Slide Topper Question

[Animalangel]

So.... I decided to get up on the roof the other day because I noticed the slide topper over my bed was coming apart on both edges. My intention was to get up there and sew it back together with fishing line at least till I could do something a bit more substantial and permanent. Well.. that isn't going to happen. Turns out the center part of the awning fabric has somehow pulled out of the track that runs along the side of the RV (not the slide end, the wall end).

I didn't get a picture of that. I have helped a guy in Florida to replace one of his slide toppers so I am very familiar with how that works BUT.....I've never seen this kind of... awning cap? Weather guard? I don't know what you call it.... and I know I need to remove it so I can remove the fabric for replacement BUT... how the heck does it come off?

My other question is this: What will happen if I can't get it off and I have to close the slide to move the RV (I actually have to take it in for a new roof because a massive tree branch caused impact damage to the fiberglass top and that repair is scheduled for Sept - oh, and I'm a full timer so this thing is never in storage.)

My seals all look pretty good but I'm going to have to add some 3/8 inch half round rubber tubing because the stupid things don't go in and out like they are supposed to and I found water coming in until I went around and flipped them all out... so I at least know what's going on there and will address that but back to this awning situation....

The only documents I have for this RV state they are Dometic but it's a very "generic" manual and I found out that these awnings are not "original equipment" so somewhere along the way they were replaced and I have no clue who the manufacturer is of the awning hardware or the fabric. My hope is someone here might be able to enlighten me.

That said.... what do I do with this?

[Lv2Roam2]

Many of the Ellipse models came with Carefree Ascent toppers - there are numerous descriptive guides on the internet and see attached. If your topper hardware is a different manufacturer an internet search should provide results.

I think you may need to remove the topper, take it to a canvas shop and have them resew the seams, then reinstall. On some toppers you can 'rotate' the topper so the coach side now becomes the roller side. Note the size of the spline in the seams - there may be two different size splines in the seams. My wife and I have done 3 of ours so its doable.

[Animalangel]

Hi Steve! Funny thing is...the topper isn't ripping in a seam. If you can magnify the pictures I attached to my original post you'll see it's about 2 inches from the seam. Very weird place. AND.. another added weird bonus... no spline in sight. That's the first thing I looked for. I figure maybe it snapped and that's why the center part of the awning came out. I plan to go up there tomorrow so I'll take a picture and post it. It's too late now.. sun is going down.

Thanks for the tip about MAYBE being able to turn the fabric around. Hadn't thought of that. I'll have to see if that's possible when I get that thing apart.

And you may be right.... maybe it is Carefree. Certainly looks very similar to what you attached. I'll check it out tomorrow. I just got my new collapsible "Lion Ladder" (12.5 ft) yesterday so I can look at it from both front and back now. Thanks for that illustration.

[Animalangel]

Today I went out and attempted to remove the cover from the bedroom slide where the awning fabric is ripped and coming out of the track on the RV wall.

I was able to remove a bunch of nuts and bolts but was unable to actually remove the cover so I just put it back on and decided I'm going to have to pay someone to do it. My opposable thumbs oppose everything I try to do but when the shooting pains started going up my forearms I decided to pack it in.

So... here's where my awning is ripped. Please ignore the eternabond as I will be getting a whole new roof in September thanks to a FL tornado and a massive branch that caused serious impact damage to my roof in late April. The roof was covered in eternabonded all the way around by the collision shop who will be doing the roof replacement/repair. Thank God I'm a full timer and the insurance is covering it!

ANYWAY...... here's some pictures of the ripped slide topper that is pulling out of the track.

The first picture shows how it's pulling away and where the fabric is ripped. Funny thing about that rip.... I saw that all the others are starting to get thin in the same exact location and I'm wondering... is that caused by the awning/weather guard? Pretty odd place for it to be ripping, don't you think?

The second picture is supposed to show that there is no spline in the awning which leads me to wonder... how in the heck has it stayed in the track to this point?