Slide Floor De-lamination

[fjspinelli]

Over the past couple of months I have noticed a "wavy" appearance to the bottom of our large living room slide. I thought nothing of it as we have been too busy to go camping and did not have time to take a closer look. I discovered that the plywood that makes up the bottom of our slide is delaminating?! Not only that, but it has a chalky type of substance coming out of the sides. I am going to call Heartland Service in the morning, but am simply amazed that a one year old (just) trailer would have a problem like this.

Has anyone else had this problem? Has anyone else resolved this issue? I am not happy about the work that has been done by my dealer. It spent over 6 weeks there and still did not have all the work completed properly. I will be seeking Heartland intervention tomorrow morning.

 

[tmcran]

Humm, that is bad. Could the white stuff be mold? There is a fix for the black plactic material coming off the bottom. However, this looks much worse than what I had. The fix for me was a warranty item and it solved the problem. Do you have dealer near?

 

[jbeletti]

FJ,

Consider making a call this morning to Parkland Plastics and ask them if you can email them the pictures. They supply our slide room floors and may be able to tell you exactly what needs to be done.

Parkland Plastics, Inc.
work 574-825-4336
fax 574-825-4438
www.parklandplastics.com
Parkland Plastics, Inc.
104 Yoder Drive
Middlebury IN 46540

Duro-Slide: http://www.parklandplastics.com/duroslide.shtml

 

[SmokeyBare]

Once you decide on a FIX for the damage your photos show... consider putting a piece of trim over the edge of the plywood floor... this should seal the edge from any water that would flow down the side walls of the slide room. A piece of plastic or aluminum angle that is wide enough to cover the plywood edge should protect it from future damage. I would caulk the trim to prevent any water from getting behind it as well.

 

[aatauses]

yes, we ahve the same issue on our bh 3670. I put some glue in the plywood and secured with screws. I called HL and they sent me a kit but it was for delamination on the bottom not the edges. I contacted another dealer and he said they had put some angle aluminum, but be very careful so not to interfere with the slide. I was thiniking of getting some of the plastic angle used in paneling and see if I can get that to work. A factory fix would be to have the molding cover the edges?? Also check your other slides as they all have exposed egdes.
aatause

 

[JohnDar]

After reading this thread, I checked mine. The exposure on the bottom edges of my slides does not exceed 3/16" in any spot. The slides have been sitting open all summer and don't show any signs of delamination. I wonder if a waterproofing sealer, like for decks, might help protect the edges. What is the manufacturer putting on the edges? Is it available to us?

 

[fjspinelli]

Thanks for all the input. I am simply amazed that a new unit would be experiencing as many problems as I have had with this one. It almost has me wishing I had my Sunnybrook back.

There is no plastic on the bottom of the slide. Simply plywood painted black as near as I can tell. And yes, the white and orange stuff looks like mold to me, but is coming from within the plywood. The unit sits in the sun most days.

I will get back to you guys as soon as I have more for you.

Oh, and yes, I have a dealer an hour and change away, where I purchased the unit, but frankly would not take it back to them for a repair. I am going to suggest the Heartland authorize Camper's Barn in Kingston, NY to start doing their warranty work. Charlie Kane, who owns the place, is one of the straightest shooters you will ever meet.

FJ

 

[TanDumb]

we went to the Hershey RV show this weekend and checked out the Cyclones they had there. This is one of the things we looked for and Heartland now covers all of the wood on the slides. That was a big issue for us, as we had major slide water damage/rot in our SOB. Good luck!

 

[tmcran]

Thanks for all the input. I am simply amazed that a new unit would be experiencing as many problems as I have had with this one. It almost has me wishing I had my Sunnybrook back.

There is no plastic on the bottom of the slide. Simply plywood painted black as near as I can tell. And yes, the white and orange stuff looks like mold to me, but is coming from within the plywood. The unit sits in the sun most days.

I will get back to you guys as soon as I have more for you.

Oh, and yes, I have a dealer an hour and change away, where I purchased the unit, but frankly would not take it back to them for a repair. I am going to suggest the Heartland authorize Camper's Barn in Kingston, NY to start doing their warranty work. Charlie Kane, who owns the place, is one of the straightest shooters you will ever meet.

FJ

I have two friends that have Sunnybrook RV's One is a 3 year old TT and the other has a 5'er.The guy with the 5er bought his the same time I got our Sundance in 2-09. We had our Sundance in for repairs, fixes, and warranty about 6 weeks of the first 8 weeks we owned. The 5'er has not had any problems except for a loose drawer handle. The 3 year old TT has only replaced a door knob. I have been impressed with the Sunnybrook line. I will say HL and my dealer has stepped up everytime when a problem came up. I think after about the 1st 3 months everything is finally doing ok, so hang in.

