ACE 29.2 slide leak

[Iabracing]

I have a 2015 ACE 29.2 with a slide leak when the slide is closed. It took some time to track it down, but I am pretty confident I have found the source. The water is running down the face of the slide wall and behind the bottom trim piece. This wraps under the flooring system and directs the water into the coach. The fix (i hope, and it seems...) for the water entry was easy enough, I removed all of the silicone caulk the previous owner had put on and recaulked the entire trim with Proflex. The trim was missing about half of the screws on the underside of the bottom rail, where the offending gap was located along the face of the slide. I have added those where it appears they were never installed by the manufacturer and replaced a few more screws that were quite rusty. The last problem I am now left with is that the flooring system is made with a 1/8" lauan board covered in a plastic mesh that is bonded to the underside of the steel frame. There is block foam between the steel and OSB board and vinyl flooring above as you look at the floor system from bottom to top. The fiberglass sidewalls of the slide room hang all the way down over the edges of the floor, so the water was forced down and out the bottom (luckily). The only portion of the floor that is affected is the mesh-covered lauan (why is this an exterior surface?!?!) and the screws that fasten the trim rail to the steel flooring channel. The lauan has disintegrated under the trim rail in multiple places AND in the back corner from the moisture (4" x6" area) and I am not sure what to do about fixing this? Should I just leave it since it is not exposed when the slide is exposed, or should I try to cut a straight line the length of the slide face, remove all of the trim screws and insert a piece of waterproof board that is the same thickness? I want to keep the trim pieces tight so that they don't flex and I get 1: the same seam issues on the face of the slide that I previously had and, 2: these trim pieces also hold the track for the exterior bulb seal for the slide, so they need to be pretty rigid. Sorry for the rambling post!

[andytis]

Same here. Both slides on my 34P. The screws were there at one time. They rot away. I took the bottom rails off. Big slide had flaking luan but not bad enough to replace, according to RV tech that came out to inspect it. I wrapped the corner in eternabond, applied non leveling dicor inside the trim angle, mounted it with stainless screws, and sealed with proflex clear. No more leaks. Be sure to clean, prep, and dry everything the best you can.

[Iabracing]

Originally Posted by andytis

Same here. Both slides on my 34P. The screws were there at one time. They rot away. I took the bottom rails off. Big slide had flaking luan but not bad enough to replace, according to RV tech that came out to inspect it. I wrapped the corner in eternabond, applied non leveling dicor inside the trim angle, mounted it with stainless screws, and sealed with proflex clear. No more leaks. Be sure to clean, prep, and dry everything the best you can. Attachment 27483Attachment 27484

THANKS ANDYTIS! this is the view I was looking for, and I was too afraid to pull the trim off. I could see those large screw heads from one end where the trim was pulled a little further back when I removed the caulk. Did you fill those large holes with eternabond or any caulk? I thought about caulking the bottom of the trim rail underneath, but I was afraid if I did that that any water that got that far would cause more damage because it it couldn't escape out of the bottom? Thoughts? What was your reason for putting eternabond on the corners? also, did you drill out the old screws, or were you able to just retap new ones?

[andytis]

I did fill those with dicor. I did a zig zag pattern of dicor along the both inside faces of the trim piece. I wrapped the corner all the way across with eternabond and sealed the edges with caulking to prevent (theoretically) any water that might get past the caulking from flowing back into the luan / mesh. Not my idea. If you look at the side trim, you'll see the eternabond wrapping the side corners. Why they didn't do it on the bottom, probably a Friday afternoon job. The underside screws go into 1 x 1 x 1/16 wall box tubing. Where most of the screw heads rotted off, I used a larger size screw, ie go to a #12 instead of a #10. Probably rotted the tubing around the hole. On the front slide which appeared a bit worse, I drilled additional holes, but you want to use the base drill size, not the clearance hole size, or the screws won't bite. Or you could use self tapping stainless screws. McMaster Carr part 90415A460. The factory uses crappy steel ones. Btw, my rig is a 2017.

[andytis]

Also, use 3m double sided tape, automotive type, to reattach the plastic corner pieces, then proflex the seams.

[Iabracing]

Originally Posted by andytis

Also, use 3m double sided tape, automotive type, to reattach the plastic corner pieces, then proflex the seams.

