Water proofing slide toppers.

[Gazelle05]

Slide toppers drooping, cause rain to puddle on top of slide. Also allows water to seep into coach. Stuck in Washington this winter and full timing in the wet. Wondering if any body has had experience with water proofing your canvas slide toppers? Thinking about trying flex seal. Any suggestions or ideas are appreciated. Thanks

[Mr__Pinky]

Try a couple of volleyballs or basketballs. Depending on how much space you have under your slide topper.

[Gazelle05]

Thank you , yes problem seems to be solved. Keeping a close eye on moisture build up.

[jackieo1950_]

I had the same issues & found a safe to my acrylic toppers called
losso fabric protector..boy what a difference once I applied the 2 coats...but you need to make sure your topper is tight so you might have to do a fresh wind on your roller spring...www.losos.com I bought Dometic Slide Topper Cradle/Support Kits for both supersize slides awning...didn't know they even existed til I saw one on a fellow campers coach..Dometic doesn't even show them on their site..you have to ask them or just Google it. They're designed to keep the slide roller 14' or longer from flexing inward when wind or water are present. Problem solved after installing them..not cheap but neither is replacing a roller & or a topper. There are 3 different sizes to fit the right application. If you look hard you can find them for a lot less than what Dometic sells them for IE:
Amazon...RVeParts.com are just 2....Hope this info helps!

[4x4van]

dougrainer wrote:

4x4van wrote:
The slide toppers' purpose is not to keep water out of the coach; it is to keep debris/sun off of the slide roof, and yes, it can reduce (but not eliminate) water on top of the slide. But that water should not enter the RV regardless; many RV's don't even have toppers on the slides. The main problem the OP has is that the top seal on the slide is faulty.

While this is true, older Monaco motorhomes HAVE to have a slide topper to stop water intrusion. This is why the Monaco's came with slide toppers. They had inadequate J drip rail systems that prevent a large amount of water that runs off the roof radius's right onto the upper slide seal. I base this on my almost 26 years of working on Monaco Motorhomes and having to deal with slide room leaks that did NOT go away after replacing the complete slide seal, when the Customer did not want to repair/replace the defective slide cover or the cover was removed after is came apart from damage or age. After the seal was replaced and tested the room still leaked. With an operational Slide cover in place the leak went away. Doug

Interesting. Sad, but interesting.

[dougrainer]

4x4van wrote:
The slide toppers' purpose is not to keep water out of the coach; it is to keep debris/sun off of the slide roof, and yes, it can reduce (but not eliminate) water on top of the slide. But that water should not enter the RV regardless; many RV's don't even have toppers on the slides. The main problem the OP has is that the top seal on the slide is faulty.

While this is true, older Monaco motorhomes HAVE to have a slide topper to stop water intrusion. This is why the Monaco's came with slide toppers. They had inadequate J drip rail systems that prevent a large amount of water that runs off the roof radius's right onto the upper slide seal. I base this on my almost 26 years of working on Monaco Motorhomes and having to deal with slide room leaks that did NOT go away after replacing the complete slide seal, when the Customer did not want to repair/replace the defective slide cover or the cover was removed after is came apart from damage or age. After the seal was replaced and tested the room still leaked. With an operational Slide cover in place the leak went away. Doug

[4x4van]

The slide toppers' purpose is not to keep water out of the coach; it is to keep debris/sun off of the slide roof, and yes, it can reduce (but not eliminate) water on top of the slide. But that water should not enter the RV regardless; many RV's don't even have toppers on the slides. The main problem the OP has is that the top seal on the slide is faulty.

[chuckftboy]

Star Brite makes a spray water proofing for canvas and cloth. Its used on tents and can be found at Sporting Goods Stores or on line.

[Dale_Traveling]

First fix the topper. The fabric should not droop and there should be some tension from the topper rollers holding the fabric in tension. If not then either the tension springs need to be tightened or one of the springs has failed. If both have failed the topper would not roll up at all.

Next the material should already be water resistant just like your awning. If the material is old and degraded consider having new material installed at the same time as the tension springs are checked.

And finally check the seals between the slide and the coach wall. The seals should be in firm contact with the slide surfaces. If not that could be a place water can get in along with hot/cold air drafts, insects and blowing dirt and will need to be looked at to see if anything can be done short of replacement ($$$) to improve the seal.

[dougrainer]

doxiemom11 wrote:
If this is an older topper, is it really canvas or not? If it is - clean it and waterproof it with stuff that is for tents.

Monaco, If the Poster has a older Monaco, usually used Carefree which is a cloth/canvas material, for the slide toppers. Doug

[doxiemom11]

If this is an older topper, is it really canvas or not? If it is - clean it and waterproof it with stuff that is for tents.

[dougrainer]

John Wayne wrote:
Just set up a tad off level front or rear slide out side low ( water will run to out side of slide)

What do you do when you have slide rooms on each side:h The water will still START either at the front or rear depending on off level. Or course, this WILL minimize water leak thru seal. Doug

[John_Wayne]

Just set up a tad off level front or rear slide out side low ( water will run to out side of slide)

[Ivylog]

X2 on Doug’s pvc solution.

[dougrainer]

While Slide rooms should NOT leak, if you have a older Monaco Motorhome, (they came with slide toppers), having a leaking or removed slide topper will usually cause a leak inside. A operative and not sagging slide topper keeps probably 90% of the water from getting on top the slide room roof and makes less water to contac the upper slide room seal. The best way to prevent sagging is to build a 1 inch PVC tent pole system(don't glue the pieces). You slide it in the middle of the slide fabric and cause a slight "A" . This causes the water to run to the upper awning rail mount and run off and the other to run off the outer edge of the slide room. Doug