Look what the wind has done to my awning. (1 Viewer)

DuxDeluxe

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There is a waiting list for repaired units, however, I will add your name to the list. At the moment, we are working on a 4 mtr model for a fat git called Badknee, and trying to repair a punctured blow up awning for Dux-Deluxe. (y)
Well, I hope you use a better quality puncture repair kit than the one you used on your indispensable friend Inflatable Annie........:LOL:
 

Duck Truck

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That Annie was exceedingly well used and performed above and beyond expectations
That was his first line of defence
 
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@RidersofRohan ive just shown Ralph this as we've a large black version of this on Pug, and I didn't want it happening to ours.
He says when he fitted ours on the side of Pug , it came with a bracket/ clamp that went in the middle of the awning at the back , and clipped over. ( it went into something like the front awning rail , but on the back and had a bolt in the top to clamp it down.)
He'd never seen one on another awning , and our old motorhome didn't have one on. But then again that wasn't 4.8m like this one. He fitted it , because it came with it .
He now realises what it must have been for , after looking at your photographs.
( to stop this happening)
Maybe who ever fitted yours didn't bother putting one on?
He says he'll try and get a photo . If you want .

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RidersofRohan
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The Halifax weather centre recorded 82mph at 0200 today and is currently showing at 2000 gusts of 40 mph. Now I don't know its exact location but we live on top of a hill at 1000+ ft so I think we might be more.
@RidersofRohan ive just shown Ralph this as we've a large black version of this on Pug, and I didn't want it happening to ours.
He says when he fitted ours on the side of Pug , it came with a bracket/ clamp that went in the middle of the awning at the back , and clipped over. ( it went into something like the front awning rail , but on the back and had a bolt in the top to clamp it down.)
He'd never seen one on another awning , and our old motorhome didn't have one on. But then again that wasn't 4.8m like this one. He fitted it , because it came with it .
He now realises what it must have been for , after looking at your photographs.
( to stop this happening)
Maybe who ever fitted yours didn't bother putting one on?
He says he'll try and get a photo . If you want .
Great.
There was nothing left over after the fitting so I'm guessing mine at 4.0 metres is considered strong enough by Fiamma. A picture would be great and that bracket might be what is needed.
 
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Oct 29, 2008
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@RidersofRohan ive just shown Ralph this as we've a large black version of this on Pug, and I didn't want it happening to ours.
He says when he fitted ours on the side of Pug , it came with a bracket/ clamp that went in the middle of the awning at the back , and clipped over. ( it went into something like the front awning rail , but on the back and had a bolt in the top to clamp it down.)
He'd never seen one on another awning , and our old motorhome didn't have one on. But then again that wasn't 4.8m like this one. He fitted it , because it came with it .
He now realises what it must have been for , after looking at your photographs.
( to stop this happening)
Maybe who ever fitted yours didn't bother putting one on?
He says he'll try and get a photo . If you want .

Could do with seeing if mine has the bracket so a photo would be great.

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wanderer

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I have a Fiamma awning and also winter in Almeria (very windy at times) . When i wind in my awning now i find it does not align properly with the housing and if i try to force the issue it would result in your problem , so now i wind it in to the sticking point and ease it into the housing by hand . When i tried to have a look at the the problem it appeared that one of roof support arms was not lining up properly.
 

treetops1

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If you get some of those heavy plastic ties ,you may have to put two together and start at each end work to the middle about 150mm apart then as it springs keep tightening up. At least it will be safe until you get in a position to sort it out . I must admit it looks too high to me but not easy to tell on photo . Hope works out ok and I still think you have a chance with you insurance if all else fails.
 

Boater

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Mine has the centre bracket fitted as well as I remember it is longer than the two end brackets I am pretty sure it was extra when I bought the fitting kit the has been on six years with no problems it's a long awning full length of roof on extra long ducato.
 
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the correct brackets for the fiats do sit very high on the ducatos same as my avatar. there should be three brackets which roughly line up with the pivot points in the awning. mine only ever had two as the mountings can only be bought in pairs ,mine was 3m and the casing did twist a bit when it was opened but i never had problems like this. i originally thought it was open when the damage was done if its closed i assumed the lips on the front edge locked it all together
 

Minxy

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@Ralph-n-Bev your awning will be 4m like ours, not 4.8m as we both have the XLWB versions (mine being the Fiat one).

For the F65s awnings there should be 3 brackets so you need to check if all 3 have been put on. If so then it is the awning that is at fault and needs to be replaced FOC by whoever you bought it from, if not then it could be argued that the fitter is at fault assuming they bought the kit for you so you need to get them to address the problem.

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Geo

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COPIED FROM ANOTHER FORUM
over two years ago


My brother had the same problem with his F65 on an Adria Twin, during a storm just before Christmas. We removed the awning from the van to look at the damage, applying pressure to the centre of the cover plate caused it to pop back into place.

He's now considering whether to reattach it and use two large zippy ties to prevent it happening again.



There is an add on device used on my American RV awning that would prevent such happening again
designed to stop the infamous fabric from unfurling at high speeds on the motorways
Im sure it would stop this fault too, it doesn't have to be a tight fit either to work
G
Available in White Also



35618n.jpg
closeup2.jpg
awning-lock.jpg
 
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RidersofRohan
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My van is the extra high roof version so not very common and requiring the awning to be at a slightly different angle than a lower roof van and surprisingly Fiamma do a fitting kit for it and this has three brackets. I bought this kit from the supplier at the same time as the awning. The kit and awning have been correctly fitted to the van IMO.
The only reason the supplier did not fit the awning for me was they are darn sarf and I calculated the fuel cost would outweigh the cost of fitting it locally.
I think Ralph and Bev may be talking about a different sort of bracket, one that strengthens the casing itself particularly the top casing which is the weakness. I hope so anyway.
I have been up to look this morning and the top casing has come out of the seam where it fits into the bottom casing.
The wind has dropped but snow is now falling so I have tried to protect the casing from it filling up with snow and freezing etc.

