Awning Track Fit Issue

Tablet

Greetings,

I have a 2010 T@B TQ. I have the side tent made by Thermarest which works great, even if it is kind of a bear to set up. I also have an awning made by National Tent & Awning, who seem to no longer be in business. The rubber "zipper" portion of the awning must be a tiny bit smaller than the same portion of the Thermarest tent, as the tent track goes in and stays in, and yet the awning track goes in but comes out of the track somewhat easily, and won't stay in well enough for me to trust it would work, and for sure not with a little wind. This seems so odd to me, as the people who had it before said they used it, and the instructions say it is for a T@B. I think I could possibly pinch the metal track on the trailer ever so slightly shut and still have both work, but I want to consider this carefully before I do anything. I'm guessing the track is aluminum, which means it's somewhat brittle so this is likely a dicey prospect, but the amount of movement I would need would be minimal. I don't really want to pull off the zipper and put a new one on, but I suppose I could do that, or maybe there's a tent repair place I could take it to and have them replace the zipper for $50 or something?

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Peter.

Tampakayaker

Are you talking about the keder rope portion that goes into the track?  It's a cord that is attached to the woven portion that gets sewn onto whatever you want to use.

If so, that does come in a couple different diameters.  Maybe they used the smaller size?

That would be a lot of work trying to squeeze the rail down. 

You could purchase the cord from Amazon, remove the old one that doesn't fit and sew the old one on.  But be warned you need an old heavy duty metal sewing machine and not one of the newer light weight plastic ones.

Another option is to take it to a shop that does work on boat covers, tarps, car covers etc. and ask them to sew it on.  If you have the old one removed it shouldn't be too pricey

KAR

We put up our awning today for our 2015 T@B but it's super windy in Colorado so we're really concerned about using it. The little strings attached don't seem to do much. Thoughts?

Sharon_is_SAM

Do you mean the visor?

KAR

Yes, the visor.

KAR

I think of it more as an awning as it's outside, covers the window and door to create shade, goes up the track.comes out about 4 feet spands 8 feet or so. When I google it calls it both an awning and a visor.

KAR

Found a great video on you tube for putting it up a visor/awning but would still appreciate input on securing in the wind. Thanks:)

Sharon_is_SAM

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/comment/139020#Comment_139020

Check out June 5 rh5555 entry.

Most use a tie down system to the ground - not tied to the TaB as the wind will flip it over the TaB.

Marceline

KAR said:

I think of it more as an awning as it's outside, covers the window and door to create shade, goes up the track.comes out about 4 feet spands 8 feet or so. When I google it calls it both an awning and a visor.

It's true that people get them confused but this is a "visor"
https://teardropshop.com/collections/paha-que/products/t-b-visor-xl
and this is an awning
https://teardropshop.com/collections/paha-que/products/t-b-awning-by-pahaque

@Sharon_is_SAM says, if there's any wind it's best to stake the visor to the ground and if it's very windy you probably want to take it down, as the pole is vulnerable to breaking.

tybladesmith

Two six gallon jugs full of fresh water and tie-down straps are great anchors for a visor in the "mild" wind.

Tablet

In my original post I say that I need to replace the awning rope, as the stuff that's on my awning is too small. What is on there is .255", and I need .3", as this is what the Thermarest tent uses and it works fine. Tampakayayker suggested getting some Keder rope. It looks like I can get this is a vinyl like is on the awning now, or in Keder, which looks to be a nylon cloth over pvc piping. Any reccomendations as to what is best, or advantages of one over the other?