Thanks for the additional information. So I am clear, is the eternabond on the corner underneath of the side rails? I can't tell by the picture. I understand the zigzag pattern on the two faces. This may be enough to fill in the missing Lauan. I have bad damage on the right side extending towards the main body of the coach away from the trim rail that exposes the foam block that concerns me. Just to be clear, you stepped up a screw size, but didn't need to drill them just used self tappers?

[andytis]

That sounds a bit worse than mine. The eternabond does wrap the corner before the trim goes up. Also, it's better to predrill the holes in order to shoot some proflex in there before screwing. Use a #25 drill bit. Get a few from somewhere other than box store, like industrial supply house or a local machine shop might throw you a couple. They're cheap. If you were near me, I'd give you a couple if you came to my shop. Also, don't get screws over 1"long. They will hit the other wall of the box tubing and snap. Btw, I found the source of my leak by having my son spray the outer wall of the slide. Water began pouring out from the underside of the trim rail.

[andytis]

Also for good measure, clear proflex down the verticals too.

[Iabracing]

Originally Posted by andytis

Also for good measure, clear proflex down the verticals too.

Here is what I am dealing with on the back corner.

[andytis]

Yikes! That's much worse than mine. Yours has had a couple years more to ferment.

[Iabracing]

Originally Posted by andytis

Yikes! That's much worse than mine. Attachment 27489

The conundrum I am in! As you said, some of the replacement screws I have already put in did take(same size that came out of the factory) and others didn't grab much or at all. We have a trip scheduled now and the leak is repaired, so I think I will wait until warmer weather and pull it apart, clean up the bottom side of the floor rail and figure out how to patch or replace the lauan board properly. We will be on the road for three weeks and then it will be covered until spring so I am not worried about any more damage until I can really get it right. Your previous experience and info has really cleared it up and made it seem a lot less overwhelming than I thought!

[andytis]

I may have spoke too soon about being fixed. I opened the slides yesterday to do some interior work. I went under them just out of curiosity. Wouldn't you know, I have water weeping out of a bottom screw, even though everything is sealed tight. I had a local guy come out and he's taking it from here, even though he said he wouldn't have done anything different. Campers are rolling turds. If you haven't, watch the movie RV, with Robin Williams for reference.

[Iabracing]

That is no good! I had originally wondered if my leak was coming from the slide topper brackets, where they attach to the slide face, before I took the time to track down the leak in the lower slide rail. On my rig, the water rolls off the topper and back behind the bracket into a large crease right at the upper slide rail. The backside of the bracket slopes back to the slide face and there is quite a bit of face to channel water into that corner, as you can see by the watermark on the one end of the bracket... It is a terrible place for water to get trapped and without removing the entire assembly there is no way to caulk the upper rail and corner trim properly...

[andytis]

I noticed that too on mine. I ended up taking out all the screws, a couple at a time, squirting caulking in the holes, and replacing with stainless. Out of the 24 screws, 6 per bracket times 4, one was stripped, and 7 were broken. Drilling them out was not fun, and I own a machine shop! They go into an aluminum backing plate in the panel. You can see where they are when condensation forms on the outside wall. I know I didn't break them talking them out because the shear point was already rusted.

[Iabracing]

I feel like I hit the motherload finding you!!! I wondered what the condensation marks meant, now I know. I have noticed in other repairs that many times they have over tightened and broken screw heads on the original install. When I go to remove the main brackets if any are broken, what is best practice for drilling them out? I know I will only have one shot at it. It is one of the reasons I want to wait until spring/summer when the weather is better since I don't have a garage to work in and I want to take my time... I know the wall of the aluminum channel is not that thick

[andytis]

That's smart. I'm all outside too.

You want to start with a smaller drill, about 1/8th diameter for a pilot hole. Careful, it's easy to break. I did. The screws are hard to drill. You may even have to go to the side of them and install the new one at a slight angle. Only do a couple at once. Use the holes in the bracket as a guide. You'll have to eyeball the center. Then drill it to the base drilll size, goop it, and install the new screw. I even used a black paint marker afterwards to match. Aluminum does react with dissimilar metals, so makes sure you get sealer in that hole to coat the threads. Something that wasn't done by the factory. Maybe it was Monday morning. Lol.

