Replacement of Fiamma 45i awning

I had the center support, but it didnt really seem to do much.  Even less when I forgot it was in there,  , rolled up the awning until SNAP I had a two piece center support. 

Strong winch on the fabric. I honestly did not notice the extra effort, if any, it took to snap the brace.

Dont get me wrong, if I were shopping for a lightweight, economical sunshade for an RV this would fit the bill. I am looking for a much more robust product, however. 

And now that the cover wont close because of the torn fabric...removal may go on this weekend.  Lucky for me we only had 14 miles to go from the last party to home. Otherwise i would have resorted to field expedients to remove the awning... with resulting lack of re-use.

Found this, hope it will help.   https://faroutride.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Fiamma-F45S-manual.pdf

Yes, we have a center support for our awning.

I have set up the support legs both ways, on the ground and in the brackets. We have to be careful opening the cabin door because if opened too far it hits the support. Also the door won’t stay open without using a bungee cord to keep it in place.

Interesting you use the center support yet still have issues with a breeze.

Regarding the main entry door hitting the pole....  Early on I came up with this remedy, crude but effective.  It also protects things if the wind rips the door out of hand.  I chain a few bungee cords between the entry door and side mirror to hold it open when needed.  A nice thing about the rope, it's easy to loop-on to limit, and loop-off when you want the full swing.  If the rope is off when it's windy outside, we loop it on before unlatching the door from the inside.


A couple years later, Phoenix installed a pneumatic door opener which addressed the problem in proper fashion.  We quickly adapted to the rope and so it serves us well to this day.  I actually have two lengths of ropes hanging off the door jamb, one a little longer that doubles as a quick clothes line inside looping over a near by upper cabinet knob.

I'm just sharing what I did back in 2007.  I am NOT saying it's what everyone without a door closure should do.  That goes for so much of what I share.

I had the center support, but it didnt really seem to do much.  Even less when I forgot it was in there,  , rolled up the awning until SNAP I had a two piece center support. 

Strong winch on the fabric. I honestly did not notice the extra effort, if any, it took to snap the brace.

Dont get me wrong, if I were shopping for a lightweight, economical sunshade for an RV this would fit the bill. I am looking for a much more robust product, however. 

And now that the cover wont close because of the torn fabric...removal may go on this weekend.  Lucky for me we only had 14 miles to go from the last party to home. Otherwise i would have resorted to field expedients to remove the awning... with resulting lack of re-use.

Found this, hope it will help.   https://faroutride.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Fiamma-F45S-manual.pdf

What can I say?    It's time to look at something better.  I don't have to tell you...  "Bigger Is Also Better"

Well now. The link I posted above for the Fiamma f45s was useless. BUT SO WAS THE ORIGINAL MANUAL.    Both of them do not show how the awning is mounted.

Pictures coming, but the awning is off and holes sealed. Looks as if there was 'history' here too... there was a second set of screw holes offset by ~1 inch or so that had marks around them that looked like they were ripped out.  Then the awning replaced/remounted.

 

I’ll take a SWAG that it hooks into a channel in the rain gutter/drip rail that was also made by Fiamma, with some screw holes drilled through the back of the housing to keep it in place????

Well, I think the awning rail/drip rail is factory from PC. Same thing on the other side, and looks like a critical piece to hold the roof skin on.

The awning itself, from a side view, LOOKS as if it would lift/rotate out and be removed. It would not do so for us, for whatever reason.  We had to slide it out the back, and carefully support it during those last few feet... my nephew up on a 12 foot ladder.   

RE:screws-  when you extend the awning, you could see 3 screws on either end and 4 near the middle that went into the coach. Took those out, and broke the glue seal to release the unit to the 'sliding back and forth' state..  I had to cut the awning the rest of the way to extend the frame, as when I rolled it up to get home the material fouled in the roller and would not roll out.

Pictures coming!  I forgot to bring the camera in to work to post them.  I am still impressed...negatively... that the factory manual mentioned nothing about the mounting I have. Pages and pages of non-applicable things in 6 languages.   

Torn Awning.



Had to cut the rest of the awning to access screws



Fabric was bunched up on support. Center four mounting screws are visible here.



Both ends had three screws



Bungee cords are wrapped around the arms to hold things. Tried to lift the awning off, did not work.
It does slide freely back and forth in the awning rail.



So we slide it out the back. CAREFULLY.



The red circles show the old mounting holes. Green shows the new.



Its off!  Now to get a new one...

Well done Volkemon Thanks for TOFTT !!

Hi Volkemon,

If I understand correctly....

To avoid disturbing the rain gutter and sealed roof, you instead slid the awning sideways out the rear.  If the rain gutter directly above it wasn't there, you would have room to pivot and lift the box awning off the aluminum mounts.

Did I get that right?

How heavy is your fully assembled awning?  Could you have lightened the load by partially disassembling it?

Maybe you cover this in detail but I missed it.

