WINNEBAGO TRAVATO – Awning Mechanism Repair and Fabric Replacement

Awning Mechanism Repair and Fabric Replacement for WINNEBAGO TRAVATO

A dealer quoted me $2,400 in labor alone to swap out a shredded Thule HideAway awning on a Travato — no parts, no sealant, just the hours to unbolt it, pull the fabric, and bolt the new one back down. That’s the moment you realize a full-time rig’s awning isn’t optional convenience; it’s infrastructure, and when it fails, you’re either paying someone five figures for the season or learning to fix it yourself in your own driveway. The reality is worse than the labor bill: a torn fabric left half-deployed in wind can yank fasteners clean through the ProMaster’s upper rail, converting what should be a straightforward fabric swap into a water intrusion and structural repair nightmare. I’ve tackled all three failure modes on this system — fabric shredding from UV and thermal cycling, a motor that groans once then locks up, and a pull strap that frays and snaps without warning — and this is what I learned hands-on, not regurgitated from a service manual, so you’ll understand not just the steps but the reason each one keeps you from having to pay that $2,400 check.

Required Parts

• Replacement awning fabric (measure your awning width before ordering) Heavy-Duty RV Awning Fabric Replacement 16ft – RV Canopy
• Universal replacement awning motor (Solera / Dometic compatible) Aaiov 373566 RV Awning Motor Replacement – Universal, Solera Power Awning Compatible
• Awning roller tube replacement (for A&E and similar systems) Solera Awning Roller and Fabric Assembly 10′ Black/White
• UV-resistant awning pull strap (27″, sewn in USA) EZ-Xtend RV Awning Pull Strap, UV Polyester Webbing, 27″ – Made in USA
• Camco awning de-flappers / wind stabilizers (2-pack) Camco Awning De-Flapper Max – Rust-Resistant Wind Stabilizer, 2 Pack (42251)
• Telescoping awning rod / hook (13¾”–44¾” reach) Scottchen PRO RV Awning Rod Opener, Telescopic Puller 13-3/4″ to 44-3/4″, Stainless Steel
• Safety fall-protection strap (for ladder work at van height) TRSMIMA Safety Strap Fall Protection – 6ft Cross Arm Anchor Strap with Double D Ring

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Set Up Safely and Assess the Damage

Position the Travato on level, solid ground — the high ProMaster roofline puts that awning rail at roughly 9 feet up, so you’re looking at a minimum six-foot stepladder to reach it safely. Before you climb anything, clip your safety tether to a roof anchor point or the ladder frame itself; an accident at that height turns a repair day into an ER visit. With the awning fully retracted, walk the driver side’s entire length and inspect for three distinct problems: chalking or tears in the fabric (brittle spots that shed white powder when you rub them), a frayed or missing pull strap loop, and whether the roller tube is sitting evenly in both end caps or tilted to one side. Manually extend the awning using your telescoping rod in the pull strap loop — if it binds or only rolls out partway before resisting, you’ve got a spring or motor problem. Shoot photos of both end caps in detail before you touch anything; the Thule HideAway 1200 has a driver-side cap and a passenger-side cap that are absolutely not swappable, and mixed-up caps during reassembly is the number-one DIY stumble on this entire system.

Step 2: Disconnect Power to the Awning Motor

The Thule HideAway 1200 motor is a 12V DC inline unit housed in the driver-side (rear) end cap, and its power runs through the awning rail channel down into the van’s wall cavity, eventually landing at the fused 12V distribution block in the driver-side lower cabinet — the same cabinet where your Xantrex Freedom XC inverter/charger lives. Open that cabinet, locate the dedicated awning fuse (usually marked 10A or 15A), and pull it straight out. Don’t just flip the Xantrex switch or think that shutting off shore power kills 12V circuits; the Travato’s 12V bus stays energized from the house batteries until you physically yank the fuse or disconnect the batteries themselves. Press the awning button on the wall (usually near the driver entry) to confirm the motor doesn’t respond — silence means you’re safe. Tape painter’s tape over the fuse slot with a handwritten note so a crew member doesn’t re-insert that fuse while you’re on the roof.

Step 3: Remove the End Caps and Extract the Roller Tube

Two cast-aluminum mounting brackets bolt the Thule HideAway 1200 to the ProMaster’s upper rail — one near the B-pillar, one near the C-pillar on the driver side — and each bracket has either a locking lever or a hex bolt that releases the tube downward. Have a helper ready to support the tube’s weight while you work. Start with the driver-side end cap (the motor end) using a T25 Torx driver — three screws hold the plastic cap to the bracket. The motor’s two-pin Deutsch-style connector has a squeeze-tab lock; squeeze it and pull the connector straight out, never yank the wires themselves. On the passenger side (spring end), the spring is under full tension even when retracted — as the last screw comes loose, cup your hand over that end cap because the spring can eject it hard enough to hurt you. Lower the entire roller tube assembly to the ground with your helper steadying it. The tube with motor is deceptively heavy — expect 18–22 pounds depending on awning width.

