Bedroom Slide Underside Cracks

[brisam]

Upon moving the bedroom slide out I find cracks in the material coving the underside of the slide. I believe the material is only there to protect the wooden base of the outside portion of the bedroom slide. Does this need to be replaced with original material or is there an alternative?

[1retired06]

Never had one cracking on me, so first question for me would be why. Since weather proofing is the purpose, guess I would make a straight cut, remove, and seal with polyurethane or some other sealant, keep an eye on it and reseal as needed. Needs something the rollers will not hang up on. To replace properly with the same material, looks to me would require removing the slide.

[brisam]

Thanks for your thoughts. I talked to dealership and indications are that the freezing weather most likely caused the cracking. Unit stayed in Alberta this winter for the first time due to border restrictions. Dealer stated the slide would need to be removed to replace material or as an alternative I could remove the material myself and cover the exposed wood with some sort of spray undercoating. I am still looking at alternatives.

[Bad Moon]

On another thread, I mentioned a product called Slick Slide or Slide Slick applied to the bottom edges of my #1 slide where the bottom covering was ripped. If your cracks are within 6 inches of the edge, this might be an option.

[Dave W]

Our last 5er, a Glendale Titanium had a Filon or fiberglass slide bottom which cracked. Badly! The fix, authorized by Glendale was to put a piece of aluminum where the rollers ran. They wanted to supply a full slide bottom piece (at cost as it was well out of warranty) but instead I had 3 pieces cut at the local metals supplier. 1/8" thick by an inch or so wider then the roller width by 2-3 inches longer then the full slide extension to make sure the rollers never ran off. I drilled and countersunk 5-6 pair of holes. To install this aluminum, I jacked the slide up just enough to clear the rollers, slid the aluminum in place, installed the screws, set the slide back and used it that way for5 years. Currently at our summer seasonal site, our next door neighbor in a FR Wildcat did the same in 2019 and is pleased


First photo is the screw layout. second is after two strips had been installed. The inner most screw holes couldn't be used but had no effect on performance.

[Mikendebbie]

Cracked plastic under the bedroom slide has not happened to me, but if it did I would be thinking about adapting the “strips of plastic” fix that ChuckS used on his dining or kitchen slides - which have a darco sheet layer (not a plastic bottom). The darco frays at the roller points and ChuckS used strips of plastic placed in line with the slide rollers.

I assume the plastic sheet under the bedroom slide serves as a slide surface and a waterproofing membrane for the slide out floor. I would try to remove the cracked plastic and treat the underside of the slide floor with a paint that would also serve as a waterproof barrier. Then I would place the plastic runners on the bottom to align with the slide rollers.

Again - I have not done it this way…but I am just thinking out loud here. I am guessing that applying darco or the plastic sheet to the bottom of the slides is easier and cheaper from a manufacturers point of view. I wonder why they don’t use a coated OSB in lieu of darco or plastic? Seems like the filon sheet that was on the Titanuim would have been bulletproof - but obviously it failed also.