We used that exact tape around 1:00 AM three nights ago, when a terrible storm blew in from the Gulf of Mexico (we're parked about 1/2 mile from the beach) and started snapping our slideout toppers like bullwhips. Wayne went out with a flashlight and discovered two tears, much like the one you described, on the largest topper. I steadied the ladder while he went up with the tape and a flashlight and made emergency repairs in the gale-force winds. We didn't have time to make neat, rip-to-rip-edges repair at the moment, but that tape held the topper together and prevented further rips that night. We learned the next morning from the NWS report on the storm that we had steady winds at 40 - 50 MPH and gusts up to 65 MPH for over 18 hours once the storm started. The tape held.
Unfortunately, we will have to have one or two of our toppers replaced because of the abuse they've received down here on the coast, where we've been for 9 months doing a park host job. But that awning tape saved the large topper from ripping completely off during the storm. We would have pulled in our slides, but they are the kind that don't work independently, so we'd have had only the bed and bathroom to use for the duration of the storm; nothing else is accessible. With two full-grown Australian shepherds and two adults, using that tiny space for hours and hours wasn't an option.
I also used that tape to make another topper repair 5 years ago, and that repair is still holding.
Carolyn
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