How windy before putting in slides? - RV-Dreams Community Forum

MaryBee · RV-Dreams Family Member

How windy before putting in slides?

igotjam · RV-Dreams Family Member

I think it depends if you have slide toppers and how much agrevation you can take. If you don't have toppers, I wouldn't put them in till winds hit huricane force. With toppers its up to you. On my last 5er 50mph winds took one off but I know I have been in higher winds without problems. I think it depends on direction and a bunch of other factors. The biggest problem is the noise wind makes with toppers.

GENECOP · RV-Dreams Family Member

Toppers really start slapping around in 20mph winds, we easily function in our Rig with the slides in so as soon as the toppers start flapping.......in the slides come....

MaryBee · RV-Dreams Family Member

Ahh..thanks. Yes, we have toppers on both slides so I guess we will use caution as we do with our front awning.

Thanks!

MaryBee · RV-Dreams Family Member

Nice to know Jerry..thanks!

Also, I went to your waggintailsrv blog...thank you so much for posting pictures of your
craft area remodel for Carol and how you arrainged your garage!

I make "crafts" for a living and we are trying to figure out a way to put in a work
area for me. I really did not want to take out the hide-a-bed couch...but will probably have
to and just have the 2 recliners like you guys do.

Thanks for the ideas! My only other problem is I have to figure out how to store thousands
of yards of ribbon....that will probably all go in the front bedroom closets!

-- Edited by MaryBee on Saturday 25th of February 2012 07:33:58 AM

Waggin Tails · RV-Dreams Family Member

We only pull up the awning if wind kicks up. With slides in, we lose access to Living Room & Kitchen. We have never closed the slides for any wind - yet.

Cindy T · RV-Dreams Family Member

In the past couple of days, we had anywhere from 60-80MPH winds. Thankfully, we don't have slide toppers, I imagine those would have been shredded in the wind. We didn't pull the slides in because we can't function in here unless the slides are out. I can say that we had a very uncomfortable night of being battered by the wind, but no damage & we didn't get blown to Kansas! smile

Cindy T

Jack Mayer · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have been fulltimers for 12 years, and spend time in windy areas. I have NEVER put the slides in for wind. Of course, We do not have slide toppers. IMO, they are more trouble than benefit. With slide toppers you will have to put them in if they start flapping a lot or they will destroy themselves. The only time I have ever put a slide in was when we were caught in an ice storm off of I95 in NC. I put the slides in then to prevent ice buildup on them, since we were in transit and did not want to wait for a thaw the next day.

ken and cindy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Have not had any problems with our toppers in high wind, could be the toppers are a fabric and not the vinyl ones. Winds up here in Oklahoma got pretty high , 40-60 miles per hour gust ! Also our slides are a bit narrower than most 5'ver's

MaryBee · RV-Dreams Family Member

I have the vinyl toppers like our front awning....so I guess I will just have to use caution and see how things go.
We decided to stay out in our rig again last night, it was sorta windy about 15-20mph and the toppers never moved
and all was ok. :) Even snowed about 1-1/2" while we were sleeping.

Now..if I could just get this Michigan winter snow to go and Spring to come!!!!

laurly · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have slide awnings on all 3 of our slides. Today we are having 50mph gusts, and although I can hear the ends of the awnings making noise, no problems. We have yet to put our slides in for any kind of weather. George made a gadget with PVC to put on top of our slides under the awnings to keep them from sagging in weather..that helps as well.

MaryBee · RV-Dreams Family Member

laurly wrote:
We have slide awnings on all 3 of our slides. Today we are having 50mph gusts, and although I can hear the ends of the awnings making noise, no problems. We have yet to put our slides in for any kind of weather. George made a gadget with PVC to put on top of our slides under the awnings to keep them from sagging in weather..that helps as well.

Cool. Sounds like I won't have to worry to awful much. I worry about the snow more as it can get heavy but we just got our fiver on Wednesday and slept in it Wednesday night and last night. Last night is when we got a bit of snow....I went out this afternoon and put in the slides so now I don't have to worry, I probably won't stay in it now again until Spring breaks.

I will be glad when we go fulltime and head south in October, I won't have to worry about the snow anymore!!! As a lifelong Michigander....I am READY for the warm weather!

