Zip Dee Awning

[luvrbus]

Wlibur,they are easy to install I do it by myself over 20 ft it would be nice to have help with your Prevost it is a little tricky with the round sides and the flat roof get the rail right it goes together pretty easy.
I don't really follow Zip/Dee instructions when doing myself.
I think all awning give problem from time to time I have helped folks remove the $$$ electric awning from their roof where the wind here has tore those up people wait on the sensor to roll those up sometimes it is not fast enough.
Take care of your Zip/Dee they last, any problem I ever had was caused by me not locking it and 70 mph winds not pretty lol fwiw Bill's 4905 has a 24 ft Zip/Dee been on it for 25 years no sag period only 24 ft one I ever saw without a slight sag.
On the adjustment I don't count the turns I just adjust till the arm stays between 1 and 2 o'clock I don't care what length it is that has worked for me years   


good luck

[blue_goose]

I was sure that this would get Ace to get in here about his Patio awning.  Come on now and tell everyone how it got bent and then give me a call and we will help you fix it.  Or you can leave it like it is now and I will keep ribbing you about the way it works. Enough picking on Ace lets talk about Zipdee.
SPEND THE EXTRA MONEY AND GET NX HARDWARE
If you have the NX hardware your kids can put the awning up and down.  If you have the standard hardware Zipdee makes a kit to change it over the the NX.
Now lets see if I can get the pictures posted that were ask for at the start.  Just two and not the best pictures because of the time of day and where the coach is parked.

[blue_goose]

Lets see if I can post the other picture.

[luvrbus]

What is special about the NX hardware I always have flipped the arms on my ZipDee so the claw hooks to the roller been doing that for 15 years and fwiw I have always installed a 6 foot section of thin wall tubing in the middle riveted to the roller to stop the sag on the 24 footer even done that with other makes and models

good luck

[Jeremy]

I've always wondered about the legality of that type of awning - ie., the sort that has vertical arms permanently attached to the side of the bus. If the bus was built at the factory to the maximum legal width, attaching something to the sides that makes it wider must mean that it then technically infringes the law (lights and mirrors are of course exempted).

The type of awning shown below doesn't have this problem, and is a much neater and more elegant system altogether - but is a much more difficult retro-fit, and is presumably more vulnerable to gusts of wind as it lacks the tri-angulation offered by the vertical / angled arm.




Jeremy

[luvrbus]

Those are Girard awning Jeremy they have their share of problems high dollar also a 20ft is over 5 k for the patio side and they have a housing on top you don't see in the photo and they operate on 110v not DC

good luck

[Dreamscape]

Blue Goose

I went to the Zip Dee site and it doesn't show the NX kit you speak of. Any chance of getting a picture of what is changed? I would like to get the kit, do you have it?

[luvrbus]

Look under parts Paul 160 bucks retail

good luck

[Jeremy]

Those are Girard awning Jeremy they have their share of problems high dollar also a 20ft is over 5 k for the patio side and they have a housing on top you don't see in the photo and they operate on 110v not DC

good luck

Ok thanks; whilst on the subject of those awnings - what exactly are they for in the photo I posted? Are they there to shield the slideout windows (which they barely seem to do), or is their real purpose to prevent leaks by keeping water off the slideout roof? If it's the latter it's a bit scary for those of us constructing home-built slideouts - especially when I believe Prevost uses pneumatic seals on their slideouts, which should provide a faultless seal in all conditions.

Jeremy

[luvrbus]

Those are just for the slides to keep bird stuff,and the weather like snow and rain off and yes Prevost slides do leak like any other LOL

[Ed Hackenbruch]

The PO of my bus put  on 2  7&1/2 ft. and 2 15 ft. Zipdee window awnings. Somewhere along the way he replaced one of the 15 footers with a 21 ft. A&E patio awning. We used it for awhile but i grew to dislike it and sold it. Have wanted to replace it with another 15 ft. Zipdee  widow awning but could not find a used one with all of the hardware until this spring. It was also 21 ft. and just before we left Yuma for the summer i cut it down to size. I need an attachment strip and the money for new fabric for all 4 and then i will be a happy camper.

[JohnEd]

Well, I gotta eat some of my words but it ain't gonna be a feast.  I inherited my A&E awning in 90 and it was certainly not new then.  The aluminum still looks fresh.  I had the original vinyl awning repaired with a new strip that was sun rotted in 95.  And I installed a entire new awning in 2001.  The quality on the new item must have been much inferior as it is near replacement now.  I do nothing but wash them every other year...at most...religiously.  I am so anal about such.  I have never oiled or otherwise lubed anything.  I did take it apart to learn that there is nothing in it that i can "fix" or grease or even tinker with.....just a cam on a shaft.  As I said in another post, I twisted the main support arm alu extrusions into the shape of a compound bow and straightened them with a friend by hand and that was in 90 and they still operate with ease and show no sign of fault or failure.

