Bedroom Slide Leak

Since I still have this problem, I decided to take the black rubber piece off from underneath and trim it. Took the white vinyl strip out and removed all the screws out of the white aluminum strip. Noticed that the black rubber is stapled into place, removed all the staples.

Also had to remove some of the screws off the side strips too cause the side rubber was stapled along with the bottom rubber.

The aluminum strip had caulk on the bottom, so when I took the aluminum strip and rubber off, there was lots of water inside. I think this caulk was stopping the water from draining out when it rains, which it did yesterday.

Cut 1 inch off of the bottom of the rubber. Put extra rope caulk onto the white aluminum strip and used that to hold the black rubber in place as I put the screws back in.

Now, the rubber is almost flush with the camper, as before it was bubbled way out. The corners really fit flush too, where before, there was a little pocket where the bottom and the side rubbers met up.

When the caulk dries, I will spray it with the hose to see if I FINALLY FIXED IT!

You need to take step by step PHoto instructions on that one.

That sounds like you might have got it that time around.

Hi Phillip,
I hope so.

:x I didnt even think to take pictures.

Here are a couple of pictures after I cut the rubber off. The black rubber bowed out under the slide really far before I cut it, now its up close to the side of the camper.
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Hard to see in this pic, but before the rubber would bow out, causing a opening in the corner where the side and bottom rubber strips met.
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We sprayed the bedroom slide today, guess what, STILL LEAKS :x :x :x

So, I got some rope caulk and put it on the side of the slide, where that little lip is at the bottom, and guess what, IT STOPPED. This little lip looks like its caulked all across, but evidently not. Funny thing was, when I put just a little piece of the rope caulk inside the black rubber, it still leaked. But when I on put more so it was sticking out past the black rubber, the leak stopped. See below:

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So, anyone with the bedroom slide leak, try caulking this lip, leave the slide in, and put a generous amount of caulk on it.

I don't have a bedroom slide but the pics you posted makes me think that the rain was hitting that lip and wicking/flowing back into the trailer. Your caulk just created a dam to keep it from flowing in.

That's the way I see it.

That was one of the first spots I caulked when mine started leaking.

It still leaks.

It is a different dealer right now to see what they can come up with.


Steve

I had caulked that a long time ago, but I didn't caulk all the way out. the seam looked good, but evidently not.

I'm going to let the caulk dry, then try hosing it again.

Where do you find water on the inside? The carpet next to the bed? I get so little rain, I probably have the same problem, just don't know it.

Mine will actually soak the bottom of the slide box itself and then drip onto the carpet.

The silky fabric in the slide flange is stained on both sides of the bed............I think I am going to pull all that fabric out and make a wood insert.



Steve

Scott,

Mine leaks in the corner of the slide, just where the carpet and the side trim meet at the bottom. The trim board corner is notched out where the carpet meets up with it. Seems to be right there at the bottom. Then the water runs down and soans the carpet on the floor.

Looking at your photos, I can see how water could run down the side of the slide, hit that bottom molding run inside. I went out and checked mine, found that one side had a little caulk dam, the other side did not; came from the factory like that. I put some more on each side.

scottz wrote:a little caulk dam

GOT

I already add some silicon to it, but it was just the stuff that is behind the trim. Just a 1/4 dab above the trim; I suspect it was not intentional. I'll take a photo of the silicon I added to keep water from flowing along the top of the trim and into the cat.

We got caught in the Nor'easter up here in Virginia Beach this past Thursday, got lots of rain and wind.

And YES, MY SLIDE STILL LEAKS!!! :x :no: :(

I just gor mine back yesterday from the dealer for the same problems. This was the 6th trip. This time they put a little piece of J-channel along the bottom of the slide to help create a gutter so to speak. I haven't tested it out yet, but we have some rains forecasted for tonight and I was going to leave the slide out. It it works, I will post some pics. If it doesn't I may just buy an awning to help alleviate the problem. I have spent enough time and gas driving back and forth to the dealer. :x I know he is as frustrated as I am about poor design from the factory. He says it isn't just FR products though, he says about every manufacturer has slideout issues.

Carpe,

Did your's leak again?

Just got back from a weekend trip and.................yes it did! Back to the drawing board I guess. I think I will try to contact Rod this week as I am getting a little frustrated with my dealer's ideas as to how his solutions "should" work.

Do any of you have an awning over the bedroom slide? How far does it extend past the actual roof line of the slideout if you do. I am thinking an awning will be the best route if it will keep the majority of the rain from running down the slide.

