Small (bunk) Slide out Issues

[007matman]

Hello all.

My Rockwood Signature Ultra-Lite model 8318SS has developed some issues near the rear bunk slide out.

I think I have a couple of issues here.

At some point someone damaged the side wall around the slide out. I don't know if they failed to remove the supports prior to operating the slide out or not but we noticed that the wall above the slide out was not as strong as the rest of the camper about a month after we bought it. I can tell there was some work done around the outside.. replaced caulk, slide seal on the right side of the slide is different from the one on the left, and the top seal is different as well. It's pretty obvious that they were replaced at some point which makes sense.. that's the area that was weak.

On the exterior fiberglass there was a small surface crack that I repaired last year with some caulk (see attached photo).

Just this spring I've noticed there top of the wall getting progressively worse too the point now that I'm really careful when operating the slide for fear that it's going to break the wall. There is visible movement when I extend or retract the slide. Upon looking closer I noticed that there crack I'd repaired last spring has gotten worse and spread straight up. Bad news is it's right under the gutter and my guess is that water has been pouring into the wall and further weakened the structure. Delamination is present in that corner and the slide out topper bracket is loose.

At this point all I care about is sealing it up and reinforcement of that area so it doesn't break. We would like to get a few more years out of the camper.

Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[SeaDog]

When you say supports are you talking bout supports under the slide box when it extended?
There may be damage inside the will hard to tell without investigation. One thing you may want to check is the tension on the slide topper roller, to much tension may be what has caused the crack to run and causing wall movement. Clean all the chalk away and stop drill the crack clean the area of all wax and lay in a fiberglass patch that extends at least 3 to 4 inches beyond the crack on both sides san and paint. I would also open the inside wall and repair any water damage and reinforce it if needed. Just my thoughts

[007matman]

By "supports" I meant slide locks that you use when you travel. What it looks like is that someone failed to remove them prior to operating the slide. There are stickers that indicate that they should be removed or wall damage would occur.

I have noticed that the topper on that side never sags (even when it's been raining) but the big one on the other side does. It is possible that there is too much tension on the topper which has pulled the top of the wall.

The whole area under that crack is soft and spongy from the delamination. Any ideas how I could reinforce that?

I thought the wall was sealed as a unit and it could not be opened. If someone has some tips and tricks on how to do this I'd be all ears. :-)

[SeaDog]

You can open the wall up from the inside and inspect for damage.

[007matman]

I'll take a look and see what I can do. Thank you.