Help with rear slide problem

[Shashon]

I NEED SOME ADVICE! We have a 2008 Shamrock 25RS and I noticed a crack on the outside of the rear slide. I noticed that the rear slide has some damage to the support so I contacted our insurance company but they denied the claim. So I took it to a repair shop and they told me there was damage to the support system...duh. The cost to repair was starting at around 5K (which I thought was way high since I'm thinking the entire trailer is probably only worth around 10K). Has anyone had this problem? And if so what did you do and where do I go from here. I really want to be able to use our camper when my husband gets back from his deployment from the Middle East. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[MOD Guy]

Pictures of the damaged areas would help.

What type of damage (where and to what exactly) ie: fiberglass crack, rear corner, lower edge, etc. When you say support system, do you mean the slide out system itself? What type of damage did the shop say it had? Did they offer a possible cause? Still might be something your insurance would cover if you could get more exact info.

Lots of good thoughts on this board, we just need a little more to go on.

[Shashon]

Thanks so much for replying. I'm currently out of town and will be back home next Tuesday and will go and take some pictures and post them. There is visibly large crack in the fiberglass on the right lower side and another crack on the upper left side of back outside wall. You can also see where it is slightly leaning where the large crack is. Thanks again for responding I will post those pictures as soon as I get home.

[Thurman]

First thing - - -I'm sure I speak for all the members of this forum: Thanks to your husband for his service to our country, and THANKS to you for supporting him. Yes, photos would help in this situation. There are many people on this forum who have really good advice for may different TT problems.

[Shashon]

Here are some pixs of the damage. Top left and lower right have cracks, other corners look fine.

[Thurman]

I also have cracks on the lower corners of a slide on the drivers side of my TT. After extensive reading, sending e-mails with photos to Forest River (all unanswered) and to a couple of "major" camper repair centers within 200 miles of me--NO help. The first thing I wanted to know was: "What caused these cracks?" No answer at this time though. One of my friends did high quality kitchen cabinets for years. I had him look at this and he came up with what we called a patch. The best way I know to describe this patch is that he extended the patch material approximately 12" on each side of the area cut-out of the TT for the slide. Then he went up app. 12" on each side of the bottom area of the cut-out and followed the line of the cut-out to make a sort of "U" shape. He then went to the bottom-most piece of trim on the outside of the TT for the height of the patch. He used an off white Formica which blended with the TT very well. After cutting out the patch we scuffed the exterior siding of the TT exactly where the patch would fit. He then used some "super-duper" type of glue for Formica to glue this patch into place. We used 3/4" boards (I had laying around) to put up against the patch and other boards diagonally to the patch and ground to put pressure against the patch until the glue dried, we waited two days. I'm not going to tell you this is "The Solution" to stop the cracking, but I do feel better that there is some support to the exterior of the TT where the slide's cut-out is. OH---and YES I did treat Joe & Jane to a nice dinner for his help.

[crunchman12001]

What you have there is structural frame failure. The failure must be fixed prior to exterior repair.
I had the same problem with my old trailer. It was a used 2005 Keystone Outback 25RSS. I bought it that way without knowing and the dealer was more than happy to not disclose it.
(the previous owners or the dealer covered the cracks with oblong side marker reflectors) The trailer had a manual rear slide with a short queen.

I removed the interior paneling on mine to expose the aluminum frame structure.
I found that it had leaked for a long time before the previous owners traded it in.

The aluminum welds had weakened the connecting aluminum framing and caused the horizontal frame to break away from the vertical frame by about a 1/2" next to the welds.
I repaired it by using "T shaped" steel framing plates, pre-drilled and screwed the frames back together at the corners that broke.
I then washed all the black mold with bleach, replaced the fiberglass insulation and put it back together.
I used a product called Marine-Tex Epoxy Putty for the exterior repair after I pulled the years worth of silicone and Dicor out of the cracks.
The epoxy dries bright white. Cracked the epoxy every year after that but the frame did not let go again. I covered the exterior, cracked epoxy with Dicor to stop water infiltration.
Fix it best you can and trade it.
Good luck,
crunchman