Step 4: Replace the Pull Strap

The pull strap is the easiest thing to fix on this whole system and typically the last thing anyone tackles until it snaps at a crowded rest stop. On the Thule HideAway 1200, the strap threads through a slot in the roller tube and locks in place via a sewn fabric flap that gets clamped down under the fabric’s leading edge during final assembly. If you’re only swapping the strap (not the full fabric), you can do this work with the tube still mounted by extending the awning fully and working from the ground. Feed the new 27-inch UV-rated pull strap through the roller slot from the outside, then tie a temporary overhand knot on the interior end so it doesn’t slide back through while you’re working. The exterior end with the sewn loop hangs free for your awning rod to hook into. Once the fabric retracts, the strap’s own tension holds it in the slot — no glue required. If the old strap left behind gummy adhesive, wipe it out with isopropyl alcohol on a cotton swab before threading the new one, or that new strap will catch in the same spot and fray just like the last one.

Step 5: Replace the Awning Fabric

With the roller tube on the ground, you’ll see the fabric anchors at two locations: the leading edge wraps around and gets sewn/clamped into the roller tube slot (the same slot your pull strap runs through), and the trailing edge slides into the body rail’s awning track using a beaded hem called the drop wire or bead cord. Pull the old fabric’s bead cord out of the van’s rail track — it comes free like you’re removing weatherstripping from a window. At the roller tube, unscrew the aluminum clamp bar (two M6 screws with a 10mm socket) that locks the sewn leading edge into the slot, then peel the old fabric away. Before throwing away the old one, measure its width and cross-check against your replacement fabric’s specs — Travato awnings come in 10-foot and 11-foot versions depending on what year the van was built. Slide your new fabric’s sewn leading edge into the tube slot, reinstall the clamp bar, and tighten the screws evenly so the fabric sits flat without wrinkles or bunching. After that, slide the new bead cord into the van’s rail track from the back end working forward, keeping gentle tension on the fabric so it feeds straight and doesn’t fold or twist.

Step 6: Test or Replace the Awning Motor

If the motor is the culprit (not just the fabric), now’s the moment to install a replacement Thule or Solera-compatible universal motor before you bolt the tube back up to the van. The motor slides out the driver-side end of the tube after you remove the end cap — it’s held by a splined shaft and a spring clip. Photograph the motor’s orientation before you pull it out so you don’t second-guess yourself during reassembly. The replacement should drop in using the same spline; if it feels loose, verify you have the right diameter variant for your tube. Before you lock down the end cap permanently, do a quick bench test: plug the motor’s two-pin connector into a spare 12V source like a battery jump pack and check which direction it turns. The tube should unroll fabric in one direction and retract it in the other. If the rotation is backward, use a pin-extraction tool to swap the two pins inside the Deutsch connector — this is completely normal during motor swaps and doesn’t mean you wired anything wrong. Getting rotation right on the bench before final assembly saves you from pulling the tube down a second time.

Step 7: Reinstall, Seal, and Tune the Finished Awning

With your helper, lift the roller tube back into the mounting brackets, reconnect the motor’s two-pin plug, and secure both end caps — driver side first, then passenger side with your hand cupped firmly over the spring cap. Push the awning fuse back into the driver-side cabinet and hit the wall switch to test. The awning should extend and retract without hesitation; if it bogs down near full extension, the passenger-side spring tension probably needs a quarter-turn of extra preload — pull that spring-side cap again and rotate the spring anchor clockwise one detent before you reassemble. Next, scan every fastener hole where the mounting brackets meet the ProMaster body rail and re-seal any that you disturbed with self-leveling lap sealant rated for EPDM rubber — this matters because these brackets sit dangerously close to the rubber roof membrane seam, which is already the Travato’s primary leak trouble spot. Finally, clamp the Camco wind stabilizer de-flappers onto the awning’s front edge — they need no tools and cut fabric flutter in half, which is the main cause of accelerated hem damage. Keep your telescoping awning rod inside the van; you’ll be grabbing it at every stop.

---

← Back to Top 20 Class B RV Models

The Fabric Replacement That Actually Holds Up to UV and Desert Heat on a Thule HideAway

Thule’s factory fabric degrades faster than the marketing materials suggest — UV exposure causes heat-seal separation, micro-tears leak water sideways during rain, and the whole roll starts weeping within two seasons of full-time use. Once the fabric begins separating or seams start weeping, patches don’t cut it; you’re doing a complete fabric replacement.

What works

• 19.5oz vinyl stock is dense enough that thermal cycling won’t crease it permanently, and factory heat-sealed seams don’t separate the way hand-stitched edges do after prolonged desert sun exposure.
• Unmarked rolls let you feed it through the Thule mechanism without fighting pre-creased factory folds that refuse to flatten, so you can dial in proper tension as you work instead of battling the material.
• Water breaks and sheds instantly; the UV additive pack resists the chalking and porosity that cheaper vinyl develops by year two of regular exposure.

What doesn’t

• This is genuinely a two-person install on the road — the vinyl is stiff, you have to maintain even tension while feeding it into the roller mechanism, and one moment of slack ruins the heat-seal seam.
• Specs have zero margin for error; you need your exact awning length locked down or you’re trimming and re-heat-sealing, which immediately voids the factory seal warranty.

I almost ordered a universal 16ft roll for a 15.5ft Travato awning, thinking I could overlap and seal the extra — but you can’t compress a Thule feed roller without jamming the motor, so the fit has to be exact. Get the Heavy-Duty RV Awning Fabric Replacement 16ft – RV Canopy with your exact measurements in hand.

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.