--- title: "Full Awning Assembly Replacement | Yorba Linda RV Shop" description: "Complete awning assemblies fitted: rail rebedded, brackets backed, manual to powered conversions, limits programmed and pitch set. $900 to $4,500, 5 to 18 hours." focus_keyword: "full awning assembly replacement rancho santa margarita" canonical: https://ocrv.me/services/awning-repair/full-awning-replacement/ kind: subService updated: 2026-07-29 source: OCRV Center --- # Full Awning Replacement: Complete Assemblies, Manual and Powered > Once the arms are bent, the fabric is torn and the wall rail has elongated holes, **repairing all three costs more than replacing the assembly**. Complete awnings run **$900 to $4,500**. ## When should an RV awning be replaced rather than repaired? A complete awning replacement makes sense once the arms, fabric and wall rail have all failed together, or when a manual unit is being converted to powered. Our Yorba Linda shop fits complete assemblies for Rancho Santa Margarita owners, rebedding the rail and backing the brackets as part of the job. - Three failed subsystems at once usually price out above a new assembly - The sidewall rail is the part nobody quotes and it decides the outcome - Manual to powered conversions fit most existing rails - Length is the rail dimension, projection is how far it reaches out ### Key facts | Item | Value | | --- | --- | | Price range | $900 to $4,500 (5 to 18 labor hours at $260 per hour) | | Labor rate | $260 per hour (Sidewall repair, where needed, bills at $210 from the body department) | | Typical turnaround | 2 to 5 shop days (Longer where the sidewall behind the rail has to be repaired first) | | Estimate | $150 written (There is a $150 charge for the written estimate, credited on authorization) | | Common sizes | 8 to 21 feet in length, about 8 feet of projection | | Assembly types | Open roller, case awning, powered cassette, manual pull strap | Awnings tend to fail all at once rather than one part at a time. A gust that bends an arm usually tears the fabric on the same night and works the wall brackets loose in the process, and by the time somebody looks properly there are three separate repairs on the list. At that point the arithmetic often favours a complete assembly, and it is worth doing the comparison honestly rather than defaulting to either answer. Replacement is also the moment to reconsider what is fitted. A manual pull strap awning on a coach whose owner is now in their seventies is a candidate for a powered conversion. A unit that has torn two canopies in three years might be better served by a case awning that encloses the roller. These are the decisions worth having before ordering, because retrofitting them afterward means doing the wall work twice. ## The point where a complete assembly beats three repairs Run the numbers rather than the instinct. An arm set, a canopy and rail repair each carry their own labor and their own parts, and a complete assembly carries one of each. Where all three subsystems have failed, the assembly usually wins on price and always wins on outcome, because everything on it is the same age and the same specification. Where repair still wins is more common than people expect. A sound rail on a dry wall, one bent arm and good fabric is a straightforward repair and there is no reason to replace a functioning assembly around it. We price both paths on every one of these jobs, and roughly a third of the time the repair is the better buy. The variable that decides it is almost always the rail. If it is solid and the wall behind it reads dry, repair is a real option. If the rail moves under hand pressure or the substrate is soft, the job includes wall work whichever route is taken, and once you are already in the wall a new assembly is the sensible thing to hang on it. ## Specifying a new awning: length, projection and type Length is the rail and roller dimension, commonly eight to twenty one feet on patio awnings. Projection is how far it reaches out from the sidewall, typically around eight feet. Those two numbers are independent, and a coach can want a long awning with a modest projection or the reverse depending on where it usually parks. Type is the more interesting decision. An open roller awning leaves the rolled fabric exposed, which is the traditional arrangement and the easiest to service. A case awning encloses the roller in a hard shell, which protects the fabric from ultraviolet and debris between trips and matters on a coach that lives outdoors. Powered cassette units such as the Girard designs combine the case with an integrated motor and sensor. Manual against powered is worth thinking about beyond convenience. A manual awning requires somebody to be outside, reaching up, at both ends, in whatever weather has just arrived. Owners who bought their coach at fifty and still have it at seventy frequently tell us this is the single upgrade that changed how much they use it. **Assembly types and what they suit** | Type | Roller | Operation | Best for | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Open roller manual | Exposed | Pull strap and arms | Simplest service, lowest cost | | Case awning | Enclosed in a shell | Manual or powered | Units stored outdoors year round | | Powered cassette | Enclosed | Motor with sensor option | Owners wanting automatic retract | ## The rail, the wall, and the part nobody quotes The awning rail is an extruded aluminum channel screwed and bedded along the sidewall, and the fabric bead slides into it. Every quote that says complete awning replacement should say whether the rail is included, because reusing a tired rail with elongated holes is the most common shortcut in this trade and it is invisible until the new assembly starts moving. Behind that rail is the sidewall: filon or fiberglass over lauan, sometimes Azdel, with framing at intervals that rarely line up with where you need a bracket. That is why backing plates matter so much on this job. We cut aluminum plate in shop and fit it inside the wall at each