When we bought our
1968 Airstream Sovereign a number of years ago it came with an A&E awning that had sustained some damage - ripped fabric and bent/broken top brackets.
In the process of the restoration we removed it and, since we couldn't find replacement top brackets for it (I was told that they were pretty much unavailable for that waning), it never made it back on. In the few years we've been using the trailer we've learned that we want an awning again, so I've been working on refitting it.
I managed to find some old awning top brackets for it but they're a different style, sitting about an inch higher than the old ones. With sweat and a certain amount of bad language, I've managed to swap them over and reinstall the awning.
With the new brackets I've got the arms to sit a steady distance away from the sides/roof as opposed to right against it (which seems like a good thing), however, it also means that the entire awning is supported an inch above the roof of the trailer, and its weight is supported only by the arms at either end, where previously it rested on the roof along its whole length. I don't know if this is how it should be or not..
I'm concerned that this may have the potential to cause problems by overloading the bottom brackets with al the weight of a 20' awning roller bouncing up and down on them - we have horrible roads up here in Manitoba. On a vertical sided trailer the weight could not be supported on the roof like it can on the curved side of an Airstream, but then it could be supported to some extent by the spring tension through the awning fabric; which it isn't with the roller an inch above the awning rail..
I hope that someone with more awning experience might be able to venture an opinion as to whether this is normal/ok or if it's a disaster in the making...
Thanks,
Rob.
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