We all know that putting out your patio awning really helps to keep your RV cooler inside! Our ACs work hard enough in our ” foil wrapped baked potatoes”!
WHY INSTALL MORE SHADE ON THE STREET SIDE (Driver side)?
If your Refrigerator is on your driver’s (street) side it really can benefit from shade too. It won’t have to work so hard to keep things cool. It won’t build up front in the freezer as easy…you will increase safety and longevity of your 2 or 3 way refrigerator!
Here are photos of us installing new snaps for our Airgear Sunshade onto our DRIVER SIDE Zipdee window awnings. It took approximately 20 minutes to do. The snap receivers are placed UNDER the awning valance. ***Follow the Airgear Sun Shade install directions carefully. They are very good! ***
What you will need:
1. Helps to have a helper to hold up slack. We also used duct tape to hold the unsnapped portion level into the roller bar. Also the helper can provide gentle downward pressure from the outside top of the roller bar when other person is riveting.
2. Marking pen of some type, we used a fine point Sharpie marker.
3. Rivet gun (snap sets comes with the short rivets needed)
4. Drill and DRILL STOP to make a small hole for rivet to be placed into for riveting in snap receiver side.
5. Spring loaded center punch hand tool for creating a small divets into the roller bar to align the rivet into.
We have used our Airgear Sun Shade (this is their Grey color) on many occasions when we are in a full sun location (especially in AZ, NM and TX) and ALSO when we are at very tight, zero privacy sites so we set boundaries and want to have more semblance of privacy.
Using it easily drops the temp under the awning and inside by 10°!!
It works great, folds up neatly into its own storage bag that comes with it.
** NOTE when we ordered it we ordered a dozen or so extra snap receivers so we could install the snap sets on both sides of our rig on the awning roller bars!
Once the awning is up, Kevin uses the bungy cords and normal tent states to secure the shade in place. In the event of a storm with wind or heavy rain we WILL take this down and may even pack it away. You do not want that extra weight and pull on your window awning hardware!
This sunshade can be installed on many brands of awnings, i.e. Carefree, A & E, etc. Their printed install directions are excellent.
OTHER SET UP OPTIONS: We have also sometimes used our retractable patio poles (LOVE THESE THINGS!) set at about a 40 inch height to extend out the shade on our patio side. The grommets on the bottom of the shade are placed over the tent pole tips then held in place with the rubber tip covers already onnthe poles. This makes for a nice enclosed feeling “porch”, again to keep off sun, keep cooler under the awning and for more privacy.
Here is the link about purchasing the Airgear Sun Shade. The quality is excellent as is their customer service. We have the 15 foot sunshade.
Hope you got something out of this post! Let us know your tips for keeping cooler!
Stay safe, happy travels!
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