awning support

[maxx1963]

has anyone seen or are you using the carefree brand awning support that goes in the middle of long awnings? do they work good? I do not want my awning to sag.

[JRTJH]

We had a 22 ft awning on our Holiday Rambler. It did not have a center support from the factory. About 6 months into ownership, the awning wouldn't unroll. After the trip, I took it to the dealer and he said the roller was bent and needed to be replaced. It was covered under warranty, but when I asked how it happened, he said that many awnings over 20 ft do the same thing.

He recommended that we install the center support with the arm. There are actually two types of center support. One is a cradle that supports the awning during travel only and the other is the cradle with arm to support the awning when in use also.

I ordered it that day and it was installed at the same time as the new awning roller. We towed that trailer for another 30,000 miles, never had another issue with the awning. I'd say that from my experience, the center support works for travelling and if set up with the support arm also, it works when the awning is in use.

[maxx1963]

great info, i would think while traveling all the bouncing would do the majority of the bending.

[JRTJH]

You're right. Even when sitting still, with an awning that long, you can see a noticeable droop in the middle of the awning roller tube. The cradle "folds out" to allow the awning to unroll and then "folds in" to support the awning for travel. It's sort of like having your hand under the middle of the awning (for lack of a better way to describe it).

However, when the awning is deployed, the cradle does nothing. That's when you need the extra arm to support the awning. It works just like the end arms, only it's in the middle of the RV. We found that leaving it attached to the RV caused problems moving around under the awning, so I always unhooked the bottom, set it up as a "patio support" and then used a second awning "roll up ribbon" as a tie down to keep it from lifting when the wind blew the awning.

After installing the center arm/cradle we never had another issue with the awning.