I’ve owned both an A&E and Colorado manual awnings and my personal choice is the Colorado brand as it’s just a better design. But aside from it’s features being better, both brands of awnings have the same drawback. The pull down strap is too short. When the awning is retracted, the strap is pulled up along with the awning and is wrapped up inside with the awning until there’s just 6″ of the strap exposed. That’s by design of course, and the loop in the end of the strap is now 7 feet high…which is why these awnings always come with a metal pulling device to extend your reach.
What can happen, and I’ve had all these things happen to me before adding this strap extension, is that when trying to retract the awning in the wind, if you lose hold of it, the pull strap can literally disappear inside the rolled up awning. Or, if you have the strap situated too near the end of the awning, and there’s excess strap hanging out, that can be blown up on the roof, again making it difficult to retrieve. I’ve had to retrieve the strap when it’s all wound up inside the awning and that took a tall ladder and the help of a neighbor, on a travel day. Cost an hour. Over the first year of RV ownership, had several difficulties with that short pull strap so I knew I needed to do something. All those problems were before I made this simple mod. After I added this pull strap extension, I’ve not had another issue with a missing or fluttering in the wind so I can’t catch it pull strap.
To do this yourself, first head for Home Depot or any hardware store really, and buy a bag or length of 1/8″ nylon cord. I usually buy it in the bag as it’s easy to store the excess inside and the left over cord comes in handy for other uses while traveling. This particular product comes in 40 foot length and the bag is labeled Nylon Premium Quality 1/8″ #NML40. Only reason I buy it this way is so I have a nice storage bag for the excess cord and it lives in one of my plastic bins.
Here’s what the straps for both brands look like before installation…around 55″ long as I recall.
Awning Pull Strap
Pull strap in position…
On to installation. First I melt the end of the cord so it won’t fray, then cut off a 9 foot section, again melting the cut end. I then take both loose ends and tie them to the end of the awning’s pull cord loop as shown here. And I should mention that of all the pull straps I’ve seen over the years, they all come with that loop from the factory, either as original equipment coming with a new awning, or as a replacement strap.
Now near the extension cord’s looped end, I make a series of knots that will give several choices of where I can hook a bungee. Then I use a small bungee to hook the strap extension to the hole that’s available on the nearby awning arm mounting.
And there you have it. A secure awning strap that even if some of it is pulled up inside the awning as it rolls up, there will always be some cord to help pull the awning back open.
You may wonder if it’s a bother when the awning is extended…no, because I slide the original awning strap and cord to the other end of the awning and wrap it around the awning arm. Either end works. And even if there’s wind whipping the strap with cord around, I’ve never failed to catch it so I can quickly retract.
And when traveling, yes, it can sometimes whip around and slap into the RV’s sidewall or window but it’s never, over 16 years of doing it this way, never caused any damage or wear to the paint or window frame. I’ve only needed to replace the bungee once in 16 years of use too. Usually I just let it hang from the bracket when I’m parked and it stays there.
I really think this should come with the awnings as it’s very helpful to have.