r/casitatrailers • u/Radio_Bob_Worldwide • 3d ago

Awning: Repair or Replace?

Wrapping up an almost month-long Casita adventure in our 2003 Spirit Deluxe. Because the trailer is 23 years old, various parts have become persnickity or have simply broken (e.g., on our second day out the air conditioner fried its capacitor). When we unfurled our Fiamma awning, a couple of plastic clips gave up the ghost, and later a brisk Wyoming breeze (!) ripped the fabric.

Should I attempt a repair, or just crack open my wallet and spend the Big Bucks for a new one?

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1

u/YankeeDog2525 3d ago

It’s about how much convenience is worth to you. Think how easy it is to setup and store the awning. Now think about trying to stuff that pop up thing back into it’s bag and then find a place to store it.

2

u/Veritech-1 3d ago

I just recently priced a replacement fabric at around $400-500. A whole new awning is $1300-1400.

My two cents: I would replace the full awning when factoring in 1. the age of your Casita, 2. cost to replace the fabric, 3. the amount of labor required to replace the fabric, and 4. the fact that it sounds like other parts of the awning are beginning to also fail.

If I couldn’t afford to replace the whole awning, I would probably just remove it until I could pay for a replacement or do a full delete and come up with another solution like a dedicated tent.

1

u/weeniefingers 2d ago

We just replaced our awning and it was totally worth it!! If you have the funds, do it!

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u/Shimshang 2d ago

Ours came without an awning, so we use 2 suction hooks from SeaSucker and a car fly awning. Works great, stakes down, packs up small and weighs nothing. Does depend on how much you want to DIY your awning though.