Awning Rail Installation

[Ed Harris]

Yesterday I came across an new Colorado Carefree Bag Awning fairly cheap here in town so I snatched it up,I have been looking at awnings anyway and it just seemed too good to pass up.

So I went and got a 10' section of awning rail cut at an RV dealer and didn't look at it too closely until a few minutes ago when evaluating the installation.

This particular rail is drilled for mounting every 4 inches which looks to be 4 times as many holes as any other rails I have seen?
I really don't think I need more than 4 srew/rivit holes total so I am trying to decide whether to even use this rail or get another with far fewer holes?

I don't want to make any more holes in the Scamp then needed and the awning weighs almost nothing,in fact I am amazed how light it is.

I had planned on backing it with butyl if I can find any very thin and white or with silicone or 3m adhesive.

So I guess the question is:
Do I use this rail and let the backing mold too and squeeze through the unused holes or do I get a new rail with fewer holes?

I hope no one suggests just drilling all of the holes but if that is how you feel please say so to.

Thanks
Ed

[Chester Taje]

My question is ----How far apart are the holes?

I did not notice the remark that they are 4 inches apart. I would leave every second hole.

[Donna D.]

I'm cheap, I'd use it. You could always fill the holes you don't want to use with marine epoxy, or just let the butyl ooze out and scrape it off... although that may be a bit messy until it skims over and hardens a bit.

[Frederick L. Simson]

The awning rail on my Fiber Stream is like yours with a hole every 4".
It is installed with a rivet in every 3rd hole, or every foot. There is no butyl tape backing it up. And I have a relatively heavy Carefree Fiesta roll-up awning.
Just because the holes are there, I don't believe you have to use all of them.

[Donna D.]

Yeah, or maybe only use the butyl where you drill the holes. Shudda thought of that in my first post. D'oh!