Not So Estatic New North Trail Owner

[Marge]

Marge, here is the link to their CG. There is a place you can go visit east of Big Timber on HWY 12 (I think). It's the end of Chief Josephs Trail. It's where he surrendered to the army after Little Big Horn. Chief Joseph Hwy out of Red Lodge will take you to Cody Wyoming. It would take you a year just to see all the stuff in Montana. My oldest daughter lives in Big Timber and we have property in Round Up. http://springcreekcampground.com/Home_Page.html

Thank you, that place sounds great. We for sure will be in that neck of the woods.

Update on the leaky slide.
Just heard from the Service Manager, they are having a part sent out from the Factory to retro-fit on the bottom of the slide. Maybe it is that dam somebody on here mentioned a while back. So taking the things off of the silde must not have helped much, because they are doing this now.
We actually feel better, because we were a bit skeptical about the leak at the bottom of the slide.

We have had it 16 days now and 10 of those days it has been in the shop.

 

[DavidB.]

Sorry to hear about your water woes.

Would it be possible to take a few pictures of these 2 plastic strips that
seem to be the cause of the water troubles?
And pictures of the location on the trailer/slide.
Let us know if the strips should (or not) be there.


I know you will keep us posted/updated on the ongoing situation.

Thanks in advance,
Best regards,
DavidB.

 

[Marge]

Sorry to hear about your water woes.

Would it be possible to take a few pictures of these 2 plastic strips that
seem to be the cause of the water troubles?
And pictures of the location on the trailer/slide.
Let us know if the strips should (or not) be there.


I know you will keep us posted/updated on the ongoing situation.

Thanks in advance,
Best regards,
DavidB.

They took those strips off yesterday. When we ever get it back home I'll take a picture of where the strips were, just inside the outer part of the slide, I mean when it is extended, the white sides you see, one near the top and one near the bottom, running length wise.
We are beginning to wonder if they built our trailer on Friday and everybody was in a hurry to get out of there.

We are starting to wonder what else did not get installed properly on this trailer.

The strips must not have been the problem, because whatever they need to install is on the bottom of the slide, just like were we kept telling them the leak was.

 

[Bob&Patty]

Marge, after rereading your last post. You say they removed strips were on the side of the slide. How close to the seals on the slide, the ones that seal against the outer wall or body of the coach were they?? The seals on the slide itself is what keeps water out when closed. If those strips interfered with those seals....then you could have a water leak. Is it possible that the slide needs to adjusted to seal better?? With the slide closed could you see any light shining through the seals from the outside??

 

[Marge]

Marge, after rereading your last post. You say they removed strips were on the side of the slide. How close to the seals on the slide, the ones that seal against the outer wall or body of the coach were they?? The seals on the slide itself is what keeps water out when closed. If those strips interfered with those seals....then you could have a water leak. Is it possible that the slide needs to adjusted to seal better?? With the slide closed could you see any light shining through the seals from the outside??

The problem is something missing from the bottom of the slide, the factory is sending something that has to be retro-fitted on the bottom of the slide. Those strips were about an inch from the outside seal of the slide, but that was not the problem it seems. Or only part of the problem.

 

[NSNorthtrail]

Hello Marge,

I know EXACTLY how your are feeling with your issue. U can check my past posts over the last 2 yrs and u will know why! I owned my brand new NT for 2 days when I went in it and it was FILLED with water! I was sick/sad/depressed/mad/upset (I think u get the point). And that was just the start of my problems-I had purchased a 'Lemon'.....Having said that, Heartland and my Dealer have gone the distance with me to ensure everything has been fixed. At this point I absolutely love my NT 28BHS and it is the 'new' trailer I wanted. Keep your head up and work closely with Heartland and your dealer to ensure every one of your concerns are rectified to your satisfaction. IT will be that new trailer you bought again. It is just taking the long way around! Good luck and please keep us posted on the progress.
Peter

 

[Marge]

Hello Marge,

I know EXACTLY how your are feeling with your issue. U can check my past posts over the last 2 yrs and u will know why! I owned my brand new NT for 2 days when I went in it and it was FILLED with water! I was sick/sad/depressed/mad/upset (I think u get the point). And that was just the start of my problems-I had purchased a 'Lemon'.....Having said that, Heartland and my Dealer have gone the distance with me to ensure everything has been fixed. At this point I absolutely love my NT 28BHS and it is the 'new' trailer I wanted. Keep your head up and work closely with Heartland and your dealer to ensure every one of your concerns are rectified to your satisfaction. IT will be that new trailer you bought again. It is just taking the long way around! Good luck and please keep us posted on the progress.
Peter

Tomorrow, Monday will be 13 days it has been at the dealers for the slide leak. They had it for 3 days prior to that to fix the seal on the storage compartment door.
The 12th they discovered something they needed to retro-fit on the bottom of the slide, it is being shipped from Indiana. They should have the part tomorrow the 18th. We want to go camping on Wednesday for our trial run before a big 2 week trip the end of May. Everybody please keep your fingers crossed for us. I can't take much more of this.
We have owned the trailer for 22 days and 16 of those days it has been back at the dealers being fixed.

My biggest concern at this point is any permanent damage from the leaking. It doesn't appear so, but only time will tell. We want all of this documented well, especially if is does indeed turn into a Lemon.

You give me a ray of hope Peter.

