Dometic roll out awning

[maison]

After almost thirty years of using Fiamma products our new motorhome came equipped with a Dometic model and we have struck a problem.

On attempting to stow the awning we cannot make the legs stay in place in the outer casing. Folding them into place and locating the foot plates behind the keeper in the centre of the casing does not keep them in place during rewinding.

The swivel joints, at the outer end of the casing where the legs attach, allows the hinge to swing outlwards, withdrawing the foot plates from the keeper and allowing the legs to drop out.

We have no instruction manual, our dealer has closed for the duration and on-line manuals on the Dometic website do not show our mechanism. To add to the problem there is no model or serial number on the awning casing. Without the numbers Dometic seem unwilling to help, simply referring us to the dealer.

If anyone can understand my explanation, and make any constructive suggestion, I would be grateful.

 

[Robert Clark]

It may help to lubricate the legs so that the spring near the foot, which keeps them in place works better

 

[Vipar]

Can you glue something inside them so that as a temporary measure you can use elastic band / bungy elastic?

 

[Jev88]

Pictures always help?

 

[maison]

Pictures always help?

Yes, I know, but when the awning is open it takes three of us at the moment to close it! Two holding one leg in place each and the other winding. When I can organise it, keeping social distance, I will post pics of the appropriate parts.

Thanks to all for the replies.

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[maison]

It may help to lubricate the legs so that the spring near the foot, which keeps them in place works better

There does not appear to be any spring loading in the foot. The legs slides in and out easily. The leg lock, in the upper half works fine but it is the hinge at the top of the leg rotating that is causing the problem. Will try to get pics of the various bits when I have some help.

 

[Robert Clark]

There does not appear to be any spring loading in the foot. The legs slides in and out easily. The leg lock, in the upper half works fine but it is the hinge at the top of the leg rotating that is causing the problem. Will try to get pics of the various bits when I have some help.

Sorry
I meant the spring in the top of the leg which presses the foot into position

 

[maison]

Robert Clark

Since posting I have managed to find a manual which looks like our awning. If so, the centre securing plate will be the problem so I will check that when I know I have assistance to restow it, just in case I am wrong.

Whether I fix it or not, I will provide photos. They might either help people to help me or, if I fix it, may help others in future.

Thanks for the comments.

 

[maison]

Can you glue something inside them so that as a temporary measure you can use elastic band / bungy elastic?

Possible but, since it is new and there will, eventually, be the warranty to fall back on, I won’t glue anything in as yet.

I am not yet convinced if there is a problem or it is just different to the Fiammas I am used to. ie “user error”.

 

[Familymarmite]

At 3min 21 seconds you can see the legs clipped in.
The legs are sprung when compressed to give tension to keep them in place.
The model number is usually on a plate inside the casing.

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[maison]

At 3min 21 seconds you can see the legs clipped in.
The legs are sprung when compressed to give tension to keep them in place.
The model number is usually on a plate inside the casing.

Thank you for the link but three problems.

The video is for Thule and ours is Dometic. From the video they are not the same.

There is no spring tension in the legs on ours.

As in my original post, there is no model or serial number anywhere .

I did watch the video though, just in case. Thanks for trying to help.

 

[Lenny HB]

Just looked at this video, almost identical to my Thule Omnistore and they show the legs being sprung.

 

[maison]

Just looked at this video, almost identical to my Thule Omnistore and they show the legs being sprung.

Yes, but ours is not an Omnistore.

Will post when I have the solution in the hope of helping others.

 

[Lenny HB]

Yes, but ours is not an Omnistore.

Will post when I have the solution in the hope of helping others.

The video is of a Dometic.

 

[maison]

The video is of a Dometic.

Many apologies. I misunderstood your post. Will check it out now.

Sorry!

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[maison]

Once again my apologies Lenny HB .

I have now watched the video but it is not the same model as ours. (I had found it during my searches but thanks anyway).

The spring and clip are near the foot on the video, ours is on the upper part of the leg and near the outer end of the awning casing when ready for stowing.