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

Jack Mayer wrote:
We have been fulltimers for 12 years, and spend time in windy areas. I have NEVER put the slides in for wind. Of course, We do not have slide toppers. IMO, they are more trouble than benefit. With slide toppers you will have to put them in if they start flapping a lot or they will destroy themselves. The only time I have ever put a slide in was when we were caught in an ice storm off of I95 in NC. I put the slides in then to prevent ice buildup on them, since we were in transit and did not want to wait for a thaw the next day.

Jack:

Your post brings up the difference between the east coast and more or less much of the rest of the US as pertains to slide toppers.

We have them because, living mostly on the east coast, we have leaves, ice and pine needles that get on the top of the slides. You really don’t want those there, especially when you pull in the slides to move. Yes, they can be swept off. But frankly, when the roof is wet it is a bit unsafe to be up there. My opinion, although I’ve been there with it wet and slippery; but I also lost my closest friend slipping off a roof while sweeping off leaves.

We also have been in ice and snow conditions and I’ve found the toppers necessary to make it possible to pull the slides in because you can work the slides in and the toppers, even with ice, will tend to shed the accumulation as the slides come in. It takes two to work this with a couple of cell phones, but it works. Without the toppers it is a mess and sometimes you get a lot of bad things inside the rig in spite of the gaskets.

You don’t have these issues as much towards the more central and south western states where wind is much more of a factor than leaves and pine needles, etc. Therefore having toppers in these more windy regions is not as good an idea. I agree.

Like always, it depends.

Bill

MaryBee · RV-Dreams Family Member

Jack:

Your post brings up the difference between the east coast and more or less much of the rest of the US as pertains to slide toppers.

We have them because, living mostly on the east coast, we have leaves, ice and pine needles that get on the top of the slides. You really don’t want those there, especially when you pull in the slides to move. Yes, they can be swept off. But frankly, when the roof is wet it is a bit unsafe to be up there. My opinion, although I’ve been there with it wet and slippery; but I also lost my closest friend slipping off a roof while sweeping off leaves.

We also have been in ice and snow conditions and I’ve found the toppers necessary to make it possible to pull the slides in because you can work the slides in and the toppers, even with ice, will tend to shed the accumulation as the slides come in. It takes two to work this with a couple of cell phones, but it works. Without the toppers it is a mess and sometimes you get a lot of bad things inside the rig in spite of the gaskets.

You don’t have these issues as much towards the more central and south western states where wind is much more of a factor than leaves and pine needles, etc. Therefore having toppers in these more windy regions is not as good an idea. I agree.

Like always, it depends.

Bill

Perfectly put Bill.

The fact that we had a bit of snow last night...had I not had the toppers we would have had a "mess" in our rig of melting snow. The toppers kept all ice and snow off, yes we had to use a broom and brush a bit of it off of the topper as we slowly brought in the slide, but it was not a big deal and the top of my slides under the toppers stayed nice and dry and clean.

We boondock alot here in the deep Michigan woods. Where we camp we have alot of messy Oak trees to deal with. In the spring and fall things get messy with leaves, acorns etc. The slides are perfect for keeping this debris off the slide. :)

I guess everyone has a different situation and has to decide what is best for them.

SueMac · RV-Dreams Family Member

We've had thick ice on our slide toppers and since the temps the next a.m. were not warm, the ice didn't want to melt and we couldn't get the slides in.

For those of you with the hydronic heating systems on a Class A, hubby took off the shower head in the outside shower/sewer bay and installed a hose connection. Then we hooked a hose to that and had plenty of warm water to spray on the topper and melt the ice. Before it had time to freeze we quickly put in the slide out.

Delaine and Lindy · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have never put in our slides and for sure have been in some windy area's. We also don't have slide toppers, we try very hard not to ever park under tree's. Tree's are just a hazard and we avoid them as much as possible... I do have a $59.00 leaf blower and do blow off the slide tops if needed and also use it to keep the concrete slabs clean, much less work than a broom. We did have slide toppers on 3 previous 5th wheels but the last three we haven't seen the additional cost ($1,500) vs what little they do.. And the constant noise, we tried several ideas to prevent flapping, none worked a 100%. But its a choice. Some like them some don't. Good Luck with your choice... Happy Trails...