Rope and Pole Awning Water Resistant? - Fiberglass RV
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Old 06-15-2020, 07:08 PM   #1
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Rope and Pole Awning Water Resistant?

Hello! I have a question about how water resistant are the vintage style rope and pole awnings? I know that no awning should be left up during a heavy downpour, but wondering if any of the vintage style awnings can at least handle a light shower without collapsing or leaking through soaking everything? We've had bag awnings on our popups in the past and liked them so if the cute rope and pole ones can't handle any water at all we will probably go with something like Shademaker etc.

Thanks for your input!
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Old 06-16-2020, 02:29 AM   #2
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Name: Kelly
Trailer: Trails West
Oregon
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Sure they can pretty much all take rain and keep you dry if the fabric has waterproofing on it.

Remember, water runs downhill so all you have to do issue that to your advantage.

The trick is how you set up the awning when you deploy it. The outside edge of the awning is set up to be lower than where the awning fastens to the trailer. Then you make one corner of that outside edge lower than the other outside corner. That way gravity keeps the water flowing off of the awning instead of water accumulating on top of it.


It is high wind that is the big issue, you don't want the awning deployed in high winds. Of course a truly torrential downpour would also be a good reason to pull in an awning especially since there are often windy conditions in such a storm. But a short duration of several minutes of heavy rain with little to no wind should be just fine if you have that angle set up so that the rain can quickly run off the surface. There are lots of youtube videos on this subject.
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Old 06-16-2020, 10:03 AM   #3
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Name: Martin
Trailer: Trillium 13. boler 13.
British Columbia
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Quote:
Originally Posted by melissab View Post
Hello! I have a question about how water resistant are the vintage style rope and pole awnings? I know that no awning should be left up during a heavy downpour, but wondering if any of the vintage style awnings can at least handle a light shower without collapsing or leaking through soaking everything? We've had bag awnings on our popups in the past and liked them so if the cute rope and pole ones can't handle any water at all we will probably go with something like Shademaker etc.

Thanks for your input!



I find that Rope and Pole Awnings are a pain. There are so many better ones these days. Shady boy, EZ Awning. etc.
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Old 06-16-2020, 11:13 AM   #4
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I had, (and got rid of,) a Fiamma crank-out awning that came with my trailer. I hated it from day one! I sold it, and installed a simple extruded "C" channel called a Keder rail on the side of my trailer, and I now have a slide-in rope & pole awning that I love. Despite what some folks say about being hard to set up or use, I have never encountered their problems. I can start it in the track and pull it into place single-handed, although having two people would be a little bit easier, but not required. I like it because it is lightweight, folds up and goes into a storage sack less than the size of a basketball, only weighs about 7-8 Lbs, and best of all, it actually keeps the rain out, and especially from running down the side of the trailer because there is no gap to contend with. If your looking for a good rope & pole awning, I would highly recommend Marti's Awnings. She makes nice quality awnings, great selection of materials, patterns and design features. She's very big with the vintage trailer folks too.
Marti's Vintage Trailer Awnings

I have one of her awnings and I love it. And I think it looks good too.
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Old 06-16-2020, 01:53 PM   #5
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Name: Lesley
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What did you have to do to install the Keder rail? And yes, your awning looks really nice!!
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Old 06-16-2020, 03:01 PM   #6
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Looks amazing and ties in with the vintage look of our trailers. What size awning rails are most common? I'm thinking of an 8 ft wide awning and I've seen some use 7 ft and others use 8 ft rails so confused as to which is best for a 13 ft Scamp.
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Old 06-16-2020, 03:44 PM   #7
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Name: Nicolas
Trailer: 1978 Boler
Almonte, Ontario
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Rope and pole awning

Since you have a 13’ Scamp which is very much like a 13’ Boler, I would say that your awning should be about 7’ in width. At least that is what is on my Boler. I am in the process of sewing a new awning to replace my tarpaulin [temporary] awning. The new awning has diagonal crossribs to bow the awning up in the middle so that rain has nowhere to collect. Also, rope and pole is classy and easy to install as mentioned earlier. It helps that I have long arms but, as also mentioned, it slips in so easily that it could be done single-handedly. The secret to staying dry is the waterproofing and not giving the rain a spot to collect. Thus the dome tent ribs in my design.
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Old 06-16-2020, 03:52 PM   #8
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I originally bought a 10 ft. one piece section of aluminum Keder rail. I didn't want to mount it up too high, which would then require me to carry around a ladder. Mine is mounted about 6'8 on the side of the trailer. I only managed to get a length of 7'6" long on my Casita due to working it into the area of flat sides before the trailer would start to curve. I really don't know your Scamp's dimensions, as to how much space to mount a rail you would have. I can slide mine in while standing on the ground, but it is high enough that it doesn't rub on my head when I'm under it, (I'm 6'2".) I mounted it with 1/4" X 20 stainless machine screws, with fender washers and Nylock nuts on the inside. It is at a height that places all the fasteners inside the overhead cabinets, so they aren't visible inside the trailer.

