Girard cassette awning pulling away from coach

[Dan DeKorte]

I just wanted to see if anyone else on the forum has or has dealt with an incorrectly installed Girard awning on their coach?  Mine has the las set of bolts & bracket behind the refrigerator, instead of having the mount directly behind the arm furthest from the entry door.  My last bracket is almost 3 feet away from that last arm, and is allowing the awning & the enclosure to pull away from the coach negating any caulking/sealant/paint that is placed on that corner.  Andre with Girard said I have two options - one remove the awning & move the bracket to the correct location, very expensive, approx 10 - 15 hours to R&R the awning, and then whatever it takes to move the bracket. Two - open the awning and drill two holes through the back of the case/enclosure/wall/cabinet and place 4" bolts with a baking plate inside the cabinet to add support at the end.  
At this point I am going to try number two with a local RV service center.

Please chime in if anyone has some concerns, as I value the opinions of the group!

Thanks in advance,

Dan

[Bill Sprague]

Dan,

I've got a different Beaver, so have not had the issue.  Perhaps you can post some snapshots and get more help.  

[Edward Buker]

Dan,

On my last Beaver, an 89 Contessa, the prior owner had an armless electrically driven awning by Carefree (if I remember right) added to the coach. It had some similar issues with the mount and I ended up bolting it through and adding an inside backing plate to better secure it. I saw no negatives in this case of doing that and it worked well. I had the backing plate and bolts end up within the medicine cabinet on that coach. Before this addition the unit never worked right.

For the Girard case, it has backing plates that provide some space between the back casing of the awning and the RV wall so ideally you would like another mounting plate to possibly bolt through as a spacer if one could be slide on or up into place. If not maybe some washer spacers could be worked onto the bolts as you push them through. You would want to be sure and Lexel or Silicone the holes and bolts and washers if you can to eliminate water intrusion. I would use stainless bolts and aircraft nuts on the inside trying not to over tighten them, just get the back of the awning casing straight. The aircraft nuts will hold that position even if not cranked down tight, especially if you cannot work accurate spacers behind the awning. Good luck with this, these coaches can be an adventure...

Later Ed