 

[280BH]

Heartland delamination problem

I have not had any problems with my slide floor in ours delaminating, but we are having problems with the front of our North Trail. The exterior finish is getting very wavy. Heartland covered the repair /cover up with a piece of diamond plate like they started putting on 2009 -2010 units.
My 2008 did not have that diamond plate up front originally.
Now the problem is reappearing above where it was covered and Heartland has denied covering it this time according to our dealer.
I have a call into Heartland now to inquire myself.

 

[SouthernNights]

Don't know how I missed this thread when it started, but after reading it I went out and checked my slide floors. Yup, just starting to delaminate. Emailed the factory (Eric McDaniels) and he is sending "the kit".

No big deal-glad I caught it early. But it does bring up a question.

Why, other than finances, doesn't the factory spec marine plywood or at least exterior plywood for this application? I am assuming it is neither since it doesn't take long for this delamination process to start.

 

[aatauses]

SouthernNights, Let me know when you get the 'kit'. When I called with this issue they (HL) sent me a kit but it was for delamination on the bottom of the slide, not the edges? Just curious what you may get in the mail.
thanks
aatauses

 

[280BH]

Heartland Assistance

It has been over 2 weeks since the call to Heartland, still no return call from then.
I am going to try again today.

 

[SouthernNights]

SouthernNights, Let me know when you get the 'kit'. When I called with this issue they (HL) sent me a kit but it was for delamination on the bottom of the slide, not the edges? Just curious what you may get in the mail.
thanks
aatauses

I got the kit on Wednesday. According to the factory, you have to break off the ply on the bottom of the plywood that has delaminated and glue the plastic strip to the bottom of the slide.

Not sure if that is what I am going to do to fix it. I think that is a bandaid but not a cure. It is almost like the kit is for a rubbing and scraping problem rather than delamination.

 

[jmgratz]

It has been over 2 weeks since the call to Heartland, still no return call from then.
I am going to try again today.

If I were in your shoes I would be calling them everyday until I got ahold of someone who could help and not wait on a phone call.

 

[lwmcguir]

The bottoms wouldnt be de-laminating if the side moldings were installed correctly to keep the water from contacting the plywood. Tearing off the bottom doesn't make a bit of sense.
I have mine in the shop now and the kits were sent to the dealer. I am curious as to what I find. The Molding on the side of the slide needs to be wider or they need to cut more accurately. Poor QA all the way here. Needs to be improved and it is somthing every new buyer should check out. About the last thing you look at as we found out. Didnt check it until the first post. Went out and looked and we have one floor about ruined on a new unit due to the water coming down the side and wraping the molding. If the molding comvered the plywood like it should this wouldnt be an issue at all.

 

[jbeletti]

The bottoms wouldnt be de-laminating if the side moldings were installed correctly to keep the water from contacting the plywood. Tearing off the bottom doesn't make a bit of sense.
I have mine in the shop now and the kits were sent to the dealer. I am curious as to what I find. The Molding on the side of the slide needs to be wider or they need to cut more accurately. Poor QA all the way here. Needs to be improved and it is somthing every new buyer should check out. About the last thing you look at as we found out. Didnt check it until the first post. Went out and looked and we have one floor about ruined on a new unit due to the water coming down the side and wraping the molding. If the molding comvered the plywood like it should this wouldnt be an issue at all.

Just a quick note from Production:

"We have now added an plastic L shaped molding to the bottom corner of the slide room floor. The plastic goes on and the fiberglass covers the edge. The fiberglass is covered with the flat rail which has butyl tape on it. The plastic is attached with 3M tape."

Jim

 

[lwmcguir]

That sounds great. Will be a nice improvement.

 

[janitor1]

So what about the many owners who have theses units that are having problems including me since I look at mine also , since you are changing the design isn’t heartland saying there is a problem with this? if so are they giving a free kit to fix the campers they have already sold?

Like a recall?

 

[SmokeyBare]

I'm sure some type of plastic " L " trim could be located at a Home Depot or Lowe's, heck even a thin aluminum " L " stock would do the job but probably would cost a few dollars more. Most trim comes in lengths of 8 foot which would allow both sides of each slide room to be covered with one length.

Armed with a tube of good caulking and a strip of " L " trim and a roll of some kind of tape to hold the trim in place until the caulking had a chance to cure... This sort of fix seems to me... would be far less complicated than waiting for a kit to be delivered... at a over rated shipping charge.

In My Opinion...

Marv