Sun Screen, Yes or No

[TBorstad]

We are thinking that we should get a sun screen for our motorhome. Because we have a kitchen slide the awning extends very high to stay above it. A few questions about sun screens. Should it hang to the ground, or stay above it? Or should we stake it out on an angle? Any brands of sun screens that we should look at?

Or will the sun screen overly complicate getting the awning put away in case of wind?

Our awning is about 19' long, so I assume we would want a 17' or so long screen. Thanks for the advice.

[akcretired]

ShadePro.com has some nice ones. These zip together so you can leave the top portion that mounts to your awning in place and will roll up with the awning.

I angle mine out to give more room and leave about a foot above the ground for flow and for our little dog to be able to get around with no problems. She doesn't see as well these days.

[LVJ58]

We live in Las Vegas where our coach is stored on our driveway in the hot sun, I bought solar screen material from Lowe's and had a local upholsterer fabricate exterior solar screens for all our coach windows.

The screens have snaps so they could be attached to the coach. They work great, and I can even drive our coach without removing them except for the front and side cockpit windows. Our coach also has dual pane windows which helps reducing inside heat.

I highly recommend them.

Best of luck and safe travels...

[chuckftboy]

My awning comes straight out. While it stops rain, it isn't so good at shade. I installed a Shade Pro, 2 piece. 4 feet stays on and rolls up fine when I put the awning in. 6 more feet sipper on when I need more shade. I do stake it out on an angle when we need a little more room on the patio. It works great for us.

[Sue46]

We have MCD day/night shades and keep the day shades down a majority of the time. We also bought the carefree awning. The upper half rolls up with the awning. I don't think we have zipped on the bottom half yet.

https://www.amazon.com/Carefree-7015...arefree+701509

[Dtwallace]

Originally Posted by TBorstad

We are thinking that we should get a sun screen for our motorhome. Because we have a kitchen slide the awning extends very high to stay above it. A few questions about sun screens. Should it hang to the ground, or stay above it? Or should we stake it out on an angle? Any brands of sun screens that we should look at?

Or will the sun screen overly complicate getting the awning put away in case of wind?

Our awning is about 19' long, so I assume we would want a 17' or so long screen. Thanks for the advice.

I had screen type shades on all of our previous txt/5vrs.
Hanging short of the ground by a foot or two worked for us, and we used tent stakes to keep it from flying in the breeze.

However with our coach and the auto retraction system I find we can't add anything extra the mechanism in fear of jamming it up.

And especially having something hanging from the awning that is secured to the ground that would work against the auto retracting system.

But if yours is the manual pull out type, you will benefit from having extra shade.

It should be no problem rolling up and in with the awning. Just be sure to keep it clean and free of mold.

Dtw

[TBorstad]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll look into these products.

[MSHappyCampers]

I'm getting ready to make my own. It will be 20' long and 6' tall. There will be maybe 3-4' under it when the awning is in the position we like it. I will use four bungees from the bottom to stakes in the ground. It will be angled outward the same as the awning tie-downs.

[Betr2Trvl]

Use our awing sun screen a lot, but very cognizant of wind. Have the 2 piece type with about 18" that stays in the awing track.

While I often use tie down straps on the awing when breezy, I've also noticed the sun screen can create a down force on the awing structure. Recently, I noticed my tie down straps had slack I them on a breezy day (gusts proably to 20) and I looked at the "track" on the awning arms and saw they had been pushed in several inches, even with the adjusting knobs being fairly tight...... It was obvious that the screen was being pushed by the wind, so I decided to take the screen down at that point.

So it's not only the "up" on the awing you need to be cognizant of, but also the additional "down" pressure a sun screen can create given the appropriate wind conditions.

[Winemaker2]

Originally Posted by MSHappyCampers

I'm getting ready to make my own. It will be 20' long and 6' tall. There will be maybe 3-4' under it when the awning is in the position we like it. I will use four bungees from the bottom to stakes in the ground. It will be angled outward the same as the awning tie-downs.

Good for you!
Check out RochfordSupply.Com - I but a lot of material from them - frequently have seconds & close-out fabrics at bargain prices. I do RV / Boat canvas work as a PT "hobby" business. These are not all that difficult to make.
Recently I've seen some on power awnings that folks want to retract frequently and they put a short 2 ft or so piece on the awning roller and attached the lower larger section w grommets in both and "S" hooks (crimped to the lower so they don't loose them) looked quick & simple to attach / detatch

Good Luck

We have a new-to-us coach coming and I'll need to figure out how I want to make mine as it has an electric auto-retract awning which will be new to me.

[noeldale]

Made our own from shade cloth found at WW. used it twice on the TT when parked facing East. The sun was bad and this helped even though it did stop the little breeze that we did have. That was 5 years ago. Now I just put miles on the screen rolled up in the storage bay and have not used it in 5 years. Might start leaving it at home.

Your situation will be different and you might look at where and how you park to see if you need one. It also restricts the access to only the ends of the awning.

[bruceisla]

Originally Posted by Winemaker2

Good for you!
Check out RochfordSupply.Com - I but a lot of material from them - frequently have seconds & close-out fabrics at bargain prices. I do RV / Boat canvas work as a PT "hobby" business. These are not all that difficult to make.
Recently I've seen some on power awnings that folks want to retract frequently and they put a short 2 ft or so piece on the awning roller and attached the lower larger section w grommets in both and "S" hooks (crimped to the lower so they don't loose them) looked quick & simple to attach / detatch

Good Luck

We have a new-to-us coach coming and I'll need to figure out how I want to make mine as it has an electric auto-retract awning which will be new to me.

Thanks for the link !

[Sue46]

We bought the Carfree one from Amazon where we can zip off the bottom part. It rolls up in the awning. Works great. Since we never leave our awning out unless we are home this works great. We cannot reach our awning without a ladder so all and all this has been a great solution for us.

[MSHappyCampers]

Originally Posted by noeldale

Made our own from shade cloth found at WW. used it twice on the TT when parked facing East. The sun was bad and this helped even though it did stop the little breeze that we did have. That was 5 years ago. Now I just put miles on the screen rolled up in the storage bay and have not used it in 5 years. Might start leaving it at home.

Your situation will be different and you might look at where and how you park to see if you need one. It also restricts the access to only the ends of the awning.

That's why I am making mine to clear the ground about 3-4', allowing the breeze to come through!