Water in bedroom slide, 2006 Monterey Ventura IV

[Jon Wells]

[2006 Monterey Ventura IV] After a lot of rain about a week ago, I found that the floor on my side of bed, which is the elevated area near the closet, was wet.  The next day I was checking the slide outside and found that the panel covering the underside was sagging.  It was very wet in there.  I could push up on the panel and see water squeezing out of the edge.  Today I was probing the area.  We did notice that the caulk along the outside bottom trim was not great, as well as the vertical caulk on the side near the flange.  I took out my ladder and checked around the window on the side of the slide.  It seems fine.  The top of the slide looked good.  When I pried the bottom panel open a bit, I found very wet plywood that was de-laminating.

We have had water come in on the other side of the bed before.  We had things looked over by two different RV shops.  We replace the slide topper.  We have not had a wet floor for many months.  Looking at the condition of the plywood, we're worried that water has been getting in there for awhile.  So far, I cannot account for why it is so wet under there.  We have had heavy rains since the work was done, so why now?

I'm also wondering how to get in there to repair it.  That panel looks to be held in by rivets along the outer edge.  I"m not sure what was holding it up along the side.  Is the bottom panel supposed to be laminated to the plywood, and has become undone?  Is it possible to get to it from inside?  Perhaps I could remove the bed platform? 

Thank you,
Jon Wells

[Bill Lampkin]

Get a hold of Chris Throgmartin at Talin RV, he's the slide out leak guru.

http://talinrv.com/

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Jon,
Let us know what the "fix" was.
Water can and will get to the plywood when the outer sheet under the slide delaminates (very common condition) A fix is to reseal with Lexel, but need to be sure it is not damp before reseal. I check mine yearly.
Steve

[Jon Wells]

I went to the Talin RV site, and checked out their Guardian Plates.  Very interesting site.  Installation looks a bit involved, so I'm thinking of trying the Lexar for now.  We will be staying at the Escapees RV park in Livingston TX in December/January which would be a good time to work on installing the guardian plates. 

Thanks,
Jon Wells

[Joel Ashley]

It’s “Lexel”, and you can find it in large caulking gun size tubes at Lowe’s and smaller squeeze tubes at Ace.  It behaves similar to but is not chemically the same as and is better than silicone.  Properly applied to clean surfaces, it works.  As Steve notes, you don’t want to use it and seal in the moisture to continue rotting your wood.  So use it only if when it stops the leak you don’t then forget the problem, and are serious about the plates installation or other permanent repair..

Joel

[Mike Shumack]

Is Lexel now the recommended sealant for the Coach "beltline" (the '05 Owners manual says to use silicone) - the beltline is the trim piece that covers the seam where the front and rear caps meet the main roof and body on the Coach?

It sounds like Lexel is superior to Silicone.

I see it comes in clear. On my Coach it "looks like" silicone was used (probably the original factory application). Since Lexel doesn't stick to silicone I would need to clean that silicone out first, which would not be easy.

I can clean up any silicone on the exposed surfaces but I would not want to remove the belt to clean under it - so if there is silicone in the gap now (that I cant clean out) will that be a problem if I was to run a bead of Lexel along the beltline seam?

[Fred Brooks]

  The only product that I am aware of that dissolves silicone sealant is Acrysol. Most RV dealers use this product because it will not hurt the paint but will cause the silicone to "craze" and dissolve. It is also used to be a prep for removing any product prior to painting. If you take a used paint brush and cut off half the depth of the bristles, it is just right for cleaning belt moldings that have Acrysol applied to it. Hope this helps, Fred

[Eric Maclean]

Mike
I always thought the belt moulding was the moulding that ran just above the baggage doors at floor level
On my coach it looks like that seam was sealed with automotive seam sealer prior to paint
On the other hand the vertical seams at the front a d rear cap joint to wall on my coach were both leaking when I removed the aluminum moldings I was shocked to find what looked like non sagging dico applied to the seam under the aluminum to fill a 1/2 inch joint and was never sealed or applied properly the point is to seal this properly you must remove the aluminum trim to access the true seam and seal it properly before reinstalling the trim.
The biggest problem is that these seams line up with the ends of the roof gutters and if you only seal the trim to the wall the water will get in at the top at the end of the gutter and run inside under the now sealed molding until it finds a way through the unsealed seam under the trim molding.
Like I said I was surprised at the poor job the factory had done at the original joint seal.
Hope this helps
Eric

[Mike Shumack]

I think your right Eric. My term is incorrect for the trim covering the caps. 
I want to touch up those trim pieces (roof and sides) that cover seams.

I will clean up the old silicone there now as best I can (using the Acysol and a plastic razor blade) then run a new bead of the Lexel around the edges of this trim. I'm not going to try to remove any of the trim.