bracket location so the assembly is clamped against something structural rather than pulling on soft core. Where water has been getting in at the old rail, the substrate underneath will be soft and it has to be repaired before anything is mounted. That work bills from the body department, appears as its own line, and it is the reason a straightforward looking awning job occasionally takes five days. > **warning:** Interior staining on the wall below the awning line means water has been tracking in at the rail. Fitting a new awning over that without repairing the wall wastes both the assembly and the labor. ## Converting a manual awning to powered Most modern awning rails use the same poly cord profile, which is why manual to powered conversions are more straightforward than owners expect. Lippert publishes Solera conversion kits designed for exactly this, and where the existing rail is sound the wall side of the work can be modest. What changes is everything else: new arms, a new roller with the motor inside it, a control module and a fused twelve volt feed. That feed deserves care. An awning motor wants its own protected circuit sized for its draw, typically with thirty amp protection. Tapping a convenience circuit produces voltage drop under load, and voltage drop on an awning circuit looks exactly like a failing motor to everyone who tests it later. Run it properly once and the system behaves for a decade. Add the wind sensor at the same time if the assembly supports one. Retrofitting a sensor afterward is possible but it means going back into the same wall and the same module, and doing it during the conversion costs almost nothing extra. ## Cost, deposits and how long the coach stays Complete assemblies bill at $260 per hour from the mechanical and electrical department. A manual replacement onto a sound rail is five hours. A powered conversion with a new rail, backing plates, a fused feed, a switch and a calibrated wind sensor runs to eighteen. Sidewall repair, where the wall has failed, bills separately at $210 from the body department. Plan on two to five shop days, longer where substrate repair is involved, since that work has cure time attached to it. Parts carry standard markup and tax applies to parts and materials. Deposits apply above $2,000, which powered conversions on long awnings frequently clear. There is a $150 charge for the written estimate, credited on authorization. ## When a carrier writes an awning off entirely On a covered wind or impact loss, carriers frequently authorize a complete assembly rather than component repairs, because the numbers work the same way for them as they do for us. What they will not usually pay for is an upgrade. If a manual awning was destroyed, the covered scope is a manual awning, and the difference to a powered conversion is an owner contribution. That is a perfectly reasonable arrangement and it comes up constantly. We write those estimates with the covered replacement and the upgrade delta as separate lines, so the adjuster sees what they are paying for and the owner sees exactly what the upgrade costs them. Mixing the two into one number is how those files stall. ## Units we refit complete awnings on Older coaches make up a large share of this work, simply because parts support for their original hardware has run out. Vintage units are their own conversation, since owners often want to preserve the look and a modern assembly does not always suit that. Park models sit at the other end: long awnings, permanent siting, and hardware that has been in one place taking one wind direction for a very long time. ## Cost $900 to $4,500, based on 5 to 18 labor hours at $260 per hour. Written repair estimate is $150, credited in full against an authorized repair. All work is performed in shop. ## Questions and answers ### Is it cheaper to repair my awning or replace the whole thing? It depends almost entirely on the rail. Sound rail on a dry wall with one bent arm and good fabric is a straightforward repair. Bent arms, torn fabric and a rail with elongated holes all together usually price out above a complete assembly. We cost both routes on every job before recommending either. ### Does a complete awning replacement include the wall rail? It should, and it is worth asking any shop directly. The rail is the extruded channel screwed to the sidewall that the fabric bead slides into. Reusing one with elongated fastener holes is the most common shortcut in this trade, and the new assembly starts moving within a season or two. ### Can a manual awning be converted to a powered one? On most coaches, yes. Modern awning rails share a common poly cord profile, and conversion kits such as the Lippert Solera range are built for it. The work adds new arms, a roller with an integrated motor, a control module and a properly fused twelve volt feed with its own switch. ### What is the difference between awning length and projection? Length is the dimension along the sidewall, set by the rail and roller, commonly eight to twenty one feet. Projection is how far the awning reaches outward, usually around eight feet. They are independent, so check projection against door swing and slide travel before ordering, not afterward. ### Is a case awning worth the extra over an open roller? If the coach lives outdoors, generally yes. A case encloses the rolled fabric in a hard shell so it is out of the sun and away from debris between trips, which meaningfully extends canopy life. On a unit stored under cover the benefit is smaller and an open roller is simpler to service. ### Will insurance pay to upgrade my destroyed awning to a powered one? Generally no. A covered loss restores what was there, so a destroyed manual awning is scoped as a manual replacement. Owners who want a powered conversion pay the difference. We write the covered replacement and the upgrade delta as separate lines so nobody is confused about which is which. --- Source: [OCRV Center](https://ocrv.me/services/awning-repair/full-awning-replacement/). Last verified 2026-07-29.