Anyone have experience with a slide-out and no awning?Is it a PIA with no awning?Did you add an awning or just deal with it (sweep off slide roof before closing?)Tx, Bill

Had both..rigs without and rigs with slide awnings. There are positives and negatives both ways.My experience: the positives far out weigh the negatives. If you decide to go with them, get the ones with the metal wrap that protects the material when it is rolled up.

When we first got our 5th wheel the slides had no toppers. I bought an 18 volt blower to blow water and debris off them before bringing them into the camper. This meant climbing up the ladder with the blower in hand everytime we wanted to break camp. When we took the camper back to the factory for some service we had the toppers put on. I will always have them on anything with a slide. There is an added benefit as it shades the slide from the direct heat of the sun. Really made a difference when it came to the A/C keeping up.

We have two slide outs with no awnings. We prefer it that way. Many we see have to put a ball or other device under them to keep water puddles from forming, and/or flapping in high winds.Many, many folks have them and are very happy with them. I prefer not to have deal with them. If I have to climb a ladder, I will do so only once, to blow of the slide before closing. Not twice to put the ball in and again to take the ball out.

About 1 year now with our 855S. No slide awning. No problems.Up the ladder, look for any debris- if there is some- a few seconds to clear it off. Then retract the slide. Done.

I have a slide topper on my Lance 1121. It has kept the slide dryer during the rainy season in Fl. while offering some shade from the sun; kept out the leaves, sticks, pine cones and needles in the WV & Carolina mountains during the fall; kept the snow and ice out of the slide in NY and PA during the dead of winter. Unlike other RVs, a TC topper is relatively small and I've never been annoyed or concerned with high wind. Several years ago, I camped in Ohio when the remnants of hurricane Ike rolled through with 60+ mph wind. The topper kept a lot of debris out of the slide and I never heard it floppin'. Only once have I needed to address an issue. While camped during the winter in NY, my slide was out for a number of days. I'm a Florida boy... what do I know about snow? Had plenty of it though with temps hovering around freezing. The snow partially melted during the day and froze at night. The eventual build-up of ice on the topper was a problem when bringing the slide in. Today, I simply run the slide in and back out once a day under similar circumstances. Count me as a believer in slide toppers, particularly for a TC.

Slide w/out awning | Good Sam Community

16 Replies

Glacier_D
Explorer II
Aug 20, 2013
If you camp in snow country then a topper is a must. I have seen folks without toppers and Ice will build up on top of their slides after a snow storm. That ice can sometimes be a bear to get off, with the topper I"ll get some ice buildup on the topper, but haven't had too many issues getting that off.
trail-explorer
Explorer
Aug 20, 2013
billtex wrote:
Anyone have experience with a slide-out and no awning?

Is it a PIA with no awning?

In some cases it can be a PITA without an anwing.

Here's a good thread: http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/27134815.cfm
av8rds
Explorer
Aug 19, 2013
Havent had a awning on either slide for 5 years and never had a problem.
brholt
Explorer II
Aug 19, 2013
Dealer suggested more cons than pros so we skipped the slide toppers. No issues yet.
bka0721
Explorer II
Aug 18, 2013
Hi Bill.
I have never had one and ordered my TC without one. For what I do, it would only be in the way. One time I had to get my Milwaukee Heat gun out to warm the sheet of ice, that had formed on the top of my slide, and then hit it with my hand to break into pieces and brushed them off. There were two other campers with me and they came over to borrow my Heat gun after watching me do my own. They had awnings and the snow had blown/drifted under their awnings and froze. They told me later that when it rains, the wind blows the rain under the awning, most of the time, to make them worthless most of the time. They do like the shade it provides, when the sun is out and it is hot.

For snow and leaves I just sweep them off. I use my TC for many more nights than most people (as you know) and still have never had a leak around the top of the slide or sides, due to rain or snow. I do get leakage from wind storms and dust, in the desert, but don't think the awning would help me there.
Don’t waste your money on an awning.
b
mooring_product
Explorer
Aug 17, 2013
I dont have one and only once had to get leaves off.
scbwr
Explorer II
Aug 17, 2013
We didn't have our TT too long before I came to the conclusion that it was a pain to have to worry about cleaning off the slideout everytime before retracting it, so I had a slide topper installed. The downside of the slide topper can be some flapping noise in very windy conditions, and some puddling of water. The water issue is very easy to solve...simply retract the slide to remove the water. The wind flapping isn't frequent enough in our travels to be a problem. And, a slide topper does mean another awning to clean...so it boils down to whether you camp in areas where you will get debris on the top of the slide and whether you want to possibly have a little extra work everytime you retract the slide...or a little extra cleaning/maintainance by having a slide topper...as well as the extra expense of one!
fla-gypsy
Explorer
Aug 16, 2013
My slide has no topper and it's no big deal. I climb a small step ladder with my squeegee with extendable handle and give it a quick clean off before closing.
Bedlam
Moderator
Aug 16, 2013
We had problems with pine needles on our toy hauler slide. The TC has a slide topper and we no longer have this problem.
AnEv942
Nomad
Aug 16, 2013
We added a topper on our slide. It wasnt that big a deal prior to climb up on the roof, well 10 years ago-reaching out over the edge-trying to sweep the debris off, or sweeping with towel to get most of the water off, or inside with a towel when raining. Never had issue with puddling or wind-ours is 116" fabric on a 120" tube but it only protrudes less than ~18".
As nice as it is to not have to climb up there to clean or dry, we added the slide out topper due to noise. Our slide roof is hard, its covered in EPDM but anything that lands on it is LOUD. Rain just drums-water dripping off trees louder than some one knocking on the door. The topper solved this-not getting on roof just a bonus.