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Old 09-08-2019, 06:44 PM   #1
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Awning Tape

Bought a 3 year old MH with carefree awnings. When we were looking at it to buy it looked fine, but we brought it home and had the slides out for a number of days. When we brought them in, the main slide had pulled the stitching loose, and pulled out of the groove.

We are getting ready to pull the awning down and try to restitch it (double), and then putting tape on both sides of the stitching. I haven't looked but I suspect the other two awnings are probably in close to the same shape. So in total I need at least 80ft of tape to do both top and bottom.

It appears the most common tape is Camco, which is 15' so I would need 6 rolls. Gorilla tape is narrower, and 30' which would require at least 3 rolls.

Wondering if anyone has used both and has a preference, and I ran across this, but with no reviews makes me nervous.

BTW I did a search for Awning tape, and Awning repair, and the results are in almost every forum here. It might be good to include Awnings in one of these generic forums description, to try to centralize the information.
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Old 09-08-2019, 08:17 PM   #2
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What were the results of your search? Any consensus?
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Old 09-11-2019, 09:35 AM   #3
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What would be the purpose of the tape?
If the fabric is ok I would think that using a quality thread should be enough not to mention the aesthetics of adding tape.
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Old 09-11-2019, 10:57 AM   #4
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Fat Chance, A lot of people have used tape, some with success, some not. My main thing, is I am trying to find a good brand, that is long enough, that I don't end up with tape seams in the middle of the awning.

falconman, There is a reason the sewing is pulling out, and I believe that is because that area is always exposed to the sun, and is weak because of it. The tape would be to try to support the threads so they don't pull out so easy. The tapes are generally clear and from the videos I have seen don't affect the aesthetics much.

I picked up some clear gorilla tape yesterday and we are going to give that a try. I find it frustrating that carefree only single stitches their awnings. How much time and money would it take to double stitch it.
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Old 09-11-2019, 11:50 AM   #5
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The very top of my awning was doing what you described and there were some wear spots where tree branches would rub coming down our road.

This would be a little pricey for 80' but I bought two rolls to tape the ends, a couple spots where the stitching was coming loose and the wear spots. I wasn't worried about seams because you can't see the top where it was applied.

I wrapped a couple inches around from the top to the underside at both ends to reinforce.

So far it's doing exactly what I wanted it to do.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001OPO13M..._JotEDb666TK3Q
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Old 09-11-2019, 12:34 PM   #6
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Are we really talking about awnings or slide toppers in this thread? Why not just replace the slide toppers with new from Tuff Top Awnings or a similar place? Then you have new cloth, new (better) stitching than the original from Care Less Awning Company (sic) You can also change color/pattern if you want.

Or spend $60 worth (or more) of tape and just about as much time putting tape on as replacing the entire topper.
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Old 09-11-2019, 01:42 PM   #7
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Yes this is a slide out topper. The 18 yards of Gorilla Tape cost me a little over $6. That is a heck of a lot less than $250 in my book. There are countless threads of people using tape on awnings, and some have said it has lasted over 6 years.

The real fix would probably be a complete new awning mechanism, one that has a cover to protect it while it is rolled up.
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Old 09-12-2019, 08:51 AM   #8
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Well then it sounds like you've got the problem solved. With a 6 year guarantee on $6 tape, you're good to go. Good luck with that.
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Old 09-12-2019, 10:13 AM   #9
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Not sure why you are so against attempting to save money, and reducing the amount of stuff we throw in the trash.

I never said anything about a 6 year guarantee, but I did point out that people have reported getting that many years out of the awning after having to use tape on it.

We double sewed the edge that had come loose, but then realized we could put the bottom of the awning to the motorhome side, and the top to the roller. The roller end wraps around twice at full extension, so there should be very little pressure on the sewing. That said I still used tape top and bottom on both ends.

So with a little effort I have $250 more to put towards gas, at least for some period of time.
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Old 09-13-2019, 12:18 AM   #10
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If you can resew, then just cut about 4-6" off and resew a new bead to go back into the groove; (you will never miss the six inches) apply seam sealer to the stitching every 6-months or so. If spring loaded, just rewind to proper # of turns; if over 8-foot, will have two springs, one each end. Otherwise, many feel a new awning fabric is not expensive, but many have more money than me :-)
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