Awning Channel

[tomsam]

Hi all. we have a 2007 Baily Discovery ( Neptune) and have purchased an awning for the the coming season ( our 1st Awning). During a break from the windy winter weather we decided to have a trial run on erecting the awning. Oh dear !. There is a channel but no
( how do i describe it? ) Bent out opened bit in the channel to feed the awning cord into. The only way is to remove the lower trim end cap. surely this , as it was sealed is not the way to do it. Did i get a " Made on Friday" caravan or was there not one put in on all vans. My next question is is there a tool to open up the groove? Thank you in anticipation

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

hi, Oh dear must admit I've never come across this before and with without the ability to to post and illutration it is difficult to describe what it should look like, somwhere along the the raill should be a wider bit, if the ends are capped the opening may be further away from the end. if memory serves the fleetwood had capped ends and the opening was about 12/14in away from the end of the rail on the upright bit as the last 12in sort of curved inwards.
all I can say is that our bailey has a awning rail on both sides of the van and both rails have openings on either end.
one possibility is the rail has been changed at some time otherwise it is possible to open the end up using long nosed pliers with a piece of leather or such in the jaws to protect the rail it does not need to be very wide just enough to get the cord in.
hope this helps
colin

 

[Parksy]

Hi Tomsam, welcome to the Practical Caravan forum. It might help if you give the awning channel a few squirts of silicone spray before you begin and you could also use the spray on the beading which feeds into the channel.
Pledge furniture polish also contains silicone and might work.
Grip the awning beading with the weight of the remainder of the awning resting on the ground so that there is no tension when you try to feed it into the opened gap. There is a bit of a knack to this, when the end of the beading is started in the gap it might help if another person gently feeds the beading in and keeps it pressed toward the back of the channel while you carefully pull it along.
Awning rail spreaders are readily available but try the silicone first. Leave the end cap in place, once you've got the hang of erecting the 'divorce in a bag' you will wonder why it seemed so difficult but it's a painful rite of passage that we all go through

Edit: There's some footage for an Isabella awning Here, it's on a continental caravan so it's on the opposite side but it might give you some idea

 

[tomsam]

Thanks for all the advice and for the welcome. I shall endevour to apply those remedies.

 

[WatsonJohnG]

This what you need rather than an awning rail spreader
It slips over the railside and you bend it outwards
I did it on the top part of the rail and was able to insert the Fiamma Cravanstor without unrolling it
Unfortunately they couldn't do our Swift Challenger as the gap is narrower than previously and the tool wouldn't go in
I have borrowed one from North Staffs Caravans a couple of times and it worked well on the Bailey Senators and previous Swift

http://www.leisureplus.co.uk/browse-products/workshop-tools/x626-awning-rail-opening-tool