Rear bedroom slide leak on my 2015 DX3 37BHHD

[murraym]

Anyone know the best chemical combinations and adhesive to reattach the rectangular rubber slide cable gaskets to the actual slide seals. Last fall I used rubber cement with an activator as well as black silicon when that didn't work. Every time I open my slide the slide cable pulls the gasket away from the seal of which allows water to seep into the seal on the cable in heavy rain. Another issue that I am going to have to seriously troubleshoot is that there is a significant leak at the top of the slide somewhere as the wallpaper inside above the slide is rippling and wavy as well as the laminated wood behind it.

I shouldn't behaving this many leaks on this new of a unit. The wallpaper ripple was noticeable almost immediately after I got it in September of 2016 at 1 year old. I tried reattaching the cable gasket and reseal some suspect areas, now it is becoming a bigger problem!

[murraym]

[Rdeejr]

I am curious is your trailer an aluminum frame?

[cmysstailights]

Have you contacted the manufacturer

[bclemens]

That ripple is “above” the slide out however. If the slide out was leaking, I would expect to see that ripple below the slide fascia. Ripple seems to me you have a roof leak. Could be a freeze/thaw effect on the false awnings? I would look more to the roof first.

[murraym]

Originally Posted by Rdeejr

I am curious is your trailer an aluminum frame?

The coach is on a Freightliner M2 steel frame chassis with aluminum framing for the actual coach/house sonot isn’t a trailer or pull behind. It is a motor coach.

[murraym]

Originally Posted by bclemens

That ripple is “above” the slide out however. If the slide out was leaking, I would expect to see that ripple below the slide fascia. Ripple seems to me you have a roof leak. Could be a freeze/thaw effect on the false awnings? I would look more to the roof first.

I have been all over the roof and find no broken seals or holes. The only thing I found last summer was related to cracks in the sealant of the rear fiberglass cap seal where the sealant was pulling away from the rubber screw cover when I read the post on the screws breaking and I checked mine. I replaced a few screws and resealed the rubber cover. It is still sealed tight since I last checked last week, before the rain, and this week after the rain once we returned from louisville and I noticed that the wallpaper and wood behind it was rippling more, soft, and wet to the touch. My thinking is it has to be where the slide cover awning is mounted to the roof and the water is running down under that connection point on top of the upper slide seal maybe because the awning connection to the roof wasn't sealed correctly, or water is getting down on top of the slide seal as it runs down behind the slide awning connection point and then runs behind the slide seal and the fiberglass body and then makes its way to the inside and wicks up into the wood that is also touching the slide seal but now inside the coach. Without knowing the actual process that you guys use and steps you take to prevent that, I can't know for sure. Being that my unit is a 2015 it is now out of warranty, but this is a pretty significant leak to be making it's way across the entire top of the wall along the the entire slide. Does Forrest River offer any type of concession on this type of significant leak?
My living room slide shows the same rippling of wallpaper but it is really minor at this point compared to the rear bedroom slide.

Questions:
1. Do you seal the slide awning to roof connection point? If so, with what and how?

2. What do you do to actually seal the slide seal to the body slide cutout on the outside to prevent water from just running down the fiberglass, behind the slide seal, and sitting on top of the seal where it can possibly run inboard to the inner wall and wick up?

3. Where the slide cutout is on the body, is it an actual "cutout" with exposed ends that the seal pops onto, or does the fiberglass curve in and back up on the inside of the coach, and then the seal pops onto that? Photos of this would be extremely helpful.

Can you provide a photo of the actual top and side slide seals, especially a side profile of the seal and how it wraps around the cutout?

I need to remedy this quickly. Thanks in advance.

[caseymyers]

I’d troubleshoot the roof. Put fresh Dycor or other RV roof sealant on seams and around any hardware mounted up there. Let that all dry for a few days then get a garden hose and run your own leak test. In the mean time get some heat and a fan blowing on the inside to get that dryed up soonest.

[murraym]

Originally Posted by caseymyers

I’d troubleshoot the roof. Put fresh Dycor or other RV roof sealant on seams and around any hardware mounted up there. Let that all dry for a few days then get a garden hose and run your own leak test. In the mean time get some heat and a fan blowing on the inside to get that dryed up soonest.

Great minds think alike. I reapplied Decor LAP self levelling sealant to all of the hardware seals that were even suspect as well as removed and reapplied self leveling Geoflex ProflexRV black to the seal areas of the front and rear caps. This is definitely coming from the area above the slide. My thoughts are that it is running down the roof to the slide awning connection point and getting behind that and running down behind the seal in between the outer fiberglass wall and the slide seal, then somehow wicking up to the rippled area delaminating the plywood behind the wallpaper and running down the sides causing the side wall to delaminate the wallpaper from the wall.

