Water seeping in at mid section of slide out.

[samus989]

Hi everyone, my parents donated a Jayco Jayfeather Ultra Lite 29N, to me as it had rodent infestation and said if I wanted to deal with it, it was all mine.

We got that all sorted... 3 dead mice and a mouse nest in the furnace/ducting, and a squirrel nest in the inverter box, and under the couch, tore the electrical system and heating system apart, repaired any damage and put it all back together ... what a job...
I am new to trave trailers, but I repair aircraft for a living so none of these systems are new to me, the slide out thing has me puzzled though, we pulled all the upholstry out to clean it, and under the couch in the slide out there was what looked looked like water spots, and a small wet spot dead centre at the bottom of the slide. It had rained the night before, now today it was pouring all night and day and the spot was a fair size, the thing is its not near any location that should be getting wet, the wall is dry and theres no visible signs of entry, its dry under the slide out inside the trailer as well, the seal at the top shows day light, but the lip of it is fairly high, could the water actually be tracking off the top of the slide, down the sides and down into the middle of the slide? It should be noted that the RV is not level side to side and that angle right now has the left side a little higher than the right side, the slide is on the left, could this really cause water to enter the unit like this?

Thanks for any info.

[VicS1950]

As nobody has answered...

I'm fairly new to travel trailers also. I will say that in my experience with roof leaks, boats, and structures it is just amazing at how water will follow parts and come out far away from the source of the leak. At times I have dusted an area of standing water with baking soda to help leave a trail to reveal the direction that the water is traveling.

I've also learned that you can use a water hose to help find some leaks, but no matter how much water you spray around it never seems to give the same effect as a long soaking rain.

Did you find and repair the area of entry for the mice? They seem to have a real talent for finding where their cousins have entered previously. Good luck. vic

[samus989]

I found most if not all holes in the trailer, the biggest one, I assume was where my parents had brought it to the dealer to have the hot water tank repaired. They left a huge gap in the floor an my father didn't know how to repair it, I sealed it up with corrugated plastic patches, zip ties and foil tape, Ill keep an eye on the foil tape to see how it performs, if it fails Ill replace with some sealant.
I was mulling over the water hose idea, deffinately gonna give it a shot tonight!

The tape at the top of the slide itself seems to have a couple small holes where the screws rub, it might be entering there.

[samus989]

Well just to update, we found the leak, it seems its entering behind the larger of the two windows, and following the seem down the wall paper onto the bench. Gonna seal it up tomorrow

[VicS1950]

Originally Posted by samus989

Well just to update, we found the leak, it seems its entering behind the larger of the two windows, and following the seam down the wall paper onto the bench. Gonna seal it up tomorrow

Thanks for the feedback. Good to hear you found the problem.

On my 2001 I'm in the process of resealing everything I can with a thin bead of Sikaflex. It doesn't look as pretty as the original captive caulk (not terrible with a steady hand though). I don't want any more water damage to my floors and walls than I've already dealt with.

We seem to be winning the battles so far on our camper. I'm quite certain I isolated and sealed all our mouse portals. The metal tape reapair you mentioned can be a good solution. I like the way metal tape conforms and stays in the shape that you want. A bit of screen or mesh combined with sealant can help bridge gaps if your metal tape doesn't do the job.
vic