Slideout Covers

[Gary M]

I had mine restitched and they only lasted another 3 months. I purchased all four toppers from Stone Vos. Mine were folded over all four edges and stitched. My only issue is the ends are very taught (very good) but the middle is lose and holds water worse than before with OEM toppers that were not stitched on the ends. I did discuss this with Stone Vos and came up with a solution to make the middle taught also. Just haven't done it yet. I still highly recommend Stone Vos.

PS

Just need to add something the same material thickness to the roller to tighten up the middle. All will be good.

[bandmmorris]

3 hours ago, throgmartin said:

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.

Thanks for all the good comments. I am removing and reinstalling myself. It only takes me around 15 minutes to remove the old topper fabric. I am pretty sure I can redo the rear toppers (I have 4) because they are wrapped around the tube almost 4 times. That gives me plenty of length to cut off 8-10 inches of deteriorated material on the top and have plenty left to wrap around the tube. The polyrod came out fine and appears to be in good shape. We have a heavy duty sewing machine and marine thread. The current canvas toppers should not be a problem to sew. We have done some resewing on a couple of them a few years back.

[bandmmorris]

15 hours ago, bandmmorris said:

Thanks for all the good comments. I am removing and reinstalling myself. It only takes me around 15 minutes to remove the old topper fabric. I am pretty sure I can redo the passenger side toppers because they are wrapped around the tube almost 4 times. That gives me plenty of length to cut off 8-10 inches of deteriorated material on the top and have plenty left to wrap around the tube. The polyrod came out fine and appears to be in good shape. We have a heavy duty sewing machine and marine thread. The current canvas toppers should not be a problem to sew. We have done some resewing on a couple of them a few years back. I also re-treat the toppers at least annually with waterproofing. I am a bit surprised on the comment regarding water getting on the slide-out as it was my understanding that the primary purpose of the topper was to keep trash off the slideout as the top of the slideout will always get somewhat wet when it rains.

 

I have one other question I hope someone can answer. My toppers are Carefree Summit. The cover assembly is held in place by 2 spring loaded pins on each end. Not surprisingly most of the springs and pins have deteriorated and don't work. I have not been able to find replacement springs as this design is now obsolete. The solution appears to be the purchase of new end caps which allow the use of screws instead of the spring loaded pins to hold the cover on. My question is if 1) anyone knows where the springs or spring loaded pins can be purchased or 2) can my existing end caps be modified to use screws instead of the pins. Obviously I am trying to avoid purchasing a few hundred dollars worth of end caps.

[throgmartin]

16 hours ago, bandmmorris said:

Thanks for all the good comments. I am removing and reinstalling myself. It only takes me around 15 minutes to remove the old topper fabric. I am pretty sure I can redo the rear toppers (I have 4) because they are wrapped around the tube almost 4 times. That gives me plenty of length to cut off 8-10 inches of deteriorated material on the top and have plenty left to wrap around the tube. The polyrod came out fine and appears to be in good shape. We have a heavy duty sewing machine and marine thread. The current canvas toppers should not be a problem to sew. We have done some resewing on a couple of them a few years back.

Sounds like you have all the tools. All factory toppers are 44 inches in depth ( with the exception of some Girards ). On the shallow slides you can take them off, restitch them and then reverse them and the majority of the fabric has never been exposed to the elements. On the deep slides some of the fabric will be new and the rest old. Unfortunately if someone has another brand of toppers ( Carefree, Tough Tops, Shade Pro ) this can only be done if they are restitched. All of these companies sew the spline in place and since the roller tube and coach rail side have different sized splines it makes it impossible to reverse them without cutting out the spline and then restitch the topper.

I am still amazed at Stone Vos being the only true reversible topper. I added that feature over 10 years ago and my competition thought I was nuts. We do not sew the spline in place so you can reverse the toppers after 6, 7 or 10 years. I am confident that if our customers take care of their toppers, keep them clean and then reverse them after a decade they can get another 5 to 10 years from a topper. I believe this is why other topper makers sew their spline in place so they cannot easily be reversed without cutting and restitching the topper. More repeat sales. It also is more time consuming when manufacturing the topper to insert pull strings for the spline and the other companies do not want to screw with it. The pull string for the spline is at the heart of our reversible topper concept.

