Taking the awning down

[Mel]

There are lots of threads about getting it up; but how about taking it down. What's the best sequence of actions. (don't say -the opposite of putting it up, thats what i was doing when the pole just missed my head!).
So far so good...un peg; zip out the panels. Problem: how to get the poles down sensibly; Did the roof poles first, he took the poles out, I sort of supported the front, Thats when it it all fell over in a twist of canvas and poles.
All ideas welcome
thanks in advance
mel

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

hi mel.
this is the way I do it , first pull out all the pegs, unzip all the panels, lower the legs "of the awning" to half way, remove the center poles (roof and leg) detach side roof poles and let them drop to floor thereby holding the front up, loosen the front adjusters, then pull the other legs out letting the canvas fall to floor, detach all other poles from the canvas, and pull it out of the awning rail, take the canvas away from the van to fold it up leaving the poles on the floor, fold up the canvas put in bag, then collect all the poles and put into bag,

hope this helps

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Mel / Colin
I do it as per Colin's post but with one exception. Only remove the pegs that secure removable panels. Remove those panels. At this stage the main part of the awning is still pegged, usually the canvas by the poles, stopping any blowing away. Then follow Colin removing the last pegs once you have lowered the poles.

 

[JTQ]

If it has a centre ridge rafter and upright then that is the last bit to be removed as all the rest can be removed and the awning still be held securely up and stable. I leave the "gable" pieces in, telescoped down to minimum length, to nearly the end, removing these two as a single action.
Then go inside and whilst holding up the ridge rafter, remove the upright bouncing it on you foot to stop it being damaged on dropping, then with the canvas on your head carefully unhook the final rafter pole and walk out with it in hand.
Wash bird poo off draped roof with damp cloth, hard brush off dust etc and at leisure slide the awning off via the softer radiused front curve.
Apart from in windy conditions I happily do it single handed; saves arguments.

Edit: With my tall annex just as my Combi years ago that has no centre vertical pole I put in a temporary vertical (using part of a veranda pole), just to make taking down easy, single-handed and stable.

 

[ChrisUK]

We have a 2009 Issabella Minor porch awning with a front removable panel. It never crossed my mind that I should take it out before taking the awning down. After all it did come out of the box with the front panel attached.
This might explain why we got in such a mess taking it down last month, it was windy however.
What do others do with small porch awnings. The Issabella instructions are poor and the video you can see on line is a joke, probably done in a wind free warehouse by a 6 foot six bloke.

 

[JTQ]

Chris,
If I remember correctly the "Minor" does not have a centre vertical pole?
If this is the case I suggest you "borrow" one of the poles used against the van's side as a prop in lieu of that "missing" vertical pole. It may be a tad long, if so simply step the bottom of it in a bit. Or use the veranda pole if you have one and it fits.
With that prop in place you can remove both corner rafters and corner poles, then the two gable poles.
Then with only the centre rafter and that prop in place the awning will still be supported and the whole lot still stable.
It remains then only to do as I explained above in my earlier reply to go inside, and whilst supporting the centre rafter remove the prop, followed by the rafter itself.

Re whether you should remove the front or/and sides that's a personal thing. Isabella tend to suggest you leave them in place. But I always remove them as the first phase of taking down my awnings, primarily to reduce the weight and thus drag on the awning rail, more to aid putting it up next time than taking it down. I think Isabella's angle on this is to help protect the "windows" when folding up and rolling the awning. Indeed it is easy to produce hard folds in the windows if these are folded separately but I am at pains to be very careful doing the folding. Our current Magnum has been up nearing 150 times without too much "wear" so I feel we are not doing much wrong.
If you use that "prop" concept during the erection [until it's needed] I think you will find putting it up a simpler and potentially single handed operation.
John

 

[ChrisUK]

Thanks john, as it happens we use a storm pole as a center pole such as the magnum has as standard. So I will try this next time.

 

[Mel]

Thanks all, I will copy this down and take with me because I'll never remember next time. Looking at your replies, we should have taken more of the front poles out before detaching all the roof poles.
mel