2011 Georgetown 337 DS - Bottom of Big Slideout Slightly Bowed Out

[ricklillie]

We recently purchased a 2011 Georgetown 337DS (33'), gasoline motorhome. The RV had slightly more than 11,400 miles on it. Overall condition is good. We're having some tweaks done to it to make it drive easier.

Around the facing of the "big slideout" on the driver's side there's a trim molding. We noted that below the refrigerator access panel, the trim molding is slightly bowed out. (See the annotated picture below.)

We ran our fingers in the space between the molding and the wall of the slideout. It felt like there was some type of adhesive used to attach the molding strip to the wall of the slideout. For whatever reason, the adhesive has lost contact with the wall of the slideout due to the outward bowing that has taken place.

The outward bowing is not great, but you can see it if you look across the bottom trim molding on the slideout. The slideout seems to work fine (going in/out).

Has anyone experienced this problem, or are you aware of the problem? What's the fix? We look forward to your comments.

Best wishes,

Rick Lillie

[alparmer]

The POs could have closed the slide out while something was in the way. We had a similar issue with one of our TTs that didn't have the slide out awnings. A piece of wood had fallen on the top, and when we fully closed the slide out, the top molding was bent similar to what you are describing.

[ricklillie]

Hi alparmer,

Thank you for your reply to my question. I'm not sure what the abbreviations "POs" and "TTs" mean. Please explain the abbreviations.

I think you're saying that something may have gotten in the way of the molding around the edge of the large slide. When the slide was closed, whatever the item was bent out the molding strip on the bottom part of the slideout.

Might you have any ideas for ow we could repair the bent out portion of the molding? We might be able to use a "rubber hammer" to gently tap the molding down more even with the side of the slideout. Alternatively, we might be able to have the bottom side molding strip replaced with a new one.

Ideas?

Rick Lillie

[alparmer]

Sorry about that. POs (Previous Owners) and TT (Travel Trailer).

I think the force it took to bend it like that would be much greater than you can do with a rubber mallet. I wouldn't risk doing the opposite since it could damage the slide mechanisms. What I mean is putting something up against a tree and opening the slide. Without having to replace the entire molding, the other thing that I can think of is somehow isolating the molding (using a 2x4 sandwiched between the molding and the wall) and then use a hydraulic jack to bend it back in. I can see it in my head, but hard to explain.

[Trempert]

Originally Posted by ricklillie

We recently purchased a 2011 Georgetown 337DS (33'), gasoline motorhome. The RV had slightly more than 11,400 miles on it. Overall condition is good. We're having some tweaks done to it to make it drive easier.

Around the facing of the "big slideout" on the driver's side there's a trim molding. We noted that below the refrigerator access panel, the trim molding is slightly bowed out. (See the annotated picture below.)

We ran our fingers in the space between the molding and the wall of the slideout. It felt like there was some type of adhesive used to attach the molding strip to the wall of the slideout. For whatever reason, the adhesive has lost contact with the wall of the slideout due to the outward bowing that has taken place.

The outward bowing is not great, but you can see it if you look across the bottom trim molding on the slideout. The slideout seems to work fine (going in/out).

Has anyone experienced this problem, or are you aware of the problem? What's the fix? We look forward to your comments.

Best wishes,

Rick Lillie

I had the exact same problem with my 2011 350. I had seen one a year older at the dealer shortly after I got mine and I saw the bowing on the bottom of two of the slides. I wondered if mine would do the same. When I got back to mine I checked and to my surprise it was already starting to bow!! I took it to the dealer (it was still under warranty) and they discovered that the side was delaminating from the steel frame. They had to remove the trim strip near the bottom of the slide and then drilled holes every 5-6 inches and put a small bolt in to draw the side back to the frame. It made it straight as a rail. I've checked other GT's at campgrounds when I walk by and many have the same issue. Here's the problem - when they remove the trim strip in order to drill the holes it destroys the trim strip. I have full body paint so they then had to send the RV to the paint shop to have new trim strips painted to match. I lost use of my RV for about 3 weeks. I'm sure it cost a fortune but I didn't have to worry about it.