The Slide Out On My RV Leaks When It Rains

by Linda Gallop
(Norfolk , Va.)

II have a Salem Limited by Forest River. If the slide out is out when it rains water drips off the ceiling and down the wall in the middle of the slideout. How can I pinpoint the leak and what can I do about it?

ANSWER: Greetings Linda thanks for submitting your question on our Ask An RV Question Page.

I am sorry that you are going through all of this. Let me give you some suggestions on what you can do to resolve this problem with your Travel Trailer. I believe that the problem is going to end up being with your slide out's weather seals. Just follow the steps below to narrow it down.

1. The first thing I would do is make sure that the trailer is level. If you are too far off of level, water could bypass a bad seal on the slide out and leak into the interior of the trailer.

2. With the slide out open inspect the seals where the slide out closes into the side of the Travel Trailer. You are looking for any cracks, gaps or dry rotting of the seals. If the seals are dry brittle or have gaps, the slide out seals will have to be replaced.

The weather seals on slide outs get damaged and cracked due to excessive exposure to heat, ultra violet rays and freezing temperatures. This could allow moisture to enter into the living quarters of

your travel trailer causing damage to its contents. This could be an even bigger problem if the travel trailer is not completely level. Which reminds me if you are not already doing so you need to use some Slide Out Rubber Seal Conditioner once every two months to treat the slide out seals to prevent them from cracking and degrading prematurely.

3. I don't know if your Travel Trailer is equipped with a Slide Topper Awningicon or not, but if it isn't I would suggest that you get them installed on all of your slide outs. These awnings prevent excessive dirt, debris and rain water from accumulating on the top of the slide out. When you have excessive debris on the top of your slide out it can damage the slide out seals as well as bring all of that dirt and debris into the RV when you close the slide out.

Hopefully the above information has been useful to you.

Do you have any suggestions or comments on this topic? You can add them to this page by clicking on the "Click Here To Post Comments" link located near the bottom of this page.

Happy RVing

RVing Al

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by: lmopaulin

My husband and I own a 2009 Forest River Rockwood 2304 Ultra Lite. It has one slide out and we do not have a slide out topper.

This year we noticed water leaking in around the large window on the wide part of our slide out (there are two smaller windows on the edges but they're fine. There are cabinets above the window but the water is not affecting them at all. It seems to run around the window frame, down onto the table (when it's folded down) and onto the carpet below and under the storage area of one of the dinette seats. The water is rust colored. We just noticed it last year.

I saw the rust color on our white shade and thought one of us had splashed coffee on the shade. I wiped it up but it was raining and it reappeared a short time later. I keep rag towels in the camper and after wiping up the water, left the towels in the path of the leak. The towels became saturated so we knew we had a significant leak somewhere.

When we returned home, my husband examined the roof of the slide out and could not identify any cracks or gaps in the seals. However the spray sealant may have a leak but it was so poorly applied when the trailer was built it would be almost impossible to find a leak.

It was the end of the season and we store our camper so my husband did not apply any new spray sealer. We take the trailer out of storage in May and would like to get this issue resolved ASAP as I fear the leak is or may already have damaged the particle board between the inside and outside panels of the slide out.

Has anyone else experienced this type of problem and, if so, what did you do and did it resolve the issue? Thank you!

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