Slide toppers/awnings - remove?

[ballard770]

We have a 2007 Holiday Rambler with Carefree slide toppers. One of them has bunched up fabric and the others seem to be OK but they seem to be vulnerable for wind caused billowing/damage.

I am wondering if the toppers really perform a real function. For 10 years we had a 32' Alpenlite Augusta with two slides but no slide topper/awnings and we didn't experience any problem without the toppers. When I had some work done on the MH at an RV shop I was told that the fabric could be removed and just leave the tubes on the rig but there would be no awning.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the viability of removing the fabric (or just disconnecting it and leaving it on the rollers? It seems to me that these slide toppers cause a lot of problems - noise and the possibility of not being able to bring slide in without fabric causing the roller to jam.

From what I have seen there is a lot of discontent with Carefree awnings and toppers and their customer/product support. Our awning caused us some problems that required a new motor due to a failed hub and there was a thru wall connector that was no longer available and it had to be replaced with a made-on-the-spot cable from the awning and thru the exterior to access power. Another part that was not part of the original awning cause the awning to hang up and most likely was the reason for the hub failing. The hub should have had a spline or keyway to connect to the motor assembly. That would have prevented the hub failure.

In hindsight perhaps the shop could have drilled the hub and put a screw thru the hub to hold it to the flat spot on the shaft - a bandaid solution perhaps.

The shop had trouble with the parts department at Carefree who didn't even recognize the problem.

Lee

[NeilV]

Originally Posted by ballard770

We have a 2007 Holiday Rambler with Carefree slide toppers. One of them has bunched up fabric and the others seem to be OK but they seem to be vulnerable for wind caused billowing/damage.

I am wondering if the toppers really perform a real function. For 10 years we had a 32' Alpenlite Augusta with two slides but no slide topper/awnings and we didn't experience any problem without the toppers. When I had some work done on the MH at an RV shop I was told that the fabric could be removed and just leave the tubes on the rig but there would be no awning.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the viability of removing the fabric (or just disconnecting it and leaving it on the rollers? It seems to me that these slide toppers cause a lot of problems - noise and the possibility of not being able to bring slide in without fabric causing the roller to jam.

From what I have seen there is a lot of discontent with Carefree awnings and toppers and their customer/product support. Our awning caused us some problems that required a new motor due to a failed hub and there was a thru wall connector that was no longer available and it had to be replaced with a made-on-the-spot cable from the awning and thru the exterior to access power. Another part that was not part of the original awning cause the awning to hang up and most likely was the reason for the hub failing. The hub should have had a spline or keyway to connect to the motor assembly. That would have prevented the hub failure.

In hindsight perhaps the shop could have drilled the hub and put a screw thru the hub to hold it to the flat spot on the shaft - a bandaid solution perhaps.

The shop had trouble with the parts department at Carefree who didn't even recognize the problem.

Lee

When my slide topper broke from catching a low hanging tree branch I removed it until I had time to deal with it. After the second time I had to climb on the roof and clean off the top of the slide because wet muddy leaves and pine needles were in the way of closing the slide I made the time to replace the topper. Slide tops stay nice and clean with the toppers in place and they help keep the coach cooler as the direct sun is not beating down directly on top of the slide. The slide gasket across the top of the slide stays in basically new condition from not having direct sun beating down on it. I am in Florida and the effects of the sun over here can be brutal.

I have the old style A&E Manual 8500 Series Patio Awning and the Dometic toppers and even after 12 years the awning is still servicable and just this past year I had to replace the fabric on the toppers due to weathering. Set the springs right on the toppers and billowing is not usually a problem except during the most extreme tropical rains and if its that bad we bring in the slides anyways.

The less fancy things are the fewer parts there are to wear out or break.

[frankdamp]

If the original design had toppers, then it's probable that the wall-to-slide-roof seals won't keep the rain out if you delete them.

Shortly after we bough our Georgetown, we got rain water in the overhead cabinets in the living-room slide. Fortunately, a large package of table napkins caught most of it, but the cabinets developed mold and I had to replace them.

What we had thought was minor damage on the front edge of the topper turned out to be the complete rotting out of the vinyl, leaving only the netting support fabric. Although the rot only affected the living room slide-out, I had both toppers replaced. IIRC, the bill came to about $600.

If you're really handy (which I am) and fairly agile (which I'm not, at 72) you might be able to replace them yourself with only the cost of the fabric, around $180. I would definitely NOT try to manage without them. Water damage inside the walls is very expensive to fix. We were lucky the water only affected the cabinets.

[njs42]

I agree 100% with NeilV's commnets and just add mine for emphasis. I have the AE brand as well.

Personally I would not eliminate a slide topper. Candidly I have helped a friend remove the ones from his 5er. He never complained of a problem but I am quite sure doing so would make life miserable for me having to clean the slide top before pulling it back in not to mention the possibility of leaking in a heavy rain.

I had some water intrusion recently when water dripped from a gap in the roof gutter, through a small fabric hole in the slide topper and under the rear slide gasket. Without the topper I think I am looking at Niagara in my bedroom. Before that minor leak all that was up there was dust so the topper worked well.