im considering adding and cover over my slide out to eliminate the chance of leaks in heavy rains etc. anyone have any advice on where to buy and installation options? ive seen them at a local RV dealer for around 400 installed? is it worth the time to do it myself to save $100 or should i just have a dealer do it?

 

Awnings can be a pain to install. Especially getting the springs wound correctly on them. Might be worth the install expense.

 

Hmmmm, have I ever told you how much I hate slide awnings? NO??? WELL, I HATE SLIDE AWNINGS.

Save your money. They are a pain. I have lost three of them on motorhomes. Swore never again. They are noisy in the wind and in higher winds end up wrapped around your rig (ask me how I know). It is no fun living and sleeping in your rig with the slides pulled in just because the wind is blowing. Two rigs beside me in Five Islands in Nova Scotia lived in theirs with slides pulled in for a week due to high winds. They kept coming over to ours and having coffee just to have some room. Rain can pool in them, birds and squirrels build nests UNDER them if you are in one place very long. They are typically the type that can billow out while driving. And, they are expensive. The only good thing I can think of about them is they stop the sun beating directly on the roof.

If your seals are good, you won't leak. Many people want them to stop leaves settling down on the slide roof. Then, if they don't have them they get on the roof with brooms to sweep them off. But, how do you get the leaves out from under them that blow there?

Removing leaves and stuff from the roof is easily done from the ground. Get a soft (clothes line type) 50' cord. Tie an old bath towel into the middle of it. Throw the bath towel up onto the slide roof and have the ends of the rope coming off the two sides of the slide. One person on each side, or easily done with one, start next to the coach and pull the towel to one end. Don't be standing under it or you will have a head full of leaves. Go to the other side and pull it back to the other end moving it closer and closer to the outside of the roof. It takes about one minute per slide. Stand away from the edge of the roof so you are not pulling the rope hard against the corner of the roof material - - lift your arms up while pulling. Easy, cheap, efficient, and safe.

Bob

 

Good tip, Bob.

 

I'm with Bob on this one, most of the ones I've seen were rotten from being in the sun all the time, that's without the problems Bob brought up.

 

I also hate slide awnings and I don't even have one. When we bought our fiver I asked the dealer to install a slide awning. He suggested that we try it with out one but guarenteed me a price for one if I changed my mind. Our first trip south we had snow in Idaho Falls and I say others try to clear snow from under the awning. set up my ladder and swept off the snow and I was gone. Next day in Ely Nv. it had snowed about 20 inches overnight and the roads were closed. the next day I set up my ladder swept off the snow and I was gone. People were still there trying to get the snow out from between the awning and the slide and cursing the awning. Needless to say I have never been back to take advantage of my dealers guarenteed price on a awning.
Jim)

 

I know fiverbob hates slip toppers. Seen that post before elsewhere.

I have had them on my last three fifth wheels, including the Carriage I now have. Carriage has a metal flange just above the the slide cutout which helps deflect water from the roof and downpours from hitting directly on the upper sealing surface.

They do billow in heavy wind and as Bob said, can billow up in cross winds when towing. I've never seen that, I've seen plenty of other awnings on RV's over the top of the coach on I-40 west of Flagstaff.

There is a way to help this from not happening both when towing and parked. You can insert a correct size pin in each end of the slide to lock it in place when parked. You can also put them in while towing. You gotta remember to pull them out. Use a red ribbon on them. With the pins installed while parked it helps shed water. You're still going to get some stretch in the material and it will hold water.

They now make slides with auto locks build in to help catch the material before it billows, while parked. Not sure if it works while towing. (Edit) Just looked at the device. It appears it works while retracted for towing. Does not say anything about parked when in use. Never had a birds nest under the slide topper or pine cones, pine needles, leaves, or other debris from above. The toppers are not cheap. Camping World has a good selection. If you decide to get them, have them install it. The installation is covered forever.

Picture below is with pins installed with the slide almost in. My good buddies over at Lazy Days (RV Service Center) told me the 2" offset I had on two of my slides were caused by the tension the slide toppers put on the slide when closing. Took some pictures and sent them over there. Next time over there they will adjust the two slides. I could not believe they said that. Yes I can!!


You can see the pin to lock the topper in the first picture.

 

I've had slide toppers on all my motorhomes that had slides, and some of FiverBob's comments only apply to less-expensive or older toppers - nowadays the better toppers have a casing that wraps around them and they don't unwind in high winds. The models without the casings can have a lock installed (awning mfr's have told me they remove the locks when shipping to RV mfr's because they spec for them NOT to have the locks - apparently enough people forget to unlock and damage things trying to extend a room with a locked topper) One of Bob's comments up until a few weeks ago would've been dismissed by me, but staying Vegas at an RV ParK I had pigeons try and roost under the topper on top of the slide while there for just ONE night. A gal across from me there for a few weeks had a pigeon nest she couldn't figure out how to get rid of (the park was going to help when I left town). So that's a real concern. Even without that, I've been places where birds fly in the gap and wander around - which at six in the morning three feet above your head in the bedroom slide, is annoying.
And, remember that the purpose of a slide topper is not to stop leaks of the slide - good seals and sealing have that responsibility.
Oh yes, I've been camped in some pretty bad wind storms, and I don't bring the slides in. Yes, there's a little noise from the toppers, but in a real storm they're least of the noise makers. I do however bring them in in torrential rains accompanied by strong winds - that wind-pushed water can force it's way past most bulb-type seals and a topper won't stop that. I don't have the motorhome out in the elements all the time, but I do know people who full-time and stay in one park for months - and in very hot and windy climates, those toppers can dry out and start tearing in a couple seasons from constant exposure to the elements...
JMHO...

 

Hey, welcome to the pigeons - - they are bad about that. It was some other very agressive bird in my neighbors unit down in Mexico that set up camp under their topper.

As for the mention of cheap awnings, I agree - - with one exception. I lost one awning in the wind on a $450,000 new motorhome that had very expensive awnings on it. I got the slides in and saved the others. The other mishaps were on the awnings without the locks or the aluminum cover over them. One billowed while driving the other was in the wind.

Bob

 

I too had slide toppers on a many-hundred-grand motorhome, but it was earlier than when they started putting the aluminum covers over them - once they started that I haven't had any billow or anything. Did yours on that new motorhome have a cover, or was it pre-covers?

I already have this plan the next time I go where birds want to get in on top of my head (or so it seems) - I'm going to hang the foil strips at the ends of the topper to scare them off...it works at my stick-built home, so should work there too. Just a bit of a hassle getting up there to tape them on...maybe I should sew them onto the edge? (maybe there's an invention that I can get rich off of regarding this?)

 

FiverBob, You just saved me (us) a bunch of money. Thanks

 

Yep, aluminim covered just like the patio awning. On this motorhome, it did not blow out while driving - - the slide was out.

Hey, just got a call from Colorado awning - - they wondered if I had your phone number.

Bob