Additional Awning?

We've only had our 2619 out about 10 times but so far we have not had to use our awning. This is because we seem to always end up facing north which puts the door and awning on the east side which does nothing to help with the hot sun in the afternoon.
Sooooo we are considering installing a Fiamma F45 Plus (same as the original unit) on the opposite side so no matter what direction we face one of the awnings will do some good.
Any comments? Has anyone installed one on their own with success? Does anyone see a problem in doing this (other than cost)?
Thanks in advance.

Dick_B

Dick,

A novel and intriguing idea.  However, I'd call the factory before I installed it.  The reason being, while visiting the TrailManor factory last month, I noticed the engineers have built in specific framing where required.  They would be able to tell you if it were feasible to install a second awning on the street side of the TM.

Happy Trails..........George

[Carol]

You might want to try a clip-on chair type beach umbrella over the refrigerator vent. We did this in combo with removing the vent cover. Another option is to run a small fan for cooling for the refrigerator when fully exposed to the sun on that side. I know there are more issues than just the refrigerator, but this may help with that problem anyway. :D

I called Jimmie Simmons at the TrailManor factory and he reminded me that if we added 46 lbs of awning to the unit we should replace the torsion bars because the additional weight would make it harder to open the trailer. He said that the torsion bars are carefully chosen to optimize the opening and closing forces.
After hearing that I decided not to add an additional awning but to try to face south or southeast when choosing a site in the sun which would put the awning on the sunny side in the afternoon.

Dick_B

To Carol,

Thanks for the response about putting the umbrella over the refrigerator opening.
I can send you more information about the foam we installed just below the opening inside the walls, of course, that directs the air more toward the cooling coils than prevously. This is not an original idea with me, and some have used a metal baffle arrangement, but it greatly improves the refrigerators efficiency to where we keep it set on 3 1/2 and it keeps things nicely cool on 120 VAC. When traveling we put it on DC and turn on the fan.
Hope this makes sense. Email me directly if you need more info.
Dick_B
email: [email protected]

[Happytrails]

As far as structure is concerned, you have the same thing on one side as the other up there where the wall meets the ceiling, but YES, Jimmy "Davis" WILL tell you that the torsion bars account for everything.....I called him about adding a roof mount AC unit to mine, got the same response.....new torsion bars cost around 100.00 or so, you'd need two......so figure in an extra $200.00 plus installation that runs about 50.00 an hour........Not really worth it if ya ask me..........Unless you don't mind lifting the extra weight of the awning on the front section, but I would check with the factory first to make sure it wouldn't put any "undue" stress on the torsion bars while it's set up...............Might check into the campsites first and pick one more to your liking?

... You might also consider one of the lightweight versions of the EZ-UP awning for the price.   It'll take some room on your floor when you travel as they're about 4 or 5 feet long when folded.   But then you have a portable awning, too.