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RidersofRohan
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Thanks also to Geo.
It has knocked my confidence in this product, whats to stop it happening again but on a motorway? So your RV clamp is interesting and might be worth looking at once it is repaired/replaced.
 
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My van is the extra high roof version so not very common and requiring the awning to be at a slightly different angle than a lower roof van
The kit and awning have been correctly fitted to the van IMO.
I think Ralph and Bev may be talking about a different sort of bracket, one that strengthens the casing itself particularly the top casing which is the weakness. I hope so anyway.
.

You are of course correct. I've found this showing ralph fixing it to Pug with the 3 fixing points as standard.
He's at work , but has said when he comes home , he'll photograph the EXTRA bracket /clamp. Hope it helps.

http://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/rb-panel-van-conversion-begins.100614/page-25
 

Minxy

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@Geo I remember posts about problems with the top cover of the awning casing distorting but couldn't find them ... mind you I have been busy baking scones this morning which was much more rewarding! :D2

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I'm guessing the F65 awning is one of the longer ones? In which case it could be an inherent flaw not anticipated by the designer - maybe the longer F65s flex or bow more than their shorter counterparts when the vehicle is rocking about in a strong lateral wind, and once the top is bent upwards the wind gets under it and bang.

The almost perfectly symmetrical shape of the bend has a sort of waveform look about it, which makes me wonder if it was resonating somehow? Anyway, the bottom line is it shouldn't have happened.

Also, a quick search on Google reveals others have had the same problem and have reported it on the dark side (which apparently I'm not allowed to link to directly).

https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sour...pv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=fiamma+f65+awning+wind+damage

If you've clicked on the relevant dark side in this link it actually states in one of the posts that fiat know of the problem & additional clips were supplied "shaped like your knuckle" to overcome the problem of it occurring.
 

Minxy

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If you've clicked on the relevant dark side in this link it actually states in one of the posts that fiat know of the problem & additional clips were supplied "shaped like your knuckle" to overcome the problem of it occurring.
... go on the 'dark side' ... not ruddy likely ... I know which way my bread is buttered!!! :LOL:
 

Geo

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@Geo I remember posts about problems with the top cover of the awning casing distorting but couldn't find them ... mind you I have been busy baking scones this morning which was much more rewarding! :D2
Send me a Scone and I'll send you the link but its dark in there:Eeek:

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@RidersofRohan @jezport
Ralph's just got back and here's a photo of the clips .
IMG_1427.JPG
IMG_1428.JPG

He's had to use a torch as it's getting dark here. We have two across the length of the awning.
He did wonder what they were for , very nearly didn't put them on as they were silver and stood out !
He's glad he did now though, after seeing your damage. We like to visit wild and wonderful places , what ever the weather.
 
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RidersofRohan
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Hey that's so good of you to go to that trouble for me.
The clips look perfect.
Thank Ralph for his torchlight roof roaming.

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The Dotties

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@Geo I remember posts about problems with the top cover of the awning casing distorting but couldn't find them ... mind you I have been busy baking scones this morning which was much more rewarding! :D2

Do you have my address? If no I can soon remedy that:)
 
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RidersofRohan
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@Riverbankannie that's a wall mounted awning. Fiamma do these (F45) the roof mounted ones are F65. I think the one pictured is a Thule.
We retrofitted ours and what swayed the decision in favour of a roof mounted one was that a wall mounted one needed bolts through into the van and possibly removing cupboards etc. Obviously it feels now to be the wrong decision, the other disadvantage of a roof mount is that it is out of my reach without using ladders etc.
I was rather hoping these would be fit and forget but it seems not.

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Minxy

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Minxy

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@Riverbankannie that's a wall mounted awning. Fiamma do these (F45) the roof mounted ones are F65. I think the one pictured is a Thule.
We retrofitted ours and what swayed the decision in favour of a roof mounted one was that a wall mounted one needed bolts through into the van and possibly removing cupboards etc. Obviously it feels now to be the wrong decision, the other disadvantage of a roof mount is that it is out of my reach without using ladders etc.
I was rather hoping these would be fit and forget but it seems not.
You sneaked in whilst I was replying. :D

We had the F65 on our previous camper and on our current one with no problems at all, I suspect it was a combination of the long awning length and very strong gusts that has caused the issue for you, if you can get it back into shape and fit the 'clip' things that Bev has mentioned I should imagine you won't have any problems in the future ... hopefully! Don't know how you get hold of the clips things though!
 
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RidersofRohan
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You sneaked in whilst I was replying. :D

We had the F65 on our previous camper and on our current one with no problems at all, I suspect it was a combination of the long awning length and very strong gusts that has caused the issue for you, if you can get it back into shape and fit the 'clip' things that Bev has mentioned I should imagine you won't have any problems in the future ... hopefully! Don't know how you get hold of the clips things though!
Unfortunately its also come out of line at the back too where the top of the casing fits into the bottom part of the casing, so needs to realign and then drop down. I am trying to stop snow blowing into the opening and then freezing and making matters worse.

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