Given a choice would you have an awning?

[stevegoldfield]

I usually put up my awning, but the construction is flimsy as mentioned, though mine is manual. You have to put a lot of pressure on the plastic clamps. Both broke on my first two trips. I had them replaced under warranty, but then one broke a second time. They should have been made of metal. I have to use plyers to open and close the clamps after they break. The clamps only cost about $8, but you have to have the tools to remove and replace rivets. The awning is very poorly designed.

 

[Bud-ClassB]

Never used.

Rarely camp though in parks- I can see why the Motocross user likes it - I camp every night but usually in the city - if for a week out in a field, maybe then it might be of value.

Question: has anyone physically removed their manual Fiamma Awning & if so, are there any areas where water could get into the vehicle from the attachment points?

I've removed the 05/04 roadtrek manual Fiamma awning, then put it back. Why? I decided to fix All potential leaks which included both drip wells. I knew drivers side was leaking. I did not notice any potential leak locations that need any special treatment with the awning attachment points, 3 with multiple rivets.

 

[Paul the Gardens]

In 2-1/2 years, we never used our awning. Of course we never really camp, just stop ovenight between driving.

Well, earlier this week, I booked a spur-of-the-moment camp site at nearby Goliad State Park (TX). Only a few sites were available on-line and I booked the one with the least shade (none looked shady in their pictures).

Used the awning, glad we had it.

Same here,this Sunday is really hot, after giving the van a wash this morning I took the awning out without deploying the two legs,for cleaning up the top rails and was surprised how much cooler it was inside. I rarely use campgrounds and when I do I prefer being in the sun for getting solar power,and use the awning. Otherwise I use the awning very seldom, but I like it.

 

[the5reeds]

I am new to van camping, so I am nervous how robust the reliability of the carefree electric awning will be. On my last two RVs/trailers I've had the old reliable manual carefree awnings, and love them...a great place to sit out and watch the rain coming down.

 

[InterBlog]

Enthusiasm for an awning might be directly proportional to the amount of time spent in rugged, relatively wet locations off grid and away from civilization, and I mean, totally away, without amenities or improvements of any kind. At all.

I primarily use our awning here:

Where the sum total of life looks like this, although I subsequently improved both the table and the clothes drying strategies (clothes were washed in the lake):

I also sewed one of these, which I will put up in the wild, but I don't have a picture handy, so this pic was taken in our front yard during the epic sewing adventure I took to make this:

 

[South]

I removed the awning on my 05 Chevy Roadtrek.
The awning is attached by rivets thru the exterior of the Chevy body. The lower support arm brackets are likewise riveted. Drilling out the rivets leaves a total of 13 holes thru the body of the vehicle. Some people would caulk or put a putty material in holes. I chose to have body shop make exterior of Chevy Roadtrek look new again.
This involves a paint job too.
There are 10 hours of cleaning the surface of vehicle before the paint can be done.

 

[Storysrvwego]

My wife and I like our awning. The amount of shade of course depends on which way you parked, the travel of the sun, trees or no trees, etc. but we generally get decent shade and when it rains, it has so far been a big help over the sliding door. I suppose it would be no good in a driving horizontal rain but then the awning has probably been retracted anyway. The best use of our awning has been when friends RV with us and we in a place where we have been able to park across from each other with passenger/awning sides face to face.. Deploying both awnings pretty much insures a greater amount of shade over the table and/or chairs setup between us.

We have had excellent service from our motorized, self supporting awning so far. The automatic retract sensor hasn't had to initiate a retraction yet.

If we had to replace the awning on our Travato L for any reason, we would get another one.

StorysRVwego

 

[rowiebowie]

I am new to van camping, so I am nervous how robust the reliability of the carefree electric awning will be. On my last two RVs/trailers I've had the old reliable manual carefree awnings, and love them...a great place to sit out and watch the rain coming down.

Welcome to the forum the5reeds!

I don't know what year your rig is, but our '2012 Carefree is trouble-free. It is motorized and has the arms that attach to the side of the Chevy van, but deploys from a simple switch. I believe the problems are with the newer models (of various makes) that have gone to legless, wind sensors, computer boards and touch-screen controls.

Some times, old-school simple is better.

 

[themexicandoctor]

Thank you for your answer SOUTH,

A year ago I had a water leak on that side, around the time I had a new Windscreen put in along with paying a Professional several hours to go wild caulking everything up - more heavy rain & leaking but not as bad - had the guy redo the Windscreen & no more leaks even though he blamed the Rig - the only place I thought it could enter would have been the awning but for me, it was clearly the Windscreen installation.

I have had to pay $59 @ pair to have the plastic end caps replaced from Fiamma in Florida, twice.

Its a miracle tree branches haven't taken the awning off over the years.

 

[Ray B-ClassB]

Conceptually we love it. However, it seems we rarely use it. In the bright daylight it tends to get in the way of our suitcase solar panels (the longer the wire run the less effective the panels). After the sun goes down your don't need it. It is good when it rains, but then it can't be too windy at the same time. To guard against sudden wind storms we put it in at night and when we leave.

Ray Brown
2012 Pleasure-Way Plateau TD
Ormond-by-the-Sea, Florida

 

[Bud-ClassB]

Welcome to the forum the5reeds!

I don't know what year your rig is, but our '2012 Carefree is trouble-free. It is motorized and has the arms that attach to the side of the Chevy van, but deploys from a simple switch. I believe the problems are with the newer models (of various makes) that have gone to legless, wind sensors, computer boards and touch-screen controls.

Some times, old-school simple is better.

