Newell Gurus

A couple of days ago we were driving from Albuquerque to Santa Fe when three things happened simultaneously. The coach veered hard right, the coach felt like it was going to tip over to the right, and a  tremendous flapping noise occurred, We veered halfway onto the shoulder before I could straighten the coach. I immediately thought we had lost a tire, but my new tire monitoring system was silent, and the coach was trying to steer straight . Then I heard the slide topper awning above the salon slide wind back up. 

We stopped at the next exit, and to my surprise the awning locks on the arms were intact. So the wind had to hit the coach just right to get under the rolled up awning and unroll it. 

When we got to Santa Fe, both the salon and the bedroom awnings had obviously deployed about four feet based on the way the leading edge was rolled back up. I have never had anything like this happen before and I hope to never have it happen again. 

We drove across I40 in tremendous side winds on the left of the coach and the awnings stayed put just fine. This had to be a microburst at just the right angle to get under the awning and unfurl it. We had just crested mesa and there were wind warnings and wind socks galore. 

Not that you need to do anything, just thought you would get some entertainment at my expense. When I see wind warnings I will make sure both hands are on the wheel.

Sorry to hear this happened! Were you able to re-roll the awnings and they are ok?

Had that happen but didn't affect the coach driving. Just heard the noise and looked in my mirror and saw it flapping. Pulled over and was able to tie it down. But about a month before while driving across Oklahoma we heard what sounded like monkeys running on the roof. At least that's what Cindy said it sounded like. I climbed on top of the truck but couldn't see anything loose. Apparently it was the topper that was flapping.

Awnings are fine, pants ruined, sucked a hole right in the seat of them.

Ha!!! The good news......Pants are cheaper than an awning!!

the first trip in my 90 i was very uneducated on using it. we were going across I40 in new mexico and i was driving 75. my main awning only had the z lock and no latches. there were 50 mph cross winds that day all the way across new mexico. i heard a loud flapping noise and we immediately saw the main awning going all the way up and down flapping like the coach was trying to lift off. the noise was horrendous. i immediately pulled over and went to a little town that reminded me of the movie Deliverience and borrowed a ladder from a man sitting outside and wired it up with a coat hanger.

ha

tom

We have 2 small ZipDee awnings that we had installed on the salon street side windows. They don't have any latches and niether do either of the original small ZipDee awnings in the bedroom. I have noticed that they do not appear to be wound as tight as the originals. Both have deployed more than once in extreme cross wind / head wind conditions. Small awnings so I just slow down. But it was VERY un-nerving the first couple of times.

ZipDee makes locks that attach to the the metal awning cover that will keep your window and main ZipDee awnings from unfurling. Don't think they would work with a slide awning as the risk of accidentally moving the slide out with them locked might exceed the advantage.

As I posted on the forum before, I motorized my window awnings. The gears that actuate the awnings seem to effective lock the awnings. Not the cheap way out but much simpler in all respects.

Evidently this seems to happen in the same part of this country. I had just reached the west side of El Paso, on I-10, when my main awning opened completely while passing a semi. (I believe I ruined 2 pair of pants) He hit his brakes and I was able to pull over to the berm. In the windy conditions I was unable to get it rolled back up until, about 30 min. later, a couple stopped to help. I can assure you, it never happened again.