Picking up my RW Friday

[RAMN8TER]

Well, after 4 weeks of being at the dealership, I'll be picking it up on the 26th. There were about 15 items that needed repair. Mostly things that were under warranty.
The service advisor and I were going down the list over the phone on how the gripes were repaired. The only one that wasn't were my FACTORY installed slide toppers. They are not taut whatsoever. When I say not taut, I'm saying they are sagging so bad that they are laying down on the top of the slides. The dealer called the manufacturer; even sent them pictures, I'm told, and the they came back and told them that there is nothing they can do about it. I asked why and was told that after 90 days of ownership, it is considered normal. I haven't had it 90 days! I told the service advisor, this isn't your fight. I'll take care of it when I pick it up.
I've owned three RVs prior to this one and all have had slide toppers. I've never had a problem with them. When it rains, or sprinkles for that matter, they collect a massive amount of water.
I must admit, I'm not real pleased at the moment.
-Jack

[atom ant]

Recently slide rooms have gotten taller as a new bragged about feature, which results in the slide topper not pitched as steep as they used to be. Could this be partly contributing compared to your prior rigs?

Just a thought.

Did you ask Carefree of Colorado?

[RAMN8TER]

I will admit that the angle isn't much at all and I haven't talked to Carefree. I would think at least, in my opinion that Crossroads would be my point of contact. I certainly will however get in touch with them as well.
Thanks,
Jack

[piper guy]

Mine were adjusted about 2 months after I got the coach. It helped, but they still collect water in a good rain. Coach is now about two years old and the tension is about the same. I just live with the fact they will have a small pool in them and make sure I'm not standing by the wet bay when I tell Tracy to bring in the bedroom slide .....

[JohnEileen]

We've had this discussion before and ours also collects rain. Someone suggested putting a beach ball up there to allow the water to drain off. Ours looks tight until the rain starts!

Eileen

[RAMN8TER]

Originally Posted by JohnEileen

We've had this discussion before and ours also collects rain. Someone suggested putting a beach ball up there to allow the water to drain off. Ours looks tight until the rain starts!

Eileen

True...but in my old hard head, it would seem to me that:
A) I shouldn't have to modify/come up with a workaround, seeing as this is a new RW.
B) Because of the amount of sag all three toppers have, Redwood or Carefree should make amends.

I know that this is probably a losing battle, but in principle, this really bothers me and I'll more than likely have to live with it.

-Jack

[0nTheRoad]

Really sorry for your troubles. Makes me glad thad I opted not to get the slide toppers, I'll just continue to clean my slide tops before closing up!

[Dave&Ginny]

I realize that some folks can't get up on their roofs due to physical limitations and for them the toppers might make since. For myself....I see the slide toppers as maintenance issue that are all but guaranteed to give problems down the road either through wear and tear or decay.

They do look nice... BUT...... so do some of the things I see walking around the beach that I'm sure are more trouble then they're worth too. Moral of the story is....whats pleasing to the eye isn't always pleasing to the heart or wallet.

[0nTheRoad]

Agree Dave...I'm blessed as I'm able to go up on the roof with little effort, I take advantage of doing a visual inspection of the roof and assorted attachments and vents while I'm up there.

When I get to the point that getting up there is not feasible I'll look into getting toppers.

[Dan]

I have an older 36RL with toppers and on mine the center is very tight and the ends a bit loose. This works great as the water just runs off each end. To me it seems setup perfectly and haven't had any sagging so far, they are the earlier carefree toppers. You should be able to get yours adjusted properly

[RAMN8TER]

I think what I was trying to say that if a customer buys a product, then the product should work as advertised; at least in my opinion. In this case, the product (slide toppers) don't.

[0nTheRoad]

I agree but my observations is that these are problematic, many people I know who have them...curse them!

[RAMN8TER]

I hear ya Chuck, but again, if I paid for them, then they should be functional. As an example, if I bought a car and there was a navigation system on it that came as an option, and it wasn't working as advertised, then I'm going to have it fixed. No different here. IMO, this could just be a bad design. None the less, when I pick it up tomorrow, I'll be taking several pictures and sending them to Crossroads.
Apologize for the rant.
-Jack

[JerryL]

Originally Posted by Dave&Ginny

I realize that some folks can't get up on their roofs due to physical limitations and for them the toppers might make since. For myself....I see the slide toppers as maintenance issue that are all but guaranteed to give problems down the road either through wear and tear or decay.

They do look nice... BUT...... so do some of the things I see walking around the beach that I'm sure are more trouble then they're worth too. Moral of the story is....whats pleasing to the eye isn't always pleasing to the heart or wallet.

I had slide toppers on ONE rv. That was my lesson learned. It was a total waste of over a thousand bucks, and a mistake I'll never make again.

[rob_fla]

7 Inches of rain and wind over the last couple of days, no puddles of water on any of our 5 slide toppers.

[atom ant]

Originally Posted by rob_fla

7 Inches of rain and wind over the last couple of days, no puddles of water on any of our 5 slide toppers.

Must be the wind

[0nTheRoad]

Jack, I'm not disagreeing with you, they should work as advertised!!!

I'm glad my dealer advised me NOT to get them, he warned that they tend to be problematic, that coupled with posts on this, and other forums commenting on problems, so I opted to not get them.

I hope you can get the problems fixed. There have also been sever comments on how to remedy some of the problems for sagging, check it out.

[mhs4771]

This is another of those "Love them or Hate them" items. For every person that says they would never have them, there's another who won't be without them.
If you're ever camped under trees in the fall after a rain, you'd be glad to have them. With a roof covered with wet slippery leaves it's no fun trying to sweep off uncovered slides before retracting them (been there done that).

[rob_fla]

With our last 5th Wheel they were factory installed and they pooled water all the time.

On our current Redwood, I did the installation and increased the angle of the awnings during installation.
We never pool water on our slide awnings now, they work great.

Also with the 5 Slides, we do not have an extremely long slide awning.

[atom ant]

Originally Posted by rob_fla

With our last 5th Wheel they were factory installed and they pooled water all the time.

On our current Redwood, I did the installation and increased the angle of the awnings during installation.
We never pool water on our slide awnings now, they work great.

Also with the 5 Slides, we do not have an extremely long slide awning.

That's right! I remember now you did install yours after delivery. If you are able to raise your awning rails to install these with more pitch, then Redwood must be doing them wrong. I can't see the large one in your sig pic, but the pitch on the one in your picture is fantastic! Almost more than I though you could get on a slide awning.

I would get the install directions from Carefree and verify the height requirements. If yours were mounted too low, push back on the factory Jack. The factory has already had issues with the patio awning installations because they didn't install properly. If you have room above the rail, then they probably did mount too low making them too flat.