Electric awnings

Do you tie down your electric awnings to prevent damage? I always tied down my former TT manual awning because the wife likes the lights on the awning. To much trouble to remove the lights and roll up the awning when windy.

We have a new Wildcat with the electric awning. The dealer said not to tie it down because it pulls on the awning track attached to the camper. So it would probaly be better to have no lights and just roll up the awning when needed.

I do not tie down my electric awning. We enjoy our awning lights too, but it only takes a couple of minutes to slide them off. We keep a close watch on the local weather forcast and if any significant wind is forcast, we bring in the awning.

I think it was the last camping trip we made, the wind was really strong and had some gusts up to 40+ mph. We never put the awning out. One couple camping near us left the campground and when they returned their awning was wrapped to the other side. They went to a dealer close to the campground and had a new awning on before night. They didn't put it out again.

We don't have an electric awning. We put lights, wind socks, and a banner on the awning rail. We do tie ours down, because we can. But, if high winds are expected, the lights and decorations come down quickly, and awning goes back in quickly. We're getting pretty good at it.

Tater

I tie mine down when necessary. I use adjustable straps and springs on the ground stakes. Don't make the straps very tight, just snug.

We tend to camp in well treed areas where the wind is rarely a problem. I will put it away if storms are forecast.

John

At Lake Powell the wind comes in almost EVERY DAY!!! we arrived at Wahweap GC around 2 and rushed out to the lake for a swim...

about 2 hours later I remembered we left the E awning out...we scrambled off the beach and back to the camper just as the winds were comin in...as we were heading out back, I could see many of the rental el-montes and cruise americas looking like a fleet of tall ships.... ha noobies... ya look whos talkin right...

when we pulled into our site my awnig looked like a ships masts rigging itself! my neighbor had been nice enough to lash it down in about five places...

turns out he was our friend John who we run into every year there...He laughed like heck at me...as he didn't know it was us yet!

He said you know bettter than that! and I do...

long story short I never leave my awning out when we go off for the day!

but lynn likes our flag lights and flags so what I do is run the lights along a piece of parachute cord...I use two spring clamps on the arms... it takes ten seconds to pull em down.

I tie mine down when necessary. I use adjustable straps and springs on the ground stakes. Don't make the straps very tight, just snug.

We tend to camp in well treed areas where the wind is rarely a problem. I will put it away if storms are forecast.

John

I do the same as Avid. I use small ratchet straps with the ground stakes and springs. I am careful not to apply to much pressure on the arms. We never leave the fiver without having straps on or rolling the awning up. Had a close call years ago. I try to learn from my mistakes.
KH