Pleasant Surprise

[Mojo]

I woke up this morning, checked my e-mails and was blown away. One of my customers did a " How To " segment on installing topper fabric on slide out's. They featured our company and fabric and gave us a huge plug later in the show, showing our website and phone.

He saved us alot of time, money and aggravation by producing this as it was one video segment we had on our list to produce ourselves.

My wife and I were talking the other day about our customers and both of us agreed we are extremely blessed to have such an awesome customer base. We treat them like gold but in return they really support us with their loyalty ".

Here is the video " How To Install Slide Toppers " segment:  http://www.americanrver.com/

Chris

[MinUph]

That is awesome Chris. Now you have a video to give your customers and didn't have to make it. What a nice mention of your company too. You should be proud.

[Mojo]

I guess the one thing this video does is shows all my hard work and dedication to this industry was worth it.

We have busted our butts to gain and maintain a solid reputation and it is nice to know our efforts were not in vain.

Thanks Paul.

Chris

[Darren Henry]

Great video kudos Chris. That saved you a whack of effort as mentioned and "qualifies" your instructions on that type of program.

As you  know I look after an upholstery shop that is satellite to an RV parts/service/consignment business. I do a few things differently than the video though:

I use 6+" of coat hanger wire, folded both ends to lock the spring instead of a "what ever fits" and I lock both ends if possible. Some manufacturers tension both ends.

Before I remove the old topper I make reference marks on the roller tube and the awning rail on the unit. This helps me align the new topper. Before I replace the set screws through the welt cords I run the slide back in and make sure the edges are flush.

I prefer to lock the cam about 18" out and then retract to like 6-8" , and work from there.

[Darren Henry]

I don't dare discussing "skinning cats" after Kody was chopping up horses LOL. BUT; if the removal of the tube is going to be ugly there are more way.

I have locked the spring in the "full out" position and then run it back in to about a foot, and then slide both welt cords at once. Obviously this depends on the system you are dealing with.

[Mojo]

There are many different ways to do a fabric replacement, especially with Carefree units. I have done them with the roller tube in place as well as in place. On the small slides I prefer doing it with them off. On the large slides I prefer doing them with them in place as those tubes get heavy on the large front slides.

After screwing around time after time trying to pin the tension spring by aligning the holes I found a method used by most RV techs. They simply drive a self tapping screw right through the roller tube and into the spring assembly.

One of the hardest parts with our business was me learning all the parts on these assemblies. Some models have springs only on the left side. Other models only on the right side. Some models have a certain sized polyrod, others will have a different size polyrod. Then you have to know the number of winds for each awning and on and on and on.

There was alot of learning and working with technicians to learn all of the assemblies, models, motors, springs, dis assembly techniques, etc. Because I deal mainly in the higher end coaches I had to learn all the awning manufacturers and their models and instructions. We serve A & E Carefree, Dometic, Girard, Brustor and Zip Dee. Each manufacturer has numerous models as you know and some change how they work annually. It is a royal PITA.

But being a technical resource is why we have had such amazing growth. It hasn't been easy though. :)

Chris

[Mike]

Way to go chris be proud !!