Solera HYBRID Awning Review
First a little background. The wife and I were having a hard time using the Sunchaser awning that came on our cruiser. She has a lot of metal in one ankle due to a accident and I can not stand very long and sometimes to set up the awning she had to use a ladder which was difficult for her. So we planned to replace the awning also the fabric was getting old and starting to deteriorate so it was time. So what were our choices? Another manual awning or a power awning. The manual awning was out and we were worried with the stories of power awnings failing and having to retract them by hand that was also not a very good option.
So after many hours on the web we found the Solera HYBRID awning. For those that do not know it a combination of both kinds of awnings - a "hybrid". It looks and is a power awning with no motor. You have a crank rod that you hook to a loop and then turn the crank to open or close. You can also stop any place and it stays there. When you closed it locks so no need for travel latches. There is no motor to fail and since there is no motor there is nothing to wire.
So on to the install. The dealer we use and highly recommend to anyone in mid Mo. is Shoemakers Rv in Bevier Mo. just west of Macon Mo. on hwy 36. They have done some work for us in the past and do what they say when they say. Took the cruiser in for a estimate and to get measurements as the short arms on the hybrid awning would be a tad bit to long. Dealt with Aaron the head of the service dept. And while doing the measurements he checked our old awning roller tube and said it could be reused with new fabric and the solera universal replacement arms which saved us some money.
One of the things we like about Shoemakers is they order the parts and when they are there then make the appointment to do the job. So we got the call to drop it off and as they are about 80 miles from the house we dropped it off after hours to be worked on the next week.
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2009 Seville VF32KS
2019 GMC Sierra 3500HD Crew Cab Denali.
6.6 Diesel standard box.
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