This little problem has been on my mind for a while now and I am interested on others thoughts and methods of rolling out the awning and maintaining it in the correct position.
I have noticed that most times when I roll my awning out on both my current van and the previous van the awning barrel is set with the groove to the 3 oclock position and with everything being equal it stays in this position....at least until I decide to fit a shade privacy screen into the slot and secure it with rubbers and pegs along the long edge of the awning.
When the shade cloth is fitted the barrel seems to be rotated into a more open position more like a 4 oclock position which in turn causes the anti flap ends to pull down on the awning fabric at the ends of the barrel. It also creates the awning fabric to be positioned on the barrel roller in a lower pisition and this causes water to drip through the stiching if it rains because the water pools against the barrel roller.
I have watched several video instructions on these Carefree awnings and this problem is never addressed.
What I would like to achieve is for me to roll the awning out and set it up and not have the barrel roller move so as to cause the situations listed above.
Anyone have any thoughts, tricks or methods that they wish to share???
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"Seek the truth or bury you head in the sand, both require some digging"
I have recently spilt my Carefree awning along the part that slides into the sail track on the MH. I have looked at a few videos on YouTube re the way to replace the Vinyl. After looking at around a dozen different versions it looks like the coiled spring inside the tube gets weaker and when replacing the vinyl they advise you to check exactly the number of turns on the roller. When redoing the spring they advise adding at a minimum of an extra turn, and better to do two extra turns. I would think that it would sort your problem if you added at least one extra turn. Another option may be the clips that lock into one of the sail tracks and can be pegged into the ground to hold the roller down in windy conditions.
This is a link to a website with the clips mentioned.
I used to have the same problem. Once I've got the awning set in position (antiflap bars installed) I put the little lever into the roll up position, before I put any tension on the privacy screen. This doesn't allow the awning to unroll any more. You have to remember to put it back to the roll out position before taking tension of things. I've been doing this for quiet a few years now with no problems.
Cheers Pete
after years of doing it wrong a friend put me on track (no pun) set up as you are doing now ,until its time for the privacy screen,, tension the stays and deflappers etc
and the roll in the 3 o'clock position ,, now go to the roll up/ roll down switch and put it in the roll up position it should go about one click. leave it in that position till packing up time,, now fit the privacy screen,, just remember to put it back to the roll up position before packing up
I used to have the same problem. Once I've got the awning set in position (antiflap bars installed) I put the little lever into the roll up position, before I put any tension on the privacy screen. This doesn't allow the awning to unroll any more. You have to remember to put it back to the roll out position before taking tension of things. I've been doing this for quiet a few years now with no problems. Cheers Pete
Well how simple mate...never thought of doing that. I will be setting the awning up tomorrow arvo so I will give it a go.
It stands to reason that doing that will stop the roller from unrolling any further. I wonder why that this simple thing has not been mentioned on any of the demo videos.
@Yuglamron,
Thank you for your input that spring tension is worth looking at.
My old van had the awning material replaced and it seemed to have slightly more tension when rolling up than has my new current van. My current van is only 7 months old so is as it was set from new at the factory but having said that it doesnt roll up as quickly as the old one.
@rodden
Thanks for that I was typing while you were posting.
cheers
-- Edited by Dickodownunder on Tuesday 20th of February 2018 09:40:33 AM
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"Seek the truth or bury you head in the sand, both require some digging"
Regarding pooling pf water on the awning, when you set it up, leave one end of the awning a little bit lower than the other and water will run to that end.
Regarding pooling pf water on the awning, when you set it up, leave one end of the awning a little bit lower than the other and water will run to that end.
Thanks erad,
I learned that trick early in my vanning escapades.
Woke up one morning after rain overnite and had an audience of people who wanted to watch me push up from underneath to dispose of the water. Funny, but did not do the awning fabric much good.
After replacing the fabric I bought curved rafters and anti flap bars. The guy that owned the van before me had nothing at all for the awning except for a couple of ropes for tying it down.
I always set the awning now with one end lower to drain.
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"Seek the truth or bury you head in the sand, both require some digging"
When we bought our new van the rafters were fitted by the dealership. They rolled out the drum too far and therefore drilled the holes in the wrong place. Rain pooled at the roller and the stitching started to stretch. The chap who made some new bits for us on the Sunshine coast wised us up to this and on our request drilled the holes where they should have been in the first place. Now the rain runs straight off with no pooling, and the fabric is not being constantly flexed along the line of stitches.
I was camped near a guy last year with the same van as mine and his roller was drilled in the wrong position the same as you had described KevinC and he had the problem of water leaking. I didnt think about the stitching stretching.
There is obviously fitters around who just dont know it dont care.
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"Seek the truth or bury you head in the sand, both require some digging"
Arrived at our campsite yesterday and set the awning roll out barrel as per the the good advice above.
This worked absolutely perfectly and with a little turning of the roller by hand before I attached the shade screen the whole thing went together without incident.
My awning fabric is now basically level without the annoying dip at the points where the fabric departs contact with the anti flap bars.
The shade cloth is now taught and apart from actually looking a lot neater it would not get any flap in a wind.
One thing I did notice was that when I pegged the shade cloth down to the ground it caused a slight bow to appear in the awning roller so I grabbed the annexe centre pole and installed that in the hole that is provided in the middle of the roller. Perfect.
When I was erecting the shade cloth and noticed this condition I relieved the tension on the centre tie downs and left the two end ones pulled down tight and this fixed the bow in the roller but I had the pole so it was a no brainer to use it.
I should add that my awning is 5 metres long.
Thank you all for the advice.
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"Seek the truth or bury you head in the sand, both require some digging"
On roller drum of a Carefree awning there are 3 slots of which 2 are used to connect the awning material to drum the 3rd is for annex walls etc.
I position the middle slot to approximatly 1 o'clock, as this prevents any pooling of water along the roller, rarely do I setup with the arms in the diagional position, prefering them to be verticle, I do not use ropes and springs for tiedowns, I use ratcheting straps. After everything is secure and taught, then I fit the curved rafters, I also have a center support pole which prevents the drum bowing when the annex wall or shade side is fitted and tied down.
Im often amazed when there is hint of a storm with high winds, I see other vanners scurrying around to roll up their awning, putting all their outside stuff away, me I just fit my annex ends and fit a 2nd set of ratchet straps, and enjoy the sideshow of the storm from under the awning.
