Yesterday, during our drive to Matagorda Bay Nature Park in Matagorda, TX we were listening to news on XM Radio and learned that there had been some bad weather in the area of Texas to which we were heading. They were also predicting more severe weather over the next couple days. Concerned, we called MBNP RV Park and were told that the previous night's severe weather was further to the north but that more nasty stuff was on the way for Thursday night through Saturday.
We were able to complete the day's journey without getting wet. Well, there was a very brief shower early in the day, but it was over in very short order and I only had to use the wipers in intermittent mode. We arrived at the park under quasi sunny skies with temps and humidity in the semi uncomfortable range.
Following supper and a couple episodes of The Big Bang Theory on TBS we went to bed around 10:00 to light rain... but were awakened three or four hours later to heavy rain, wind and lots of thunder & lightening. The wind gusts were what concerned me most. Each of the three slides on the coach are equipped with a "slide topper", heavy vinyl material on an aluminum tube that extends and retracts as the slide is extended and retracted. They are designed to shed water and to prevent debris from accumulating on top of the slides. If you have been following my blogs for a while you may remember that I replaced (with the help of my brother-in-law, Doug) the longer of the two passenger-side toppers last winter while we were in Southern California. The almost 29' driver's side topper has been showing some wear and it has been my intention to replace it this summer when we're back home in Virginia.
I don't know what speed last night's wind gusts were but they were plenty strong. Before going to bed, in anticipation of a stormy night, I went outside and determined that the wind was hitting the coach directly from behind - which I figured was a good thing. The coach wouldn't be rocking nearly as much as it would if the wind was hitting us broadside - and it was my hope that being in almost perfect alignment with the prevailing wind, there wouldn't be a lot of billowing of the toppers.
Anyway...
When I awoke in the wee-small hours of the morning and heard how hard the wind was gusting I decided it was time to retract the slides to prevent the toppers from tearing. However, I knew from past experience that they would billow and fail to roll up if I tried retracting during such high winds.
So I waited.
And waited.
*****
By this time Travis had hopped up in bed with us. He's very much afraid of thunder and he's not that crazy about the sound of heavy rain on the roof... or wind... or firecrackers...
*****
At around 5:00am there was a huge gust followed by a bang and continuous slapping sound on the roof over the bedroom.I knew this wasn't a good thing.
Donning my rain gear, I exited the coach and walked around the front to the driver's side. I pointed my flashlight at the roof line where I saw the full length of the topper had torn - at least that's what it looked like. The 29' section of fabric still attached to the roof was flapping wildly in the wind.
Wonderful.
As I made my way back around the front of the coach there was a very bright flash of lightening a couple hundred yards away followed immediately by a deafening CRACK! If I wasn't wide awake by then, I was now!
As fate would have it, the wind abated about 5 minutes later and I was able to retract all three slides.
I called an RV repair facility in South Houston, about 100 miles from here, and was told by a very helpful service manager that they will do all they can to get me back on the road asap. I'm waiting until 11:00am to call Tough Top Awnings in Washington state to find out how quickly they can knock out a 29' awning and ship it to me.
*****
Update...
1. The awning isn't torn. There is supposed to be a spline holding it inside a channel in the aluminum tube. For some reason, the spline is missing and the fabric simply pulled out of the channel. It's a wonder it didn't happen sooner. In order to reinstall it, the topper would have to be completely removed from the channel on the roof, another spline would have to be snaked through the loop in the 'tube end' of the fabric - then the 29' x 30" sheet would have to be fed through both channels simultaneously. It's kind of a procedure. It took Doug and me a while to get the much shorter 15' topper installed last winter. This one is really a 3 man job - and I'm short a couple men. I got up on the roof, had Suzanne extend the slide a foot or so and as we communicated via our walkie talkies, I rolled and tucked the fabric in behind the roller bar as she slowly retracted the slide. It's not pinched in place securely enough to allow me to drive down the road - and there's no way to put zip ties around the awning to secure it, as it's still attached to the roof. I'd try to pull it out of the roof channel but it's wet up there - and even if it wasn't, I remember it taking quite a bit of tugging/coaxing to get the 15 footer in place - even with Doug feeding it into the other end and with the channel sprayed with silicone.
What I've decided to do, since I had planned to replace the awning anyway, is to cut it off with a razor knife leaving the remaining bead in the channel for now - and order a new awning. I'll have it delivered to our home in Virginia where I can get some help installing it.
BECAUSE...
2. ... I just got off the phone with the guy at Tough Top Awnings who told me they can't get another slide topper to me for about two weeks.
BUT...
He said, "Just run without it until you get the new one!"
He assured me that the seals around the perimeter of the slide will prevent any water incursion. He said in a driving rain I might want to pull the slide in but it would otherwise be just fine to extend the slide and use it as we normally would - without the topper.
YES!
Meanwhile, Matagorda Nature Park is located at the mouth of the Colorado River - where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Well, not THE Colorado River. THE Colorado River empties into the Gulf of California. This is the other Colorado River. It's still a pretty impressive river... and it got even more impressive overnight!
There's river where there's not supposed to be river
Thanks for checking out the blog!
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