Cracked fiberglass around slide

[Bruce11]

Hey Heartlands Owners

Does anyone have any advice for dealing w a crack in fiberglass around the slideout? My initial quick fix was putting sealant on the crack. Our rig is a 2012 Sundance 3200 re. I read RV covers may do more harm by increasing moisture. If anyone has experienced this any direction would be appreciated!

Stay safe everyone
james

 

[david-steph2018]

Hey Heartlands Owners

Does anyone have any advice for dealing w a crack in fiberglass around the slideout? My initial quick fix was putting sealant on the crack. Our rig is a 2012 Sundance 3200 re. I read RV covers may do more harm by increasing moisture. If anyone has experienced this any direction would be appreciated!

Stay safe everyone
james

We had the same issue on our 2018 Road Warrior. We had it repaired at Affinity RV Group in Goshen, Ind. They did a great job for us. Heartland covered our crack wall since we were only 2 1/2 years old. They had to cut out the area, reweld the crack weld areas, replace the fiberglass and repaint the outside area.
I sent you a PM with the information for Affinity.

 

[CoveredWagon]

Hey Heartlands Owners

I read RV covers may do more harm by increasing moisture. If anyone has experienced this any direction would be appreciated!

Stay safe everyone
james

I've covered our rig for the past 3 years in FL with a good cover and it's done nothing but keep it clean nab looking good.

 

[Garypowell]

Get in touch with Heartland. I had the same problem 4 years ago and the took a section out fixed the broken “studs”, welded a plate in place and fixed the side such that you’d never know it had happened.

it was a 2013 Bighorn.

 

[sengli]

The outer skin crack is a just a symptom, of the under lying issue. Which is most likely the aluminum structure in that corner of the wall has broken internally, allowing the skin to flex and stress to point where it has also cracked. Usually not an easy fix by most of us. Look up similar threads on here for more info.

 

[Bruce11]

Heartland removed the sidewalls in 2012 at their factory & fixed the welds that failed on aluminum studs. They reported also adding additional bracing. I’ll get the rig professionally evaluated. Sounds like 8 years later I’m having same issue. Geez why don’t these rigs hold up anymore?

thanks for all the replies; hopefully this can be resolved

 

[Conner209]

I have a 2018 Sundance 3200 MVP. Mine has cracked twice in the corner of the slide. Again as you all mention the welds broke. A few months later it cracks again in the same location, this time a different weld broke. Sounds like a recall ***** is required. Any ideas or recommendations. I am in Calif so driving it to Indiana to be repaired at the factory is not feasible.

 

[Conner209]

 

[Bruce11]

I have a 2018 Sundance 3200 MVP. Mine has cracked twice in the corner of the slide. Again as you all mention the welds broke. A few months later it cracks again in the same location, this time a different weld broke. Sounds like a recall ***** is required. Any ideas or recommendations. I am in Calif so driving it to Indiana to be repaired at the factory is not feasible.

Hopefully it has not got worse. We had ours checked out by very reputable independent repair company. Said it’s not from broken welds. So far it has not got worse or leaked; we sealed it.

 

[mlpeloquin]

I also had this happen on my Big Horn. I was shown that this is a common problem on many brands. My independent repair facility showed me more then ten rigs and six different manufactures that had the same problem. My cousin has a barn, removed the entire side on both sides, welded braces in all over and boxed in around all slides. He also replace the entire suspension. What a fifth wheel now! His is a SOB.