Slide Floor Replacement - How to protect bottom exposed side

Great !!! Good job. Be real curious on the pics and the FRP bottom.

I agree, there are advantages to stick and tin. The camper has an easier level of fixable as long as you are handy with wood tools. The FPR sided ones are still repairable, just need to learn new skills. The total composites get more complex.

This comes back to, stick and tin is proven construction. The issue is not the stick or the tin but sealing the water out.

Looking forward to the pics. Always after new tips

John

Well the new floor is now in the camper and everything is sealed back up. Took a carpenter friend and I all weekend but it is now done and much better than new. This was completely caused by a design defect. Plastic side walls of slide stop about 1-1/2" from the bottom of the slide. Water runs down the slide and wicks into the black darco fabric. On each side of the slide, there was even a black sponge screwed into the edge of the OSB floor. The could not have built any better of a wick if they tried. Once the water is inside the darco it does a great job of holding the water in up against the osb floor. The only thing holding it all together was the darco fabric.

Having a traditional stick and tin TT made taking it all apart surprisingly simple. We took the bottom three siding panels off and exposed the studs and then screwed a 14' long 2x4 accross the exposed studs and jacked the slide up so that it no longer required the floor to hold it all up. The built the slide with a double bottom sill. The plywood floor was stapled to the bottom sill. The two sill plates were screwed together from the top. Unscrew the two sill plates and the floor came right out. We replaced both top and bottom sill plate on the sides. and the bottom plate on the outside wall. No water damage to studs or insulation. The long wall bottom sill plate was actually okay as well but it was easier just to replace it than try to reuse.

We used 23/32" 7 ply AC plywood for the new floor. We put the seam under a dinette bench and glued and screwed a splice plate in under the dinette bench. The perimeter of the floor is wrapped with the black EPDM roofing tape from Lowes. We used RFP for the bottom, the sides now have L-shaped vinyl flashing to cover everthing up. It is all glued and screwed. Floor is nice and stiff now.

Who ever owned this before me knew they had a problem but thought the water was coming in from above. Having the walls opened up, it has clearly never leaked anywhere but at the edge of the floor. The worst part of the whole deal was all the caulk they have crammed in at the corner trim posts. Getting all that scraped and cleaned off was extremely tedious. Scratch the siding a bit and rubbed a little paint off in places trying to get it clean for the new butyl tape.

To others that have to deal with this, it looks more intimidating than it really is. Read thru JBarca's thread, look at some youtube videos, and get started. If you can do any kind of home carpentry work, it is not complicated.

If I had to do this on a camper with fiberglass laminated side walls, it would be a whole diffent story.

I took some pictures along the way and need to set up a photobucket account so I can post them. Nothing as extensive as JBarca's log. JBarca your thread was instrumental in me having an understanding of how this all came apart and went back together before I started so I did not have to go thru the learning curve. I thank you sincerely for that.

I put a sprinkler on the roof and watched the water drip and saw a build up. I added a braided picture hanging wire to wick away water. Seems to keep water from hanging around at the edge.

aarond76 wrote:
JBarca:
Yes I have read your thread many times. I do plan to add a drip edge.

Good, I'm glad it helped. When I was hunting I could not find much in the way of pics of others. So I'm glad it helped someone.

I have not cut the darco yet because I am pretty sure it is all that is holding the floor together at this point. Oh boy....Yup, water gets in and can't get out


Mine looks much worse than your from the top side, based on that and the fact that I have this issue on both ends, replacing the entire floor seems the way to go. Yes, if both ends are gone, redo the entire thing. It is not that bad. I say this now as I have been through it once. The 1st time is the learning curve


I had not considered the friction issue, thank you for bringing that up. I will certainly add the beveled edge on the flooring. My slide is the lippert rack and pinion flush floor side, there is a rounded piece of hard white plastic in the camper the entire length of the slide that the slide floor slides across as the slide is retracted. FRP is sounding more and more like the best fit for me.

OK you have a plastic trough verses my metal trough. That should help. It sounds like your slide drive is just like mine. Take pics and post. I'm always up for learning how other manf do these. Some day in the not distant future I may do a total rebuild in the camper. The ultimate mod...


I have also seen the videos of the group holding the slide walls up by screwing jack posts into the holes where the corner trim is removed. My slide is 12' long. I will be removing the lower two pieces of siding just as you did, exposing the studs. My plan is to screw a 16' long 2x10 to the wall studs and support this 2x10 at each end to hold up the slide as I remove the floor and put the new in. This should support the entire wall as opposed to just supporting it at the ends as they do in the youtube video. I may also have a few pieces of sill plate to remove and am worried that only supporting the walls at the corners will not be adequate once I start cutting on the sill plate.

I like the 2 x 10 approach. 2 x 8 even. I agree a lot better then the 2 stilts. This way it is stronger support on the slide going to the many wall studs and you can add the 2 x 8 (10) then with jacks supporting the weight, add legs, then let the weight on the legs before you take the floor off. And you can fix the sill plate as needed. Good idea. I am going to remember that one.

If you can get a good bond on the FRP panel or the boat epoxy, they do sound like good ideas. Need to get all the air out between FRP and the wood to not have voids.

