Wind and the slide out

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

J - 23 Dec 2004 14:59 GMT

I want to share with you my recent experience with high winds that I
haven't heard before in this group. We have a Starcraft 2409 with a
slide out dinette. The slideout has two support legs and it is opposite
the door.

About a month ago we were camped in large flat area with nothing around
to break the wind. In the morning it begin to get windy. We had set up
the previous day, coincidentally, so that the pop-up was blocking the
wind on the door side. That is, the door side was blocked from the wind.
This put the wind blowing directly against the slideout. Good we
thought. We can sit outside and not be too bothered.

During the morning the wind picked up. I'm not sure how hard, but it
would have definitely put white caps on a large body of water, had one
been nearby. Not to worry, I thought. The pop-up is bottom heavy and
and it's not blowing hard enough to rip the fabric.

The winds continued to pick up throughout the morning and we were
considering packing up and heading out. Around noon I was away from the
pop-up and I saw my daughter running for me at full speed yelling "Come
quick! The pop-up!" I could see in the distance that it hadn't tipped
over. My only thoughts were that the fabric had ripped.

I came running back and what I had found was that the wind had blown the
slideout closed. Even with the support legs down and the tent poles up.
It was pushed all the way closed. It is pretty heavy and luckily no one
was hurt. We quickly unzipped the slideout windows to relieve some of
the pressure and I was able to pull it back out.

A quick check revealed no damage whatsoever, but it made up our mind it
was time to leave. With a lot of help we were able to get the thing down
and packed up without loosing anything. The wind blew the slideout in
one more time before we were done. Again, no damage.

I'm not sure what message I'm trying to convey here. Just to make you
aware of something that can happen. One of the kids could have been
smashed when the slideout came it. We have a little dog and he could
have been seriously hurt or killed by the slideout if he got caught. If
the fabric was older it might have ripped quite a bit by all the
pressure from having the slideout closed with the poles still out. Lucky
for us, no damage, no injuries.

Reply to this Message

RichA - 23 Dec 2004 15:25 GMT

>I want to share with you my recent experience with high winds that I
>haven't heard before in this group. We have a Starcraft 2409 with a
[quoted text clipped - 37 lines]
>pressure from having the slideout closed with the poles still out. Lucky
>for us, no damage, no injuries.

Hi,
Glad to hear there was no injuries or serious damage. While a lot of
slide outs have locks to keep them from opening while traveling it
sounds like it might not be a bad idea to make one to keep the slide
out from being blown closed. Maybe just a 1 X 2 under the slide out
between it and the camper body? Or just put at an angle from the
slide out down to the ground.

Take care and Happy Campin...

RichA
"We Get Too Soon Olde and To Late Smart"

Reply to this Message

K - 23 Dec 2004 16:28 GMT

Either Starcraft has REALLY cheapened their slideouts or ....

We had a '99 Starcraft Spacemaster with the dining slideout and I believe
near hurricane or tornado winds would have been needed to slide it in! We
were in a few pretty good storms with it and never once felt such a thing
was going to happen! It took a fair effort just to push it back in once the
canvas was folded down and it was ready to go in! By the by, you say NO
damage was done? How on Earth is your ceiling canvas held up? Ours had a
pole that snapped into the hard ceiling and then clipped onto the "U" shaped
frame at the end of the slide that created the upper wall of the outside
edge. Slide it in without taking that pole out and you screw up the pole,
ceiling bracket, canvas, etc.!

Is this just a bunch of hot air to freak people out a bit???

>I want to share with you my recent experience with high winds that I
> haven't heard before in this group. We have a Starcraft 2409 with a
[quoted text clipped - 37 lines]
> pressure from having the slideout closed with the poles still out. Lucky
> for us, no damage, no injuries.

Reply to this Message

J - 23 Dec 2004 19:49 GMT

No BS. This is the truth. I've been in some good storms too and never even
thought of this happening. The wind was blowing directly toward the slide out.
And we were in the middle of nowhere with no trees, hills or even a cactus to
deflect the wind whatsoever.

Our poles are set up the same way you described. I have no idea why nothing was
damaged. I was too busy trying to get the thing back out to look and see how it
looked with the poles up and the slide-out in. I think it's because the pole
that snaps to the ceiling wasn't very tight to the canvas to begin with. I never
did a real close inspection, so the fabric may now be somewhat stretched out

The slideout is kind of heavy. But it's not real difficult to push in normally.

> Either Starcraft has REALLY cheapened their slideouts or ....
>
[quoted text clipped - 52 lines]
> > pressure from having the slideout closed with the poles still out. Lucky
> > for us, no damage, no injuries.

Reply to this Message

K - 23 Dec 2004 21:02 GMT

Most interesting to say the least. Maybe the spring bulb wasn't engaged in
the center ceiling support so it was permitted to slide without bending.
Still interesting. I think back about the pressure on the slideout support
jacks and think that would drastically hinder the sliding motion as well. Oh
well, I don't think we have to worry about that with our slideout now . . .
32' fifth-wheel w/ 13' electric slide! If that comes in with the wind I
think we will have more problems than wondering why or how! :-)

We're lookin' at 12"+ of white stuff on the ground as of this morning from
the past 24 hours. No camping until April or so..... :-(

Merry Christmas!

> No BS. This is the truth. I've been in some good storms too and never even
> thought of this happening. The wind was blowing directly toward the slide
[quoted text clipped - 79 lines]
>> > Lucky
>> > for us, no damage, no injuries.

Reply to this Message