Carpe,
I have the slide out awning on mine, and it still leaks.

I did go out today and take a close look at mine. I found that right where the black rubber meets the slide, there is a cut mark, or a slice in the fiberglass, that runs from top to bottom. When I run my finger nail across it, I can feel this cut. It looks like a dirt line, but its a cut line. So, I cleaned it with alcohol and put a long piece of electrical tape over it.

DW was inside, and I sprayed the hose at it for a good 10 minutes total, and NO LEAKS!!!!

Suppose to rain tomorrow night, so I have my plastic bag under the corner and I'm going to leave the side open and see what happens.

I'll let you know.

Could you take some pics if possible.

Carpe,

Unfortunatley I didnt take any pictures of this little slice cause I didnt think it would come out as it is so small. Its suppose to be a chance of rain tonight, and then again Thursday through Sunday.

I'll let you know what happens.

Tom, I used a gel coat kit this summer on a boat I had that worked great for that type of repair. You can get the kit from big marina's / boat dealers etc.... or online of course, easy to use, and the base is bright white so you wouldn't need the color dyes they have in the kit. Unless you wanted a nice blue or red streak in your slide out ,,,,
Let me know if you need a link to the kit.

Thanks Phillip, its such a small thin mark/crack. But I'm not sure if that's my leak or not. I cant make it leak with the tape there, but if it doesn't rain soon, ill take the tape off and hit it with the hose again.

Well I got back to the drawing board this morning. It did seem like the aluminum J-channel the dealer installed did help some what, but they took the quick short route and only installed the channel about 16" across the bottom of the slide. You can see the residue here where it was installed.


This seemed like a good idea, but it still allowed the water to hit the bottom of the slide and follow the channel to the back and through the seal.
So I decided to extend the channel and try to get it to run out past the slide and channel the water away completely. Seeings how they already bunged up the side a little with their fix, I thought it would be best to just extend their version. I got some more j-channel from the deal free of charge and started to file and cut out a version that would extend through the slide itself.



I then cut a small rectangular opening in the slide with a drill and file.



After shaping the j-channel to fit through the opening, I put some plumbers putty on the back and proceeded to install. After I got it to fit the way I wanted, I caulked everything nice to seal things up.





Tonight it is suppose to rain again, so we will see if this new fix helped any. If nothing else, it allowed me to get caulk happy and inspect alot of the joints around the camper for areas that were lacking any caulk from the factory and old areas that needed to be refreshed. If I ever do have water rot issues, let this message serve as proof that I inspect and caulk my camper, so FR has nothing to say when I turn in a claim.

Carpe,

Is this J channel going to cut into your rubber as the slide goes in and out?

It has a pretty gentle rolled edge, so it shouldn't cut at all. The dealer did slice the rubber seal a little to accomodate the channel, but it doesn't appear to affect the way the seal works. Tonight we had just a few tenths of rain and the water ran down the slide, through the channel and out the end like it should. So far camper nice and dry.
Tomorrow will be the real test, as we are forecasted to get 1-2" of rain, so I have my fingers crossed.

Carpe,

Did you leak again?

We haven't had any rain so mine hasn't leaked. And using the hose didn't produce any leaks either.

We had some nice rains last week and I laid in the camper watching for any leaks to develop. The fix worked GREAT I did have just a occassional drop still finding its was in through the seal, but is was a real slow drip. It was following the plastic insert that covers the rail on the bottom of the slide. Don't ask me how???? So I took off the vinyl insert and spread a generous amount of caulk and reinserted the vinyl insert. I also put a little caulk on the end of the rail as it comes through the slide seal just under each side of the bed. It stayed nice and dry with a nice steady rain. We received a couple of inches last week. I thnik my problem is solved.

GREAT!!!!!!

We're suppose to get rain next weekend, I'll let you know what happens...

Do not know if you all are still having the slide leak problem but i had same problem in my 32Qbbs bedroom slide. Construction of yours look the same as mine. I did similar repair as yours except I cut my lower rubber seal more so that it angles back towards the camper slightly. I was told by dealer that was not what was recommended and that the seal should stick out the way it was originally made. I did the change any way, figured i couldn't make it worse. Go figure, no leak, even held up to a tropical storm this past fall.
If the lower flap is not pushing the side flaps out or deforming them in any way the dams are not necessary.
Also i traced some of my leak back to the top of the slide box. FR did not seal the aluminum trim corner up top so water ran into into the bottom of the slide box, filled the lower drip rails and ran into the camper.