Schwinn Tech Slide Bottom water damage

[mcomeaux]

I have a 2019 Keystone Alpine 3800 FK
The slide which accommodates the microwave and gas range in kitchen accumulated some water through a opening right above where the slide
rack attaches to side of slide due to lack of silicone. When they washed my unit I noticed
the black film underneath sagging and pulled loose a little bit. What would be involved replacing the bottom piece that rolls on the rollers? Any help would be appreciated. I can still pull the slide in even with the fiber board puffed up.

[dutchmensport]

The underside of your slide out is covered with a material called Draco. That material is wrapped completely around the under side of the slide and wrapped around the top side of the floor inside your slide out. After that is wrapped around, the walls are attached to the bottom.

So, any attempt to remove the Draco and replace it with something else is not a good idea.

Those rollers are notorious for rubbing and tearing up the Draco material. There are slide "skies" that can be installed under the slide for those rollers to slide on, thus preventing any further damage to the Draco.

My camper is doing the same thing. I'm been tossing black Rust-o-lium paint on the exposed wood for a few months now to keep the wood covered and protected as much as possible until I can get the sleds or skies for the roller.

Still, the Draco should not be removed. It will cause more issues than you have now.

You also need to make sure the L shaped trim at the bottom edge of the slide actually drips water off and that when it rains, that water does not weep back under the slide, making the torn Draco and exposed wood wet. You can't stop it all, but you can slow it down until you get it covered with something like, those those sleds:

Check out this thread and watch the video in the first post. Click here.

Also, the Skies can be found pretty easy. Here's one source. There are many more: Click here.

[sourdough]

The black film, or plastic woven cloth, is called darco and is problematic on a slide bottom in my experience. Water penetration under it can cause some serious degradation of the wood under it.

Here is a link to an installation that a fellow did with slide skis;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqPT4eweX8o

There are several videos of this process with folks doing it different ways. In this one some points to consider; the slide floor is encased in darco fabric which is glued. If water has penetrated and the fabric has come loose there is no way to reattach it. They make darco repair tape but I would discourage using it on a slide floor. It will eventually fray, come loose or hang on the wear bar. I had a new trailer with a strip of it for some reason down the center of a slide. It started rolling up and balled up under the slide behind the wear bar - a real pain.

If the darco is loose using things like butyl tape or double sided tape on it will just compound your problem. The sagging darco will just sag more with the ski glued to it and just continue to come loose with the added weight. On the end skis with the transition strip/ski edge screwed to the slide side it will help hold the ski in place and possibly allow the use of the tape. If it is too loose you can use countersunk screws to hold it but will probably have to go to a thicker material than they use on the skis, I've always used 1/8" uhmw.

In the video he uses a LOT of butyl tape. Butyl tape is pretty thick so placing 2 layers etc. can cause the joints to raise and potentially provide additional points for water penetration so be careful.

[ChuckS]

Originally Posted by mcomeaux

I have a 2019 Keystone Alpine 3800 FK
The slide which accommodates the microwave and gas range in kitchen accumulated some water through a opening right above where the slide
rack attaches to side of slide due to lack of silicone. When they washed my unit I noticed
the black film underneath sagging and pulled loose a little bit. What would be involved replacing the bottom piece that rolls on the rollers? Any help would be appreciated. I can still pull the slide in even with the fiber board puffed up.

** NOTE - the main hydraulic slides on your Alpine DO NOT roll on rollers.. Instead, there is a "wear bar" that run s the entire width of the slide cut out opening.. That is what the slide bottom Darco fabric "glides" across... till it wears thru the Darco.

** a couple of pictures of your issue would greatly help with providing you more specific answers as to what kind of repair is needed

I have the UHMW strips I installed over two years ago on the outer edges of one of my main hyd slides..due to darco wear.. Today the repair looks and functions just like a new slide..

Put some pics up showing your damage and where exactly you thought the water came got in from..