Thor Forums

[PapaMo]

We were recently on an extended roadtrip through the southwest. Heading east on Hwy 64 across the high plains grasslands of New Mexico, we encountered some pretty stiff crosswinds hitting us from the south. The 29M handled pretty well. I can only imagine how much worse it would have been had I not completed the CHF on the front and rear of the MH.

Anyway, we pulled into to the campground that afternoon and I hopped out to unhook the toad for the evening. Something caught my eye right above my head. The front arm of the awning was dislocated; popped out of place. I can only imagine that a strong gust of wind had lifted the main tube to allow the 'elbow' of the awning's arm try and swing outward.

I kinda had a sinking feeling -- but it ended up not being too bad...and an easy fix.

I was able to extend the awning about 10 inches. Any further and it began to unravel since it was blocked by the arm. At that point, I was able to lift the main tube a few inches with the working end of my broom. The bristles kind of created a cradle for the tube. This allowed the arm to spring back into place. From that point, I fully extended the awning -- and then retracted it. Everything went back into place and worked well from that point on.

If I hadn't looked up to see this, or if this had happened earlier in the day's drive, it would have been much easier for another gust to get under that end of the awning and really do some damage. Not sure how this can be prevented in the future outside of simply not driving in excessive winds. Up to this point in the trip, we hadn't used the awning at all. The last time was about 2 months ago when we were up in the Sierras.

Lesson learned. Keep a constant eye on your awnings!

Cheers!
Kent