Tired of rain filling up the slide topper

[Bill Sprague]

I have Carefree by Colorado horizontal slide toppers like lots of other late model Beavers.  They suck.

For 6 years I've fought with the large puddles of rain that form in the toppers.  On retraction the puddles flow out in a flood and test the slide seals.  When the water pours off it splashes mud.  I've tried a bilge pump, a siphon and a broom.  The worst is if it freezes after a rain.  I've been on the roof with a hose connected to the Hdro-Hot melting ice a few too many times.  Frustrated, I've threatened to take the nearly useless toppers completely off.  

It is beyond imagination that a company based in Oregon chose to install toppers with no slope for the water to drain!

(Yes, I know some use beach balls, tetherballs, footballs and 2x8s.  But you have to climb up there and do it before it rains.  I'm not good at knowing when it is going to rain.)

Recently I saw a trailer with mesh instead of canvas in the toppers.  The rain went through and the leaves, needles and cones stay on top.  I was jealous!

Since I was considering complete removal anyway and the fabric has started to show some wear, I took a risk.  A month ago I used a small soldering iron to melt about 20 holes in each topper.

I've been waiting for a good test.  I got it in this weeks sourthern California storm. It is raining hard here in Borrego Springs!  It works perfect!

No more puddles, no more mud, no more frozen blocks of ice and no slide leaks either.  

[Ron Johnson]

Bill your post makes me glad I have the self-draining slides with no toppers. My Coach may have been the last year Beavers were built this way. I have wintered in Canada and endured breaking camp in pouring rain and can attest that it is a pretty bulletproof system.

Good for you for darjng to modify your present system.

[Edward Buker]

Bill,

This seems like a good idea that needs some additional possibilities explored. The awning topper system does help keep running water away from the slide seals by shedding most of the water off to the sides or out toward the slide. As you say it keeps leaves and debris away also. They are an asset until the weight builds up enough to cause puddling or ice and snow build up in the awning then they become a liability. What comes to mind is an acrylic topper fabric design that incorporates a row of mesh fabric, maybe an inch wide, located central or two thirds the distance towards the outer portion of the slide. That design would allow water escape where it is channeled away from the slide seals. This design would mean two extra seams but if sewn properly with Gortex tread those seams would last. The mesh area would be rolled up and protected while traveling.

Compliments to the brave man with the soldering iron and nothing to loose....

[Bill Sprague]

.......The awning topper system does help keep running water away from the slide seals by shedding most of the water off to the sides or out toward the slide....

You are correct when they have been installed so that on deployment there is some slope.  Mine and many others with the Carefree brand don't get any slope.  On two of my slides I can get some slope by extending the awning portion of the topper.  The kitchen slide is always perfectly horizontal.  None of the toppers extend far enough from the ends of the slide for water to drain off after the "lake" was full.  It dribbled over the end of the fabric and on to the top of the slide.  

Your suggestion of a mesh sewn is a good idea when I have to replace the fabric.  

[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.  

[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]

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.  

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.  

[Edward Buker]

Seems like a lot of interest in this subject...... The pooling of large amounts of water on the fabric streches it further and worsens the problem over time. This also puts a huge amount of weight on the fabric and stresses all the components and attachment points. Just carry one bucket of water and consider a substantial pool in a large awning. (Be O.K. if trout were involved) It could concievably pull the roof moulding that acts as the track for the fabric attachment. Some have speculated that the awning tension has caused this type of failure but my guess is the real stress is a repeated pool of water.

Add to that the deluge affect, at some point during the slide closing cycle as a hazard. The slide seals on the top are very ineffective on the sloped top slides, on my 2002 Marquis, while in transition.

What I would envision is the 1 inch of mesh would be sewn in at an optimum point over the slide. Probably put it in as a "window" with the outer 3 to 4 inches of the acrylic fabric hemmed and left in tact for strength. Where the fabric drain area is you could glue down a length of plastic home type flat bottom gutter on the top of the slide. You would rip the sides of the gutter down to be just an inch or two high or so. The height of the gutter would be set by the slide design and clearences. The ends would be just beyond flush with a bead of silicone under them. That sounds like a good system to me. We should be looking for a volunteer with a torn slide cover to try this out and send some photos......

[Tim Bentley]

Don’t know about your gutter idea; remember that it needs to go into the coach under the gasket when the slide is retracted.  How about a canvas gutter that is sewed under the awning to catch the water that comes through the mesh section above. It could be slightly tapered to the outside to make it a downhill run and made of a lighter material so it would roll up with the awning when it is retracted

As for allowing the water to come through to the top of the slide, my concern is not with the metal top of the slide, but with water standing along the rubber seal at the inside edge.  On my 03 Marquis, if the water gets to this rubber gasket it than can work it way under the top or down the sides into the coach.  This can happen easily if the coach is not level.  In the 03 Marquis the seam at the top inside of the slide under the gasket was not done well and I know of more than one coach where water leaked into the inside cabinets,  

There is a fix to keep the water from getting to this area using a strip of synthetic baseboard.  The baseboard is placed along the inside top of the slide under the rubber seal and sticks out about 1 inch.  This allows the water to travel to the edge and down with out getting near the gaskets.

[Edward Buker]

Tim,

I do have a lot of taper on the top of my big slide that many do not. There would be room for a short height gutter but I like your idea better. It is all self contained and would roll up. It would add some lumps and maybe some wrinkles to the rolled up awning but that is all under the cover. The only downside I can think of is it may flap in the wind and create some noise when dry. That is a somewhat protected area but it does get windy out there and loose cloth will flap. Maybe if you start fairly tight to the mesh in the center of the awning window and then had a decent taper to each edge in both directions of the awning, that would minimize the loose cloth. It would have to hang down enough though to overcome the fact that the awning edges are tighter and higher than the awning centers by probably several inches due to the edge seam area having less stretch. (hem and stiching). Probably would need 3 to 4 inches of fabric depth at the edge on a big slide to provide a workable taper. If needed one could also sew in a 3/4 inch wide flat plastic batton into a pocket in the bottom of the gutter that would stiffen and weight this all enough so it would remain silent in the wind. I think this would all work quite nicely to form the gutter. These awnings are definitely too flat with many of our current coach designs so something like this is needed.....

[Tim Bentley Co-Admin]

Edward

I like your idea of a batton along the bottom.  Did not think about the wind noise.  I have talked this over with Diana and we are thinking of using Bill’s idea of the holes in the awning with the cloth drain below. You are right that we also need a taper to the outside end so the water can find its way out.  We are looking for a lightweight waterproof material; maybe a rubber coated nylon, to use for the drain.  We have already had our awnings off to re sew the seams so sewing the drain would not be much of a problem.  If we use a lightweight material there may not be much of a wrinkle when rolled.  

If we can find the drain material we will give this a try and let you know what happens.

[Edward Buker]

Looking forward to a photo and how it all worked out. I live near Pensacola FL and I just had my main slide topper repaired and resewn by a local marine canvas shop. They used Gortex tread which is the only material that seems to really hold up here in the sun and wind. They are very good and have a lot of experience with various cloths for the local boating crowd including sail repair. If you do not find something you like I could ask them what they recommend for the gutter cloth and relay it back to you.