Probably nothing to this, but when I removed the awning from the 05/04 Express Van I noticed:

The awning was attached to the van not the top added. The van was curved on the side, not flat. If the exact spacers were not there, would the awning have had problems over time? Would it have warped? If so, it seems that motorized would have been more of a problem than manual?

Bud

 

[OldKansan]

Awning to me is essential. Yes I often don’t use it, but there are times when it is a lifesaver. Hot no shade, rainy days, are prime examples. One thing I find important is to treat awning with respect. Don’t put excess strain on it. I pay attention to weather & don’t leave deployed if chance of wind. I made up guy lines to use with it & often use them.

 

[Bud-ClassB]

"I have had to pay $59 @ pair to have the plastic end caps replaced from Fiamma in Florida, twice."

Have no idea if it is working, but I painted some new ones with some paint made for plastic/uv....

 

[rowiebowie]

Probably nothing to this, but when I removed the awning from the 05/04 Express Van I noticed:

The awning was attached to the van not the top added. The van was curved on the side, not flat. If the exact spacers were not there, would the awning have had problems over time? Would it have warped? If so, it seems that motorized would have been more of a problem than manual?

Bud

My Airstream Avenue has the Carefree awning attached to the flat side of the fiberglass top almost a foot higher than on Roadtreks. But it's a rare duck of a model. I've only known of a half-dozen other owners on this and Airforums.

But me and the one other owner I keep in touch with to compare notes, have noted some unique and similar problems. Not with the awnings, but elsewhere. So we have helped each other trouble-shoot and fix a few things.

 

[booster]

"I have had to pay $59 @ pair to have the plastic end caps replaced from Fiamma in Florida, twice."

Have no idea if it is working, but I painted some new ones with some paint made for plastic/uv....

Just looking at the caps on existing vans, it does look like the ones painted with same paint as the body color hold up quite a bit better. Plastic will still degrade just from the heat, but it is the UV that really takes it out quickly. The lighter the color you paint it, and the better the UV protection of the paint will certainly help life, I think. Light reflective color will keep them color and UV protective paint prevent the paint from failing quickly.

 

[Davydd]

We bought a 12' x 14' Eddie Bauer screen tent several years ago that will cover that picnic table if we needed to and two chairs, and folds up in a canvas bag 8" x 8" x 28". Consequently we did away with an awning. This photo was just last week at the Winnie Dam Corp of Engineers campground in northern Minnesota at Lake Winnibigoshish. Northern Minnesota in June is fraught with mosquitos and flies. When can come and go without needing to take down an awning or a complicated net around an awning whenever we desire to go somewhere which we did every day for four days sometimes twice in day. The screen tent also established our occupation when we were away as this campground had no way to show registration. We can also easily come and go from the van while in the campground without tripping over guy wires or navigating through a secondary screen.

Most of the time in the winter we go south. Dispersed camping such as in BLM land we can orient our van in any direction. With the low sun angle the van itself provides the shade and we wouldn't put out this screen tent since we seldom encountered rain or bugs. Our first two Class B's had awnings. We seldom put them out, however they were a maintenance nightmare especially when we use to store outside in shoveling the snow off the roof and a Maple seed and leaf collector in the crevices.

 

[Storysrvwego]

The Carefree legless electric awning with wind sensor on our 2018 Travato 59k has been deployed every time we travel and stay someplace overnight. Just an automatic thing for us to do although we probably haven't needed it each time. It has provided trouble free use. If the electrics should fail, I believe I read that the cap at the front of the awning can be taken off and a 3/8 ratchet with an extension can be used to retract the awning. I suspect it would be a slower process than an awning setup for manual crank but this does provide a way to deal with the awning when the electrics are a problem. Other than testing the wind sensor to insure it retracts the awning automatically, we have yet to have encountered enough wind to have it operate on its own. Wind has been present on some of our trips to be sure but I suppose just lucky so far to not have had to retract manually or automatically.

I do expect the awning to have issues over time given that it has a fair number of moving parts. I have checked the positioning of the mechanical arms. And I listen to its unique noises every time we put it out or retract it. Without looking at it right now, there are three or four small plastic "barrels" that the awning fabric rides over. These small barrels with a slit in them to attach to a rail can be slide left or right to affect how smoothly the fabric travels in or out but probably not essential if they came off.

It is a slight help with some leaf and pine needle drops. Leaves are light enough to disperse when retracting. I have removed pine needles by simply batting the fabric with the back of my hand to bounce them up and off the end rather than have them get wound in during retraction. I like to have the fabric dry before retraction but sometimes rain or dew will be present when you have to pick up and go. I try to extend the awning at earliest convenience after trapping any moisture to eliminate the chance of dirt or other materials from staining the awning as much as possible. Mainly the awning has been nice to have for at least partial or full sun control, depending on how we are parked and the angle of the sun. So far our legless electric awning has been nice to have and use.

 

[OldKansan]

As I said before, I like awning. I do carry a light weight tarp & poles for putting over a table. Since it is really a backpacking setup it takes almost no space. Don’t use often, but occasionally nice to have.

 

[themexicandoctor]

I've removed the 05/04 roadtrek manual Fiamma awning, then put it back. Why? I decided to fix All potential leaks which included both drip wells. I knew drivers side was leaking. I did not notice any potential leak locations that need any special treatment with the awning attachment points, 3 with multiple rivets.

Was that easy?

I think that my water problem was the Windshield gasket.

 

[Bud-ClassB]

Was that easy?

I think that my water problem was the Windshield gasket.

Easy? My neighbor assisted. Not really, it was probably me assisting him or each other. He knew about rivets and rivet stuff. I had to order the exact rivets as they would not have been found locally. I counted them on the internet. There are 10,738,294 different rivets to choose from.