One week to go!

So we've been busy trying to see everyone, and do a few things we haven't got to yet, all the while thinking all we have to do with the motorhome is wash it, when Murphy, who is always lurking, by the way, rears up his head and smacks us.

Jan and I had a quiet evening with just the two of us and we were sitting outside enjoying a glass of the grape just before sunset.  So we extended our main patio awning carefully as to not hit the tree branch that infringes on the right side to block the brilliant sunshine.  Once the sun went down we retracted the awning, noticed in the back of our minds that it sounded just a bit off??  Then as it closed into its case, bam, and out it came at supersonic speed, of course right into the tree branch, AND would not go back in!  Our neighbor and friend Pat heard the bang, and came to see what happened, and then helped us by holding the awning off the tree while we moved the coach ahead a couple feet to get the awning off the tree.  I tried to retract it a couple more times, we could hear the motor running but it seemed that something had either broken or come apart.  Thankfully, the forecast was for calm winds and no rain, and since it was getting dark figured we'd deal with it in the morning.

Well, obviously, I thought of it all night long.  It had to come in somehow, couldn't drive with it out, no way to fix it with it out, etc.  And I knew the company that made the awning was on the west coast so it would be noon before we could talk to them.  I studied the parts diagram and it looked like something had come apart on the "motor set" that is an integrated part containing the motor, a shaft, and two gears that turn the awning roller, the part the fabric rolls up and around.  The principle of the awning is fairly simple, there are 3 spring loaded arms that are trying to extend the awning all the time, the fabric is held taut by that spring pressure, when retracting the awning, the fabric is rolled around the roller by the motor against the spring pressure causing the arms to bend, collapse, and park in the casing.

The circled area is the rail where the front awning is mounted

This photo shows the arms extended with the fabric being installed

Funny, I looked through our thousands of pictures and could not find even one with the awning extended?!?  So the above picture at least shows the concept.

Now I knew we had to get the fabric off the awning in order to close it without the motor, so first thing the next morning with help from our friends Harold and Debbie, and a couple of stepladders, we managed to pull off the fabric.

This shows the fabric being slid out of the grooves

Then with Jan and I on the roof with 2 ropes attached to the awning front rail, and Harold up on one ladder and Debbie on the other, both persuading the arms to bend, we managed to collapse the arms and get the rail back into the case.  We then tied it down so there was no chance of it springing back out.

All tied up

So since then, now that we can travel, we had to figure out what was wrong, and how and where to fix it with only a week left.  I confirmed with the manufacturer that the motor set needed to be replaced, of course it is a one piece unit and can't be repaired:(  It would take a week or so to get here, so we coordinated to have it sent to Creative Coach where we will be in a couple weeks to get some paint and body work done anyway.  We will replace the motor set there.  Unfortunately the way the awning is mounted, it will need to come completely off as the motor set is removed and reinserted from the end which is inaccessible while mounted.  We are confident Creative Coach can handle the whole repair perfectly.

So with that unexpected problem out of the way, we are getting things cleaned up, chairs, grill, and mats put back in our storage unit so we will be ready to roll in a week.  Will anything else surprise us?