Dear Dave,
How do I clean the top of the slideout without getting on the roof? —Deborah, 2022 Sunseeker
Dear Deborah,
Glad you brought this up as it’s important to make sure the top of your slide room is free of sticks, leaves, and other debris before you bring it in. In fact, Dustin Simpson, at California RV Specialists, recently posted an article at RVtravel.com about checking the top and especially the bulb seal.
Some manufacturers such as Winnebago have a slide room awning standard, as it keeps the roof clean and extends the life of the seals. This is a price point. If yours does not have the awning, the slide room roof needs to be inspected before you bring the room in.
We did extensive video content on a 2017 Raptor fifth wheel toy hauler that had three slide rooms without any awnings. The owner would go to bike rallies in Sturgis and Daytona. They seldom camped in a campground and usually not around any trees. Most people would think that they did not need to inspect the roof in this case. However, he did comment that he would get a lot of dust on the top in some of these out-of-the-way locations. He carried an extendable ladder that fit very well in a lower compartment and used it along with a cordless leaf blower and just hit the top quickly. This way he never had to get up on the roof and still made sure the top was clear.
RV Slideout Sweep
If you want to do a little better job of actually cleaning it, I would still recommend the extendable ladder but use a product called the RV Slideout Sweep. Tony Barthel wrote an article about it a couple of years ago that you can see here.
It is basically a curved broom on the end of an extendable pole. You don’t need a ladder at all. The only downside I can see is that I can’t see! Meaning, from the ground I can’t tell if I’m getting everything. You can also find extendable cleaning devices at home improvement stores that are designed to clean ceiling fans or high shelves. I have also watched people at campgrounds use a ladder and a regular broom.
One of the most ingenious methods of inspecting the slideout top was a gentleman that purchased a “selfie” stick and mounts his camera on the end, extends the stick and camera up, then takes a photo. He can tell if it’s clean enough to bring it in. Not a bad idea!
You can find them all over the place on Amazon.
Make sure you get the longer version and wireless so you can snap a photo remotely.
You might also enjoy this from Dave
Ask Dave: How often should I lubricate my RV’s slideout mechanism and with what?
Dear Dave,
How often should your RV’s slideout be lubricated and with what? —Leigh
Dave Solberg is a leading expert in the RV industry and the author of the “RV Handbook.”
Read more from Dave here.
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Quick tip… for cleaning your slide out with a topper… try a spaghetti mop on a long handle and damp mop head under the topper. Shure you still need a ladder but you don’t need to remove the topper. Now if you have a full wall slide… you’ll need a really long handle!!!
If you have a partner and cell service, an alternative to taking a snapshot to verify the need for cleaning the slide, is to make a video call to them so they can tell you via loud voice or speaker phone if the slide needs sweeping. We use Duo. We can examine all 4 slides in about 1 minute without having to retrack the selfie stick. Plus wives get a kick out of it because they get to tell you what to do.