Hi all. I haven't posted in a while and have traveled many miles since.
Last July I coming out of the mountains of eastern Utah heading for Moab about 7:30pm. I was hit by a heavy cross wind which sucked out my slide-out awning and shredded it. I initially thought we had suffered a blow out, it was that loud. Fortunately no structural damage occurred. We limped into Green River for the night. I borrowed a ladder the next morning from the Ace hardware and duct taped the #@&@#$ out of it. Come to find out the closest repair facility was in Grand Junction Co. Ten days later the parts finally came in from Dometic an we were on our way. We never made it to Moab.
Now in Wyoming we again hit heavy winds and the patio awning is partially sucked out, breaking one of the latches on the support arm. I was able to stop quickly enough to prevent any damage to the awning. We were able to deploy it and roll it back into its carrier. Again I drove carefully into the next town Gillette Wyoming. Again I found the Ace store and now I purchase a Six foot ladder. Its still is on board. I gave the awning a closer look and confirmed the latch on the arm had been broken. I duct taped it together on both arms and we continued toward the east coast and back to California without further incident.
Now for the real question! Has anyone converted from a mechanical patio awning to an electric driven? What brand did you settle (i.e. Care Free or Dometic) on and how has it worked out for you? Who did the work for you? I live in the SF east bay.
Thanks for you comments and assistance.