Slideout Covers

[bandmmorris]

Any suggestions on where to get slide-out covers for a 2007 Monaco Camelot. Mine are getting in pretty bad shape. I can replace them, but looking for a good quality, good price place to purchase the covers.

[96 EVO]

I hear Stone Vos are decent 😉!

[ColoJim]

Tough Top Awnings in Washington, State is a very good do it yourself company to work with. I did them on a travel trailer a year or so ago and they were very helpful and easy to work with. 
 

[Scotty Hutto]

I purchased mine from Stone Vos and have been very pleased with them. Contact info in the Vendors section. 

[Paul J A]

4 hours ago, bandmmorris said:

Any suggestions on where to get slide-out covers for a 2007 Monaco Camelot. Mine are getting in pretty bad shape. I can replace them, but looking for a good quality, good price place to purchase the covers.

Don't know where the ship to point is but , Another source not mentioned already is Shade Pro.

Edited December 29, 2020 by Paul A.

[planodp]

Just purchase and installed Tough Top Awnings on all 3 of my slide out on 2004 Executive for $536. Plus I had to replaced 2 spring on Carefree SOK2. Go on youtube and look for RVGREEKS and get the discount code. I have 2 that I purchase from Carefree that was the wrong size. It wasn't Carefree fault I had the wrong build sheet in my Monaco book. If you interested let me know. It's custom Acrylic solid Charcoal Grey. one is 143" and the other 153" long. 

[KevinH]

Not sure if this will apply in your situation but two years ago I was going to replace my slide covers. I wasn’t for sure if I could do the job so I started with one and pulled the material off. The material that was rolled up on the roller looked brand new and there was enough of it to cover the slide so I reversed it that was two years ago And it still looks good today. Like I said not sure if this helps.

[bandmmorris]

Anyone have experience with buying fabric only and making the toppers to match what you have. My wife is a good seamstress and it does not seem to be a complicated item to make.

[David White]

27 minutes ago, bandmmorris said:

Anyone have experience with buying fabric only and making the toppers to match what you have. My wife is a good seamstress and it does not seem to be a complicated item to make.

I’m sure do it yourself can be done, but the weakest point on the toppers is likely to be the stitching.  Primarily, the thread used.

The seams/threads deteriorate and problems start again.  Be sure to do your research on this.  I would echo the earlier recommendations of Stone Vos. 

 

[Dr4Film]

Stone Vos Inc. is the ONLY place I would recommend obtaining your slide toppers or patio awning from and here is why. They have the best fabric made in the world imported from Europe that will outlast ANY other manufacture or supplier. Plus the Solarfix Lifetime thread that they use will NEVER deteriorate from UV or the sun and is the same thread that NASA uses. Also, they use double stitching on all of their seams, their warranty is the BEST in the industry and the customer service is beyond exceptional.

You may have to pay more but you will get a LOT more in return for your investment.

You can read all about them here. http://stonevoss.com/index.php/staging/

My father always taught me when doing any project, do it ONCE with high quality products and workmanship so you won't have to go back and do it again anytime soon.

[bandmmorris]

Based on the recommendations received and the research I have done I tend to agree with your comments. Thanks for the advice.

[a4epilot]

1 hour ago, Dr4Film said:

Stone Vos Inc. is the ONLY place I would recommend obtaining your slide toppers or patio awning from and here is why. They have the best fabric made in the world imported from Europe that will outlast ANY other manufacture or supplier. Plus the Solarfix Lifetime thread that they use will NEVER deteriorate from UV or the sun and is the same thread that NASA uses. Also, they use double stitching on all of their seams, their warranty is the BEST in the industry and the customer service is beyond exceptional.

You may have to pay more but you will get a LOT more in return for your investment.

You can read all about them here. http://stonevoss.com/index.php/staging/

My father always taught me when doing any project, do it ONCE with high quality products and workmanship so you won't have to go back and do it again anytime soon.

Stone Vos IS "the only place" to go to be sure! Here's my first hand experience.

About 8 years ago (maybe longer), I needed new slide toppers on my 2006 Windsor and decided on Stone Vos. I was in WA, they were in FL. I did the install with the help of a friend. Everything went as expected.

This past summer I drove from Phoenix all the way to Stone Vos in FL just to have some work done on my coach including new window awnings. You can find my entire story on that visit with them in my list of previous posts. It's worth reading in order to fully understand who and what they are. While there, they inspected the toppers, now 8+ years old. They were still in a like new condition! The space age thread they had used was totally intact. Regular thread would have mostly desegregated by then just as had happened with the original toppers.

Chris T is a regular on this site and even though it pains me to say it, he's a Marine & I'm Navy 😁, you can trust him completely with everything. Where do you ever find that in the RV business?

