ice on slideouts

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susanjane

New member
Joined
Jan 14, 2007
Posts
4
Location
Round Rock, Texas
In our recent camping, we experienced an evening with ice.  Upon retracting our slide outs, they were coated with a layer of ice.  Is there a good way to eliminate or prevent this problem?  Also, is there a good solution, other than grabbing towels, to handle the inevitable melting once the slide outs are retracted?  If we should get stuck with this problem again, what does one do to retract the slide outs if too much ice has accumulated?  We are from Texas and have very little experience with icy problems,  appreciate your help.
Susan

Similarly, is there a good way to get or keep ice off of one's awning? 
 
Susanjane,

The bad news is that you need to be aware of the weather and bring the slideouts in BEFORE the ice forms, same with snow.  If the ice or snow becomes too much trying to bring in the slides can cause damage.  If you have it happen agian, try to wait till the ice/snow melts or you can remove it before bring in the slides.

If you are going to travel in winter conditions, send me an E-Mail and I will forward some tips that I have learned over the years while trying to get out of or back to Montana. 
 
Susan,

The only time we were caught in ice, we had been watching the weather forcast real close so we retracted the slideout before any ice formed. Did the same with the the awnings.

We were caught in snow one time and I VERY carefully went up on the roof with a broom and swept off the slide before we retracted it. Whether you could do this with ice would depend on how much ice was on the slide.
 
We were caught with ice on the awnings over the slideouts recently, along with a number of other folks in the same campground. One guy tried to retract his slideouts and ended up damaging his awnings. He and another guy eventually used water from a hose to melt the ice as they slowly retracted their slideouts.

My solution was twofold:

  • I removed large slabs of ice by hand from the awnings by standing on a ladder.
  • I waited for the ambient temperature to rise and melt the remaining ice which, although thin, was through the fabric of the awnings.

I considered using a heat gun (or hair dryer, but decided to try the other options first.
 
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