slide toppers

[buschet1]

Hello Everyone,

I was at the dealer where I bought my Montana yesterday picking up a few things. I over heard a customer and a salesman talking about available options for the Montana. The part of their conversation that concerned me was about slide toppers. The customer said he would never have them again. He said they are a problem when it rains. The large ones get pools of water on them. He said the only ways to get the water off was to run the slides in or use a broom to push up on the middle of the topper and risk getting soaked. The salesman said, “Some people put a beach ball between the topper and the top of the slide to remedy that problem”.

I have 4 slide toppers on my rig. What do you good people think about the beach ball idea? Or is there something better out there? Personally, I like the slide toppers. I feel they help keep things cooler in the summer heat. And helps keep debris off the top of the slide. Plus they look good.

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

Tom & Sandy,

This has been discussed here a couple of times. Did you try the search engine?? Ya, I know, it does not always work so hot.

You are gonna hear both sides of this, some love em, some would never have em, some have tried the beachballs, some have had the beach balls end up at the other end of the campground on a windy day, some have come up with nifty things made from pvc pipe to hold up the awnings.

Some of us use em, and don't worry bout the water up there (springs in the awnings, ask Steve R to explain, he does a great job of explaining his take on this). Some times the wind blows the water out.

Al lately has been brushing the water off, and uses that time on the roof to check for anything that looks amis up there. We have one awning that we replaced and did not use OEM type materials and truthfully, that was not one of our better decisions. It does not roll up as good when there is water up there. That is why he helps it along. But, like I said, he uses the opportunity to check out roof for leaks, holes, something that does not look just right.

While you have OEM awnings, I would not worry. We never did anything to get rid of the water when we had ALL OEM's. CEPT STAND BACK while the slides are going in, or you get that cold shower, been there, won't do it more than once!

[richfaa]

What the customer said is true...The other side of the story is that if you don't have them you chance Debris collecting on tne top of your slides and water will also collect on the top of the slide and maybe leak into the camper. Some water collecting on the large slide topper is not a big deal. The beach ball idea can work..we never use anything.Sounds like the customer was looking for excuses not to buy them..

[osofine]

Just bought some slide toppers that should arrive next week. I never thought about rain before ordering them, so they are the regular ones. I think I like the beach ball idea if it becomes a problem,. I know they have one model with a peaked roof.
http://www.carefreeofcolorado.com/rv...asp?m=01020301 (Sorry the link isn't showing - copy and paste it in browser).
Not sure if we can retrofit these to work with our awnings. Any ideas out there for retrofitting?

[bsmeaton]

A beach ball is one fix - here is another -

http://www.carefreeofcolorado.com/

We actually do not have them installed. I found that our area has too high of winds and too close to the sun to make them equitable or useful.


PS - Osofine, I do not see anything in the product info that would indicate they can be retrofitted.

[dscott]

These things are a pain,wind makes them flap,rain they sag,but like Rich said you need them.I use plastic pipe under mine, works O.K.

[SlickWillie]

quote:Originally posted by dscott

These things are a pain,wind makes them flap,rain they sag,but like Rich said you need them.I use plastic pipe under mine, works O.K.

One of the folks here in ICW Park had 1/2" pvc supports under his slide toppers. Looked like a good solution to me.

[boylanag]

This is the second Montana we have had slide toppers on and would not be without them. We like the idea of not having to sweep the slides before bringing them in and they do seem to help with the sun/heat in the summer. We are not bothered by the pooling water on them and we too just let it run off when we retract the slides.

[stiles watson]

Seems like when you solve one problem, you end up creating one or two others. Toppers were a solution to stuff-on-the-slide-top problem. Turns out to create a flap-in-the-wind problem and a pooling water problem. Now you try to fix that with beach balls, PVC pipe, etc. Now there is the problem of storing the stuff you fix the problem with, etc., adnausium.

I just check to see if the slides tops are clear, if not, I clear them and store the broom that I already need anyway.

[Exnavydiver]

I used the 1/2 inch pvc pipe rig on my Jayco but that only had one slide. The Big Sky has four and if I do the pipe thing again it will only be on the large slide. I love the slide toppers, before I got them on the other rig I had to get the ladder out every time we left a CG in Ga. and scrape a bushel of pine straw off the slide along with twigs and acorns depending where we stayed. Got the slide topper for the other rig for Xmas and ordered this rig with them all around. We get some wind flap but it isn't too bad and with the wind they are self dumping. The day we left Wisconsin I pulled in the slides and when the large one came in it sounded like breaking glass. There was a huge slab of ice about 3/4 inch thick from the rain then freeze just before we left. Glad the wife wasn't by that slide, as it was she went running and was hollering at me about something breaking before she realized what the noise was. Other than the ice incident we haven't had any problems... Dave and Betsy

[Glenn and Lorraine]

Initially and for all the reason noted above, we were also skeptcal about the slide toppers but ordered them anyway. Today, I am glad I did and again for all the reasons mentioned above and like Richfaa said

quote:Originally posted by richfaa

..we never use anything.

[richfaa]

Originally posted by richfaa

..we never use anything.

And here is why.. Helen thought the beach ball idea was just great so she devised this Beach ball with a rope in it to get it up and into the long awning. While in Lake havasu city last winter with about a 65 MPH wind blowing the beach ball ejected out from under the topper as if shot from a cannon. Never saw it again... thus..we use nothing.

[dsprik]

I am also in the category of "would never be without them". Also in the category "don't use anything" - also for the reasons Rich stated above.

[jretz]

It is nice when you bring in your slides and the stuff that feel on top of it just rolls off. After being under a few pine trees if was nice having the slide toppers. Also, when it is wet and you bring in the slides the water runs off, you don't have to worry about it coming in with the slide.

[Okie Guy]

ROFL!!! Rich that cracks me up. You should have suggested that to the producers of RV. Sorry you lost the beach ball.

[sedwheathome]

We like the slide toppers on the Monty. I have noticed, when these were installed, the edge that connects to the wall of the unit was installed a couple of inches above the slide out top. So, when it is rolled out, there appears to be a two inch drop from the wall of the camper to the edge of the topper! Seems to allow the water to run off very well. Our previous unit, was installed where the topper was flat when the slide was out. Water pooled on that one for sure! Some like them, some don't!

Have a great Thanksgiving weekend!

[mtheo]

I installed my own toppers and i and love them for all the above reasons. But when the wind blows and the large one starts to flap I just run a rope over it, this stops the flaping and I don't think it harms anything.
Mark

[cmp-shooter]

I wouldn't be without them.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

quote:Originally posted by mtheo

I installed my own toppers and i and love them for all the above reasons. But when the wind blows and the large one starts to flap I just run a rope over it, this stops the flapping and I don't think it harms anything.
Mark

Mark's comment about the rope reminded me of a fellow I met a couple years ago before I had slide toppers but completely forgot about.
He used a long 2" wide nylon strap and weighted on both ends. He would drape the strap length wise across his largest slide. The weights and the strap were heavy enough not to allow the strap to blow off. His claim was, This not only stopped the puddles but also the flapping in the wind. I wasn't around long enough to see how well it did or did not work. Might be worth a try.

[dscott]

Glenn,
Thats sounds like it could work,worth a try.Thanks