(As an aside, the left-over piece of Keder rail wasn't wasted. I worked it in to use it as a slide-in tray mount for my wheel well table. The table is a Ware-Ever "full sheet" rimmed aluminum baking tray, with one edge of the rolled lip filed so it will enter the Keder rail channel. Fits the channel perfectly. The leg is formed from a piece of 1" X 1/8" aluminum flat stock, that fits into a slot on the bottom made from some extra scrap ends I had laying around.) Perfect for a small table under the awning.
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Old 06-16-2020, 03:52 PM   #9
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Name: Nicolas
Trailer: 1978 Boler
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The Keeder rail is easy to install. It will require drilling some holes to attach it to the shell. The secret here is to carefully drill [you want to go through the shell but not the liner beneath], butyl rubber caulk the holes and the underside of the rail and then pop-rivet the rail in place. Keeder products are often available at Marina supply stores.
Good point about the placement of the fasteners; you don’t need to be super careful if the holes are hidden by cabinets. Unfortunately, only 2 of my rivet holes are inside the cabinet enclosure.
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Old 06-16-2020, 04:03 PM   #10
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Brilliant! Love the table and looks very sturdy!



Quote:
Originally Posted by Casita Greg View Post
I originally bought a 10 ft. one piece section of aluminum Keder rail. I didn't want to mount it up too high, which would then require me to carry around a ladder. Mine is mounted about 6'8 on the side of the trailer. I only managed to get a length of 7'6" long on my Casita due to working it into the area of flat sides before the trailer would start to curve. I really don't know your Scamp's dimensions, as to how much space to mount a rail you would have. I can slide mine in while standing on the ground, but it is high enough that it doesn't rub on my head when I'm under it, (I'm 6'2".) I mounted it with 1/4" X 20 stainless machine screws, with fender washers and Nylock nuts on the inside. It is at a height that places all the fasteners inside the overhead cabinets, so they aren't visible inside the trailer.

(As an aside, the left-over piece of Keder rail wasn't wasted. I worked it in to use it as a slide-in tray mount for my wheel well table. The table is a Ware-Ever "full sheet" rimmed aluminum baking tray, with one edge of the rolled lip filed so it will enter the Keder rail channel. Fits the channel perfectly. The leg is formed from a piece of 1" X 1/8" aluminum flat stock, that fits into a slot on the bottom made from some extra scrap ends I had laying around.) Perfect for a small table under the awning.
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Old 06-16-2020, 04:04 PM   #11
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We're planning on the No Holes option many others have used here with the 3M VHB Tape.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nicolas View Post
The Keeder rail is easy to install. It will require drilling some holes to attach it to the shell. The secret here is to carefully drill [you want to go through the shell but not the liner beneath], butyl rubber caulk the holes and the underside of the rail and then pop-rivet the rail in place. Keeder products are often available at Marina supply stores.
Good point about the placement of the fasteners; you don’t need to be super careful if the holes are hidden by cabinets. Unfortunately, only 2 of my rivet holes are inside the cabinet enclosure.
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Old 06-16-2020, 04:10 PM   #12
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So do you use the same length of rail as awning width? Anybody got pix of 7 and 8 ft awnings on a 13ft egg so I can see the difference in coverage? Another group said they used a 7 ft rail bc that was all the flat area available before the end curves start.


I'm only 5 ft tall and camp alone or with my 5 ft daughter most of the time so gonna have to use a step stool no matter what I get. Just want it high enough to clear the door so probably a few inches over the drip guard.
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Old 06-16-2020, 07:00 PM   #13
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Name: Tim
Trailer: 71 Trillium 1300
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Alternative option.. pop up tent

We ended up with a walmart pop up tent and used it for 60 days with out fail. very nice since you can set it up anywhere on your camp site regardless of where you parked. Might be worth considering. For transport I bungeed it down on the trailer floor.



Experienced an absolute deluge on the southern shore of Lake Superior and it held up fine.
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Old 06-17-2020, 10:42 AM   #14
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The slide-in rope & pole awning is what we use when we're not going to be someplace for more than a couple of days. Otherwise, we set up our Clam screen shelter. Beats any of the other "pop-up" shelters that I've ever used, and I've had several.
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Old 06-17-2020, 02:26 PM   #15
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Tim, We have a popup shelter from Northern Tool. Hubby can put it up by himself but on my trip to Hiawassee he wasn't able to go last minute and I ended up putting that monster up by myself. He made it look so easy! Dang near dislocated my shoulder at only 5 ft tall and forgot the step stool. I'm looking at a clam for sure now but also want the awning on the trailer for dry entry/exit and also shorter trips like Greg mentioned.
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Old 06-17-2020, 02:38 PM   #16
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melissa,
To your other question: You want to size your awning to be slightly shorter in width than the railing is long when its installed. You don't want any of the awning fabric extending outside the Keder rail.
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Old 06-18-2020, 01:03 PM   #17
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Oh ok that makes sense, thank you.



Quote:
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melissa,
To your other question: You want to size your awning to be slightly shorter in width than the railing is long when its installed. You don't want any of the awning fabric extending outside the Keder rail.
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Old 06-24-2020, 11:37 AM   #18
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Name: Judith
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Don't make the mistake I made putting my rail on and following the curve of the Puck. Had an awning made that same length. Wrong! Awning should cover just the straight run. That curve will cause a droop and probably just over the door.
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Old 06-25-2020, 02:13 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Judith Neville View Post
Don't make the mistake I made putting my rail on and following the curve of the Puck. Had an awning made that same length. Wrong! Awning should cover just the straight run. That curve will cause a droop and probably just over the door.
Thanks for the heads up!
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Old 06-25-2020, 02:25 PM   #20
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Just to be clear. The rail can follow the curve, but the awning (unless custom made to the curve) cannot. Actually the extra railing gives you opportunities to hang miscellaneous stuff.
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