Slide Toppers important or not?

[mstan]

I ask this question because when I recently took my RW back for warranty work. When I purchased my RW I ordered the slide toppers to be installed when I brought it back for the above mentioned work. First of all the slide toppers where not ordered as promised. Now I am informed after 3+ weeks that they cannot be installed on the dinning room slide due to the Factory installed awning being installed the wrong height on the slide. Are the Slide toppers really needed? My previous Fifth Wheel was a Carriage and the design of the carriage slide made slide toppers not needed. What say ye?

[atom ant]

Never had em, never missed em. If you are in the east or south, they may help keep debris off, but out here in CO we get too much wind for those things. I never have debris up there.

[mstan]

AA I can understand the wind situation. However here in the south we have pine trees as well as oak trees. Both of which can really pile up on top of the slides. Also oak limbs and twigs. Those are my concern here.

[atom ant]

Cant speak to that, sorry.

[rob_fla]

We have them on all 5 slides and love them.
We fulltime and travel the Southeast for the most part and your are right we actually have large trees here we camp under many times so the debris issue is a problem.
The other thing about slide toppers is they help with cooling during the summer as they provide a sun break to keep the direct sun off the slide roofs (typical slide roofs are pretty thin and do not have much insulation)
You are right the Carriage / Lifestyle slide roof design is unique in the towable RV market, no outside edge lip / flange so they are self cleaning.

[almcc]

The answer may depend on where you travel. We have spent some time in the California desert and also along the Texas gulf coast where there are sometimes high winds. In both places we've seen ripped toppers that have had to be cut down. Noise is another problem in the wind. For these reasons we've passed on installing toppers.

Our home has a number of pine trees around, and pine cones are a problem. Before closing up our slides I check for pine cones on the slide tops and remove them (a water hose works well), On the road I can check for debris by climbing the ladder and looking, I don't worry about leaves getting on the slide tops.

[rob_fla]

When we picked up our Redwood from the dealer at delivery, we had leaves inside the slides and on the floor of our coach every time we moved.
When the slides were closed with the leaves on the top of the slide roofs, they leaves came inside and could be seen on top of the slide roofs from the inside.
I closed the slides and got on a step ladder and removed all the leaves from inside of the slides, then I installed the toppers, no more dirt, debris, leaves or water on the slide roofs on the inside when we move.

[poormarky]

We are up in Northern IL. Plenty of leaves and pine needles. We had the toppers installed at the dealership and they have been great. No more leaves or water coming in the inside when bringing in the slides. A couple of times we have heard them flap, but I can put up with the noise to trying to get the debris off the slides.

[mstan]

It is hard to understand why the RW factory would install a awning in such a way that I cannot install toppers. Not only that they installed the led lights on the awning to where the wires that supply the led power so that they get pulled apart when you open out the awning. ��

[mstan]

I love my RW. But have found muliple nit picky issues like this to deal with. And a few major ones.

[gvtahoe88]

Would like to hear your problems. To see how we compare. Had a HeartLand before getting this 2016 38GK Redwood. Not sure if it was a step up????

[danrn]

Originally Posted by atom ant

Never had em, never missed em. If you are in the east or south, they may help keep debris off, but out here in CO we get too much wind for those things. I never have debris up there.

X2.....I had some sleepless nights because of the wind blowing on the covers. There was a few times I almost pulled in the slides.

[azandy]

We have had it both ways. Wind is noisy but heavy rain crashing above your head while sleeping is worse in my opinion. I'm working in west Texas right now and the wind is crazy. But I'm happier with them overall and will get them again.

[travelin' texans]

We were in the Texas panhandle last spring & I wish that the toppers had a zipper to disconnect, drove us crazy, but we had winds 40+ everyday with 50-70 mph gust for the entire month of May. HORRIBLE!!

[RCAircraft]

Originally Posted by mstan

I ask this question because when I recently took my RW back for warranty work. When I purchased my RW I ordered the slide toppers to be installed when I brought it back for the above mentioned work. First of all the slide toppers where not ordered as promised. Now I am informed after 3+ weeks that they cannot be installed on the dinning room slide due to the Factory installed awning being installed the wrong height on the slide. Are the Slide toppers really needed? My previous Fifth Wheel was a Carriage and the design of the carriage slide made slide toppers not needed. What say ye?

Our toppers really help to protect the slide gaskets and help reduce solar heat gain. Our previous RV's did not have toppers and was a chore to clean the slide top area before retracting the slides.