When you search the internet for RV awning replacement fabrics, you’ll soon discover that you have 2 basic options, acrylic or vinyl, with acrylics getting most of the attention. You’ll also find many acrylic manufacturers marketing their fabrics (this is not true of vinyl), leading you to the conclusion that acrylics are and vinyl is nothing more than the poor man’s substitute for the real thing. . In the RV world, that leaves you with A&E (national corporation) using mostly vinyl and Carefree of Colorado taking the high road and using mostly acrylics. Rich man… poor man. The choice couldn’t be easier.
But not so fast! I’ve worked for RV dealers all over the west, owned my own mobile RV repair service, worked on RVs for the weekend camper as well as the “full time” who lives in their RV permanently . As time goes on, the weekend traveler will come to learn what the full-time traveler discovered long before, and that is that RV slider awnings take a beating…that OEM vinyls are subpar and OEM acrylics They stretch.
I am a specialist in the area of sliding awnings. I’ve worked on them, repaired them, replaced them, and now have my own slip replacement fabric company, so what follows is based on my experience.
First, I am not going to disparage acrylic fabrics. They are good, reasonably sturdy, and can last a long time. However, I have found that they have their place. If you drive through any RV park in the winter filled with hundreds of Snowbirds and if you get a little windy, you will see and hear a few slider awnings “slapping” in the wind and in most cases they will be acrylic Carefree of Colorado . Why? Because they are unfortunately prone to stretching in their most vulnerable area, right at the ends where the wind easily reaches them. Another downside to Carefree canopies is that the rest of the canopy often outlasts the Carefree seams…so what good is the best fabric on the planet if the seams aren’t up to the task?
Carefree has changed from Sunbrella, an established name in acrylics, to Recasens, a Spanish company with an established history. Recasens advertises that its fabrics do not stretch. Carefree is hesitant to go that far and has told me that “all fabrics stretch”. I found out that it is in fact her belief and her policies confirm it as I have seen them deny warranty claims on stretched material. Enough talk!
Before we continue, we need to take a closer look at RV slider awnings. Most people don’t understand that slider awnings “take a beating” compared to their patio awning counterparts. One may think that they are “up there and out of the way”, but nothing could be further from the truth. When conditions are “right,” they form clean wind tunnels that will drive RV dwellers “crazy.” Whenever the RV is in use…the slider awning is in use. (This is not true for patio awning) and they are susceptible to wind, rain, sun, storms, hurricanes, etc. On the other hand, any responsible RV’er knows if your patio awning goes “out” in a storm… you may no longer have an awning after the storm has passed.
Both A&E and Carefree (Carefree uses vinyl in some of their awnings) use inferior quality vinyl fabrics in their slider awnings. (If it has a shelf life of 3-5 years… you’re doing fine.) Surprisingly, they seem to believe that no one will notice. OEM vinyls tend to delaminate due to their poor tensile strength and just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, I have a case where A&E sends me an even lighter fabric for a warranty claim. When the client and I discovered the obvious, our jaws dropped. He knew it would only be a matter of time before he went through this again. Therefore, Tough Top Awnings uses a heavier, stronger (very high tensile strength) vinyl that has stood the test of time throughout the United States. Go figure!
In conclusion acrylics have their place. I wouldn’t hesitate to use an acrylic fabric on patio awnings, but for my money (and all my clients’), a high-quality vinyl may be a better option for RV slide-outs.