Awning Safety Straps

[Jim and Frances]

Having seen and talked with owners (non-Oliver) that have experienced awning unfurlings at 60MPH, I added some inexpensive safety straps to our awnings.  (As Justin Wilson use to say, "I wear a belt with my suspenders 'cuz I'm a safety engineer").

The actual straps work great.  The buckles will start to rust after a year or so but are inexpensive to replace.  UV will also likely reduce the strength of the straps so it's on our recurring maintenance replacement list.

The "lock out" indicators help me from opening the awning with the strap on, which assuredly I would do!

Parts used listed below.

 

 

 

Straps from Amazon

Red Velcro for "Lock Out" indicators

Small Circular White Velcro Dots w/ Adhesive

 

[John Dorrer]

Strange. We have a 2022 and haven't heard this. With the wall panel switch off, that shouldn't happen. You can also push the lock button on the remote. Just don't see how that could happen. Never seen a post on the Forum or Facebook.

 

So what awnings do your friends have? Are they power awnings or manual? Never heard of the Girard experiencing this. 

Edited 12 hours ago by John Dorrer

[Steph and Dud B]

I'm aware of swing out roller style awnings opening while traveling but I've never heard of this type of box awning doing that. The mechanisms are very different.

[Jim and Frances]

I have heard of no Oliver / Garret awnings unfurling.  My friends were in an Escape (Canadian) trailer.  I don't recall the brand of awning but they were electric.  I decided to do this after I noticed our curb-side awning was a slight bit ajar while on the road.  It was not fully embedded in the housing after some high winds while camping.  After I adjusted the motor, all was fixed.  Yes, I should have done a more careful walk-around prior to leaving after the high winds.  I also adjusted the wind/motion sensor to be more sensitive.

Was not trying to suggest any problems with our Garret awnings.  Just one less thing for me to worry about - hence my "suspenders and a belt" comment.  Or, one is none and two is one.  😀