Slide floor damaged
My camper has a Schwintek slide. I don't know if that is relevant to the damage I have because it is the only slide I have ever had, and I don't know how others operate. But here's my situation:
Under the floor of the slide at the very edge of the camper there are three nylon rollers about 4" long equally spaced across the slide opening. As the slide moves in and out, the underside of the slide floor is supported by these rollers. At least that's how it is supposed to work. Now since my camper was new, I have been hearing a crackling sound as the slide moves in and out. Everything seemed to work fine and because this was my first experience with a slide, I thought it was a normal sound. But I just discovered that one of the rollers is clogged with caulk and could not move. (you know how generous the manufacturers can be with this stuff) So as the slide moved it scrapped along on this one roller damaging the plywood causing pieces of its veneers to chip off and collect between the top of the trailer floor and the bottom of the slide floor. Apparently these pieces of veneer have been sweeping back and forth under the floor so I never noticed any inside or outside the camper. Finally so much veneer collected that it started to poke out from under the carpet of the slide. I investigated and finally crawled under the slide while it was extended and noticed the damage to the underside of its floor.
My plan to fix is to free up the roller and then use some Rock Hard Water Putty to create a smoth surface under the slide floor where the veneer has chipped away, and then attach a piece of aluminum flashing to create a bearing surface for the roller. Anyone have any thoughts on this plan, or perhaps a better plan?
Under the floor of the slide at the very edge of the camper there are three nylon rollers about 4" long equally spaced across the slide opening. As the slide moves in and out, the underside of the slide floor is supported by these rollers. At least that's how it is supposed to work. Now since my camper was new, I have been hearing a crackling sound as the slide moves in and out. Everything seemed to work fine and because this was my first experience with a slide, I thought it was a normal sound. But I just discovered that one of the rollers is clogged with caulk and could not move. (you know how generous the manufacturers can be with this stuff) So as the slide moved it scrapped along on this one roller damaging the plywood causing pieces of its veneers to chip off and collect between the top of the trailer floor and the bottom of the slide floor. Apparently these pieces of veneer have been sweeping back and forth under the floor so I never noticed any inside or outside the camper. Finally so much veneer collected that it started to poke out from under the carpet of the slide. I investigated and finally crawled under the slide while it was extended and noticed the damage to the underside of its floor.
My plan to fix is to free up the roller and then use some Rock Hard Water Putty to create a smoth surface under the slide floor where the veneer has chipped away, and then attach a piece of aluminum flashing to create a bearing surface for the roller. Anyone have any thoughts on this plan, or perhaps a better plan?