If you research in detail, as I did, regarding other companies' quality of materials, workmanship and warranty compared to Stone Vos, I feel confident you'll find Stone Vos to be the only choice. It was for me and has been for many others on this forum.

Gary K

[daveyjo]

For what it's worth, on my old 2001 Diplomat, in about 2012 some of the stitching had broken on some awnings along the exposed sides of the covers.  It wasn't a lot, but clearly things were deteriorating.  Also, they would collect rain as they bowed under the weight of rainwater collecting on top of them and they would gradually let the rainwater drip onto the slideout top they were designed to protect.  I hand re-stitched just the deteriorating stitching, probably with nylon thread, and then sprayed all my exposed awning cover fabric on all four slide-outs with a clear Silicone Water Guard spray available from Walmart sporting goods (about $6 a can), and never had another problem with them.  I'd re-spray them every couple of years.  I sold the coach in 2017 and the awning covers AND ALL THE STITCHING were still in good shape.  They showed no further deterioration and remained waterproof.

I now spray the awning covers on my 2005 Scepter every year or two and have seen no deterioration.

As an aside, the waterproofing spray is superb for waterproofing ink jet printer documents (or any document, actually) like, for example, to carry in your boat.😉

Dave Jones

2005 HR Scepter

[Paul J A]

Hotrod did an amazing job of refurbishing his existing awning this year.  Maybe he will chime in.

[bandmmorris]

On 12/29/2020 at 4:10 PM, KevinH said:

Not sure if this will apply in your situation but two years ago I was going to replace my slide covers. I wasn’t for sure if I could do the job so I started with one and pulled the material off. The material that was rolled up on the roller looked brand new and there was enough of it to cover the slide so I reversed it that was two years ago And it still looks good today. Like I said not sure if this helps.

Thanks for the info. I looked closer at mine and they are all wrapped around the roller 2-4 times so plenty of length to remove and reverse. Thanks for the advice. I am going to try to reverse mine and likely will not have to buy covers, at least not for a few more years.

Great site and wonderful people. I want to thank everyone for the outstanding advice. I now know outstanding suppliers, but even better, have ideas on how to reverse and reuse my existing covers which, if it works (and I think it will), will save me a lot of money.

[veraken]

Question.  For those of you that bought from Stone Vos, did you get the vinyl or the acrylic fabric?  Why?

[Dr4Film]

25 minutes ago, veraken said:

Question.  For those of you that bought from Stone Vos, did you get the vinyl or the acrylic fabric?  Why?

I purchased all acrylic as my slide toppers are combo units that include window awnings. Some people have installed the vinyl on units that are only toppers. My very large patio awning is also acrylic.

[a4epilot]

1 hour ago, veraken said:

Question.  For those of you that bought from Stone Vos, did you get the vinyl or the acrylic fabric?  Why?

Acrylic. If I remember correctly, Stone Vos recommendation?

Gary K

[Chet P]

Our Stone Vos covers are now 8 years old and are just as good as when they were new. We're full timers, so the slides are out and covers are exposed to the Arizona sun most of the time.

Chet P

2004 SIG Castle IV

[Guest Ray Davis]

 When you say acrylic is that a solid sheet of non porous material or some other type of woven material?

 Is it any less prone to sag with rain in the middle?

[Steven P]

Another vote for Stone Vos here.  Even if he is a Michigan State Fan. 😜

[rpblush]

You will be totally satisfied with the fabric and customer service you'll get from Stone Vos.  Contact Chris Throgmartin at 352-942-2653.

Ray Blush

[bandmmorris]

I have talked to StoneVOS and they are great. If I decide to buy it will be from them. First I am going to see if I can refurbish and reuse any of mine. I think I can remove and recondition most, if not all, of mine. 

[throgmartin]

Thank you to all of you for the vote of confidence in Stone Vos. We are very proud of our products and our warranty claim rate proves what we make is the best - a .03 failure rate based on 30,000 awning/slide topper products over the last 15 years. I hate to brag but there is not another company that can come close to our low failure rate. I don't want to make this sound like a commercial or advertising but I get tired of all the misstatements and down right lies about Stone Vos. Much of it fabricated and propelled by our competitors. In the end the truth speaks for itself.

With that said, over the years I have tested and made numerous prototypes. I tested our vinyl for 3 years on our own coach before I released it to RV Owners. The tests not only included weathering capabilities but also how each fabric performed with the various assemblies, water run off capabilities and of course ruggedness. I have had our vinyl toppers go through tropical storms and hurricanes. I have purposely slit the leading edge of our vinyl toppers to test the rip stop capabilities. I spec'ed out our vinyl ( Migliore ) while working with an engineering firm and our vinyl proudly covers the top of a Marine Corps sentry station at Gitmo where it is has endured numerous tropical storms and hurricanes over the years.

