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.

[fj12ryder]

I've had toppers on both my 5er's and don't carry "beach balls, blow up wedges, rope, or any of that other nonsense required to keep the slide toppers from pooling or flapping" either. I had them put on to ease the work load, not add to it, and they've been wonderfully successful.

[Atom_Ant]

Paul Clancy wrote:

fj12ryder wrote:

justme wrote:
The pooling water in the slide topper helps prevent the wind flapping problem 🙂

:B Good thinking. LOL

Or the flapping gets rid of the water. Either way I would never be without toppers on all my slides. For keeping water, sun and tree debris off the slide roof there is no better device.

My slides have always run naked, and they survive well. What's better, is I don't have to carry beach balls, blow up wedges, rope, or any of that other nonsense required to keep the slide toppers from pooling or flapping. The only device better than slide toppers, is no toppers :B

[Paul_Clancy]

fj12ryder wrote:

justme wrote:
The pooling water in the slide topper helps prevent the wind flapping problem 🙂

:B Good thinking. LOL

Or the flapping gets rid of the water. Either way I would never be without toppers on all my slides. For keeping water, sun and tree debris off the slide roof there is no better device.

[fj12ryder]

justme wrote:
The pooling water in the slide topper helps prevent the wind flapping problem 🙂

:B Good thinking. LOL

[justme]

The pooling water in the slide topper helps prevent the wind flapping problem 🙂

[hopsami2]

Thanks for the info! I'm now in So.Padre Island, TX and the winds @ nite keep the slide topper over my bed banging so much, it's hard to sleep. I will try the rope trick first. Thanks! Lee

[hopsami2]

navybanker wrote:
We had slide toppers on first camper but not on new one! The long slide was 16' and pooled water. We had to get the water off or the topper would fold over and be pulled inside the camper when retracting. Tried most of the solutions mentioned and they didn't work for us. There was a small window above the large slide that may have caused the topper to be installed at too flat an angle. Also the smaller slides especially the bedroom one would make a lot of noise in high winds. One night in south Texas, we pulled the slides in so we could get some sleep. Others in the park in Texas had ropes over the toppers to help with the wind getting under them and making noise. I like the concept of toppers but will not have them on another camper. JMHO.

[mwpjr]

I'm the same as most of the replies here. I have 2 long slide toppers (15'+) and used to try and fish a beach ball/rope through to keep them from pooling. Turned out to be a pain in the neck and other than learning the same lesson to stand clear when wife puts the slides in, have had no issues with letting the water stand until we pack up.

[Atom_Ant]

Like Howard said, pitch can have a lot to do with it. A lot of the new fivers have taller slides for headroom, but it takes away from the space above the slide to mount the topper rail which reduces pitch.

This can stretch in the middle and then they won't roll up correct, or nice. After one year, a few of the folks on our forum have had to replace the fabric because of stretch and will have to go with some other inflatable contraption underneath to topper to keep it from happening again.

Just make sure you have the full clearance you need to the roof, and then some. I didn't order them and have never had them, but might if we lived in the east like you.

[Winged_One]

Another method we use (one of ours does pool water), is to raise or lower the landing gear after a rain. It will dump all or most of the water. Then just reset back to level.

Also: Youtube info on keeping water out.

[daffy54]

ours also pools water, bigger problem is flapping in the wind, we park on waterfront and have high winds at times off Lake Ontario, often we have to put all slides in so they don't get ripped off and can get some sleep...again, concept is nice, but don't want them on our next rig,

[navybanker]

We had slide toppers on first camper but not on new one! The long slide was 16' and pooled water. We had to get the water off or the topper would fold over and be pulled inside the camper when retracting. Tried most of the solutions mentioned and they didn't work for us. There was a small window above the large slide that may have caused the topper to be installed at too flat an angle. Also the smaller slides especially the bedroom one would make a lot of noise in high winds. One night in south Texas, we pulled the slides in so we could get some sleep. Others in the park in Texas had ropes over the toppers to help with the wind getting under them and making noise. I like the concept of toppers but will not have them on another camper. JMHO.

[Todger]

I had a 19' slide on my moho. My bigger concern was windy days. If the wind came from the right direction the awning would whip hard. I made ends caps out of a 4x4 that matched the profile of the roof. That took care of the flopping.

[fj12ryder]

I think a lot of it has to do with the installers and how much room there is to the top of the unit. Our toppers on one side have a lot of space to the roof and they have a pretty good pitch so the water really drains well. But our long slide is closer to the roof and so the topper doesn't have as much pitch as the other side. We had two different installers do our toppers too: One at the dealer and one was aftermarket.