Awnings pooling on SlideOuts

The topper for my 42 inch deep 12 ft long slide collects water (6,048 sq in). The other two do not collect water, one is 33 inches deep 14 feet long (5,544 sq in), the other is 42 inches deep, but only 5 ft 5 inches long (2,730 sq in). My guess is the combination of depth and length is why the one collects water.

The mounting side on the trailer is about four inches higher on each slide topper. There appears to be equal tension on all three factory installed toppers. There is almost no flapping noise in strong gusty winds.

I took a little 3/4 inch PVC and made a 12 foot long 'ridge' that I insert between the top of the slide and the topper. Since I have a bumper pull TT, I can easily reach the top of that slide from the trailer door and the rear ladder to insert the ridge assembly (yes it's is in three pieces so it is easy to store). It would be an unacceptable pain to do that if I have a 5er or motorhome that was higher above the ground.

I don't put it out all the time, only on long stays, or if heavy rain is forecast.

Having installed a slide topper awning from scratch, I can tell you that the camper mounted edge of the fabric is supposed to be higher than the roller. Higher by as much as three inches if I recall correctly.
And the roller should be snug so that there is tension on the awning. A properly installed and properly operating slide topper should shed water.
Not all manufacturers make proper room to allow a topper to be properly mounted!
And not all dealers install them correctly.
Tensioning the topper will probably require removing the awning to start with. . .it will be a two person job.

Rollnhome wrote:
Shove a beach ball under it to "tent" the water off.

I can see this could cause the same problem with the topper fabric stretching as allowing the water to pool.

fj12ryder wrote:
I just let them pool. I bought the slide toppers to lessen my work load, not add to it.

Precisely. I Had a Shoulder Rotator Cuff operation and couldn't sweep off the top plus I'm getting older, thus the solution was slide awning.

Stuffing something under the slide is out of the question as it is 11 feet to top of the slide.

With hydraulic levelers the dropping either end does help as is definitely better than moving Furniture to close the slides.
The 303 product sounds like a possible solution (maybe with snow & ice) but these slides were installed about Dec 1 and through difference rains and after the fifth, I knew I had pooling. I now know that I have pooling when I see the takeup reel bowed in.

The bad thing with letting the pool stay is, we had the door side slide unload while was quite. That was no wind, only two people setting inside the RV. Down came several gallons of water over the side were I often Grill and often may set. My wife heard it and looked out to see the water then come off the end landing on the steps. Thank God no one was at the door to blame the act of unloading. This happened about a week after the last rain.

If I can't find a solution the awning will have to go as I doubt the pooling water would wash the leaves, twigs, nuts and other trash away and I don't that to be a 20 pound piece of ice plus I don't have the surprise unloading.

I just let them pool. I bought the slide toppers to lessen my work load, not add to it.

It's not the end-all solution but 303 Fabric Guard will make the awing absorb less water so, when there's a little water, it stands a better chance of running off. In addition, it has fabric protecting qualities. By the way, there is also a fabric cleaner from 303.

Unfortunately, once your awning has already created a belly, you'll need to replace it (or use one of the methods in the above posts) to get much hope of using the Fabric Guard to make water run off.

Note:
The above link is just the first one I grabbed from Google. You might try Amazon, instead.

I just raise my rear stabilizers and then raise the nose of the fiver to drain the water. This is a lot easier than movivg everything inside to bring slides on. This is also fun to do the first time when you tell your kids to stand at the end of the slides to make sure nothing"hits" and they get a face full of water when you raise the nose.

I don't have slideout awnings but have seen folks make bundles using pool noddles



And then stuff them on top of slide (works for rain and snow)

Shove a beach ball under it to "tent" the water off.