We Have Shade!

Today we installed the new awning fabric. My cousin's daughter and her family were down for the weekend so we had some extra help on hand and decided this would be the day to install the awning, early in the morning before the wind came up.

I had done some prep work ahead of time. Of course, I had ordered and received the replacement awing. I ordered a generic replacement from Carefree of Colorado thru PPL Motorhomes. It was well rated in reviews on line and it certainly seemed to be at least of as good quality as the one I was replacing. I had researched how to do this on line and watched a coupled of you-tube videos so I thought I had a good chance of getting it installed without too much disaster. I even read the directions first!

The first step was to remove the old material. Being the OEM equipment, it had the decorative flap sewed as a piece of the larger flap, that is, the whole awning was once piece of fabric while the replacement was in two pieces, the main awning and the decorative flap. These awnings are held in place by a pocket of fabric which is sewn in the edge and filled with a plastic rod. The whole assembly is then slipped into a mating groove molded into the roller and into a strip fastened to the body of the motorhome. Now, the ends of these grooves in the roller are covered by a decorative metal cap. The cap has a clearance molded into it for ONLY ONE GROOVE! So here we are with a one piece awning with two rods sewn into the edge and only one is exposed to allow us to slide it out. Just whose idea was that? To expose both grooves would require taking apart the whole end arm assembly and relieving all of the tension wound into the internal spring. Well, SharpTooth to the rescue. I whipped out my trusty pocket knife and minutes later we had a two piece awning. Then we could rotate the end cap to expose one groove a t a time because I had already drilled out the rivets that hold it in place. Of course, I had also drilled out the rivets on the other cap, the one on the right hand end, which I should have left alone and had to replace at the end of the job.

Next we had to remove the bracket on the upper left hand leg in order to slide the upper part of the awning down the rail and off the end. Of course, when you do that there's nothing to hold that end of the awning to the body, so it's quick run and grab the stepladder to support the outboard end. After taking out the tiny screws that actually secure the the fabric into the channel, everybody pull left and there we are. At this point I remembered I had a camera and tried to record some of the rest of the action.

Now, nowhere in the directions I found or the videos I watched did anybody say anything about having to put the plastic rod in the hem before you start! But the directions spelled it right out. They've included a pull string in the hem. Just use the pull string to pull the rod through. We even have this clever piece of woven stuff that acts like one of those Chinese finger pullers. You tie a knot in the end of finger puller, tie the pull string below the knot, insert the rod and pull away. First off, the pull string looks like something you'd sew a button on with. Then I tied a knot in the end of the puller and pulled the knot as tight as I could get it with a pair of pliers and then trimmed it off neatly. Tied the string on with a trusty square knot and inserted the rod. Pulled on the string and clearly, the knot was just not going to go into that seam. So we poked and prodded and tried lubricant and then broke the string. I looked at the seam and looked at the rod and just poked the free end of the rod into the seam and pushed. And pushed, and then pushed some more, but finally, there it was. After that we just retired the directions and did it our way and things went better. That turned out to be the toughest part of the job. The remark was made that a root canal would be a delight in comparison.

We decided to assemble in reverse order. Do the big part first and then follow it up with the flap. But the channel on the motorhome extends all the way to the rear of the body so we have eight feet of awning to hang in the upper channel before we can get the lower part started in the roller. The directions say a helper might be useful. Try four helpers. We had people everywhere.

With one person running each end and another supporting and guiding the fabric into the slot, it went right in. You'd have thought we  knew what we were doing. We got it slid into place on the upper rail and reinstalled the bracket for the upper left leg. Then we put the little screws back in the anchor each end. By this time the roller assembly had worked its way sideways so when we centered the awning up on top, it was way off on the roller. Brute force to the rescue. A few pushes and shoves later we had it pretty well centered. Then it was time to install the flap. Rotate the end cap, slide it in, piece of cake. We're rolling. Now it's time to rivet the end caps and we're nearly done. The awning is installed but pretty limp so I extend the arms as if I was pitching it and smooth it out.

Next, it's reverse that little lever on the right side and let it roll up. Except it doesn't. Not enough tension on the torsion springs inside the roller arm. Well, no problem, I've read how to do this. It's just that they warn you that if you slip and let go of the vise grips, you can break a wrist. Faint heart ne'er won fair maid so off I go. Take out the bolt that holds the end cap in place grab the end cap securely with vise grips and give it a couple of turns to tighten it. Now, I'm no dummy. I've rolled up the awning by hand so it's up at the top where the tension is the least. Safer that way. So I lift the end cap carefully out of the end of the leg. Oh, when you do that the leg falls to the ground and I'm up on the ladder holding onto the tension spring. Help! Trusty helpers are nearby and come the rescue once again. Two turns on each end and back into place and it rolls right up like it was meant to.

Thankfully, through all of this the wind has been very mild. An hour later it was whipping everything in sight. But a good job well done and many thanks to all of the help.