A&E makes a center support that carries the weight of the center of the awning while the thing is in the stowed position.  That center support would work with any awning or even a small load of lumber as it just sits "under" the rolled up awning and contacts with a wide rubber/fabric strap that is tension adjustable so you can put in an overcompensated upward bow if you are artistic bent(pun intended).  Not a single reason to do that but it is that strong.....and supremely easy.  You can wreck the whole shabang with surprising ease with clear intention.

After extending your awning, you can move the center support off its bottom perch with a flipper release and pivot it out to the main awning.  There, if you followed the instructions and drilled a 1/4 inch hole beforehand, you insert the spike into the awning main rolling tube and, again with ease, move the lever to the tensioning posit and the bend in the awning that is toward the coach is pushed out and the awning sag in the middle becomes something less than drum skin taunt. Rain doesn't collect in the center so leaving the awning up isn't a safety issue.   Less worry?

That leaves the sag in the middle of the extended awning that is in the direction of the ground to deal with.  No surprise that a long 20 plus foot tube/pole suspended on the ends, would droop in the middle.  Again that center support comes to the aid with another feature/surprise.  It actually has a center section that releases and folds down to a vertical posit and the height, here again, is adjustable and you can support the center section in two vectors.....out and down.  Really handy if you attach the added weight of the screen/patio room canvas and probably a serious required add-on.

Now I have never pondered life without this feature cause I always had it.  All this discussion about sag and droop and bent main tubes is a little surprising to me.  I thought "everybody" had one of those supports.  They can be used with any awning thanks to all the adjustments.   Now, I just sit here and wonder why everybody hasn't BOUGHT one.  Your turn to talk.

I only realized that there was more than one mfr of the awnings when I noticed my neighbor at the beach had a different one.  I went over to admire what turned out to be a ZippDee.  To me it looked cheap and under-engineered but I thought that maybe those guys used tempered aluminum that would be stronger but not at all forgiving to bends and tweaks.  And whatever its apparent shortcomings, they were only in comparison to mine and i don't know beans....admittedly.

Ace,

If you rolled out your awning and stopped a half turn short and your sag/bend was aimed UP you could brace the ends with cut 2X4s and press on the center of the tube to straighten it permanently and do it alone unless you weigh less than 80 pounds.  The aluminum tube must not be hardened or it wouldn't have drooped in the first place so bending it straight should not be difficult.  I think this would apply to others and not just yourself so please don't be offended by what might be a general slur on the imaginations of the entire population.  (little joke there)

So if you haven't yet bought the awning, consider the A&E.  Look for a used one as even 20 years old they are like new in appearance and function.  Operation is so very simple and easy that I wonder that an electric/powered model was ever invented.  How about a motorized tooth pic?

HTH,

John

PS;  I have the screen room.

[luvrbus]

What is the difference between A&E and Carefree John ? Ace maybe p***** at Zip/Dee but I bet he would have a hard time trading his Zip/Dee for the A&E or Carefree I know I wouldn't you can be setting in the shade with a Zip/Dee while still trying to get the first leg down on A&E or Carefree.  
Those upright arms going to the power heads on Zip/Dee are a 1in square solid Stainless Steel bar they are not a cheap built or under engineered awnings they are not cheap in price either lol   

good luck

[Ace]

 Jack, I'm not ashamed to say publicly that the awning got a bend that was acquired during installation. $#!% happens, but even after TRYING to straighten it by the book, it ended up worse.
Like I said its a conversation piece now and I dont mind telling people my experience/s with zip-dee ange you know it!
As for pouting the hump of the bend up? Been there end tried that. No go! And if you think the center tube is soft aluminum, think again! I think its more on the lines of galvanized steel that is springy! We had ladders under it and TWO growth men pulled down on it and only thing that did was give us both a good bounce up and down.
The quality in my eyes is good on some of it but in other areas, its the same as anything else.
Next time I get a chance to put it out, I will post pictures.

Clifford, Im not pissed at zip-dee in general but you do get a little irritated when you call then and end up talking to a moron. Heck when I first got it, I called them, and the guy said I couldn't put one of their awnings on a seated coach end said when I was done to send them some pics. I told them Bil Phelan already had put one on his and they almost said it was impossible!
Go figure!

[luvrbus]

I never had that problem I know who to talk to, when the daughter in laws answers I ask for Jack he has been there since the 80's but I have had problems with 24 ft bowing and forget the drawing showing how to remove the bow with awning on the unit lol
I remove the tube and take it to a pipe straightening outfit in my area cost me 15 bucks for them to run it through the machine.
The more I try a remove a bow the worse I make it that tube is tuff stuff it just springs back on me and has a small wobble no matter what I do

good luck