 

[DavidB.]

Hello Marge,

Reading the "Safety recall" thread and your post (#3) you state that your trailer is still at the dealers (27 days). Any update on this slideout/water infiltration issue?
I know that Heartland and the dealer are doing their best to solve this issue, aren't they?
How is YOUR patience?

Also, reading another thread "No 12v dc after installing a new battery", post #14 by Ridinpreacher, at the end/bottom of his post, he mentions that he had/has water issues also, due to the "bottom sweep" not sealing properly.
Was wondering if this might apply to you? (grasping at straws here) even though you both have different model trailers.

Regards,
DavidB.

 

[Bob&Patty]

David, I think the difference in the 2 issues is, Marge has a water leak sitting still with the slides open. Ridin has a water leak while driving in the rain....not sitting.

 

[Marge]

They completely resealed the slide, they said they had a Heartland rep out too. We picked it up to get ready for a two week trip. Oh it was missing a cap on the top of the slide.

Anyway it was dry as a bone when we left the Dealers and they had water running over it for a long time. But when we got home from our 6 mile drive there was a bit off water, same darn place.
Now we have a bit of water coming in, in the exact same place, with the slide in, which was always when it was leaking slide in, not out.
We are just going to live with it for a bit and go on our trip. But we will talk to the Dealer again soon, at least to let them know there is still some water coming in.

 

[Bob&Patty]

Marge, is everybody sure that it is the slide leaking?? The leak could be somewhere else above the slide. A roof joint, a drip rail screw, a loose seal at the A/C, a leak at the awning mounts. Just thinking out loud.

 

[codycarver]

I found this site http://www.rvleaks.com/index.htm in another post some time back and added it to my favorites just in case. It seems the effort is being made but maybe as Bob says your dealer is looking in all the wrong places. There are several places in WA that use this system so it may be worth looking into. Just a thought.

 

[Marge]

Marge, is everybody sure that it is the slide leaking?? The leak could be somewhere else above the slide. A roof joint, a drip rail screw, a loose seal at the A/C, a leak at the awning mounts. Just thinking out loud.

We are going to go look right now.

And I also am going to ask the Dealer about trying Sealtech.

 

[Bob&Patty]

Marge, the only way they will ever find the leak (water intrusion area) is to.

1. using a water hose, start at the bottom of the suspect area and VERY slowly work there way up and have someone inside watching for the leak. They can't use alot of water pressure or a spray nozzle. That will defeat the purpose. Your dealer will never find the leak by just spraying water at the side of the coach or runnning alot of water on the top. It just won't happen. It's a waste of water and time.

2. just running water down the sides from the top will NEVER find the leak. It only shows that you have a leak, not where it's coming from.

3. there is one other way to find an opening at the slide seals, if thats the problem. Someone needs to be inside the coach with a bright flashlite. You need to do this at night. Then someone needs to be outside. Shine the light at all the seals and move the light slowly up the seals. If there is a gap then the light will shine thru and you can mark the spot and look to see what the cause is.

4. as I stated in my other post, you might have a leak in an other area that takes awhile to appear. Sometimes water will build up in another area but will find the weakest spot to exit. Maybe the slide is the weak link for the water to exit.

5. sometimes you can find the leak by looking for disturbed dust/dirt between the seals or other areas. Water always leaves a trail of where it runs in dust/dirt. Sometimes leaves a mud puddle.

Wish I could help you more but I can't find it for you. If I lived close, I bet we could find it. I have chased water leaks for many years and they are very frustrating to find. Bob

 

[Marge]

Thank you for all the good tips Bob I really appreciate any and all advice/help.....but for now..

We are pretty sure this is the problem. This thread here, Slide Leak Self Help 101, the caulking at the top of the bottom cap of our slide, the caulking is almost nonexistent in some spots. Check out dbylnski's problem and pictures. Tomorrow Glen is going to re caulk/ seal that area. We have a very small window of opportunity with the weather and so right now we don't want to get it wet.

//heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/23706-Slide-Leak-Self-Help-101?highlight=slide+toppers

from this thread....
"That same type of leak has been around the forum for some time. I think most of bedroom slides have the same type of construction in the Heartland line. It's very prone to leak at that seam. I think "soilmover" was one of the folks that had a major problem in this area."

This worked, the leak is totally stopped now.

 

[MayorShinn]

I read through this entire thread and came ou.t dissatisfied. Did the problem ever get fixed??? Don't leave me hanging in suspense

 

[cookie]

I read through this entire thread and came ou.t dissatisfied. Did the problem ever get fixed??? Don't leave me hanging in suspense

Please re-read post #35 of this thread.
The last sentence states "This worked, the leak is totally stopped now."
Oh, bye the way, welcome to the forum. This is a great place full of lots of good information.

Peace
Dave

 

[Marge]

Well it worked at the time of that last post. I just got tired of this on-going saga. It is almost fixed. We found another small hole in the caulking over a window in the slide. So we think it it totally fixed now. It never leaks when the slide is in or going down the road, so that is progress.

It's been a combination of things causing the leak, missing parts on the slide and bad caulking.
They put those little strips back on the sldie that they took off, way back in this thread. They are to make sure the side seals flip over correctly when you put the slide out and bring it in.
It has been back to the Dealers 4 times in total. (53 days) We've got new everything practically, seal wise.