AROUND-OZ MOTORHOMES

Lock to Stop Awning Ballooning

In case you have never heard of this phenomenon it happens when your awning unrolls and flaps all over the place as you drive along. A pretty unnerving experience. Usually the arms stay vertical and locked in place. What has happened is the lock on the roller has given way or is in the wrong position and has allowed the roller to unwind. This only seems to affect older awnings and in Australia at least the problem appears not to be wide spread according to insurance claims history. However there was a story on it in the March 2003 edition of the Winnebago newsletter.

The device pictured above made in Windy Hollow USA (true folks!) clamps onto the vertical arm and the circular part acts as a crude brake drum. We liked the way no special tools are needed to use it. All you do is insert your existing lowering rod into the eye and turn to lock. The assembly is made from steel and then finished in passivated zinc plating. The Awning Saver is designed to fit conventional roller tube RV patio awnings (A&E and CareFree of Colorado) with an upright arm width of 2 7/8” - 3 1/4” and a roller tube diameter between 3 1/2" - 4”. The Awning Saver is easily installed with a small crescent wrench and a 1/8” Allen wrench. Once installed, the brake band tightens around the roller tube with just a few twists of the tension bolt. A standard awning wand can be used to reach the device. The Awning Saver is warranted for 90 days against defects in materials and workmanship. A 30 day money back satisfaction guarantee is also provided.

We received a same day reply to an enquiry by email. More info from the extremely helpful Mark Ebeling on info@awningsaver.com. Cost quoted was US$59.99. As far as we can determine ballooning can occur if your roller tension is too low (see your manual), the lock has been MOVED after raising and the awning is subjected to extremely high cross winds blowing directly at the awning whilst moving. If this happens you need to stop as quickly as possible and try to get the awning facing away from the wind. If possible try to extend the arms and roll up the awning once again. This can be EXTREMELY dangerous in high wind as we saw a lass lifted off the ground trying to do this. DON'T ATTEMPT WITH ONLY ONE PERSON. The best tactic in our view is to just stay put until the high wind abates. We have got into the habit of always pulling sharply a couple of times on the lowering strap after we have stored the awning. This is not foolproof but we believe it is good practice. Tensioning an awning is really a job for the professionals as it is so easy to hurt yourself. We would like to hear of your experiences with ballooning and any advice that can be shared with fellow motorhomers.