On my 61 24 ft tradewind I used an A&E 8500 awning. A&E offers a
number of different curved arms and will send you the info in a .PDF
file if you call them.
At the time I did this (2003) they did not have a recommendation as
to which curved arm to use . I made a cardboard template of the
trailer curve and made a selection based on it.
A&E curved arms have a long part number ending in 3 digits.. I
selected the arm ending in 016, the dealer i worked thru suggested 017.
I recently had contact with A&E and they are now recommending the
015 arm.. Obviously there is some go and come on this.
It is safe to assume once you order the arms you own them unless A&E
makes the selection. Fortunately my selection worked out ok and I
was able to clear all eye brows etc with a stock 14 foot awning. I
did not ask if they would supply a slightly longer/shorter awning
tube to address clearance problems.
While going through this I also contacted Zip Dee. Their awning cost
approached the cost of the trailer
Carefree of Colorado did not have an arm recommendation or offer
drawings but I have seen them on trailers of this vintage.
The A&E extends about 8 feet and is easy to operate.
Using an awning with poles and ropes struck me as too much hassle to
bother with.
At the time I did this the curved arms added about $100 to the price
for this awning in catalogs. If I remember correctly it was in the
neighborhood of $700 for the 14 footer. Installation was not too difficult.
All this may be a little confusing but perhaps something in it may be
of some help.
Rick Davis 1602
61 24 ft tradewind
70 globe trotter
69 ambassador
>What kind of awning was original on this trailer? I gather, from a recent
>Vintage Trailer supply advertisement, that only the pole and rope awning was
>original. The "Standard Specifications" for 1963 include, "awning rail". The
>listed additional equipment available with the more expensive International
>Land Yacht series for 1963 does not include awning arms--whatever those are
>called. Our 1963 Safari Twin has the awning rail (curbside) and two brackets
>(obviously for attaching awning arms) near each end of the awning rail and one
>bracket on the "banana peel?" molding at the lower edge of the body, with the
>corresponding lower bracket for the other side missing. It is obvious that a
>couple inches of the "banana peel" molding was cut away, left and right, for
>installation of the lower arm brackets. Were awnings with arms available as
>original equipment from Airstream in 1963? I gather not, but am not certain.
>Apart from the originality issue, any opinions on which style of awning is
>preferable on this trailer? Does the awning with arms extend less that the 8
>or 9 foot reach of the pole and rope awning, and does it angle down, rather
>than extend straight-out like the pole and rope awning? Thanks for any
>advice.