Carefree Awning Stitching

[Orman Claxton]

My Carefree Awning stitching has been slowly coming apart,
Has anyone found someone who can stitch the awning without removing entire system?
Thanks  

[Bill Sprague]

Orman,

My understanding is that the fabric is "Sunbrella" and will never rot.  The thread is not, so it rots.

As a DIY fix, I stitched it myself.  I found some heavy duty black "outdoor" thread at Joanne Fabric and a curved "upholstery" needle.   It took a view hours, but it came out OK.

If you want a more processional job, it is fairly easy to remove the fabric.  It is a lot less work to slide the fabric out than service a HydroHot!  The trick is knowing how to completely unwind it and put a screw driver in a locking hole.  That takes the tension out and makes fabric removal easy.  The primary concern is to be sure you have the roll up locked and keep your fingers out of the way in case it is not locked!  Once the fabric is out you can take it to a marine awning shop where they have HUGE sewing tables.  

[Joel Ashley]

E&R RV Specialist in Bend resewed our CareLess toppers and awnings last fall with better thread.  It was $500, but that included main awning, 4 toppers, and patch repairs to some edges that were tearing.  Add the labor for BCS to remove and reinstall the fabrics.  If the rotting and worn off thread had been dealt with earlier, the tearing wouldn't have happened.  Only time will tell how well the replacement thread will hold up;  where exposed 24/7 not within the roll is where the damage happens.

http://www.centormall.com/EandR_rv/

If you have the time, Bill's notion of doing it yourself is best.

To the extent I understand, the Eclipse and other standard CareLess units have fabrics that are acrylic, not Sunbrella.

Joel

[Doug Neal]

If I can do it you can do it. Hello Orman. If you go the Care Free web site they will give you detailed instructions. I have had the 12' & the 6' ones off our coach. The one problem is where they tell you to put a cotter pin to hold the spring tension. This is very difficult if not impossible to do. What I have done is get the tension off the fabric then drill a hole to insert the pin. Don't be afraid you won't damage anything, just don't drill too deep. Then off to the awning store. I have used one in Glendale but you should be able to find one closer to you. Give me a call if you like. We are still in Newport, OR.

[Edward Buker]

Orman,

There is an advantage to pulling the awning and if you have a friend and a decent ladder it is not too bad of a job. The other option is to go to an RV place and have them pull it for a fee. To do a decent job it needs to come off. If I have one small wear point or an edge tear I have had very good luck with cutting a small Sunbrella patch, folding it over an edge and using fabric glue. I put a spring hand clamp on it until it cures. I have done this on wear points where the slide topper cover rubs the fabric near the motorhome fabric attachment point in the closed position. The fabric angle is such that awning cover is pressing on it.

If you have thread that is deteriorated and coming apart all the exposed seams need to be redone given you only want to do this once. You have time to ask around and see if someone uses Tenera thread, good canvas shops will have this option but it will be a little more expensive. If your fabric is in good shape then it is worth sewing the seams with Tenara. It simply will not break down at all with UV exposure and is very strong. The marine industry drove this need and our uses are similar. The thread needs to last as long as the fabric and what was used in the past does not.

http://www.gore.com/en_xx/products/fibers/sewingthreadoutdoor/sewingthreadoutdoor.html

This is a video of a slide topper replacement from Utube. Although locking of the roller method varies slightly from brand to brand it gives you a good sense of what is involved. Do a search on your brand on You Tube and there is likely a video out there. Hope this helps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDKCSwYXbH0

Later Ed

[Orman Claxton]

Thanks Guys
I appreciate the advice.
I will be doing it myself, when I have time.

[Robert Mathis]

Orman, when I replaced my slide toppers, I opted to use a 1/4-20 bolt with nut to lock the roller instead of a cotter pin. I think I used a 4" long one.

[Michael Marcocchio]

Hello just a note if any one is interested my stitching has also come apart was going to have the whole frabic replaced but red this  topic and decided to stitch it back together myself with Gore Tenara thread ( here where it gets fun ) I looked up Gore thread on line and found places that have it but wont sell it to reg. people only sell it to frabic places and they won't just sell you just the thread.I live in Canada and had no help finding a place that will selll me some or give info of where to find a place,but after couple hrs on the net I struck gold Sailrite .com located in Columbia City Indiana took my order with a online sales person named Brian very very helpful, its very costly but far cheaper then a whole new awning frabic. So if your in the need for Gore Tenana sewing thread this the place to buy it from.

[Orman Claxton]

I purchased thread  from a marine upholster place here in the east Phoenix area.

[Joel Buchan]

I have found that Sailrite is a very good source. If you do little research with Sailrite you will find that polyester thread is aide-quite in comparison to the remaining fabric life. I just resewed my big awning as the existing polyester was all rotted. Only the tread that was exposed to UV was gone. Polyester is good for about 7+ years in our climate. Gore Tenara is the ticket for new fabric. 4 oz. Polyester thread V-92 = $13.00 and Tenara is $129.00.