I've seen a few units with a standard patio awning mounted to the slide and sort of like the idea. My concern is the structure of the slide and what effect an awning might have on it. There really is no support at the top or sides of the slide and I'm concerned about adding additional rotational stress on the slide mounts. Wondering if anyone has ever done this.
Thanx,
Jim
Our second awning is mounted to the dining slide. We fulltime and it has been extended 90% of the time in the last 2 yrs
No issues
We also have the 2nd awning on our 38RL and use it every trip !..
I will say that when ordering our last SOB, If we wanted to add that 2nd awning, it would have to be done at the factory during the initial build.. With it being the old style awning with arms, and heavy, they had to "pack out" behind the mounting spots with wood.
But then again, that was 11 years ago... I would not be without our 2nd awning , picnic table under 1, recliners/chairs under the second.
Were yours both factory installs and are they electric or manual? I may contact Redwood to see if there's enough structure behind the skin to hold it up.
Thanx,
Jim
Jim ,
The ones I have on the RW are both Carefree Automatic/Electric awnings..
On my KZ Montego Bay, they were both manual/Carefree, but heavier, bulkier , 11 years older..
Same as Joe. The electric would work on yours as well. The hardest part would be running the 12v wire
We had the two factory awnings on our Redwood and I was tickled to have them!
I think you will find the Carefree awnings are designed to be installed without any structural backing, as they are commonly retrofitted onto existing units. We had our A&E removed from our Montana and a Carefree electric installed, and the lag bolts went right into the siding and expanded foam insulation. The overall spread of the arms and multiple anchor points is all that is required.
If you look at the design, the weight of the awning itself is on the awning rail, and the side tracks are pushed into the siding by the arms rather than suspending any actual weight. Wind and rain has caused some issues with bolts coming out on some Redwoods (including mine) but that was a Redwood install problem, not Carefree design.
I think my engineering background is what's making me concerned. Even if the majority of the weight is carried by the top rail, the geometry of the awning when extended will tend to exert some amount of torsional strain on the slide pulling the top away from the vertical. Probably overthinking but it's what I do. :unsure:
Jim
The weight of the awning is probably 1/8 of the weight of someone sitting in a chair in the slide. The awning weight would be the least of my worries for our slides
Yup Jim, your over thinking it for sure . . .
Since I have seen a lot of units with extra awnings and none with big, gaping holes where the slide used to be, I'm going to move ahead. I contacted Redwood on their Customer Service page but haven't heard back yet.
Thanx,
Jim
We have had awnings on the slides of our last 3 fifth wheel RVs with no problems, even the older A&E manual awnings which were heavier.
Some Redwoods came pre-wired with a plug at the top of the slide for an awning. Does yours have the plug?
No plug that I see. There's 120VAC in the slide so I'll likely wire the unit from there and put the control on the wall of the slide rather than trying to route back to the service panel.
Thanx,
Jim
Jim, the awning is 12V. You could probably grab some power from the switch that turns on the light over the dining table. If you need, the 12V line comes into the slide at the rear, ours was covered by duct tape, the 12V line was connected by Marr connectors. The 110V had more substantial connectors, easy to see the 12V with the Marrs.
Mine is pre-wired and has an outlet on the slide and in my paperwork package there is a plug to fit this outlet. There is a switch for this awning by my control panel. I don't know if all of them came this way.