Whatever new awning you decide to get, I assume you will need to locate the aluminum studs to mount it firmly, likely using the existing holes.

Ron Dittmer

Hi Volkemon,

If I understand correctly....

To avoid disturbing the rain gutter and sealed roof, you instead slid the awning sideways out the rear.  If the rain gutter directly above it wasn't there, you would have room to pivot and lift the box awning off the aluminum mounts.

Nope!  Sounds like you read the instructions also.  The original book on that awning, that came with the coach papers, had NOTHING in it that applied to my mounting.     There are no other mounting plates, no screws in the bottom, etc.   The back of the awning box had a " J " shape that fit snugly into the factory awning rail. LOOKS like one could lift-and-rotate the piece out, but it does not allow for that.  I dont think there really is a gutter.. I must look again. Or maybe the water collects between the awning and rail. See? MORE PICTURES NEEDED. 



How heavy is your fully assembled awning? 
Guessing 60 pounds? Maybe a bit more. One man can move it around easily on the ground.

Could you have lightened the load by partially disassembling it?

I tried. The arms do NOT come off the body or the extending part without drilling out the rivits that hold the end covers. The inner arm mount has 2 allen heads, and the backer comes out, but there is no clearance to get the assembly out the front. I tried, thats why the arms are 'kittywampus' in the housing, and the extending part is shifted to the back. Easy fix should someone replace the fabric. The best option was to bungee the ass'y together to reduce bulk.


Whatever new awning you decide to get, I assume you will need to locate the aluminum studs to mount it firmly, likely using the existing holes.

Not likely. The existing awning mounted a box to the coach. The new one will mount only at the very ends, and right at the top. Old holes will be filled and finished before paint. The new awning will have the fabric slide into the same rail, then the side rails will anchor outside. Pilot holes carefully sized, and careful installation will be the foundation for a strong mount.

Ron Dittmer

Pictures will be posted for install also.   Just need to get an awning kit...SOON!!     Next festival is May 15. http://www.orangeblossomjamboree.com/  and I am in charge of audio and video documenting of the event.


Chatting with Calcruiser, we determined that his awning never got the end mounting bolts. Only the middle.    So when he rolled it up, the housing pulled away from the wall. Waiting to hear if more screws fixed the problem.

The channel in the top of the extruded rail is a rain gutter. There should be little angled flat  plastic diverters at the ends. Mine were toast so I replaced all 4 with Camco extended spouts, but the dew still drips onto the sidewalls at the widest point because of the tapered wall PC design. I had to trim the one by the slide topper to fit.

Thanks Volkemon  for solving the mystery of why the right end of my F45 Plus 3.5 appears to wobble as I finish retracting it. I may drill a hole and add a screw into the sidewall, but now that I know it’s just the awning housing warping under tension it doesn’t really bother me anymore.

As Volkemon stated, the Fiamma F45  installation instructions and mounting diagrams DO NOT APPLY to the Phoenix Cruiser because of it’s clever (maybe proprietary ?) extruded roof rail. Maybe Tina can make this a sticky thread ??

but now that I know it’s just the awning housing warping under tension it doesn’t really bother me anymore.

[rant]
[/rant]


*
Yes indeed, there is a gutter. I overlooked it. They told me I would go blind...   

EDIT - The gutter/awning rail is not a proprietary item. Easy Peasy stock stuff. 



The awning assembly SHOULD drop out of the awning rail. I examined the rail on my coach closely... and it shows trauma. Gap varies. That and the double screw holes ..... I think the awning I removed was #2. 

I had a section of awning rail, and it does lift off of the Fiamma awning. Here it is mocked up as mounted on the coach.



Here it is with the awning rotated 180* up. Maybe a tad more... but it released from the rail.




I bet if we had rotated my awning up, and slapped it down out of the rail....it would have fallen out. NOW I know... 

I dread the day I have to replace our awning material.  12 years so far and still good.  But we don't use our awning much so it remains fairly well preserved.

I dread the day I have to replace our awning material.  12 years so far and still good.  But we don't use our awning much so it remains fairly well preserved.

Ron, the way you maintain that coach, my money is the awning fabric outlasting you. 


 I bet with the awning on the ground it isnt that bad a job. Anyone that wishes to live the adventure can have my awning...      I wish it was ~10 foot so I could use it on the carrier.

Anyone that wishes to live the adventure can have my awning...      I wish it was ~10 foot so I could use it on the carrier.

Not big enough for the Phoenix and too big for the trailer. 

I never understood why back in the day Phoenix installed a 12 foot awning on model 2350.  The 14 foot is the one that fits right, looks right, and works right.  It was less than a $100 MSRP price increase to customers to get the 14 footer, so you know the difference to Phoenix was less yet.  As pointed out to me earlier, the 12 foot's interference with the outdoor storage compartment makes it a poor choice.  I wonder what Phoenix was thinking back then.  Maybe they got a truck load of 12 footers exceptionally cheap?