exterior slide floors raw plywood edges wicking water

Dave42

Member
I don't know how else to say it. I am away from home, in Palmer, Alaska. This morning my next door neighbor who has a 2011 Bighorn, a 4 slide model about 36 feet long, showed me the edges that are starting to disintegrate. I got some poor photos not sure if I can post them. He says Heartland fixed his and indeed his are enclosed in metal. Anyone know anything about this? O.K., apparently I can't get the pics on here but if you have an '09 model 3055, go shove your thumbnail into that plywood. You might be surprised.
Dave
 

SouthernNights

Past South Carolina Chapter Leader
This problem has been around and discussed many times.

Here a few threads.

Post 1
Post 2

Some people have repaired the problem them selves and some have used the kit from Heartland.
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
You can get the repair kit from HL or do it yourself for less than $20. Alan (2010Augusta) used white aluminum roof drip edge on his. I went to an aluminum siding company near the CG and had them bend up 36" strips of white aluminum for mine. A tube of caulking, cordless drill/driver, a couple of hours and the jobs done. I had it made 1 1/4" on each side.

Depending on where they drove the screws to attach the slide trim, you may not be able to fully remove it. Pull what screws you can, cut the cap accordingly, load it with caulk (both flanges) and stick it in. Use the original screws and trim to secure it and recaulk the slide trim piece.

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2010augusta

Well-known member
Here is my $9.00 fix for the issue. //heartlandowners.org/showthread.ph...slide-floor-de-lamination?p=119376&viewfull=1
 

lwmcguir

Well-known member
A quick fix is to apply 100% silicone from the trim piece down to the bottom of the plywood. Leave a bit of a bead on the bottom outside corner of the plywood to keep the water from running underneath. I decided to go this route after the factory trim pieces were install incorrectly on three of the 4 slides. Has worked well and no more water is entering the plywood. The plywood does need to be dry when you apply a good grade of silicone so you will get 100% adhesion. I used a plastic trowel to level out a thin layer of silicone. Has worked this summer and we were in some torrential rains with more than 5 inches in one rain with 70 MPH winds. The winds were high enough to push up the bed slide enough to wake up up. I used clear silicone.
 
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