We have a large living room/dining area slide-out in our motorhome. We love the extra space it offers on the inside of our coach, but we have found a problem with it on the outside.

The awning covering the slide-out seems to collect a large amount of water from rain or heavy dew. This water eventually runs down our windows, streaking them and occasionally leaking through the slide-out seam, getting our carpet and couch wet.

The weight of the water has also caused the awning to stretch out and flap in the wind. We're fearful that if left this way, the awning will eventually tear away from the motorhome frame, leaving the entire top of the slide-out exposed to the elements, causing even worse leakage problems.

We tried several ways to alleviate this problem. We would often climb to the top rung of our step ladder, use a pole or broom between the top of the slide-out and under the awning and force the water to roll off. Standing on the top rung is not only dangerous, but it's also inconvenient to keep setting up the ladder and putting it away.

The process was uncomfortable, often causing us to get soaking wet in the process. The chore of doing this proved to be never-ending — ultimately, not a good solution.

We also tried using a squeegee on a daily basis to absorb the moisture, but we still had to deal with the issue of ladder-climbing. Using a squeegee proved to be time-consuming and not effective enough, because we couldn't reach the entire surface.

Friends suggested putting a large piece of foam between the surfaces. We tried it, but the foam became saturated and smelly, and it posed a mold threat. Yuck!

After much thought and discussion, we finally came up with a solution. We decided to build a contraption to fit snugly between the top of the slide-out and the awning; giving support to the awning so it doesn't sag in the center.

Using half-inch PVC pipe, we designed a 3-D framework structure to not only support the awning, but also to hold it at an angle where the water drains off naturally with no collection pools. The different lengths of PVC pipe fit together snugly and are connected to each other with PVC joint sleeves.

It took several attempts of trial and error — as well as several remeasurements — for cutting and splicing, but we finally succeeded.

After our project was successfully put together and tested to our satisfaction, we climbed the ladder one final time and slid the framework between the slide-out and awning. What a relief to not have to worry about checking the water collection on top of the awning — there is none.

When we're ready to leave, we simply pull the framework out and take it apart. It stores easily in our basement compartment. Labeling the joints makes it easy to reassemble; otherwise, it would be like a puzzle to put back together again.

We were so pleased with our PVC framework design that we shared this idea with our neighbor. She replied, "Hmm, that's an interesting concept. We just use the cheap blow-up swimming pool floats and stuff them under our slide-out awning."

Why didn't we think of that? Regardless, we're extremely pleased and satisfied with our slide-out awning frame which has proven to be the solution to our water pooling problem. It should last us the lifetime of our motorhome.

Besides, we wouldn't trade this cooperative building experience for anything. Motorhome living is a continuous cycle of learning lessons.