[hikerjohn7]

Originally Posted by Iabracing

I have a 2015 ACE 29.2 with a slide leak when the slide is closed. It took some time to track it down, but I am pretty confident I have found the source. The water is running down the face of the slide wall and behind the bottom trim piece. This wraps under the flooring system and directs the water into the coach. The fix (i hope, and it seems...) for the water entry was easy enough, I removed all of the silicone caulk the previous owner had put on and recaulked the entire trim with Proflex. The trim was missing about half of the screws on the underside of the bottom rail, where the offending gap was located along the face of the slide. I have added those where it appears they were never installed by the manufacturer and replaced a few more screws that were quite rusty. The last problem I am now left with is that the flooring system is made with a 1/8" lauan board covered in a plastic mesh that is bonded to the underside of the steel frame. There is block foam between the steel and OSB board and vinyl flooring above as you look at the floor system from bottom to top. The fiberglass sidewalls of the slide room hang all the way down over the edges of the floor, so the water was forced down and out the bottom (luckily). The only portion of the floor that is affected is the mesh-covered lauan (why is this an exterior surface?!?!) and the screws that fasten the trim rail to the steel flooring channel. The lauan has disintegrated under the trim rail in multiple places AND in the back corner from the moisture (4" x6" area) and I am not sure what to do about fixing this? Should I just leave it since it is not exposed when the slide is exposed, or should I try to cut a straight line the length of the slide face, remove all of the trim screws and insert a piece of waterproof board that is the same thickness? I want to keep the trim pieces tight so that they don't flex and I get 1: the same seam issues on the face of the slide that I previously had and, 2: these trim pieces also hold the track for the exterior bulb seal for the slide, so they need to be pretty rigid. Sorry for the rambling post!

Your leakage (or seepage) looks very similar to mine. The attached photo shows the decorative flanges on the slide outer wall where I am pretty sure the seepage got in because, after I resealed those seems with Proflex, it has been dry inside ever since. That is, after I had to totally replace the floor in one of the slides.

By the way, I also purchased some Govee mini bluetooth H5074 hydrometers and put them inside the slides on the floors at the corners next to the outer walls to allow me to check for humidity at those points with my cell phone. It's difficult to get to those spots to check them so it saves having to pull back the bed or the couch or to pull out a cabinet drawer to check.

[Golfbum18]

Originally Posted by Iabracing

I have a 2015 ACE 29.2 with a slide leak when the slide is closed. It took some time to track it down, but I am pretty confident I have found the source. The water is running down the face of the slide wall and behind the bottom trim piece. This wraps under the flooring system and directs the water into the coach. The fix (i hope, and it seems...) for the water entry was easy enough, I removed all of the silicone caulk the previous owner had put on and recaulked the entire trim with Proflex. The trim was missing about half of the screws on the underside of the bottom rail, where the offending gap was located along the face of the slide. I have added those where it appears they were never installed by the manufacturer and replaced a few more screws that were quite rusty. The last problem I am now left with is that the flooring system is made with a 1/8" lauan board covered in a plastic mesh that is bonded to the underside of the steel frame. There is block foam between the steel and OSB board and vinyl flooring above as you look at the floor system from bottom to top. The fiberglass sidewalls of the slide room hang all the way down over the edges of the floor, so the water was forced down and out the bottom (luckily). The only portion of the floor that is affected is the mesh-covered lauan (why is this an exterior surface?!?!) and the screws that fasten the trim rail to the steel flooring channel. The lauan has disintegrated under the trim rail in multiple places AND in the back corner from the moisture (4" x6" area) and I am not sure what to do about fixing this? Should I just leave it since it is not exposed when the slide is exposed, or should I try to cut a straight line the length of the slide face, remove all of the trim screws and insert a piece of waterproof board that is the same thickness? I want to keep the trim pieces tight so that they don't flex and I get 1: the same seam issues on the face of the slide that I previously had and, 2: these trim pieces also hold the track for the exterior bulb seal for the slide, so they need to be pretty rigid. Sorry for the rambling post!

Include some pics if you would

[Mousemate]

Awhile back I had a issue of the the trim screws shirring off on the trim
I ended up doubling the amount screws see link below.
https://www.irv2.com/forums/f121/ace...223543-52.html
post #715
no issues since
resealed the top of the trim too with proflex.
hope this help