Quote:
Originally Posted by bevedfelker
...It may be necessary to secure the arms for travel.
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That is the hard part. Trying to find a place on the coach which is strong enough to secure the awning arms in place. You may have to identify some anchor points on the roof.
In my case the awning opening at 55 mph caused the awning to tear free from the upper part of the coach. Since I was 6 miles from home, I removed the entire tube and rolled up the fabric and slid as much of it as I could inside the coach. I then disconnected the shocks on the arms to relieve the pressure and using zip ties was able to secure the upper and lower arms to the mounting bar (Dometic arms are somewhat different than Carefree). Luckily only the top mounting bolts were ripped out of the side wall and the middle (partially ripped out) and lower bolts (still in tact) secured the arms until I got home.
I was lucky for a few reasons. It happened as I was decreasing speed to exit the highway. There were no road signs in the deceleration lane of the interstate. We were only 6 miles from the house when this happened. I was able to take less traveled back roads the rest of the way home.
Lessons learned
Never discount the need to have some type of rope and zip ties on board.
A step ladder would have been nice. I now carry a folding 6 foot step ladder/stool in a pass through compartment.
Do not expect anyone to stop and offer assistance. The state cop that was following me when this happened just drove on by.
During the summer it takes time to get a repair appointment. Neither Forest River nor Dometic could find any service center in my area that could take my coach in for 6 weeks. This included RV dealers and independent repair shops capable of doing body work.
RV'ing is an adventure in more ways than one.
The one thing you never dream will happen is the one that will bite your butt.
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