Spare Parts

RV spare parts are a necessity learned the hard way.  Airstream has a reputation for including the best components in their trailers.  However, they are not indestructible nor are they maintenance free.  One of the premium components that Airstream installs on all of their travel trailers is the patio awning manufactured by Zip-Dee, Inc.

Having spent months on www.airforums.com prior to purchasing our Airstream, Tom had become aware of one potential repair that would later become necessary for him to make: replacing a bent awning arm.  After our second camping trip we were preparing to go on our first camping trip to Ft. Wilderness at Walt Disney World.  While packing the Airstream with new goodies purchased in preparation for this trip, we had the patio awning fully extended on the sunny Saturday prior to departure.  A sudden thunderstorm proved how dangerous that could be during the summer in the South.  Florida is not the only area of the country that can have pop-up thunderstorms!

During the sudden downpour, Tom happened to look out the window at the Airstream and discovered to both of our horror that the rear awning arm had bent double.  The inner arm that slides in and out of the awning sleeve for deployment had bent at a 90 degree angle and was touching the ground.  First thing Monday morning Tom called Zip-Dee to order a new one.  They will provide two day, and even next day, service…for a price, but since we wanted to use the awning over the July 4^th holiday while at Disney World Tom opted for the next day delivery.  Replacing the arm was fairly straight forward.  Disconnect the lower end of the outer sleeve and lift into the travel position (do you know how much a twenty foot awning roller and awning weighs?).  Carefully remove the bent arm.  This is the tricky part because the rear arm is where the rewind spring is located.  When Tom slid the arm from its socket on the end of the roller tube, the spring spun the end around and the socket hit the curved side of the Airstream with a loud whack.  Then it was just a matter of inserting the new arm in the socket, wind the socket back around to its original position and attach the bottom of the awning arm sleeve to its pivot on the lower portion of the side of the trailer.  Another crisis averted.

Bent awning arm

This first experience with bent awning arms was during the last week of June, 2006.  A year later, in July 2007 we bent another one.  Lesson learned, think again.  We were once again at Ft. Wilderness for the July 4^th holiday and forgot to lower the awning while we went to the Magic Kingdom for dinner.  While we were gone a torrential downpour struck our campsite; well not just ours but every body’s.  In the photo to the side you can see the result of leaving an awning deployed during a heavy downpour.

Ready for travel...NOT!

Tom then started calling mobile RV repair companies from a list provided by the Ft. Wilderness cast members.  The price for mobile RV repairs in Orlando started at $149 just to come out and goes up with parts and labor from there.  In the second photo to the right you can see what it looked like when it was closed.  Still, it would not travel that way.  The next day there just happened to be a knight in shining armor, I mean a mobile repair company at the site across the street and Tom saw that he was putting his folding ladder away.  Tom asked if he could borrow the ladder for a minute and the repair technician came over to inspect the problem.  He offered to stow the roller for travel and Tom asked how much he owed him when finished.  The repair technician said whatever Tom thought it was worth.  The first thing Tom did upon returning home was to order a folding ladder from Camping World like the one the technician had!  He also ordered not one, but two replacement arms for the next time this happened.  So much confidence in lessons learned.  The terrific thing about the new folding ladder is that it fits along with the spare arm under the sofa.

Now, one would think that having had the same thing happen twice in a year’s time would have taught us a thing or two. Read on.  What was it Einstein said about doing the same thing repeatedly?  While attending an Airstream rally in the North Georgia Mountains in May, 2009, Tom was grilling dinner under his umbrella when he happened to look up at the awning and saw that it was “bath tubbing” with what must have been 100 gallons of rain collecting on the awning.  There was so much water that Tom couldn’t lift it up to release the pressure on the stud that holds the inner arm in the extended position.  He had to get a broom from inside the trailer and push up to dump the water.  He lowered the rear arm so the rain could drain off.  We are now planning to put a grommet hole so that this will not happen again.

On a subsequent trip, Tom discovered that the latch hook that serves as a back up to keep the awning from unfurling in route had broken off.  Not only this, but this had happened early in the trip and the catch for the latch hook had worn away at the fabric that is just barely exposed under the edge of the metal awning cover.  Thank heaven for Duck Tape!  Not only for applying to the area where the material was already wearing thin, but also to pad the catch to keep it from damaging the awning material further.

On a trip to Ft, Wilderness in October of that same year, the knob on the end of the stud that locks the awning arm in position snapped off while the awning was deployed.  The only way to retract it was to use a pair of pliers to unscrew it from the outer sleeve and lower the awning carefully.  Did I mention how much the roller tube and awning fabric weighs?  We used a free standing canopy for the next two trips, but Tom eventually ordered a replacement stud…make that two replacement studs.

In conclusion to these lessons, spare parts are not only a necessity, they are life lines to return home.  And it helps to have a spare for the next time.  It also saves on shipping cost for that next one.

Tags: Airstream, RV, Safety, Spare Parts