I think you will be fine. Using a marine grade thread will help add to the longevity. Obviously PTFE Solarfix thread like we use lives 30 to 40 years but I advise not to try it. It is ultra expensive and is extremely tough getting your machine to sew with it due to tension settings. Tenara thread is even worse as it has a reverse twist. Sunguard polyester thread is a good marine thread with a life expectancy of around 5 or 6 years. Wholesale cost's for Sunguard is around $ 35 for a 1 lb spool. Solarfix is $ 210 for a 1 lb spool but it last a lifetime. You can actually put Solarfix in an oven at 350 degrees and it wont melt. You can give it a bath in  acetone and it wont effect it.  That is why we only use Solarfix. I think what you are doing is great, just be sure the fabric has no srinkage and it gives good coverage over the edges of your slide. If not you are going to have issues with dampness and wood rot on the interior floors of your coach. Edge coverage is crucial.

1 hour ago, bandmmorris said:

 

I have one other question I hope someone can answer. My toppers are Carefree Summit. The cover assembly is held in place by 2 spring loaded pins on each end. Not surprisingly most of the springs and pins have deteriorated and don't work. I have not been able to find replacement springs as this design is now obsolete. The solution appears to be the purchase of new end caps which allow the use of screws instead of the spring loaded pins to hold the cover on. My question is if 1) anyone knows where the springs or spring loaded pins can be purchased or 2) can my existing end caps be modified to use screws instead of the pins. Obviously I am trying to avoid purchasing a few hundred dollars worth of end caps.

1st of all be careful. Some of the large Summit assemblies had double torsion springs - one on each end. In regards to the push/spring loaded pins you have 2 choices. 1.) Lube them up for a couple days with Boeshield T 9 or PB Blaster then try getting them to release. 2.) Punch/drill them out and go to allen head screws. The covers should be threaded and will accept long screws. Be sure and use allen heads.

One other tip. When you get the assembly apart, flip the right hand end cap over and check to be sure the spring hold down tab is not bent. If it is then call us and we can ship you a new cap. NEVER re-use an end cap that has a bent hold down tab as this is what holds the tension on your torsion spring. See picture below.

[Steven P]

 

I was able to take a good spring off one topper and go to Ace Hardware and find similar ones.  I learned about these springs after losing my topper cover on the highway due to rusted springs.  I still haven't replaced it bc a new one is over $800.  I'm trying to find one off a salvage. 

1 hour ago, bandmmorris said:

 

I have one other question I hope someone can answer. My toppers are Carefree Summit. The cover assembly is held in place by 2 spring loaded pins on each end. Not surprisingly most of the springs and pins have deteriorated and don't work. I have not been able to find replacement springs as this design is now obsolete. The solution appears to be the purchase of new end caps which allow the use of screws instead of the spring loaded pins to hold the cover on. My question is if 1) anyone knows where the springs or spring loaded pins can be purchased or 2) can my existing end caps be modified to use screws instead of the pins. Obviously I am trying to avoid purchasing a few hundred dollars worth of end caps.

 

[bandmmorris]

1 hour ago, Steven P said:

 

I was able to take a good spring off one topper and go to Ace Hardware and find similar ones.  I learned about these springs after losing my topper cover on the highway due to rusted springs.  I still haven't replaced it bc a new one is over $800.  I'm trying to find one off a salvage. 

 

 

If Carefree had used stainless steel springs and pins instead of carbon steel they would have lasted.

[bandmmorris]

Thanks for the advice. Went to Ace and got springs that will work and am going to make stainless replacement pins. Hopefully they will last longer and cause less problems.

[bikedavem]

I have been fulltiming in my 2002 Endeavor for 11 years. I re-stitched and repaired my Carefree Omega slide toppers twice before becoming a very happy Stone Vos customer. I installed my Stone Vos acrylic slide toppers over 4 years ago; they still appear like new. They are also pretty rugged. I used to bring my slides in when the desert winds kicked up, but now I just leave them out. (I did first have to retrofit the old manual anti-billow device to my large slide topper as the new style automatic device didn't work right) 

It's pretty common for we RV end users to feel abandoned by OEMs and component manufactures. I feel like we have an advocate in Stone Vos and Chris & Ingrid Throgmartin. They provide top quality products and solutions, and are generous with their knowledge and experience.