Schwintec Slide problems!!!!!

[HudsonFrog]

Originally Posted by calewjohnson

Can you post some pics of this?

Thanks,
Cale

Sure. I'm currently on a business trip and will take and post pictures towrds the end of the week.

Seb.

[calewjohnson]

Well crap, my main slide, with the couch in it, has damp carpet in the corner. Went out to take a gander in the downpour and think I know where I need to seal it up. Thankfully it only seems to have gotten damp recently. Going to try to put some tape over the are to keep rain out for the time being and put a fan on it, then tackle it this weekend.

While looking under the slide last night, I noticed that the black covering doesn't go all the way to the edges, though the plywood is black, assuming some kind of sealant?? I have some Eternabond tape, I may clean it all up and lay a strip of tape along the edge, that should fix any future water entry problems in that area. Hopefully the current dampness hasn't started a future failure to occur.

Cale

[hddecker]

Originally Posted by calewjohnson

While looking under the slide last night, I noticed that the black covering doesn't go all the way to the edges, though the plywood is black, assuming some kind of sealant?? I have some Eternabond tape, I may clean it all up and lay a strip of tape along the edge, that should fix any future water entry problems in that area. Hopefully the current dampness hasn't started a future failure to occur.

Cale

Cale,

Why does it not surprise me the that Dutchmen could find a fix for a problem and then screw the fix up. Wonder if it's the same engineers that designed the fix that created the faulty design in the first place.

Is your plan to wrap the edges of the wood with the Eternabond? I have never used Eternabond where I put a fastener through it, so I don't know how it reacts with screws. When the issue was first raised, my first thought was why doesn't Dutchmen wrap the edges with a self vulcanizing rubber tape, like the stuff for topping the joists on a deck.

Aaron probably has similar products that are used in the roofing industry, so maybe he can chime in.

[Thom]

I just used a product called Grace Ice and Water Shield to fix a leak around my house chimney. That stuff is great (but a little pricey!). It has a self-sealing property that you can drill screws into and it seals around them. It might be a little thick for where Cale is got his problem though.

[hddecker]

Originally Posted by Thom

I just used a product called Grace Ice and Water Shield to fix a leak around my house chimney. That stuff is great (but a little pricey!). It has a self-sealing property that you can drill screws into and it seals around them. It might be a little thick for where Cale is got his problem though.

Thom,

That was the stuff that first came to mind, then I came across a similar product in my research on decking materials. I don't know if it's any thicker than the roofing stuff, but is just wide enough to wrap over the top of the deck joists.

I have to go into town today so I'll see if I can track a roll down and check on the thickness, might just do for a replacement for my roll of aluminum duct tape that's in my emergency repair kit.

[mikesnider]

Well, I've finally resolved my mystery of how the heck water was finding its way to my bedroom slide floor...

I traced the water entering from the slide top, where the vinyl top cover meets the metal flange of the slide's top facia. The water then followed under the top flange until it met and turned downward under the flange of the side facia -- and of course passing over its screws along the way down, causing them to rust.

The attached pic shows water on the INSIDE edge of the side facia's flange at the bottom. Note: the bottom facia is removed here.

That exposed the floor's edge to water, the floor swelled up over time, which then caused the bottom facia's seam of caulk on the exterior face of the slide to split, allowing the floor even greater exposure to water across the entire exterior length of the bottom facia.

To resolve my problem, I simply beefed up the caulk between the vinyl and facia flange on the top of the slide. Since then, no more water leak!! I'm now leaving the bedroom slide extended to maximize air circulation to totally dry out the slide floor. (It wasn't that wet, actually, but swelling was evident). The floor already feels firm enough to avoid having to replace altogether. Slide operation is working fine. But I'll continue to watch it closely (that water stays away from the floor) and hope the situation hasn't changed the structure of the slide such that the tolerances of its mechanics are exceeded.

At this point, I'm not sure what pisses me off more: either the lack of quality/care in the original caulk job, or that it took me this long to find the problem. As a newbie, I just assumed that caulk was visible at that joint so it had to be ok. Right? Not!

Happy camping fellow Volty fans.

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by hddecker

Cale,

Why does it not surprise me the that Dutchmen could find a fix for a problem and then screw the fix up. Wonder if it's the same engineers that designed the fix that created the faulty design in the first place.

Is your plan to wrap the edges of the wood with the Eternabond? I have never used Eternabond where I put a fastener through it, so I don't know how it reacts with screws. When the issue was first raised, my first thought was why doesn't Dutchmen wrap the edges with a self vulcanizing rubber tape, like the stuff for topping the joists on a deck.

Aaron probably has similar products that are used in the roofing industry, so maybe he can chime in.

Eternabond would work, kind of thick though. Putting screws through it isn't a problem at all, they will seal up just fine.

When I was rebuilding Airstreams and other things with plywood I would always seal my plywood edges with Epoxy of some sort. Seal the actual edge and about a foot in at minimum. I used a lot of West System, not cheap but we had quite a bit laying around from other paying projects. The key is to get the edges and the first several inches sealed to keep the water from infiltrating the wood causing it to swell. There are some polymer board products out there, but I am not familiar with them.

