awning: am I missing something obvious?

[penny]

I ordered some ball sockets for the bottom of the camper and installed them today. it was pretty windy, but the awning seemed quite stable with the legs in the bottom sockets. I like the angle of the awning as well. putting it away in the wind with two of us was much easier. But with the pop up all the way up, neither of us could possibly reach high enough to zip it back into the bag. we can easily take it down and keep it contained and roll it almost all the way up, but must have something for each of us to stand on in order to get it into the bag and zip it closed. this awning doesn't have velcro or ties to hold it it a rolled up position, but maybe we could rig some way to tie it rolled up, then put it in the bag when we are closing the camper.

 

[tfischer]

this awning doesn't have velcro or ties to hold it it a rolled up position, but maybe we could rig some way to tie it rolled up, then put it in the bag when we are closing the camper.

Oh yeah, you should add those. I'm tall enough I can stand on our step and tie it up (ours has 4 ties) while holding it, and then with the pressure off can tie the others. I usually just tie one other than wait until we pop down to shore it all up and zip it.

It would be tricky to zip it without it being tied up, even when popped down.

 

[landon6062]

Well that was no fun.. LOL My biggest challenge seems to be getting that awing up!!

Today I decided that I would open the awning, before setting the inside....

As suggested by a video...

Since I am only 5'4 I decided to Unzip the awning, about 1/2 way up...before putting up the PUP all the way..

What a sudden surprise!!!..

WARNING. I'll share!!!

... It just rolled out of the bag onto my feet, a bit of an OUCH moment..... I expected some kind of TIE or something?

You just never know what you going to get when opening a bag of chocolate or PUP.. LOL

 

[tfischer]

Ouch! Yes there's supposed to be ties. But don't feel bad, when the pup was newer to me, I pulled on the tie, thinking it would just unroll down. It did... shattering the porch light lol. The silver lining was that I replaced the porch light with a new LED one.

 

[landon6062]

LOL.. LOL.. well at least that ended up good in the long run...





.

 

[JPBar]

Just the start of many supersizes and minor war wounds that you will find be a new camper owner. Hope it did not hurt to bad.

 

[landon6062]

LOL.. nah not bad.. had much much worse.. I do have some war stories.. and some "DON'T do that again".. EX: snowboarding at 53 for the FIRST time ever skiing of any kind..





.. IT was Just a SURPRISE Moment.. "here I come ready or not" , at least it wasn't my head.......LOL

The thing I have the MOST trouble with is the DOOR.. geeze.. US short people, and those with lack of Muscle are certainly at a disadvantage with that..

 

[mstrbill]

I expected some kind of TIE or something?

Nope, never seen any on a Coleman awning. You need to get a step stool/ladder in case you need to put the awning up while the camper is set up.

 

[Suzicnm]

I have a 95 Jayco 1006, and have not figured out all these poles!! Most I believe are for the awning (striped bag awning you see on so many of these!), but have no clue how to use them/assemble them. Nor, do I know what the larger-bore white ones are for, or the hooked aluminum ones. Help!!! (particularly with the awning ones!).

 

[tfischer]

Nope, never seen any on a Coleman awning. You need to get a step stool/ladder in case you need to put the awning up while the camper is set up.

I had no idea the coleman awnings didn't have ties. That must make it really hard to zip up?

 

[myride]

I had no idea the coleman awnings didn't have ties. That must make it really hard to zip up?

First time I deployed my Utahs awning I too was surprised with no ties...and yes...a pain to stow without ties.

 

[jnc]

The thing I have the MOST trouble with is the DOOR.. geeze.. US short people, and those with lack of Muscle are certainly at a disadvantage with that..

That Door doen't get any easier for Tall folks. I bounce that thing off my head every time I have to move it. At least you can lay it down and lower the roof to make it easier to hang. I cant raise the roof to give me some Head room.

 

[mstrbill]

That must make it really hard to zip up?

No, like everything else on a PUP you just have to learn how do it.

 

[SteveP]

That Door doen't get any easier for Tall folks. I bounce that thing off my head every time I have to move it. At least you can lay it down and lower the roof to make it easier to hang. I cant raise the roof to give me some Head room.

I thought balancing it on your head was the right way to do it.

 

[jnc]

I thought balancing it on your head was the right way to do it.

Not when you have 3 herniated disc's in your neck.

 

[durhamcamper]

We have owned three popups over the years.
Opened the awning once on two of them.
When we mentioned this to the dealer upon trading our last one he said this common with popup awnings. They are rarely used in this area because of the wind and summer storms.
Brother in-law uses his and is constantly repairing it.

We have camped for over 10 years .....average 8 trips per year. I think I can recall only one time that we have not used our awning on either of our pups. And only needed to take it down only once because of a storm. We keep one end lower to allow for rain run-off and the poles are staked into the ground every time.

 

[live to camp]

So we have two buckets that have a PVC tube in-bedded in concrete that the down poles fit into.
The girls even stuck in plastic flowers, but these keep the awning up in most winds, then we have two guide lines for when the winds get up a bit... we actually pull out the awning when the top is about a third way up, roll out, put in the poles that go back to the top, and crank up rest of the way. (we have small folding stool just in case)
View attachment 35662
I tried the info in tip and tricks, but to no avail to make pic show up here...

What a GREAT idea!
Thanks for sharing this!