General Boards > Technical Support
Tired of rain filling up the slide topper
Richard And Babs Ames:
My son has a Jayco Seneca with the 39 inch full wall slide with a Carefree Awning Cover and it has a http://www.carefreeofcolorado.com/rvmhsa_summit.asp?m=01010301 mechanism under the awning that aides in shedding water. It is not perfect but it does help a lot. It is totally passive and deploys and retracts with the slide out.
Do not know if it can be retrofitted to an existing awning.
We are like bcthunder with the slanted roof slide and we are happy with it.
Tom Rogers:
A suggestion could be to manually lift the front or rear jacks before pulling in the slides.
Richard And Babs Ames:
Tom the middle of the awning tends to sag below the seams on the ends so lifting an end of the coach with the jacks would not drain the awning and doing that with the slides out could cause more problems.
Joel Ashley:
Our slide awnings haven't been much trouble in this dept., though some pooling has been minimally annoying on occasion, as has icing. Our '06 awnings have a bit of a slope to them, so 90% of the time rain runs right off. Perhaps maintaining or adjusting the fabric tension would help, though when I asked about that regarding stopping the flapping noise during nighttime wind storms, they said there was little to be done. I'd rather put up with a little pooling than bring in a slide with a lot of water on top, so probably wouldn't go with Bill's solution or mesh. Have to agree though, after heavy rainstorms that overwhelm the toppers' runoff capacity, resulting in pooling/sagging, the subsequent mud splattering onto the coach upon slide withdrawal can be annoying. But after a heavy storm, there is rain mud spatter on the lower panels anyway. I think I'd explore adjusting fabric tension any safe way I could.
I'm not sure adjusting level with the slides out is that big a problem, though there is certainly a side that argues it. Contrary to most RV manufacturers, Monaco instructed that slides be extended prior to leveling a coach. Given that, maneuvering air or jacks slightly to drain water off awnings shouldn't be that detrimental.
Bill Sprague:
--- Quote from: Tim Bentley ---I am not sure that the tops of the Monaco slides were designed to repel large quantities of water. I have had leaks at the inside seam on all three of my slides. If water is allowed to pass through this mesh, than you have water on top of the slide when you bring it in.
I like your idea for removing water from the awnings but would like to see some sort of plastic tray running the length of the slide to remove the water. There may even be room to give it a little lift in the center so water will drain to the ends of the slides.
--- End quote ---
The top of the slide is painted sheet metal. The seams are sealed and do need to be re sealed periodically. The topper does little to keep water off the slide. Once it rains hard enough for the lakes to form, some water seeps through, some rolls around the ends due to surface tension and more blows under the topper. If it rains much, the top of the slide will be wet -topper, no topper or mesh topper. Since you are never perfectly level the vast majority of the water on the top of the slide sheet metal flow off. Most of the rest is push off on retraction with the "wipe seal".
I too have had all three slides leak. Both when extended and retracted. Many of us have had leaks fixed. Mine were fixed in Bend, Harrisburg, Wildwood, Fife and Phoenix. (Fun places all!) They never did anything with the toppers. They just worked to get sealant into the seams the factory missed, adjusted the fit or adjusted the rubber compression seals.
I melted about 20 eighth inch holes in each topper to create the equivalent of a mesh. After 5 days of rain in California, it is working perfectly. No lakes in the toppers and no leaks in the slides.
PS: Tim, I enjoyed meeting your wife on the phone yesterday. I look forward to showing you my "holey" toppers at the Wooden Boat Festival.
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