Only concern is cold weather camping and the slide sliding on the FRP? We winter camp so I think of these things. With the long slide, the pounds/foot supported should be low. As long as the trough is fully supporting the floor (FRP panel) then this lowers the odds of concentrated loads cracking the FRP in the cold. I'm not an FRP expert, just thinking out load. The Darco is thin and a mesh so it flexed as needed.

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

John

JBarca:
Yes I have read your thread many times. I do plan to add a drip edge. I have not cut the darco yet because I am pretty sure it is all that is holding the floor together at this point. Mine looks much worse than your from the top side, based on that and the fact that I have this issue on both ends, replacing the entire floor seems the way to go. I had not considered the friction issue, thank you for bringing that up. I will certainly add the beveled edge on the flooring. My slide is the lippert rack and pinion flush floor side, there is a rounded piece of hard white plastic in the camper the entire length of the slide that the slide floor slides across as the slide is retracted. FRP is sounding more and more like the best fit for me.

I have also seen the videos of the group holding the slide walls up by screwing jack posts into the holes where the corner trim is removed. My slide is 12' long. I will be removing the lower two pieces of siding just as you did, exposing the studs. My plan is to screw a 16' long 2x10 to the wall studs and support this 2x10 at each end to hold up the slide as I remove the floor and put the new in. This should support the entire wall as opposed to just supporting it at the ends as they do in the youtube video. I may also have a few pieces of sill plate to remove and am worried that only supporting the walls at the corners will not be adequate once I start cutting on the sill plate.

If you can fudge the dimensions by 1/8" in thickness, glue onto the bottom a panel of FRP sheet. It is sold in the big-box stores for shower liner. It is very durable, I used it to line a battery box.

If you get plywood rated for a floor, it will be better quality - smaller voids. I don't know about the glue though.

You may want to consider putting a couple of coats of something like West Systems Epoxy on the plywood. You can put a few coats on the plywood - all 6 sides, then install the floor and re-treat any spots where fasteners were used. If the floor is coated well, no water will get in.

[edit] fcooper beat me to it. The West Systems stuff is pretty good but pricy. It is a product that a boat builder would use. I believe that epoxy will have better adhesion and strength vs fiberglass. I'll warn you in advance that a gallon of the West epoxy and hardener will cost way more than a few sheets of plywood though.
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aarond76 wrote:
(text removed) I plan on replacing with 23/32 plywood. (text removed) This does not seem like rocket science, just labor intensive. Still looking for the best way to seal the bottom of the new floor once installed.

This is not your final seal solution, but you can add a lot of water resistance to your new plywood by coating it with resin/hardner for fiberglass. My buddy helped me rebuild a boat (he's been building boats for 30+ years), and he had me mix resin and hardner then paint all new plywood with it before we used the plywood for a new floor in the boat. Cut the plywood to exact size needed, and then coat all sides and edges.

Fred

aarond76 wrote:
I have been reading positive reviews of Herculiner, a do it yourself bedliner product. Seems to adhere well, is abrasion resistant, and can be touched up. Thoughts?

Does your slide floor have rollers under it? If it has a trough, heads up on the sliding friction of the bed liner. If the friction is less than the Darco and the coating smooth, then maybe it is OK. If the friction is higher, you may run out of slide drive power trying to get the slide in and out. Something to sort out before you change the material.

You can conduct your own friction test if needed using Darco as a base line. Line a piece of wood, put 5 or 10 # on it and slowly raise the angle. Once the weight starts sliding on it's own, the angle is a base line. Record the angle accurately. Then try the new covering. The angle needs to be equal too or less to start sliding. Repeat base line and new covering 3 times and compare the results. Again if you have rollers under the slide at the camper floor line, they help over come the problem.

Hi aarond76,

It sounds like you found my slide floor post.
Slide Floor Water Damage (Long with lots of pics)

Slide floors, they have evolved since the Darco bottoms however they have had failures as well along the way.

Coated slice floor was the next trail after the Darco. See here, This is a thick plastic bonded to the OSB board. The issue is water separates the ends and any chip in it pending where it is, can be an issue.


The coating advanced to this
http://www.parklandplastics.com/duroslide.shtml#1

I have not tried to buy some from them, but it is a lead.

Other options, marine grade plywood if you can still find it. This will stop the rot but still need to cover it with something. If you do not have rollers the slide floor slide on, then bare wood may cause too much friction and the slide drive might not extend/retract it.

The Darco helped cut the friction.

If you still want the 12 mill Darco, see here when I got mine,
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/23443150/gotomsg/23823889.cfm#23823889 General RV in Wixom. I had to talk them into gently folding it and shipping it, but they did. I even went direct to Darco who no longer seems to offer that product, they offer a different one now. If General will not ship or out of it, Jayco still uses the Darco type of membrane. Find a Jayco dealer than they can order it.

Regardless of how you do this, A drip edge is a must in my book and no exposed holes up the bottom in the membrane.

Here is the problem. No drip edge






The fix. An effective drip edge and Eternabond sealing it to the camper




To change the entire floor, did you find the U tube showing putting the 2 x 4 stilts on the outer corners to hold up the slide? If not I'll hunt for it.

Hope this helps

John

PS, if yours has a chamfer on the bottom starting end of the slide floor, make sure you add that to the new floor. It can affect the lift timing if you have the Lippert rack and pinion drive system like I do. A buddy of mine had his done and the dealer miss that chamfer. Tore up the inside of the camper hitting the wall before the slide lifted.