Thanks for the info, NMDriver. What I'm experiencing does seem to be pretty common problem to slide outs. It's a shame that the previous owners didn't maintain it. I don't know why you'd spend money on a new RV and then let water poor in. They had to have seen it on the carpet when they moved the slide in and out.
The weather is supposed to hold through tomorrow so I've made a plan of action:
1) Put the slide out cover on. I do feel like the dealer caulked it properly (it poured rain for 3 days straight with no signs of leaking) but with the slide out cover I don't have to risk more leaking up there. I'll still re-caulk it myself later since it'll get damp no matter what I do.
2) Put the PVC shower lining above the rim of the slide out, as suggested, to keep water droplets on the side from running underneath the bottom of the slide out.
3) If time permits (unfortunately I have to work tomorrow) I'll put the aluminum flashing and caulk on it. My concern with that, is that I may have to trim down some of the wood on the bottom to keep it from scraping as it comes in, since the wood has swelled with moisture. The weather is supposed to be clear again over the weekend (knock on wood) so I may tackle that portion then.
The good news is that we've been renovating it from about 2 weeks and the only damage we've found is this area and some rot under the door. At the door, the sealing on the outside top of the frame had come loose and water had run down the inside of the door jam. The wood is completely rotted to the point you can dig it out with your finger. However, it looks easier to fix. The water ran straight down the inside of the door frame and into the floor, then out the underbelly. It doesn't appear to have caused damage to anything other than that tiny patch. It's also not supporting any weight, since the metal of the door frame is over the piece that's rotted. We wouldn't have even known about it if we hadn't pulled up the vinyl to put our own flooring down. There's no way I can dry that before summer without putting it in a garage, but it'll be OK until then as long as we don't jump up and down on it.
Other than that, we've been over it with a fine tooth comb and haven't found any other issues. If we can get these two things fixed--and I'm sure we can--then I think we'll have a pretty solid rig.
geotex1 - regarding taking it back to the manufacturer, that's a really good idea. If I get in over my head then it's good to know that it's an option.
