slide toppers

R12RTee wrote:
...Those that have the slide toppers love them by a huge margin.
Those that have NEVER TRIED them hate them.

My previous camper had slide toppers and I raved about them.

My current camper does not. I really don't miss them.

I have not found significant accumulation of debris on the roof. I won't have to replace the fabric.

I'll probably leave it without slide awnings.

Someone mentioned Slide out cleaners on their lifestyle ?!?

Our new rv has a second awning on the main LR slide and so a topper can't be added...

Pics - links - explanations please :)

jnharley wrote:
We are of a different mind as we would never have them. We read all the time the complaints about them flapping in the wind and people having to bring their slides in because the flapping drives them crazy. And to us, most of them look unsightly pretty quickly. We mounted a trucker mirror on a pole and take a peek at the top of our slides. If there is debris,we go up and sweep it off. If not, we retract the slides. Since we try not to park under trees, we rarely have to sweep off the slides. Some people love the slide toppers and other like us do not. Each to his own.

Gotta love this forum.
Those that have the slide toppers love them by a huge margin.
Those that have NEVER TRIED them hate them.

Keeping debris (and moisture) off the top of slides is important and the slide toppers work well doing that.

Also they keep the direct sun off the tops of the slides which does help keeping things a little cooler.

Flapping in the wind? Not an excuse for not having them.

We would never have a rig without them.

We started with Carefree awnings. In 2009 when we redid our Carriage we had to change the awnings and toppers so they would match our new interior. Because I didn't have any real experience with awning fabric, I never thought to ask for a sample so we could be sure it was of a good quality-lesson learned and won't make that mistake again. This thinner material started showing wear, threads breaking and seams starting to come loose within 2 years. The toppers also did flap in the wind but we feel it was because of the flimsy material.
This past June, we opted for new awnings and toppers. We made sure we saw and felt all the fabrics so we could get a nice heavy duty material. I'll have to go back and find my records, if you are interested, to see what company made them. They look great and we now have no flapping in the wind. Di

Our new Lifestyle came with slide out cleaners on all the slides. They clean the slides of debris or snow when the slides are retracted. Haven't had it in snow yet but have checked every move and the slides are clean every time. Supposed to eliminate the need for toppers. Time will tell!

jnharley wrote:
You can read posts about them on this forum concerning flapping in the wind and asking for suggestions to deal with it. Some people even have to put straps over them to keep them from flapping and then there are those that put beach balls and the like under them so they do not rip from water pooling. Like I said, each to his own.

Cant be very common because in all my yrs of camping havent seen toppers tied down or balls under them.Never hear mine flap and Like said above never need to sweep the slides off.Very convienent.People that post about problems with them are the minority,thats what people do on forums,post about problems.Ours are carefree as well.

nerver had them flap on us but to each his own we wouldent be without them have had them on 2 rvs so far

You can read posts about them on this forum concerning flapping in the wind and asking for suggestions to deal with it. Some people even have to put straps over them to keep them from flapping and then there are those that put beach balls and the like under them so they do not rip from water pooling. Like I said, each to his own.

jnharley wrote:
We are of a different mind as we would never have them. We read all the time the complaints about them flapping in the wind and people having to bring their slides in because the flapping drives them crazy. And to us, most of them look unsightly pretty quickly. We mounted a trucker mirror on a pole and take a peek at the top of our slides. If there is debris,we go up and sweep it off. If not, we retract the slides. Since we try not to park under trees, we rarely have to sweep off the slides. Some people love the slide toppers and other like us do not. Each to his own.

You never had them but you can make clams that thay flap in the wind. I have never had that happen to me and I have stay in it with 50 mph wind here at the house after a couple of hurricanes. I think the ones that do flap need to tighten the spring up another turn. I like mine and I don't have to bring a latter to get on the roof to clean it off.