15 Cougar 336bhs

[Chaz55]

Hey Everyone,
Soooo we've owner our Cougar for a few years and love it but there are def somethings that need improvement. I want to see if you have any upgrade ideas.

1. The sliding rear cargo rack is a piece of junk! I never had more than 50 lbs on it and ALL of the brackets that it slides on are bent! Three trips ago, the spare tire u bolts both broke and I lost the spare tire and mount......while driving down the interstate!!!!! Has anyone modified it to be stronger or replaced it all together with something else? I'm thinking I'm going to have to fab something from scratch. Btw..spare is now under the rig.

2. The awning is useless! It's mounted way to high to give any real sun protection. Has anyone ever added an extra awning like on the kitchen table slide?

Thanks!

[KTB]

We often wondered the same thing with the awning. We have at least tried to tilt the awning somewhat so it "hugs" the camper some. They say to pull the arm down in the middle to get the desired pitch, but of course ours doesn't stay in that position. It's useless when it extends straight out. After some research on their website I came across a noting in their manual about how to articulate the arm to hold it's position (page 4 of the awning manual). It notes, "If the articulating arm does not hold position, it can be tightened by adjusting the bolt (Fig 6A)"--which is the middle bolt in the arm. So I am assuming you pull the arm to the position you want it, then tighten the bolt a little so it holds the position. We are going to try it this camping season and see if it helps. It doesn't say anything about loosening it again before retracting it, we are assuming that needs to be done? Hope we don't forget to do so.

[chuckster57]

I have to tighten that bolt more often than not to get the awnings on new units to hold the pitch. Tighten as needed and you should be good. DO NOT straighten the arm out when you retract the awning, it will straighten itself. If you push it even a touch past straight you will snap the arm when you retract the awning.

[KTB]

Do you have to loosen the bolt before retracting the awning? I know that straightening the arm or pushing it upward is a “no no.” When you do tighten it does it give you a lower pitch? We have cabin fever so bad! Weather is starting to cooperate! Can’t wait to get out and use ours. We bought it new last fall and were only able to camp in it once so we are extremely excited to hit the road soon!

[chuckster57]

No. Just tighten it enough to hold the pitch, it will be much stiffer but it will still work just fine.

[336]

There is a huge thread on the 336 back a few pages from here. Hours worth of reading and really great mods done. Basically everything you would want to know. Probably would have saved your spare tire. That mount and position is horrible. Mine is under the bed now. Couldn’t see spending $80 on that underbelly mount. The L brackets on mine are bent as well but as far as I can see it dosent really have any effect on it. I did mod the bike rack some. I’ll post that in the other thread to keep it organized.