The WR Grace ice and water shield is good stuff too, but I don't know how well it would work in this scenario. Won't hurt to try it though.

Aaron

[calewjohnson]

Thanks guys. Unfortunately it is raining and will be for the next week....aaarrrgggghhh..

Cale

[donzinger]

Had a scare today. Got the Voltage out of the batvave yesterday to get a few things in order for the season. Extended all slides with no issues. Today went to retract bedroom slide. Relay on main controller board clicked and nothing. All along I thought the slide control under the bedroom slide controlled, well, the bedroom! Wrong. That controls main slide. Bedroom controller is above batteries. Anyway, the cables were under tremendous strain going from the controller to the two motors. Loosened and moved controller, same problem. Turned out, ALL of the yellow crimp on connectors from main control board to all individual slide controls were so loose I pulled them all out with almost no effort! Slide working now and all connectors replaced

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[calewjohnson]

Found the entry point of water in my slide!!! It was seeping in behind the skirting...the bottom of the slide. I pulled the black molding off the track, started removing screws...sure enough, half the screws had some rust on them. Removed the track, pulled the skirt back, and yep, it's damp back there. Also, the fiberglass stops only an inch below the molding. They attempted to put plumbers putty between the sheet metal and fiberglass, but they failed at that.

Used mineral spirits, cleaned all up, used some clear Pro Flex, laid a bead along the fiberglass, covering holes, the put some on the sheet metal to cover holes, put the track back up, another head along the top of the track, black molding back on, another bead along the top...looks good now.

Need to run all the way around with the ProFlex and stop any other instances from occurring. Pics later.

Cale

[donzinger]

I'm impressed with the tackiness and adherance of ProFlex.

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[calewjohnson]

I am not sure how well it would do as just an adhesive, but I think I have enough between the layers and filling in the screw holes that all water should stop.

I was surprised that the fiberglass siding didn't go all the way to bottom of the slide wall....wait, no it doesn't.

Cale

[donzinger]

Sorry, didn't mean as adhesive. Was impressive how it adhered to surfaces

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[calewjohnson]

Ahhh...got you. Yeah, sometimes it is a pain to work with.

To continue on with that silly molding... I was doing some dryer prep in the garage, noticed wetness under the diamond plate metal. Pulled up the floor edge and found a stream of water along the wall and a puddle near the rear. Went outside, pulled the molding off like before, sure enough, where the puddle was biggest, corresponding screws were rusty. Followed same procedure from earlier. Supposed to rain Monday thru Thursday. Will check to see if I won.

Cale

[HudsonFrog]

Here is the image



Seb

[HudsonFrog]

Originally Posted by calewjohnson

Found the entry point of water in my slide!!! It was seeping in behind the skirting...the bottom of the slide. I pulled the black molding off the track, started removing screws...sure enough, half the screws had some rust on them. Removed the track, pulled the skirt back, and yep, it's damp back there. Also, the fiberglass stops only an inch below the molding. They attempted to put plumbers putty between the sheet metal and fiberglass, but they failed at that.

Used mineral spirits, cleaned all up, used some clear Pro Flex, laid a bead along the fiberglass, covering holes, the put some on the sheet metal to cover holes, put the track back up, another head along the top of the track, black molding back on, another bead along the top...looks good now.

Need to run all the way around with the ProFlex and stop any other instances from occurring. Pics later.

Cale

I'd be curious to see thoses pics also if you dont mind sharing...

[calewjohnson]

As you can see, there was zero sealant behind the skirt.

I still have water getting in somewhere, but I think it may be the individual screws going up the slide?? I am very flummoxed with this.

Cale

[sundancer 87]

A few years back I spent two days removing all of the skirting trim. Removed the rail that holds the trim piece and resealed the leading edge of the shirting, resealed the rail that holds the trim plastic and added new trim and the end pieces to keep the trim from shrinking back and opening the raw ends of the trim.

I had to replace a damaged quarter panel at the garage end. What I saw there was the floor of the beaver tail and the frame rail were completely open. A nice large triangular section of openness was only covered by the skirting. I closed that off before the new shirting was installed.

All in all, it is my opinion that any screw that penetrates the skirting and/or the glass needs to be pulled, cleaned and resealed.

Good engineering would have had the skirting under the glass instead of on top of the glass therefore eliminating the leading edge of the shirting.

I said good engineering but that's a pipe dream when it comes to these RVs.

[calewjohnson]

I did see the same thing back at the beavertail. I was rushing to beat the rain storm. I have most of one side completed now, once it clears up, I will shoot to complete the other side.


I would like to take the frame off the slide out, as I don't think they used any sealant where the Schwintek rails terminate, however, I am afraid I will tear up more than fix at this point.


I am taking the trailer in for a slide repair on 20 June, I will get them to take a look at this, hopefully it is something easy.

Cale

[HudsonFrog]

Thanks for the details. I wil definitely open up mine and review it in details when i get it back. Dealer was waiting on parts from lci that got delayed through customs.

I think we should plan an event where and meet and seal the RV properly together, benefiting from everyone experience. The meet and seal event!

Seb.