Please help... im not sure what to do

thanks, yeah, I had a mobile RV tech come out saturday and fix the trim..charged me $60.00 but it looks great...he put two layers of putty tape on it, and put one extra screw towards the end to seal any gap on the end..he then put silicone on the top and the bottom at my request... as far as the darco tape i am in contact with primetime, i am having them send me a roll of darco tape and I will just add extra darco as needed.. i dont care if i have to do it every other month..no biggie..
camper is on seasonal site starting next week and i ALWAYS put slide in when we leave for the week..less chance of water damage that way.. but i will add darco strip every now and then as it frays..its only a one inch wide darco on it right now...its on each side of the slide...primetime says the wood is waterproof from factory on bottom and sides and darco was only added as a second layer of protection and is not needed..there suggestion was to just snip off the fraying pieces as its not needed.. I rather just add new darco over the fraying pieces...looks easy enough.

I like burbmans idea. I am going to look into this. My dinet slide has wet carpet and mildew on one side where water has wicked back up into the corner from the edge not skirting down far enough from the factory. I ran some dicor caulk up under there which slowed it but not stopped completely. Forest River should do a recall on these units since it's in my opinion a factory defect.

On mine the slideout floor was OSB with some kind of smooth coating on the bottom side, almost looked like Masonite. The edges were treated with some kind of sealant that looked just like Flex Seal. Once a little water got in the side the OSB swelled up like a sponge, causing the edge sealant to open up wide cracks and that was the beginning of the end.

Gorilla tape is good for patching the Darco, I have used it. Sounds the dealer will do a good job for you, post a pic back after you have the work done.

letting my dealer do this... Alpin Haus is a very known company in this area. I suffer OCD and would constantly question my work if i attempted it.. I am really not good at fixing things. I cant imagine this taking the dealers techs more then 1 hour to fix and im sure they will make sure its sealed up correct and use the correct stuff.. I will suggest when i show it to shop manager about putting another screw towards the end to get this flush..
I also asked him about the darco tape that is fraying around that area also. he said they fix this by gorilla tape and they never get the campers back.. RVGUY says the bottom wood is waterproof already and that darco tape on the edge is just added protection... now i just wonder how much the dealer is gonna set me back... but even if its a couple hundred dollars, its worth it to me for piece of mind... I also sent pictures to rick at PT... maybe they will chime in on this and help cover some of the cost...who knows...warranty ended last year...

HI yankeeslover, you are catching this at a good time. Yes, they are all made like that, and I just got done replacing the entire floor in my slideout due to rot from water damage. Aside from the lack of sealant, the real issue is the lack of any kind of drip edge on that trim. When the slide is out when it's raining, water than runs down the side wall follows that trim right around and wicks into the edge of the floor. The quick and obvious fix is not to leave the slide open in the rain....I don't leave mine open as much as I used to.

That trim does come off....put the slide halfway in, then go inside the camper and get that last screw out, then fully extend the slide and remove the rest of the screws.

I would use a good silicone caulk and put a heavy bead on the edge of the floor then re-attache the trim when the caulk is still wet so it smushes together and creates a good seal. Pro-Flex is good for around windows and such but I don't know if it's what you want here. Eternabond will seal it for sure, and I initially tried to seal my slide that way, but the tape was interfering with slide operation and getting bunched up. It may work on yours and if so I would add some after you caulk it.

The other thing you want to do while that trim is off is add a drip edge. This is only a thin piece that sticks down from the trim so water running down the side drips off and can't run around to the bottom and wick into the floor.

I got a piece of vinyl J-bead from the drywall sectition of the home center and used shears to cut off a 3/4" wide piece. I stapled it to the edge of the floor and installed the trim over it. Because of the way the factory trim has that slight "J" profile to it, I re-installed the trim upside down. Here are a few pics:





The second pic is a real close-up, the drip edge only hangs down about 1/4" or so, and now the floor stays bone dry. I've been meaning to do a write up on the repair but haven't had the time. The bottom of the outer slide wall was rotten too, along with part of the main floor inside at the edge of the slide, I wound up with a few months of work in that winter weather....

I used ProFlex on all my vert seams and that's what I'd use to seal that. It's good stuff.

You are not alone with underside slide issues regarding full coverage. Your situation is better than some I've seen on here. If it was me, I'd get some polymer or urethane caulk and put it over that small expanse of exposed wood.

The dealer or Primetime is going to tell you, "they are all like that". The dealer would probably put a bead of sealant on there for you but you can DIY for a lot less.

Flex Seal

waltah wrote:
i would take the trim off completely and seal it with an outdoor caulk. then reinstall the trim so it the caulking gets sandwiched between the trim, the side panel and the backing. i would think that would seal it pretty well.

make sure its all dry before you do this though and clean everything with rubbing alcohol so the caulk sticks good.

Good idea - would make everything water proof.

I guess i can add another screw towards the end.. i cant take the rest of the trim off because the last screw is inside the slide... i wouldnt be able to reach it with a screwdriver... i wonder if a bead of silicone along the bottom of this would seal it also, would the silicon stick to that darco tape? and last question, if i take this to my dealer, in your epinion what will the dealer do? and how much you guessing will set me back? im gonna call primetime and see if they will cover this even though its two years old..i doubt it... AM i making this worse then it really is?