Forum Discussion

fallonator22's avatar
fallonator22
Explorer
Nov 01, 2017

Rain problem.

I posted briefly about this before, last time it rained (it wasn’t THAT hard), it made some wet areas underneath the corners of our slides on that wooden (I’m assuming it’s wood) cover for the bottom of the slides. We have a front den area above the fifth wheel hitch that has opposing slides (with no railing mechanism underneath, just the side rails) and those take the brunt of the water when it rains. The under part of all the slides after last night’s rain made the wooden part all damp and wet as if water had been dripping off of it the whole night.
You can tell that there is water on the rails, as if when it drips down the side of the slide, it just continues to drip underneath the slides and then off from there. It is under ALL the slides, so I’m positive it is not just a leak on one.

It does seem like this would happen to all of them though because of how it happened to all slides?? Is this something to worry about then?? How do you prevent it? I looked up gutters for above the slides but doesn’t seem as if those would do much. It’s almost as if the bottom needs some time of protectant but not sure what I would even cover it with???
  • Bedroom slide on my unit has Swintek side rails. Water wicked under the slide and rotted out small areas under the slide at the outside wall. I removed the rot and repaired the wood. It has the Darco wrap which is not water proof. I bought some thin aluminum sheeting from Home depot. (.085" I think) Used a box cutter to score several times and then broke it at the scored lines. Used heavy duty 3M double sided tape and attached it along the bottom side of the Swintek rail. I cut it long enough so that when I lifted the slide I could run it all the way under that slide. I then used Dicor non-sag lap sealant along the bottom between the new aluminum and Swintek rail and along the horizontal top and screw heads.

    I read on another forum that a member found that the trim pieces on the 4 corners of the slide were not sealed and water ran between them and the wall and then down to the bottom. I removed mine, added lap sealant and reinstalled. I then ran a bead all the way around them. My other 2 slides have the rack and pinion. I noticed water wicking down the side and under them. I bought a piece of aluminum drip edge for roofs, loosend the screws and inserted it under the drip edge and caulked there. Good luck
  • Better come up with a plan and fix it quick. Water is a trailers worst enemy.
  • You need to coat that wood with something to protect it.

    The bottom of my slides are coated with some sort of plastic, maybe you could use something like mine has?
  • UPDATE:
    we just visited with an owner of another Sandpiper in the park, his is brand new, doing the same thing, plus the bottom of one of his slides has cracked and peeled when he slid it in. So looks like we will need to install some drip lips or something to keep water from dripping down the slides to the under part.
  • Any time wood gets wet it becomes a problem. You will eventually have rot if not corrected.
  • If you have the rails on the sides make sure the gasket is not over cut around them.The rubber shoud touch the rails
    Another type are the old style rails with holes punched in them the rain channels through the rails.