bedroom slide bottom came apart from moisture
- Thread starter bull
- Start date
Ray LeTourneau
Senior Member - Past Moderator
bull, earlier 5th wheels only had a piece of side trim that didn't entirely cover the edge of the wood floor. It appears they thought the black coating on the edge would prevent the problem. Another issue that causes water intrusion is the placement of the floor support rollers. If they are too close to the edge of the trailer, they catch on the bottom slide trim flange and cause the trim to flex. This opens up the outside upper edge of the flange allowing water to get in.
I need to take a couple pictures but a few days ago, I tried adding a 12" square steel plate to the outside corners of the slide floor. This will hoefully serve two purposes. One , to support the slide's weight while sitting on the rollers during travel. Two, to prevent the roller from forcing that trim flange from opening. So far it looks good but I havent traveled yet to test the strength of the steel. I used 16 gauge sheets. (not quite 1/16th thick).
To answer your question, yes, if your floor is bad on those corners, it has to be removed to replace the floor. My hope is that my fix will prevent further water intrusion and support the slide. I'll know when we make the trip to Goshen next month.
I need to take a couple pictures but a few days ago, I tried adding a 12" square steel plate to the outside corners of the slide floor. This will hoefully serve two purposes. One , to support the slide's weight while sitting on the rollers during travel. Two, to prevent the roller from forcing that trim flange from opening. So far it looks good but I havent traveled yet to test the strength of the steel. I used 16 gauge sheets. (not quite 1/16th thick).
To answer your question, yes, if your floor is bad on those corners, it has to be removed to replace the floor. My hope is that my fix will prevent further water intrusion and support the slide. I'll know when we make the trip to Goshen next month.
ParkIt
Well-known member
It would be interesting to see your pictures Ray, the rollers on one side of our bedroom caught the flange and tore it so I'm thinking I need to modify it somehow. Not sure why since we replaced the "it came with it" heavy mattress to an air bed which is considerably lighter. No sag or delam but I'm trying to be proactive to avoid that.
Ray LeTourneau
Senior Member - Past Moderator
Here are pictures of my "band aid". I'm hopeful this will prevent any further damage. The steel plates were painted on both sides and the screws into the slide floor are countersunk. before attaching the plate it was heavily caulked. Seriously, there was caulk coming out from everywhere when I fastened it. Afterwards, I had Lin close the slide and I watched the lower main trim flange and it did not move. Exactly what I was hoping for. I re-caulked the upper edge of that flange. time will tell...
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ParkIt
Well-known member
That looks like what is happening to ours, slide isn't out of alignment so not sure why its doing this. Ray, I might try to use a hard piece of...whatever the white acrylic (?) cutting boards are made of to reduce friction though I wonder if the roller would slip on it to some degree.
Caulk is like duct tape. You can never have too much.
Caulk is like duct tape. You can never have too much.
