Hi folks,
A few months ago I posted a question about slide seals at the top of all of my slides that had come off ... here's the original thread for the background:
http://forums.crossroadsrv.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6308&KW=bulb+seal&titl e=slide-seals-water-on-carpet-have-you-seen-this
Many thanks to everyone for the tips, and SleepyT for the part number. I got in contact with Bill Stout at Crossroads who gave me lots of good tips also. He said he couldn't sell me the part directly (I guess things have changed?) but sent me to Tiara RV who sold me the seal and shipped it out quick. I think the price was just over $2/foot so I got 30ft. Ended up with about 10ft extra ... never hurts to have more.
Here's the kids' bunk slide where I started. Already unscrewed the seal and removed it, now I'm starting with a plastic putty knife to scrape off the old sealant. Thanks Bill for this tip - dummy me would have tried my metal putty knives ... not smart.
Scraping off the old was serious work! The main slide was the worst. Best I could tell, there were three different kinds of caulk used on the main slide seal. Amazing. The other slides were "easier." Most of the time was spent prepping the surface (removing the old stuff, wiping clean etc).
After scraping the best I could, I wiped down the area with acetone to clean up. I also had to scrape some residue off of the outer part of the slide and wiped that clean too.
Here are some finished pictures. Bill suggested using Sikaflex polyurethane sealant - so I ordered up some Sikaflex 291. Also he suggested for tooling, to put some mineral spirits in a spray bottle and spray the bead down a bit first, then (with a gloved hand) run a finger along to tool it. I'm sure a pro could have done better but it did work like a charm. Finished pictures:
And the main slide seal. This thing was a mess beforehand. Not too bad now:
Some things I learned ... be very careful when working up here, for many reasons. I had to step onto the slide roof in many places and it was pretty clear I shouldn't set a foot wrong. I tried to just step on the roof studs. Take your time and don't rush up there. The bunk slide I could just work from the sides on a ladder, but the bed slide was up high and not very deep - so I think it was "safest" to lay on the roof of the camper and work "upside down."
Also get more than one putty knife - halfway through I had worn the edge down to a nub from all the scraping and was thankful to have more!
Lastly, to repeat a tip from the previous thread, spray down the seals periodically with silicone spray, slide treatment or something - so they don't stick to the slide trim and get pulled off again!
On edit: Forgot to add ... it almost looks like the sealant used from the factory was the "self leveling" type. It seemed like it creeped down onto the face of the seal which allowed it to contact the slide, stick, and pull the seal off. Like someone picked up the wrong tube that day. What was left was a sticky mess I had to cleanup, which reminded me of cleaning up roof sealant. Regardless if that is true or not, I hope the Sikaflex performs much better. From what I read it is a strong and more stable adhesive.
Edited by: FSuperDuty
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