Community Forums

dave&ginny · 10-21-2015, 07:19 PM

That's disappointing because I was wishing my 2015 Aspire had them. I guess I'll wait and see the upgrades coming in the future.

FreshAir · 10-21-2015, 07:46 PM

In all fairness to the 2016 Girard main awning it worked quite well in three days of light to moderate rain while in the Seattle area last month. Like Cruzer mentioned the awning does have that "dihedral" angle and did shed water to the rear quite well. Shortly after getting the MH and with the awning extended, sitting in a lawn chair with a brew gazing at that thing we had just bought, I thought, good hell! the awning is mounted crooked front to back. Now I know, Dihedral Angles designed to shed water. Mark, is that similar to a compound angle?:

Also, it is the first awning that the wind sensor actually seems to work. But as we all know, don't trust them as it will eventually be a 'shame on you" I do feel that Entegra did fall on their sword by not including a remote with the Aspire Girard awning. Kinda Cheap.

I am not a Girard fan and wish Entegra would have kept the Aspire 2015 and previous awnings on the 2016 Aspire as that is what we thought we were getting when we ordered. Good on looks but not good on functionality. Are we letting vanity outweigh common sense when we allow ourselves to buy something that anemic? Not picking on Entegra as it's industry wide. Just MHO.

Pat

DSL417 · 10-21-2015, 09:38 PM

You just hit it; the Girard is the industry standard now in this and higher level coaches. They have the market and seem reluctant to even listen to concerns about wind or water. JMHO

DeeGee · 10-22-2015, 10:10 AM

I'm glad I still have the older sturdier awning on my 2015 Aspire. Not as sexy but that's OK, I'm too old for sexy.

Cruzer · 10-22-2015, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DSL417

You just hit it; the Girard is the industry standard now in this and higher level coaches. They have the market and seem reluctant to even listen to concerns about wind or water. JMHO

It's probably not so much that they are reluctant as it is that they can't do much about it. Lateral arm awnings are like big kites in the wind. They are huge pieces of sail that cause tremendous stress on the framework, whether by wind or rain load. Looking at the awnings I see that they are well constructed but they just aren't designed to support weight or handle wind. The reason for their popularity is that coach builders want a sleek look with clean sidewalls and awnings that are built into the fascia rather than hung on the side. The reason they want that is because the majority of buyers prefer it. I could design an awning that would handle winds, rain, and even snow loads. However it would look like a garbage truck and I don't think anyone would ever want to buy one.

DSL417 · 10-22-2015, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cruzer

It's probably not so much that they are reluctant as it is that they can't do much about it. Lateral arm awnings are like big kites in the wind. They are huge pieces of sail that cause tremendous stress on the framework, whether by wind or rain load. Looking at the awnings I see that they are well constructed but they just aren't designed to support weight or handle wind. The reason for their popularity is that coach builders want a sleek look with clean sidewalls and awnings that are built into the fascia rather than hung on the side. The reason they want that is because the majority of buyers prefer it. I could design an awning that would handle winds, rain, and even snow loads. However it would look like a garbage truck and I don't think anyone would ever want to buy one.

Honestly, I like the look, but, JMHO, the solution lies in a more responsive wind sensor (motion is a little too late; being a former meteorologist, my guess is the old cup anemometer was more responsive, or a new version could be), coupled with a faster motor to pull the shade in. It won't eliminate the threat, but would be more responsive to wind changes when deployed (and you don't have to use a sky hook to hold 'em down while the motor slowly pulls the awning in. Again, I like them, for what there are, but improvements are needed in my opinion.

Cruzer · 10-22-2015, 12:45 PM

Personally, I doubt that a better sensor would do much good. It would either have to be set very loose, in which case it would be prematurely retracting all the time, or else too late. The best it could do was trigger an alarm that announces "Your awning just blew away".

The motors need to be a compromise between powerful or fast. If you want both, you wind up with a much larger motor, both in horsepower and physical size. Even so, I doubt it would be fast enough to retract anything fast enough before damage would be done. I never measured our awning but let's say that it extends 10' and is 20' wide. That's 200 square feet of area. If wind exerts a 15 PSI uplift that would be 3,000 lbs of force. Same holds true for pooling rain. That's a lot of weight for that aluminum frame to support.

Our last coach had the Carefree door awning. It was much faster to retract and extend but it wasn't any where near the quality of the Girard that I now have and I did have a few mechanical problems with it. The Girard is slower but powerful and it's heavier framework is much more sturdy. The motor is just geared for torque rather than speed. It'll take more wind but I still won't leave it out unattended or on windy days. It's still a lateral arm awning design after all.

DSL417 · 10-22-2015, 12:53 PM

Sorry, Mark, but I remain unconvinced. They've basically ridden this same design since at least 2002 when they first appeared on Country Coach Prevost (among others I assume). For what they get for them, they could be using titanium on those arms, LOL. Seriously, they don't seem to be incentivized to solve the issue...they simply continue to sell while riding the increasing profit margin from antiquated engineering. I will not be an apologist for Girard...perhaps i'll change my tune when the company president calls me and we talk like he promised Joyce he would do a year and a half ago. JMHO

let me take a step further...in addition to stronger arms, maybe a stretch or stronger material, no sagging etc etc etc

Anthem46 · 10-24-2015, 06:19 PM

ON my 2014 ANTHEM I was parked with a tree next to me. So I could only put my awning out about 3/4 way. We were sating there relaxing nice and dry. Did not thank anything about it until we look up and saw the awning sagging about 24". We jump up got the ladder & the scrub brush. Started pushing up to get the water out. Was very surprise, no damage. We were very new at RVING.