Water Leak On My Slide (2018 Avalanche Owner)

[Jmayse]

Greeting Avalanche owners,

I recently discovered a water leak to the left side of one of my slides (left side looking at the back of the RV) and couldn't figure out where the hell it was coming from. I was defiantly at the very bottom of the slide, and the water was leaking into the Kitchen moving towards the front of the trailer. I started to panic, because we all know water is the enemy.

I called out a "Mobile RV Tech" to take a look at it. He want to squeeze in caulking in the rubber of the unit (first red flag for me). I told him NO! These are not designed for that. And thanked him for his help. Get down the road my friend. Caution, be careful who you hire.

So I started to just think about it. My first thought was, I had just recently moved the slide in to condition the rubber as part of the maintenance I do to keep things tidy. I thought maybe because I only moved in the slide about a foot or so, maybe the rubber was twisted and no forming a tight seal. So I moved in the slide all the way and the moved it out to create the seal. I waited for more rain, and it continued to leak! Again panicking. Thinking to myself, this thing is only 2.5 years old. I shouldn't be having this problem.

It then hit me! Maybe this thing is not level. I have an automatic leveler with hydraulics, as most of you do. So I walked out to the control panel, turned it on, and hit the "auto leveler." To my surprise, the unit moved upward about an 1" 1/2! (whoa). So what must of happened was water on the right side of the slide was working as intended, but when the water reached the bottom, because of the incline, gravity pulled the water along the bottom into the corner of the left side, into the inside of the unit. That's why the water on the inside was draining into the kitchen and rolling in the direction towards the front of the trailer.

I am so happy that the water came inside the trailer inside of in the belly of the RV just swamping it. I would have never noticed the leak!

So I have a new issue of a hydraulic leak, which I will be promptly fixing.

Thought I would share with my Avalanche people. Although this cold be a problem with any RV.

Jason Mayse