From the manual I have found (post#8) I think the problem may be with the position of the centre retaining catch.

I will report back if I find the answer.

It goes to show. We started motorhoming in 1984 and still don’t know what we are doing!

 

[Lenny HB]

Have you got ant photos?

 

[maison]

Have you got ant photos?

See my previous posts re problems getting photos.

I hope to get some when I can be sure I have help to close the case if I can’t resolve the problem at the time.

A real pain in the a&*e caused either by bad design or a thick operator. After almost 30 years of Fiamma I am finding the Dometic very “user unfriendly.” The lack of a user manual doesn’t help.

The somewhat unhelpful attitude of Dometic themselves doesn’t endear me to them either.

No doubt, when I sort it out I will be happy.

 

[Minxy]

Have you got ant photos?

Any good?

 

[maison]

Any good?

View attachment 376231

Naughty, naughty!

But funny.

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[maison]

Well. Very much as expected the only problem was user error.

Before returning the leg to the stowed position in the outer casing it was necessary to turn the leg through 90 degrees while it was still vertical, then hinge it up 90 degrees towards the centre and then locate into the retainer plate. Without a manual or instructions we couldn’t sort it out.

Having found a manual on-line yesterday I would like to say that I spotted our error. Unfortunately that
wouldn’t be true. It was my wife who worked out from the diagram in the manual what we should do.

I doubt I will ever live that down!

For those that tried to help, or may be interested, here are the promised pics.

First, the problem we had trying to line up the leg with the securing plate.

When in the stowed position the grey boss could not be made to engage with the groove in the black foot as the metal foot plate got in the way. It is not possible to rotate the leg in that position.


Next the correct stowage having found the manual and twisted the leg before lifting into the case allowing the boss and groove to line up.

Yes, I know! It’s bloody obvious!

But it wasn’t yesterday!

So, after thirty years+ of motorhoming I am proud(?) to say I can still make a complete prat of myself without too much effort.

Many thanks to all who tried to help with suggestions.

 

[Vipar]

We have all been there and Jim sells the T shirts?

Glad your sorted

 

[Lenny HB]

And my words of wisdom:
What a plonker.

 

[maison]

And my words of wisdom:
What a plonker.

Oi, I felt daft enough already,

 

[Golden Graham !]

Thanks Mr Maison. We, also, just used our new Damnetic awning. And, always had Fiamma before. Ditto problems with getting the legs to stay located during rewind! Ditto no manual. Our was even harder as there are two "center" locators ( presumably it's longer than yours). The end of a very frustrating day. I did try rotating it but still never got the legs to stay located. I held them in, stood on a stool, while the boss turned the rewind handle, that was then a pain to remove. We also found a bunch of tubes with not even a Dometic label, to suggest they belonged to the awning. A central brace it seems. And of course, like everything else, just now. "We are so sorry, but due to Covid restrictions ....Zzzzzzz....etc...ad nauseum... etc...."

Thank you for your perseverance, No you are not at all daft, it's just a pathetic design. The flimsy plastic locking levers will last five minutes, and the faffy handle location is dubious too. Never had a problem with Thule, or Fiamma.

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[Jonno1103]

It's the old Prostor awning, Dometic bought them about 5/6 years ago. We had one on our old PVC and if the guy who built our van hadn't shown us, I wouldn't have known that you need to slide the legs down a bit to engage behind the two grey pegs. It's not obvious as you do think that it's a fitment for a torsion type storm pole that fits under the canopy and attaches to the roof mounted cassette.

 

[Cheshirecat57]

I know the OP was a year old, but we did the same
And never looked on here for the solution......2 lessons learnt

 

[Golden Graham !]

Got to ask ! What's an OP ?

 

[Minxy]

Got to ask ! What's an OP ?

Original poster, ie the one who started the thread.

 

[Golden Graham !]

Thanks Mel. I do get fed up with the hundreds of TLA's but don't usually get stuck on two's

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