Any way to "shrink" a baggy awning?

Beatonboys

Hi all,

We inherited a Ventura awning when we bought our caravan 5 years ago.

Great bit of kit but it's been ruined by heavy rain pooling on the roof and sagging / stretching the material.

I've bought extra poles etc to try and cope but I still stress whenever it rains...fed up of being up at 2, 3, 4 am pushing gallons of water off the roof but my wife just says if it collapses then so be it - but she doesn't then have to deal with the aftermath!

I know it sounds silly but is there any sort of product that'll shrink it back a bit - I'd put it on a super hot wash if I could!

As ever, many thanks in advance!

Chris

 

Bakers2

Never had an awning so could be completely off the wall 😲 however I am a dressmaker.

Too much material is dealt with by a dart, don't cut any material and if it doesn't work it could be unpicked.

Without seeing it my instinct would be to do one or two, possibly more depending on how much of a sag. Making them front to back, similar to vertical darts in a ladies dress or back of a man's fitted shirt. Substantial thread and needles will be required a decent haberdashery store would help, maybe pins too 😉. 

A hot wash will do unchangeable damage to thread structure 😲😲

JayEss

Contact the Isabella service department to see if it’s a repair they can do for you. 

Extugger

I used one of the companies who advertised in the Club magazine who alter/repair awnings (sorry, can't remember who) but they took 10cms off an awning I inherited and they did a perfect job

Beatonboys

Many thanks!

Bakers2 - I know where you're coming from as I "tread the boards" and am used to our seamstress adding a tuck here and there to make costumes fit... not sure it'd work with an awning but maybe!

JayEss and jonray57, many thanks for your suggestions, will try both routes!

ocsid

I have placed my two veranda poles diagonally, one each side from the centre rafter towards the front of the side rafter, to "ease" pooling on a large awning. It can help quite successfully.

MDD10

Google Trio Pair Pontefract.  Did an amazing job extending my Bradcott awning with a perfect match of materials.  I’m sure they would sort it for you.  Much of the business is by courier I understand if required. 

robsail

Not good to leave the awning to pool as all that weight could tear the awning, seen this happen at Incleboro fields.

 

scoobs308

We have had this happen to us. I just dropped the two corner poles so that the rain ran off the roof easier, before it gets chance to pool.

We have a couple of veranda poles, if it happens again I might try this.

lornalou1

Send it to me to put in washing machine, as everything I take out of it is always smaller than when it went in.

bmwles

Hi I had a Dorema awing that was too big so sent it to a company called Trio pair they arranged the collection and delivery and the awning came back as good as new, I would use them again with full confidence great service, hope this helps

RGR2

It depends whether the awning has stretched or is physically too big for the van. I've had awnings successfully made smaller by removing tapered sections in each side of the roof and on one occasion inserting them when we bought a longer van. If you've got a much loved awning why change it?

Check the awning rail dimension, in the handbook if you have it, or by passing a length of string through the rail and dropping vertically to the ground where the string exits the rail.

Then check the awning. Should be a label showing it's size or simply measure it. 

Depending on the result you can get the awning reduced in size quite successfully and much cheaper than a new awning. If it's the right size then maybe it's been allowed to pool due to poor installation, such as poles not properly tensioned, and the stretch may be irreversible. More poles as someone has suggested?