumor that day...but she is ok...benign....she will be taking her 3rd trip to WDW at Christmas this year....we can hardly wait!!! MiMi is trying to get her a used Golfcart to go see all the "Christmas Stuff" as she calls the decorations....been ebaying like crazy....no one wants to sell at my price ...we want to do our own thing to it....oh well I'll keep bidding lol

That's such great news about your DGD. You are truly blessed!

 

[dwluvsdh]

Last summer we left on a beautiful sunny morning to Epcot. As we were leaving Soarin this downpour came for about 15 minutes. My husband and I looked at each other in fear and ran for the busses heading back to Ft. Wilderness. As we rounded the loop, we saw our awning sagging with the roller snapped in half. So now anytime we leave (especially the summer) we put up our awning. Takes a couple minutes but we won't make that $1000 mistake again.

 

[LarryJ]

I think the secret is an serious awning slant if you expect rain and are not at the trailer. You can see the slant on my awning in my sig. for the time when I was there and no rain was expected. At WDW I probably have much more of a slant like 2 ft from front to back and you need to keep the awning taught and not loose. Now wind is a whole other issue and I think using heavy duty awning de-flappers along with keeping the awing taught is the key, but if I knew I was expecting 40mph+ winds and would be away, I would just roll it up to be safe.

Larry

 

[disbugsmomma]

Proudmomof4, we must have been there at the same time. That weather sucked! I don't have an awning, but we put up two canopies. One of them got caught on our camp kitchen and tore a hole in it and our other one was picked up and tossed onto the back of the next site over (which means it flew over the other canopy!) That happened the night it hailed. I won't forget to tie it down again!

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

If you don't mind my asking...since you've done the window shopping...what do the utility trailers run? We usually rent one from U-Hall to take our cart to our seasonal site and back twice a year. Used the bed of a pick up once..but it's kind of tricky loading it up, and with the rear seat now, I'm not sure it would fit in a six foot bed.

If you are anywhere near Indiana there are some great deals to be had if you buy direct.


On the awning issue, I keep our slanted and tight with deflappers and I also use 2 of the screw in dog leash tethers and tie off the corners at an angle for some extra security.... but if it looks like a storm or nobody is going to be at the camp during the summer we roll it up. Last summer we saw at least 4 destroyed awnings when a storm blew in very quickly. The rain wasnt the issue, it was the high winds. It was sad to see because I knew it would ruin some people day with that much damage.

 

[proudmomof4]

Proudmomof4, we must have been there at the same time. That weather sucked! I don't have an awning, but we put up two canopies. One of them got caught on our camp kitchen and tore a hole in it and our other one was picked up and tossed onto the back of the next site over (which means it flew over the other canopy!) That happened the night it hailed. I won't forget to tie it down again!

Hi, we were there April 4th-13th (but the picture I posted was from another stay), sorry to hear about your canopies, those storm winds can get very strong, people have had their tents blown away too!

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

Hi, we were there April 4th-13th (but the picture I posted was from another stay), sorry to hear about your canopies, those storm winds can get very strong, people have had their tents blown away too!

The storm I was talking about was the one that blew in when you stopped at our site.

 

[SoundDude]

some folks in the PUP community (since they typically have awnings with vertical poles) use drywall buckets full of concrete or sand to anchor the vertical poles. might prove to be especially helpful once the sites are converted to all-concrete pads.

 

[proudmomof4]

The storm I was talking about was the one that blew in when you stopped at our site.

Yeah, I remember that day, it hailed then too, luckily for us our awning held up really well, the picture that I posted was from that stay.