Wind damage to slide topper

[msmith1199]

My RV is getting up in age, about 14 years now, and yesterday I moved it to a new storage place and got caught in some real heavy winds. The winds were at about 90 degrees to the direction of travel on the left side. I've driven in stronger winds before but they were from the right side before and I know they were stronger because in those previous winds I ended up having to get off the freeway and wait them out once I figured out I couldn't even keep the RV in the lane at 25 mph. Yesterday's winds I was able to keep in the lane.

So to the point, as I was driving in the wind I heard some very loud banging coming from the left side of the roof. I pulled over and looked but couldn't see anything loose or wrong. Back on the road and it started again and this time I was able to see through the mirror that is was the slide topper. I couldn't see the topper well so I don't know exactly what it was doing, but I did see a part fly off of it. The part that flew off was the anti-billowing device.

Anyway, I was close to getting to the storage location so I slowed way down and there were no problems getting it put away. I looked at the slide topper from the ground and other than the anti-billowing device missing you can't see any damage or anything wrong with it. When the weather gets warmer I'll take a ladder there and get a closer look, but I was wonder if this problem could be related to age? Are the springs that hold it closed just getting loose and this allows the wind to catch it? Anybody else had this issue?

[msmith1199]

doxiemom11 wrote:
We only have the aluminum cover on the main awning. The slides have full awnings, but no aluminum covers. Ours is a Monaco. Don't know if they make them for the shorter awnings or not.

They make them because all of the awnings on my windows have them and they are all shorter than the slides.

[rgatijnet1]

On my Monaco, I have the segmented aluminum covers on all awnings, including the shorter window awnings. These are Carefree of California awnings that came from the factory.

[doxiemom11]

We only have the aluminum cover on the main awning. The slides have full awnings, but no aluminum covers. Ours is a Monaco. Don't know if they make them for the shorter awnings or not.

[msmith1199]

The main reason I want the aluminum is because it appears the covers will help if I get into strong winds again. None of the awnings with the covers had problems, only the biggest slide topper without it.

[rgatijnet1]

msmith1199 wrote:
I did finally get a chance to get up and look at the toppers and noticed the material is getting old and does have sign of cracking. So I'm just going to go ahead and replaced the fabric on all three toppers. I've watched the YouTube videos and it doesn't look that complicated.

For anybody who has changed these before, my three toppers don't have the aluminum cover so the fabric is just exposed to the elements when rolled up. That's a little odd as my main awning along with all the window awnings do have the aluminum cover. I don't know why National RV cheaped out on the slide toppers. Anyway, I looked at the most recommended company for replacing the topper fabric and they tell you how to measure and you are supposed to tell them if you have the aluminum cover or not. What I want to do is include the aliminum cover with the new fabric. Has anybody added the aliminum covers that didn't have them before? I assume they will work with the exsiting hardware? I'll call the company that sells the fabric on Monday and see what they say.

You got 14 years of service out of the original fabric without the aluminum covers. Perhaps it might just be more cost effective, and easier, to just use a better fabric instead of going through the hassle, and expense, of adding aluminum covers. I guess you have to ask yourself how much longer do you think you will keep this RV?

[msmith1199]

I did finally get a chance to get up and look at the toppers and noticed the material is getting old and does have sign of cracking. So I'm just going to go ahead and replaced the fabric on all three toppers. I've watched the YouTube videos and it doesn't look that complicated.

For anybody who has changed these before, my three toppers don't have the aluminum cover so the fabric is just exposed to the elements when rolled up. That's a little odd as my main awning along with all the window awnings do have the aluminum cover. I don't know why National RV cheaped out on the slide toppers. Anyway, I looked at the most recommended company for replacing the topper fabric and they tell you how to measure and you are supposed to tell them if you have the aluminum cover or not. What I want to do is include the aliminum cover with the new fabric. Has anybody added the aliminum covers that didn't have them before? I assume they will work with the exsiting hardware? I'll call the company that sells the fabric on Monday and see what they say.

[dufferdj]

We had one of our toppers give up the ghost due to high winds and UV light rotting out the seams on the topper. Went to "Tough Top Awnings" and they have a link to u-tube and watched the RV Geeks show how to replace a topper. Ordered 2 of the toppers and replaced both of them in about 2 hour and less than $300. If it's only the fabric and not the mechanics, you might go that route.

[msmith1199]

ArchHoagland wrote:
I still think I'd check with the insurance company. Can't hurt.

Although I realize its covered by insurance, I wouldn’t make a claim on something like this.

[rgatijnet1]

msmith1199 wrote:

rgatijnet1 wrote:
I had a single spring go out at 11 years old. I replaced both topper springs and the topper material at the same time. I took the material off, which is not a big deal once you have it apart to change the springs, and took it to a marine cover shop where they duplicated my existing topper fabric for $150.
Tensioning the topper springs can be a challange so you may want to get a mobile mechanic to do that part of the project.

When the spring went out did that enable the topper to blow more while on the road? What I was thinking is maybe the springs are getting old and loose and that is what allowed the wind to catch it and cause the problems.

With one spring broken, it was unable to tension the topper properly. I noticed it before I got on the road so I am not sure that it would have allowed it to be blown loose. I just noticed it sagging with the slide out. My topper also has the aluminum cover that protects it when it is fully retracted.

[doxiemom11]

We had that, and you couldn't see anything from the ground other than it appeared to sag a little in the middle. Upon checking, we found the the thread in the seam at the top had given away and the top of the awning was only fastened towards each end. We took the awning off and resewed that seam, ged the plastic things thru and re- fed it thru the track on the top edge of the motorhome.

[ArchHoagland]

I still think I'd check with the insurance company. Can't hurt.

[msmith1199]

rgatijnet1 wrote:
I had a single spring go out at 11 years old. I replaced both topper springs and the topper material at the same time. I took the material off, which is not a big deal once you have it apart to change the springs, and took it to a marine cover shop where they duplicated my existing topper fabric for $150.
Tensioning the topper springs can be a challange so you may want to get a mobile mechanic to do that part of the project.

When the spring went out did that enable the topper to blow more while on the road? What I was thinking is maybe the springs are getting old and loose and that is what allowed the wind to catch it and cause the problems.

[msmith1199]

ArchHoagland wrote:
During a storm my main slideout topper pulled the anchoring base away from the top edge of the roofline while I was in a RV park.

I contacted AAA insurance and they checked the weather for that day in the area and saw that there was a "Strong weather event."

So they paid about $600 to have it repaired.

I did some google searches and I found a lot of different links talking about wind damage and banging around while the slide was open and at an RV park. I couldn't find any info on the slide toppers while on the road. I've seen regular awnings get damaged on the road and know that happens, but not the slide toppers.

[msmith1199]

ScottG wrote:
Never had that problem with our last TT which we used for 13 years. I had installed the lowest level of Carefree awning on it.
But there are some junk slide toppers out there. If you buy it yourself and install, it's probably decent but there are super low quality units that only manufacturers can buy (cough* Northwood) and I can see how they will probably come loose with a good sneeze.

Mine are Dometic and looking at the current Dometic slidetoppers, they have three categories. The one I have is the cheapest of the three. So if I do end up having to do some repair work, I may end up just buying the top end unit and having it installed.