Message Forums

Sorry if this is a silly question but we recently bought a Freedom Jetstream & new awning.

My question is how much do we tension the awning?

When we used it, we had quite a lot of rain & spent the afternoon tensioning the poles / slackening the poles / pushing on the roof to stop the water pooling.

Thnaks in advance.

It's not a silly question at all, that's how we all learn, by asking questions and even listening to other peoples answers. I often refer back to articles I read about on here whilst idley browsing. The theory goes that the tighter the material is the less likely it is to 'pool' water especially on the top as this may cause damage by the shear weight of the pool of water. The trick is not to pull everything too tight to actually bend or tear something.

The older canvas materials did tighten or slacken when wet or dry so a certain amount of guy rope adjustment was needed but new man-made fibers are far more stable.

Dave

Our awning is acrylic with fibre poles. I didn't notice any guy lines.

Quote: Originally posted by smartrascal on 23/8/2012

---

Our awning is acrylic with fibre poles. I didn't notice any guy lines.

---

Not all awnings have guy ropes, but they do give greater stability in the wind.

Yours is somewhat freestanding so there isn't much you can do for tentioning the fabric then.

Dave

drum tight is as tight as a drum skin but i have never have been able to get it that tight. my isabella awning, you can get really tight by using the poles but you will still have some movement of the awning roof. So drum tight perhaps not such a good

Euphemism.

If you find pooling try moving the poles down or up on the roof ends i found this when i put mine a little too high i got a small pool of water

Thanks for the info. Should we get one of those "tensioning guns"?

Hi smartrascal I have one brilliant bit of kit

Keith

Quote: Originally posted by smartrascal on 23/8/2012

---

The poles can extend / shorten & be tightened.

---

Yes, I think a pole tentioner would be a good idea, I have a Hercules one, I bought it second hand and it does a great job.

Dave

Quote: Originally posted by polar69 on 23/8/2012

---

I tension mine, a sunncamp of some description, drum tight. However it drives me nuts as the small porch bit at the front always sags !

---