The kitchen slide in our 5th wheel leaked whenever it rained hard. Just a small amount around the window, but a leak nonetheless. We had it back at the factory for our one year check up and I explained where the leak was and when it would happen. They re-caulked the seam on the slide top and sent me on my way. It kept leaking. When we were in Fort Collins last December we got snow and when the snow melted the slide leaked, grrr. I was back at the factory to have a little mishap fixed that was done by the factory the previous time I was at the factory. I'll post about that later. The trailer was inside the main factory and they let me sleep in it while I was there.
One evening I was the only one in the plant and had nothing but time on my hands, so I went up on the slide top to see if I could figure out where the leak was coming from. With a good flashlight and my reading glasses I got down close to the slide top and started looking at the row of screws that runs above the window. It became clear why the slide was leaking. If you looked real close at the clear silicone caulk on the screws, whoever did the caulking must have been in a hurry. There were several screws that didn't have complete coverage of the screw head, which allowed water to run past the screw and into the slide frame. Hence the leak around the window.
I cleaned all of the screw heads on all three slides and since I knew were the caulk was stored I grabbed a couple tubes and caulked every screw head. I wish I had taken a picture of the screw heads before I caulked them. There was very little caulk, like almost none.
From the pictures you can see that I used a copious amount of caulk on each screw. I took my index finger and carefully swirled until I could feel that there was no more air in the caulk and the caulk pool was completely adhered to the screw and slide top.
Guess what? No more leaking. Yeah, I'm a bit irritated that the initial caulk job was done poorly, but I am happy the leak is gone. Nothing like taking your rig back to the factory and fixing an issue yourself
I took this picture where we used to store the trailer, this is not the factory.
Those screw heads will never leak!
One evening I was the only one in the plant and had nothing but time on my hands, so I went up on the slide top to see if I could figure out where the leak was coming from. With a good flashlight and my reading glasses I got down close to the slide top and started looking at the row of screws that runs above the window. It became clear why the slide was leaking. If you looked real close at the clear silicone caulk on the screws, whoever did the caulking must have been in a hurry. There were several screws that didn't have complete coverage of the screw head, which allowed water to run past the screw and into the slide frame. Hence the leak around the window.
I cleaned all of the screw heads on all three slides and since I knew were the caulk was stored I grabbed a couple tubes and caulked every screw head. I wish I had taken a picture of the screw heads before I caulked them. There was very little caulk, like almost none.
From the pictures you can see that I used a copious amount of caulk on each screw. I took my index finger and carefully swirled until I could feel that there was no more air in the caulk and the caulk pool was completely adhered to the screw and slide top.
Guess what? No more leaking. Yeah, I'm a bit irritated that the initial caulk job was done poorly, but I am happy the leak is gone. Nothing like taking your rig back to the factory and fixing an issue yourself
I took this picture where we used to store the trailer, this is not the factory.
Those screw heads will never leak!