[caseymyers]

Nothing so l as water intrusion. It will get into the tiniest of holes. I’ve used this product for years with great success. It is very thin and therefore flows like water, made for windshield leaks but I’ve used on many RV roofs.
Great product to have in your garage.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Permatex-8...&wl13=&veh=sem

[caseymyers]

The missing word above: insidious

[murraym]

So I took better photos with the slide partially closed and the slide seals all "seam" pun intended, to be functioning correctly as they pop in and out via the grabbing effect of the nonskid strips when you move the slide all the way in and all the way out. They are all pliable and soft. I did however find that in the very top rear corner of the actual cutout in the wall for the slide, that there is water damage to the plywood that does appear to be coming from the top horizontal slide seal that clips over the cutout opening of the actual body. It does appear that my original theory of the water being wicked up into the plywood which is delaminating it as well as the wallpaper was correct. So it seems as though the water is seeping down behind the top horizontal seal on the outside of the coach between the seal and the fiberglass and then maybe working it's way inboard to the plywood where it is not only being wicked upward, but it is running down the inside of the rear vertical swipe seal against that plywood as well which is causing the wallpaper to to delaminate from the plywood.
So starting at the top of the roof where the slide awning/cover is screwed to the roof, water is either getting in between the awning mount and the roof or through the screw holes, and there are a lot. As in it looks like every 4-6".

or making it's way past the awning cover and screw holes and making it's way down the fiberglass and seeping in behind the transition seal between the fiberglass textured roof, and the fiberglass gelcoat side walls;


Or it is making it's way over the top of the properly sealed transition and making it's way behind the slide seal cap that is installed over the cutout of the gelcoat wall and then making its way inboard to the inside wall plywood where it is being wicked up.

Here you can see the circled area of the wall cutout for the top rear slide seal where the water damage is visible in the plywood and the rusted self drilling screw end which indicates that the water is coming from above the that spot most likely from the top horizontal seal which is dumping the water into the the inside of the rear vertical cutout slide seal.

[murraym]

Here is a disturbing photo where the water is ultimately ending up in the rear passenger side corner of the back of the master bedroom at the rear slide wall. Over the weekend, we were in Louisville and it rained Friday night. Saturday morning there was a visible pool of water in that corner of which I sopped up and immediately applied the floor blower fan to dry as quick as possible.

[murraym]

Everything forward of this rear bottom slide out wall cutout is dry as a bone. The water is running down this rear abutment that the slide seal is clipped over. You can see the water lines showing where it is coming from.

Here are better photos of the delaminated plywood and wallpaper of the top wall cutout where the top front to back horizontal slide seal is clipped to. When you push in on the rippled areas, they push back down into and behind the seal cover. The ceiling cover as well as corner round threshold is not deformed or delaminating at all. It appears to be wicking upward but I could be wrong. Either way, it is localized and coming from either the slide awning cover attachment and or screws, the textured fiberglass roof to gelcoat wall transition threshold seal, or the slide seal allowing water to get behind it and wick upward into the wall.
This photo shows the brown water mark on the wallpaper above the slide seal. When you push on the wallpaper and delaminated plywood, the water mark drops below the seal.


This photo shows the room divider and the corner round with no warping, expansion, or damage.

[caseymyers]

For sure I’d use the windshield sealer I recommended and seal above that screw in the First photo. Then water test just that area.

[murraym]

Originally Posted by caseymyers

For sure I’d use the windshield sealer I recommended and seal above that screw in the First photo. Then water test just that area.

There is way too much water coming in too quickly to be coming from just that one screw at the end in the photo.

[caseymyers]

Oh, we are on the same page, I was just thinking I'd play around with that one crack or seam above that screw and part because in your photo it just doesn't look sealed. And photos would never substitute for eyes on in person. I think you are on the right track, perhaps that whole area is leaking, maybe in several places along that rail at the top. I'm recommending the liquid sealant and then a water test with a hose, with frequent down hill checks to make sure you don't get things too wet inside just from testing and so maybe you can get lucky and catch the leak just as it begins to intrude into the coach.

[caseymyers]

I guess that first photo is the slide out cover track and the seam between the roof material and the laminated coach wall?

[murraym]

Originally Posted by caseymyers

I guess that first photo is the slide out cover track and the seam between the roof material and the laminated coach wall?

Yes, the 1st photo of post #12 where I am pointing is the slide cover/awning attachment rail where it is screwed into the textured portion of the fiberglass roof which is just above the main sealing strip with the rubber cover that mates the textured roof to the gelcoat laminated fiberglass wall above the slideout cutout in the wall, if that is the correct term...

[caseymyers]

I'm thinking that screw (and there are probably several) is above the wall, so if that screw leaked at all that could be at least one of your sources. And that rail gives enough purchase for water to pool up there, collect a bit before it runs off or evaporated and that pooling could cause it to soak through. But on the other hand the damage on the inside looks like lots of water is coming into the slide out? Is it heavy pouring rain in a wind storm? Maybe blowing in also?