long slide toppers

[NEnative]

I want to install slide toppers on my new fifth wheel. One slide is close to 15 feet long. Wondering if due to length it will have too much sag and tension issues when it rains. Any others with longer slide toppers have issues? Do you have to frequently bring in the slide some to dump off water weight? Thanks for any advice.

[flyinjake]

We have a long topper over our slide and have not had an issue with allowing the water pool except...Don't stand below it and make sure any storage doors on the slide are closed before retracting the slide.

Our topper is flat which allows water to pool but I have noticed some toppers have more of a slope away from the body than others. Do not know if this is a different manufacturer, model or different way of mounting.

Jake

[pennysmom09]

We have 2 long slides, one on each side...pooling water hasn't been e problem ...just stand aside when pulimg them in. Recently on a trip of three days of constant rain under deciduous trees and pines, we cleaned them off with a hose so tthe debris wouldn't stick and roll up into the covers. We only did that because the next stop was to storage.

[ependydad]

100% agreement with everything above... including the cold & unexpected shower. 😞

[skipnchar]

Depth would be a more important concern if pooling water matters to you. It won't harm anything either way as it simply rolls right off when you retract the slide. How much pools is dependent on the pitch as much as size.

[ford_truck_guy]

M GO BLUE wrote:

Mountain Mama wrote:
We have two long ones and only one sags and catches water. I think it needs tightening but I don't see us attempting it, so we just let it dump the water when we bring it in or have even brought it in before leaving to reduce the weight on the topper.

x2

X3 . If I am breaking camp after a heavy rain , I stand clear when that slide goes in so I can stay dry !!! Learned that the HARD WAY!:S

[M_GO_BLUE1]

Mountain Mama wrote:
We have two long ones and only one sags and catches water. I think it needs tightening but I don't see us attempting it, so we just let it dump the water when we bring it in or have even brought it in before leaving to reduce the weight on the topper.

x2

[Mountain_Mama]

We have two long ones and only one sags and catches water. I think it needs tightening but I don't see us attempting it, so we just let it dump the water when we bring it in or have even brought it in before leaving to reduce the weight on the topper.

[fj12ryder]

I imagine with that long of a slide topper the rain will indeed pool in the center, it's just too long not to. But so what? Ours is a little over 12 feet and the water pools some in the center. But we don't worry about it and don't do anything about it. The water either evaporates or gets dumped when the slide comes in. We simply don't do anything about it and it hasn't caused us any issues. I'm not going to put things under the topper simply to stop the water pooling, I bought the toppers to lessen the amount of work, not add to it.

I've seen where people have commented on this "problem" and still fail to see where exactly the problem lies. This is our second 5th wheel with toppers and the only thing to watch out for is to not stand near the slides when they are going in after a rain. 🙂 You will get wet!

[downtheroad]

Our slides have toppers...the long one (16 feet) does pool water but it causes zero problems. I only bring in the slide and dump the water when we break camp.

There are a number of techniques to avoid the pooling if it bothers you....beach balls, ropes/straps, air noodles, etc.