Visit our Popular Forums

flyfshr · 08-25-2006, 04:25 PM

This is great to hear. Glad its working out for you. Persistance pays off once again. You guys have another outing soon?

Brad
FF

**azflycaster** · 08-25-2006, 04:31 PM

Brad - Sept 23 is Wood Canyon Lake. I should have my awning fixed by then. It does look kind of stange now. It is rolled up and the heads are secured down, but all the arms are off.

steelbird312 · 08-25-2006, 09:38 PM

For what it is worth, with lots of patience, a ballpein hammer, and a LARGE vice, you can straighten out the main arms as well. It will take lots of time, and maybe a large bastard file to knock off the final high spots. Be sure to sparay the file with WD40 before using it on aluminum.

**azflycaster** · 08-25-2006, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steelbird312

For what it is worth, with lots of patience, a ballpein hammer, and a LARGE vice, you can straighten out the main arms as well. It will take lots of time, and maybe a large bastard file to knock off the final high spots. Be sure to sparay the file with WD40 before using it on aluminum.

I think I will pass on this one.

SafeHarbor · 08-25-2006, 09:56 PM

I'm glad that Zip-Dee is stepping up to the plate with you.

They can weather this one with their reputation intact.

Lamar

**azflycaster** · 08-26-2006, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SafeHarbor

I'm glad that Zip-Dee is stepping up to the plate with you.

They can weather this one with their reputation intact.

Lamar

I think this is a good solution to my problem. I did not think I could get it fixed for free, the problem was my fault. When you deal with companies you sometimes need to take it to the top. It's an empowerment issue. I find that the people who run companies are basicly good people who want to work with their customers.

2airishuman · 08-26-2006, 11:14 AM

hi azflycaster and others...

it's good to read this pending outcome.

really it is getting harder to find companies with any national presence...

that still have a personal touch with customers.

it helps when the customer has a realistic expectation of costs and out comes.

i hope zipdee can stay afloat (make a profit) and the new owners can keep the reputation intact.

i haven't been a fan of the steel arms as replacements for aluminum, but clearly this is an example of why the change is useful. so i will stop moaning about the extra lubrication mine need.

that's a big bend. post pictures of the arm/s when they return.

cheers
2air'

**azflycaster** · 08-26-2006, 11:30 AM

The bent arm in the picture is not the part being repaired. It is the piece that extand outof it and attaches to the head that are going to be repaired. They are steel and do not have much (about 2") bend. The pictured part is toast!

**azflycaster** · 09-19-2006, 07:48 PM

I talked with Candy (a very nice lady) at ZipDee today and my awning parts are on their way to Phoenix! The UPS tracking shows them on time with a delivery date of Thursday. Just in time for this weekends flyfishing outing.

CanoeStream · 09-19-2006, 08:30 PM

Hey Richard -- Where we fishing this weekend? This was a pic from fishing with small perch Rapalas on a put-and-take stocked lake in far NE Minnesota two weeks ago -- 7 rainbows on the stringer. Five of 'em were my retirement present.

Humility came two days later when trying for splake on a very remote small lake. Nada!

dbradhstream · 09-20-2006, 03:42 PM

Man, why couldn't I have read this string before my awning collapsed in a Florida downpour a few months ago?

(Luckily, I awoke a couple days afterward to the sounds of a mobile rv repairman working on the A/C of an RV two spaces down. He had a vice mounted to the front of his van and bent and pounded and pounded and bent the severely bent bar until it fit back into the larger arm. He charged me $75 and I was so happy I paid him that and gave him a $20 tip for being in the right place at the right time! After fixing it he taught me the "leave one side low" trick but with this fickle Florida weather I now roll it up if there's a chance of a thunderstorm.)

Cracker · 09-20-2006, 05:42 PM

Being a Florda Gator - as well as a native Floridian that started sailing when I was 9 years old - I just had to chime in! You can't appreciate the power of wind until you've spent a lot of time sailing - or enjoyed Florida's frequent afternoon thunderstorms on an exposed coastal location. Any awning is, at best, a fair weather piece of hardware that has no business being up when the weather turns bad. Doing the Airstream "salute" - with one end of the awning pitched down - works great in a gentle rain with no wind but, and unfortunately, rain is all-too-often accompanied by wind. Note the earlier airplanes (---like in the "Wright Flyer") with they're fabric wings arched to create lift - and then imagine a moderately strong wind blowing over the top of the airfoil-shaped roofs of our Airstreams. It's a recipe for disaster! Think too, that the sails on a 38' sailboat, with the boat weighing over 15 tons, can easily propel that boat thru the water at 10 or 11 knots. Nuff said! IMHO I just don't think that we can hold the awning manufacturers to a performance standard that surpasses what we should reasonably expect and, again, IMHO we should never leave any awning unattended. As for poorly designed and mal-functioning hardware - that's another subject.

joel · 09-23-2006, 07:19 PM

Try calling colaw rv salvage in Carthage Mo. We were there 2 months ago and they had a few arms in stock.If I remember right I paid 30 or 40 dollars for the bottom inside section of one of my zip dee arms.You might have to polish it to mathc the rest of your new arms but that is easy compared to 300.00.I know they ship anywhere
I-site is www.colawrvsalvage.com
or1-877-548-2125
Try to talk to james if you can. He knows his stuff pretty wel. Good luck

**azflycaster** · 09-25-2006, 10:30 PM

The parts from ZipDee arived last week just in time for an outing with my flyfishing club. It only took 20 minutes to put the pieces back together and she looks great. The total cost of repair was $175. I worked with Candy at ZipDee and she was great! The bad news - It was so windy this last weekend I never opened the awning!

47WeeWind · 09-25-2006, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by azflycaster

The parts from ZipDee arived last week just in time for an outing with my flyfishing club. It only took 20 minutes to put the piecec back together and she looks great. The total cost of repair was $175. I worked with Candy at ZipDee and she was great! The bad news - It was so windy this last weekend I never opened the awning!

Richard:

Congratulations on the successful repair. As they say in the southwest, shade is the better part of discretion.