Awning Fabric Removal

[Kazoo Tom]

I have developed a rip in the aft side of the awning up at the seam where it attaches to the motorhome. A local canvas shop can repair it for me at a very reasonable price, but I need to remove the fabric first. I do not wish to remove the hardware, and it appears that the fabric can be removed with the hardware in place. Surely someone here has done this before. It appears that there are only two screws holding the "rope" in the awning channel on the top. How difficult is it, and can it be done by two people? A local RV shop wants a small fortune to remove and replace it. It just doesn't look like a terrible job, at least from my point of view.

[Kazoo Tom]

I have developed a rip in the aft side of the awning up at the seam where it attaches to the motorhome. A local canvas shop can repair it for me at a very reasonable price, but I need to remove the fabric first. I do not wish to remove the hardware, and it appears that the fabric can be removed with the hardware in place. Surely someone here has done this before. It appears that there are only two screws holding the "rope" in the awning channel on the top. How difficult is it, and can it be done by two people? A local RV shop wants a small fortune to remove and replace it. It just doesn't look like a terrible job, at least from my point of view.

[CHIPPYSGT]

I'm not sure how you do it either. I have read and suspect from my experiences with awnings, that it is springloaded and can really get you if you're not careful and/or don't know what you're doing.

Maybe a phone call to the mfg. would be in order.

[Alfred622]

I'm not an expert in this at all, but I've got a problem with an awning too - and have been doing a bit of research.

As I understand it, the two screws you're talking about prevent the awning from shifting right/left in the awning rail. This rail holds the end of the awning. To remove the awning, you'd need to slide the awning down the rail to the rail end so it can come out.

Since that could be a long way, you need to remove the awning roller assembly from the brackets first. Here is where you need to be careful as the awning roller is under a lot of tension. You need to find a hole in the awning end (on both ends) where a cotter pin can be inserted that prevents the awning roll from rotating. With this pin in place, you can remove the awning from the brackets and then, with the help of two more people, slide the awning down the rail.

Next you probably want to remove tension on the roller assembly. This is tricky. You'll need to put a pair of vice grip pliers around the end of the awning, tension it so one cotter pin can be removed, then very carefully unwind the tension using the vicegrips. One slip and you're going to hurt yourself and possibly damage something. When done, you get to do it all over again on the other end. Now you can unroll the awning from the roller and take it in to the repair shop.

Or, you can just go to them and let them do the work for their small fortune!

Good Luck!

[Kazoo Tom]

After examining my awning very carefully, I note that I can remove the fabric from the top rail without removing any hardware, except for the two screws. When the awning is extended, the channel in the roller holding the other end is unubstructed by the hardware. We are going to try to remove it by sliding it out of both channels simultaneously, with a third person holding the roller tube up slightly to remove any tension. The local RV shop quoted me over $200 to simply remove the material and replace it after the repair. Even if I have to remove the roller tube, that sounds like too much to pay. I also have the A&E service manual to assist, if the roller needs to be removed.