We're in Las Cruces, NM, spending the holidays with family (staying in an RV "resort"). It started snowing a little after noon yesterday and we've received 4 - 6" in the Mesilla Valley as of 11:00 this morning. Late last night, a large class A DP pulled in across from us, apparently getting off of I-10 in the bad weather. This morning we've watched him spend a couple of hours trying to clear the snow off the slide toppers. He pulled his tow'd - a full-size pickup - around to one side to stand in the bed to try to clear the slide topper on the street side. Not being able to clear the heavy, wet snow off the topper (which was sagging to the point of laying on the top of the slide), he just hitched up the pickup and pulled out with the street side slide a little more than half way out... my wife watched the slide wobble as they pulled out of the park. I hope whatever he's in such a hurry to get to is that important!

You can't fix stupid. But, they probably had somewhere they had to be, family emergency, etc..Sometimes you have to do what you have to do. I hope they made it to their destination with no problems or damage to their rig.

Let's hope he was just moving to a better place to clean it off.

All he needed to do was stand there ans sweep snow away as slide out was retracted especially with slide toppersEmergency or not....traveling with slide out partially extended was just plain STUPID.All he did was cause MORE issues.......water/snow intrusions, damage to slide out mechanism, possible collision with other vehicles/stationary objects, illegal due to over width limit.:S :S

Old-Biscuit wrote:All he needed to do was stand there ans sweep snow away as slide out was retracted especially with slide toppersEmergency or not....traveling with slide out partially extended was just plain STUPID.All he did was cause MORE issues.......water/snow intrusions, damage to slide out mechanism, possible collision with other vehicles/stationary objects, illegal due to over width limit.:S :SIt looked to me like the snow dam from the sagging topper was preventing him from pulling the slide all the way in. Rob

Slide out probably had a sofa or chair in it. That would be best spot for wife to sit. She could read a book and not even look at winter roads. :)

Snow, driving with slide out... | Good Sam Community

Second_Chance
Explorer II
Dec 29, 2015
Alan_Hepburn wrote:
All the comments about carrying a ladder have me questioning: what's wrong with using the ladder installed on the back of most RVs? I've never done a real census on the matter, but it seems like most of the rigs I see in my travels have a ladder, sometimes loaded with bikes, chairs, blue tanks, other ladders, etc....

I'll confess to having a 6' step ladder strapped to the rear ladder on my RV. I'm not very fond of climbing on top of the rig when everything is dry (ever meet an acrophobic pilot?...) - much less with several inches of snow on top. I would be more likely to get down the step ladder, dry the steps, and see what I could do.

Rob
Alan_Hepburn
Explorer
Dec 29, 2015
All the comments about carrying a ladder have me questioning: what's wrong with using the ladder installed on the back of most RVs? I've never done a real census on the matter, but it seems like most of the rigs I see in my travels have a ladder, sometimes loaded with bikes, chairs, blue tanks, other ladders, etc....
Johno02
Explorer
Dec 28, 2015
Your choice, we like ours. Keep stuff off top of slide, snow, ice, water come off as topper is rolled during retraction. DO NOT STAND AT END OF SLIDE when retracting after a rain! Unless you have shampoo handy!
Paul_Clancy
Explorer
Dec 28, 2015
Keeps sun off slide - lowers interior temps. Keeps needles cones and leaves twigs off slide so they are not pulled inside. Keeps water off slide so it is not pulled in. For me benefits far outweigh drawbacks. Don't snow camp or camp on ocean.
12thgenusa
Explorer
Dec 28, 2015
Can someone list some positive reasons for having slide toppers? I can only think of reasons not to.

Extra cost
Extra weight
Something else to break
Flap in the wind
Leaves, needles, debris cause retract jamming
Snow and ice cause retract jamming
Properly adjusted slide doesn't extra help sealing out leaks
Dennis_M_M
Explorer
Dec 28, 2015
Seamutt wrote:
Had snow on my topper numerous times, no issue retracting. The DW watches, hollers stop the odd time to clear sticky, snow or ice with a broom.

Same here. One time in Denver I let the snow sit there for a day or two in the sun and the topper froze to the top of the slide. Had to spray water under the topper to get it loose.

Now I close the slides if heavy snow is expected overnight. Any snow that does start to accumulate is immediately pushed off by pulling the slides.
rhagfo
Explorer III
Dec 28, 2015
RV daytrader wrote:
That's why you keep a nice telescoping ladder in your closet!

That or a regular extension ladder in the bed of the truck.
dapperdan
Explorer
Dec 28, 2015
Just talked to my buddy today about this very subject, they got caught in Northern GA this last March with snow over night. He couldn't get his slides in either, they have slide toppers too and they couldn't physically get the slides in! Ended up borrowing a ladder form somebody (Luckily) and brushed off the snow and continued on. Now they carry a ladder at all times.

Glad that's never happened to me.

Dan
Canadian_Rainbi
Explorer
Dec 27, 2015
We did about 3 miles on the Alaska Highway in Whitehorse with the slides out. Intentially. The tech could not get them to retract in the RV Park and we had a new hydraulic pump motor waiting at the shop 3 miles down the road. I drove on the shoulder with DW in the toad behind me close to the center line so I would know that there was no one else creeping up on me. Drove at about 10 mph!
Tripalot
Explorer
Dec 27, 2015
bigred1cav wrote:
why put slides out in snow

X2

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