One thing you can count on in Arizona during late winter through summer is wind. Lots and lots of wind. And yesterday was another very windy day here in Tucson. I was sure glad we were not out on the highway. But we did see a few RVs leaving Voyager RV Resort and new ones arriving, so some folks had to deal with it.
I was grateful for the new slide toppers we had Shade Pro install on our motorhome at the Escapade rally last week. When we purchased our motorhome several years ago the original slide toppers were worn out and loose, so we had a mobile awning guy in Mesa, Arizona replace them. He did a crappy job and never returned as promised to fix it, and every time the wind blew it sounded like somebody was pounding the top of the bedroom slide, right over our heads. Then it began to rip.
The nice folks at Shade Pro installed new toppers over both the living room and bedroom slides and they are a much better material and don’t flop and rattle all night long. Nice job, guys!
We seldom used our big 20 foot patio awning because the motor was weak and to retract the awning I would have to stand on the step and push the power button with one hand while pushing up on the awning arm with the other, while Miss Terry was at the back end pushing the arm up on that side. Even then it took a while. We always worried that someday it would fail altogether, or in a sudden wind the awning would be damaged before we could get it in.
Steve, the young fellow who replaced the slide toppers, suggested that we might want to upgrade the patio awning, and since the fabric was still in excellent condition, he said all he would have to do was replace the arms, which included a new motor. It took him a couple of hours but the work was done right and we are very pleased with the result. The awning goes in and out easily, and instead of the big clunky arms you see in the top photo, which I always seemed to walk into, the new arms are up out of the way and look good.
The guys at Shade Pro do excellent work and don’t leave a mess for you to clean up afterward. They are vendors at most of the larger RV rallies in the western part of the country and I recommend them if you need any awning work.
In yesterday’s blog I mentioned the shingles shots we both got and said that we had no discomfort or ill effects from the shots. About midnight, as I was getting ready to take my shower, I noticed that the area around the injection was red and a bit swollen, but it didn’t hurt. By morning it had reduced in size and color, but was still there. I guess that’s a small price to pay to avoid a full blown shingles outbreak.
Congratulations to Jan Couperthwaite, this week’s winner of our drawing for an autographed copy of Miss Terry’s Kitchen. We had over 300 entries this time around, which may be a record for our drawings. Stay tuned, a new contest starts soon.
Thought For The Day – If you think experts are expensive, wait until you see what amateurs cost you.
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I am one happy camper!!!! Looking forward to receiving Terry’s autographed cookbook.
Looking at the awning arms in the picture, they look like the Carefree of Colorado awning we have on our 5th wheel. I sure hope you have better luck with yours than we’ve had with ours. A light breeze of 5 – 8 MPH will billow the awning. I replaced the gas struts at $100.00 ea but that didn’t help We’ve had our RV since 2012 and we’re on the 3rd motor at the tune of about $240.00 each. The last time it wasn’t the motor but the roller end cap but you can’t buy that probably $10 – $20 part, you have to buy the whole motor assembly. Dealing with Carefree, you’ll find they’re not very customer friendly. If and when I have to replace this awning, it will definitely be with another brand.
Good decision on the shingles shots.
I hope your experience with Shade Pro turns out a lot better than ours. A year ago in January while we were at Quartzsite we had Shade Pro install a new slide topper on our Winnebago Voyage 38J. The first time it rained after the installation the slide topper filled with water and sagged down to the top of the slide out. It seems there wasnt enough tension of the fabric to allow the water to run off. We were in Phoenix then and a call to Shade Pro said they didnt have anyone who could service it in the Phoenix are, but if we wanted it serviced, we would have to go to California because by March they had left Quartzsite.
One of the things we liked about the Shade Pro was the piece that protected and covered the roller and prevented a side wind from billowing the awning while driving in a cross wind, however, because this piece on our installation went over the stove vent on the side of the slide out it didnt fit to the slide, and instead of trimming the cover piece to fit against the slide, and to still make it look neat, he put a spacer between the slide and the cover piece to make it look neat, which held the cover piece about 3/4 of an inch away from the slide.
So when a couple of weeks later as we drove across New Mexico with a side wind the slide topper billowed out, and wouldnt retract correctly, so we had to stop and fix that.
This summer while in Iowa, I took the slide topper off and put in another three rounds of tension on the spring. Now the ends of the material are taut, but the material sags in the middle, so it still collects water when it rains.
As I said, I hope your experience turns out better than ours.
Paul
The responses make me happy we don’t have slide covers.
Nick, your link to Shade Pro doesn’t work, I got a 404 error not found in 3 tries.
Hi Mr. Stough,
I’d like to take care of the fabric on your slide topper. Reading your comments, it would appear to me that we didn’t have enough tension on the spring at install, causing the excessive pooling, and the freeway blow out. Please give me a call at your earliest convenience.
We do have year ’round service in Quartzsite, Yuma, Parker, and Havasu, if you’ll be travelling through these areas.
Justin
1-800-328-5100