Crosswinds and Slidout Toppers

[Stealth01]

Had an interesting experience today and was curious if other Newmar owners have had the experience. We were west bound on I-40 from Oklahoma City to Amarillo and we were experiencing some of the worst crosswinds I've ever driven through (thank God for Comfort Drive)! As the gusts increased we started hearing a banging sound from the passenger side of the coach... the same side the winds were blowing from. I finally repositioned the right side rear view mirror, angling it up so I could see the slide-out toppers and the awning. What I discovered was the forward slide-out topper cover was being blown open (up into the slip stream) when an extremely strong gust would hit us! The cover would remain open until we passed under an overpass at which time it would slam shut until the next large gust hit us and it would again be blown open!! We've been in crosswinds in the past but never experienced anything like this. Fearing the cover would either be damaged or ripped off I pulled into a truck stop, got out my ladder and Gorilla Duct tapped the cover closed with six segments of tape. The cover remained closed until we arrived in Amarillo where I removed the tape. The slide-out topper cover appeared to be OK and functioned normally upon slide-out deployment. Just curious if anyone else has experienced anything like this?? I would estimate the sustained crosswinds at 35 to 40 MPH and the gusts were easily between 50 and 60 MPH!

[CLIFFTALL]

Not on a Newmar , but the exact same thing happened to me in New Mexico.
Here's a link to a thread I started at that time.

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f64/unfur...er-124775.html

[Winepress]

When your slide is out is there noticeable sag on the topper? Could be tension, but that's a strong wind and it may just be the nature of the beast. I've experienced the same thing and it scared the heck out of me. My slide topper tension needed to be adjusted a bit to provide more tension.

[slabman]

I don't think the wind ever stops when heading west along that road. Here's a little arm Newmar installed at the front of my big slide to solve that problem. we drove in strong head and crosswinds today and no issues were noted...except the mirror which the wind blew into a crooked position.

[adonh]

Originally Posted by Stealth01

Had an interesting experience today and was curious if other Newmar owners have had the experience. We were west bound on I-40 from Oklahoma City to Amarillo and we were experiencing some of the worst crosswinds I've ever driven through (thank God for Comfort Drive)! As the gusts increased we started hearing a banging sound from the passenger side of the coach... the same side the winds were blowing from. I finally repositioned the right side rear view mirror, angling it up so I could see the slide-out toppers and the awning. What I discovered was the forward slide-out topper cover was being blown open (up into the slip stream) when an extremely strong gust would hit us! The cover would remain open until we passed under an overpass at which time it would slam shut until the next large gust hit us and it would again be blown open!! We've been in crosswinds in the past but never experienced anything like this. Fearing the cover would either be damaged or ripped off I pulled into a truck stop, got out my ladder and Gorilla Duct tapped the cover closed with six segments of tape. The cover remained closed until we arrived in Amarillo where I removed the tape. The slide-out topper cover appeared to be OK and functioned normally upon slide-out deployment. Just curious if anyone else has experienced anything like this?? I would estimate the sustained crosswinds at 35 to 40 MPH and the gusts were easily between 50 and 60 MPH!

I don't know the brand of your slide topper, but on my Dometic/A&E slide topper it has an anti billows Tab and if the wind catches the fabric to start to billow (roll) out, That tab on the roller end will rotate inward and the rubber end will hit the mount plate on the sidewall and stop the rotation. This is shown on Page 8 of the link below. I have no experience on if this actually works in strong cross winds like you had.

http://www.dometic.com/38f21536-3782...80b54963.fodoc

[Stealth01]

To Be Clear: The slide-out topper is taut and never tried to nor exhibited any "unfurling". The issue we experienced is the "spring loaded topper cover" was being pushed or pulled open by the wind gusts! My fear was that the repeated "opening/closing" of the cover was going to cause damage to the cover or the topper system.

SLABMAN: I can't make out the purpose or the operation of the arm that Newmar installed, can you explain its operation?

["007"]

Do your awning have the metal wrap around them all my awnings do and they never opened up from heavy winds while traveling.

[slabman]

Stealth, as explained to me it simply pushes against the awning cover to prevent wind from unfurling the awning. I haven't yet gone up there to figure out how it works...too busy locating more storage areas :-) and figuring out how EVERYTHING works!

[The Okie]

Originally Posted by Stealth01

Had an interesting experience today and was curious if other Newmar owners have had the experience. We were west bound on I-40 from Oklahoma City to Amarillo and we were experiencing some of the worst crosswinds I've ever driven through (thank God for Comfort Drive)! As the gusts increased we started hearing a banging sound from the passenger side of the coach... the same side the winds were blowing from. I finally repositioned the right side rear view mirror, angling it up so I could see the slide-out toppers and the awning. What I discovered was the forward slide-out topper cover was being blown open (up into the slip stream) when an extremely strong gust would hit us! The cover would remain open until we passed under an overpass at which time it would slam shut until the next large gust hit us and it would again be blown open!! We've been in crosswinds in the past but never experienced anything like this. Fearing the cover would either be damaged or ripped off I pulled into a truck stop, got out my ladder and Gorilla Duct tapped the cover closed with six segments of tape. The cover remained closed until we arrived in Amarillo where I removed the tape. The slide-out topper cover appeared to be OK and functioned normally upon slide-out deployment. Just curious if anyone else has experienced anything like this?? I would estimate the sustained crosswinds at 35 to 40 MPH and the gusts were easily between 50 and 60 MPH!

Drove in that same wind today. Ken were you at twin fountains RV park Saturday night. There was a beautiful Essex there that looked a lot like your picture.

[ChallengerRN]

Had this happen one time last summer in high crosswinds in Wyoming. The first time it did it I thought something crashed into the RV.

The topper just gets air under it and unfurls. When it unfurls it makes a large flapping noise. As soon as the wind gust goes by the topper rolls back up. Mine did it several times and did not show any damage.

Don't plan to travel in wind of that magnitude again but if I do I'll just wrap a wire tie around the front end of it

Russell

[BattChief]

I experienced this a couple of times in our old coach. The worst was between Omaha and Council Bluffs, and the topper tube was pulled from the mounting points, slamming it onto the roof. I ended up on top with a pocket knife cutting the topper off the coach. There is an anti-billow device incorporated into the design which is supposed to keep this from happening. It is an arm which goes against a piece on the coach if the topper tries to open with the slide closed. When the slide opens normally, this arm, if adjusted properly, will narrowly miss the catch piece mounted on the side of the coach.

[powerboatr]

my toppers have an arm that rests into abracket on the sidewall when the slides are in and they can't unfurl unless it rips off the arm.
these are dometic slide room toppers
might be different from what newmar uses

as a side not I have never been to Amarillo where the wind inst blowing like a hurricane

[hogdriver]

I used to have the same problem with my Monaco Diplomat travling in Colo and Kansas. I stopped several times and climbed up (in terrible winds) and zip tied my awning covers rolls to the RV. I used a drill and drilled 1/8" holes in the drip rails to secure the awnings. When I got to my destination I'd cut the ties. Camping world sells velcro wraping ties that you can use if your awning has a place to tie around.

[Stealth01]

Originally Posted by nwokhunter

Drove in that same wind today. Ken were you at twin fountains RV park Saturday night. There was a beautiful Essex there that looked a lot like your picture.

That was us!! You should have stopped by for a beer!!