Slideout Toppers

[dykeleonard]

I just had Dometic Elite slideout toppers put on my 2011 Montana3400RL. We were in Flagstaff aweek ago and the wind came up at about 25mph+. The toppers make creaking and groaning sounds all night. They were installed by a professional company and all screws etc are tight. They function perfectly. Some one told me there were springs in the mechanism that might need to be adjusted. Any ideas out there??

[HOOK]

Ours are noisy in the wind, normal.

[DQDick]

X2, that's the bad part of having them on.

[Mudchief]

They are noisy in the wind.

[Recumbent]

When it is windy they make noise espically when gusty. The slide awning noise wakes me, and I don't function as well without rest, but overall we like them as they help keep leaves and twigs off the slide roof. They also pool water during rains until the slid is moved. If we mostly lived/traveled in some western states where gusty wind is a daily normal I would not want them. I noticed here on the MOC a post last week where there is an alternative cover that does not rollup but kinda rinkles-up as the slide is moved in.

[kdeiss]

Normal

[hookman]

We have them and they always make noise when the wind is strong but at night my CPAP machine drowns them outexcept when the wind is really strong.

[Gkerlin]

Our flap like crazy when the wind blows but if I can sleep thru DW's snoring...
and she thru mine....
It will take a meteor coming thru the roof to wake us up.

[Wayne and Carolyn Mathews]

We have the same toppers, and if you think you had noise with 25+ MPH winds, you should have been here last weekend when we had two straight days of 40 MPH winds with nearly constant gusts in excess of 65 MPH. We couldn't hear ourselves think, much less hear the TV or anything else. Had we known the wind was going to be that strong, we would have made plans to bring in the slides and head for a hotel, but we were caught off guard when a cold front came in earlier than expected during the middle of the night. Our floor plan doesn't allow us to use the kitchen or living area if we bring in the slides; we would have had to camp out in our bedroom with our two full-grown Australian shepherds. We were sure we'd have torn toppers, but they seem to have come through the wind storm ok, except for a few screws that were jiggled out; we found those on the ground directly beneath the spot where they came loose.

Most toppers are noisy when the wind blows. If we ever order another RV, we may not have toppers on the slides. I know they are supposed to help keep out dust and things, but the noise is unbearable. We're living on the Gulf Coast right now, where we get high winds all the time. When we're in Montana, we also have high winds constantly. If you want to talk, think straight, or sleep, toppers aren't conducive to those things in windy areas.

Two more comments about toppers: The noise terrifies our dogs, and our neighbors here at the RV park have said several times, "My, those toppers sure do pop and crack when the wind blows, don't they!" (Translation--your toppers are keeping us awake at night.)

Carolyn

[WeBeFulltime]

It's rare that we notice ours!

[The Weekenders]

We had the toppers on our SOB fiver and after a season of ND wind, it started to tear. In windy states, I would stay from them. JMO

[PackerFan]

We have been talking about having them installed on our Montana. We have a slight water leak in our bedroom slide that we can't find it's source and thought the slide toppers might help keep the rain off the slides and stop the leak.

All of your comments are interesting and information.

[Gkerlin]

Packerfan,

We just went thru that big wind storm that came thru the Southwest as well. At the height of the storm the 5'ver was shaking and the toppers were flapping and it really didn't bother us.

So the moral is one mans intolerable is another mans inconsequential. You'll need to make that decision yourself.

The only thing that worried me was that the flapping of the big living room slide - I was concerned it might tear so yesterday I bought some line and a few bungies and I'm going to rig something up to throw over them when they flap real bad.

My concern there however is that if the topper chafes and tears where the line is so I'll have to watch it and play around with it a bit.

Other than that - I like the additional security for keeping dry.

If my flapping toppers are bothering someone else inside their rig - then IMO they have much bigger issues than my toppers.

Go Broncos!

[PackerFan]

Good info, I have read that some people place a small beach ball under their toppers to help stop the flapping and assist with water drainage. Anyone else hear of this?

[CamillaMichael]

Ours can be noisy in high winds, but so far only one issue during hurricane sandy...had to have large slide topper adjusted after the storm.

[clarkandsheila]

We too have slide toppers and the one over the L.R., since it is the largest, is the noisiest. We have pulled in the slides in bad winds. One of the reasons we bought this unit as we can get around inside with the slides in.

First year I used a 1/2 rope to reduce the flapping. I then found, at Quartzsite, some cheap ~$5.00 to $6.00 ea ratcheting really light duty cargo straps 2" wide. Two made one strap as I had to sew the two together to get the length for the big slide.

Lucky, well suspicious, I bought four as the original died this year. The Az. sun is tough. So I will have to start looking again for an inexpensive replacement. But it did cut down the nonesense a lot.

I've thought a few times about getting rid of the toppers or not replacing them when they shred but they do a job, at least for us.

Keep an eye on them and repair with Sail patch tape or rip stop tape when any tears or weak spots appear and you will add years of life to them.

[drsmart]

Packerfan. We have used the beach ball on the long slide out with our previous SOB and it did help reduce the wind whipping and rain build up. You need a way to retrieve the ball when closing up. I attached a medium weight string. Some have constructed a support rail using PVC pipe that runs the length under the topper. This was made in sections to provide a a mid point support and allow break down for travel. When we were in RGV Texas, I bought a long 2 inch wide medium weight strap and used D-rings and bungee cords like clarkandsheila. At the flea market you could get the strap cut to length, enough for one piece to do the job. With very high winds we'd bring the slides in for the night.

Dave

[rapidrobert]

I had the strip that's holds the topper to the trailer pull thru the screws at one end. The factory only put screws in about every third hole. Reatached and put screws in every hole. Drilled new holes where they pulled through. Still would not want to be without them.

[hookman]

We used the awning strap over the big slide and it did a good job.

[Dixiedawg]

We've had toppers on our last two fivers. Yes they are noisy in wind, and there are times I wish we didn't have them on. If we buy another unit it will have toppers. They really help on hot days when the sun is bearing down on the rv because the topper keeps the slides in shade and the unit is much easier to keep cool when running the AC. We were in the high Sierra's three years ago in late May and got 5 inches of snow overnight and the temps dropped to the low 20's. The next morning I got up and pushed the snow and ice off of the toppers and had no problems bringing in the slides. The fivers scheduled to leave the campground that day without toppers had a real mess on their hands. A rare event that most rver's will never experience, but having toppers saved my bacon.