Our acrylic fabric ( manufactured under our own trademark name CoachGuard ) is made in Germany. It is made using a special weaving process that eliminates stretching and shrinking down the road. It is also made with Turkish fibers, the best in the industry. Sunbrella which used to be the gold standard of acrylic has lost favor with many commercial awning/canvas makers as the quality has gone down hill. It is made with Chinese fibers, weaved in a process that creates shrinkage and stretching and is just a poor all around acrylic fabric. It is a shame as it used to be the best.

So what is the best fabric for RV installations ? For all awning assemblies ( door/window and patio ) I recommend acrylic. All of these assemblies were engineered and manufactured for acrylic fabrics. I am not going to get into the technical aspects as to why but these assemblies need acrylic. They have arms, are prone to side to side movement and need that flexibility that only acrylic fabrics can provide.

As for slide toppers I recommend vinyl. Not just any vinyl but a thick, stiff, heavy poured vinyl. There are 2 types of vinyl - 1.) Poured Vinyl 2.) Laminated vinyl. The later, laminated vinyl is a cheap product mostly found on towables. Like the name applies it is laminated using different layers of fabric and then glued to bind them all together. The biggest problem is over a short period of time UV rays heats the glue and wind seperates the layers and the fabric delaminates. NEVER use a laminated vinyl. So why is a poured vinyl a better topper ? Because it is more rigid. Our Migiliore is the heaviest vinyl in North America - 19 ozs. It is a poured PVC product and perfect vinyl for toppers because it is rigid which promotes better run off of rain and also because our vinyl is the only vinyl topper on the market with rip stop capabilities. If the end gets cut - let it go. The cut will never grow or rip more. It also is 100 % waterproof over the life of the fabric and is completely maintenance free. All the testing I have done, which includes climbing up and down my coach after rain and storms has proven a thick sturdy Vinyl like Migliore is the way to go with toppers.

In regards to other topper and awning makers, we stay on top of all their latest fabric. Once a year we order Shade Pro, Tough Tops, Girard and Carefree fabric replacements and then test them. It gives us the chance to determine if the companies have stepped up their game or not. Whenever our techs remove fabric from a coach and that came from a competitor we bring it into the shop and note the fabric failures. Much of it gets tested, inspected and then passed on to our fabric consultants who are some of the worlds best textile engineers who give us additional input. So when I speak of fabrics I believe I speak as a qualified expert.

The purchase of any awning or topper product should never be made with cost in mind. It is the biggest mistake a coach owner can make. It is a maintenance item you want to repeat only once during the life of your coach. Spend your money wisely and check the warranty of each company. If you cannot get a 10 year warranty on fabric and lifetime on thread then you are not buying a quality fabric replacement.

[throgmartin]

I didn't get into the subject of re-sticthing/re-furbishing awning/slide topper fabric. I am all for re-stitching and saving money but with the caveat that the material is worth the trouble.

These are the things one needs to check first to determine if the slide topper fabric is really worth restitching.

1.) Does the topper provide good end coverage or has it shrinked to the point that it barely covers the edge ? Re-stitching a topper that barely covers the edges of your slide is a complete waste of time. It will promote water leaks around your slide and floor rot inside your coach.

2.) How old is the fabric ? Anything over 3 years old is probably not worth it unless the fabric has had little exposure to the environment.

3.) Is it still waterproof ? Funny as that may sound many of the fabrics I have seen after 3 or 4 years no longer is water proof. It will actually percolate water through the fabric and on top of your slide.

4.) Do you have a source for new polyrod ? Chances are the old spline will break pulling it out of the fabric during the restitching.

5.) Do you have a heavy duty sewing machine able to stitch PTFE or V-92 polyester thread ?

6.) Are you doing the removal and install yourself ? If not and you are paying to have it done then you are wasting money using an old re-stitched topper fabric.

If you answered yes to these questions then by all means remove the topper, restitch it and then reverse it when you re-install it.

Patio Awnings are a different animal. Some assemblies will work fine with fabrics that have been re-stitched ( Eclipse, etc. ). Other assemblies will never work right for a long period of time with re-stitched fabric. If you have an apex or mirage assembly your asking for trouble. If the re-stitched fabric is not perfect you will end up with the assembly not closing right. Seen these numerous times. The tolerances on fabric for these assemblies has to be exact. Even a 1/4 inch out of square will cause one end of the assembly to stick out a little and never fully close. In regards to window and door awnings they have the ability to accept a re-stitched fabric without any issues.

I am all for re-stitching fabrics that are truly worth re-stitching. But I have seen so many who wanted to save money and end up with failures. One has to really be honest with themselves and determine if it is all worth the hassle and worth having to repeat the process again in a couple short years when they finally fail for good.