# Major Rear Slide Mystery Leak



## Robert Kay (Jun 19, 2010)

I have a 2004 Outback 23RS.

Late last summer I noticed the back wall was soft in the rear corner under the storage compartment under the couch. So soft that a little pressure and my fingers went through the inside wall. All that was holding it together was the wall paper the luan was completely rotten. I took it to Camping World and they said they needed to recaulk around the rear slide on both sides. I ended up cutting out the rotten section of wall (approx 12 inches wide x 18 inches high) and removing the wet insulation so it could dry. The Camping World repair did not make much sense to me as where they caulked around the slide is protected by the seal when the bed is in as it is most of the time except when camping. The camper was covered with an Adco cover all winter.

First camping trip this year we uncovered the camper washed it and towed through a rain storm for about 1 hour and then no more rain. When we got to the campground we kept finding large black carpenter ants in the capmer. As we were cleaning and trying to kill ants, we found more moisture in the corner where I had originally cut out the rotten wall section and found that on the other side of the camper under the bench seat in the storage area some small dirty saw dust piles and the wall was also soft. As I was pressing on the wall my hand also went through the wall paper to find it dripping wet and full of carpenter ants.

We returned from the trip and I cut out the all of the rotten wall section and I found a large colony of carpenter ants -MANY MANY MANY ants and larvae thriving even after setting off several foggers in the camer. I found the fiber glass insulation dripping wet. Due to the amount of moisture, black mold and damage, I removed the bench seat and couch and removed the entire inside wall below the rear slide and all of the wet insulation. I have put granular poison to kill any residual ants in the wall and it seems to be doing the job on the ants and other strange creatures that have made a home in the new wet ecosystem. The shell on the outside of the camper is still OK although there are areas that are very thin on the inside. I am confident that I can paint and seal the back wall and apply fiberglass mat and resin to kill and seal up the mold and reinforce the wall. At this point it will also not be too difficult to replace the 8'w x 4'h section of luan and rewallpaper this section, and have it looking and stronger than new. However this still does not fix the cause of the damage and I have not been able to find it.

There is no noticable back wall damage from the roof to the bottom of the rear slide. All of the damage seems to be to the wall below the rear slide. I do not think it is from a roof leak as because of no damage on the top half of the camper. The side walls also do not show any signs of damage.

There is water damage the entire width of the back wall all the way up to the bottom of the rear slide. The worst damage is at the bottom of the back wall and at each corner on both sides.

The seal around the rear slide is in good condition and does not appear to be leaking.

I thought it may be caused by a plumbing problem and because I store the camper with the nose higher than the rear I thought water in the underbelly could be running to the back of the camper and wicking up on the insulation. There is no evidence of water in the underbelly. I also dropped the rear of the underbelly cover and put a slit in the plastic moisture / vapor barrier above it and the insulation was a faintly moist and nothing like the soaked insulation I was pulling out of the back wall.

There is an inch long hairline crack in the outer shell at the bottom corner of the cutout for the rear slide. I was able to press near this crack and some water drops would come out, but the entire back wall on that side was soaked from the insulation. This crack is covered when the slide is closed and I cannot access it to patch from the inside as there there is a support beam behind it. I can seal it up from the outside, but I do not think this is where this much water would have come from especially with the slide closed.

I am going to do more hose testing now that I have the inside wall panel removed and it has dried out some, but so far I have not found anything.

Any suggestions on where to look? I have to find the leak before the damage gets beyond repair.

I also need to know what to do to ensure I have gotten rid of all of the ants and bugs so they do not move to another part of the camper. If I get rid of the moisture will any remaining bugs also go?

Thanks for taking the time to read and any info or suggestions you can provide.

I'll try and post some pics soon.


----------



## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Wow. I know it is a pain but it is refreshing to hear a problem that is not complaining about Outback quality and just wants to get it fixed.

I know that if the water is gone the bugs will also move on. So that is easy once the water problem is solved.

Storage nose high is the correct way to store the trailer so that was not an issue.

Even though the water is only appearing in the bottom of the wall it can be coming from the top and traveling down one of the studs. Fully inspect the roof.

The transition from roof material to side wall is a very likely leak point. Pull off the plastic trim to expose the screws and inspect for water damage. You will most likely find a rusted out screw and water can migrate into the aluminum stud from that and then drain to the bottom of the wall.

Also inspect the tail lights and marker lights, the top of the lights should have a good bead of silicone.

Good luck and let us know how the hose test goes.


----------



## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

X2 on Andy's comments. I'd check the roof. If not there you could also check where the gutters are. I'd have to guess it is coming in somewhere near the top.


----------



## johnp (Mar 15, 2004)

Wow.. The marker lights have known to cause problems. Even if the trailer was covered if inside the wall is wet it will not dry so that water could have been there. I had the marker light leak on the front of an 04 26rs. Sealed them up no more problem.

John


----------



## mmblantz (Jul 1, 2007)

X3 on what the others said and I'll add to check your roof caulk thouroghly. The smallest crack in it may not look like much but it can cause a big leak. Go up top with some Dicor and recaulk around everything. I check twice a year and find cracks in caulk that need a touch up. ---Mike


----------



## Robert Kay (Jun 19, 2010)

Leak 1)

Hose testing on the roof did show some water coming into the camper. It appears that water running off the roof is channeling down the slide seal and getting in at the bottom corners of the 
slide. There is an area where the vertical trim meets the horizontal trim and I suspect it is coming in at the corner. There is a small gap there and it is not caulked. I also noticed that the bottom horizontal piece that is below the slide does not have any caulking at the bottom of it. and water could potentially get in there.

Leak 2)
Not exactly certain where it is coming from, it is either coming from the side marker lamp or the water is running off the support beam for the bunk and channeling down the side.

I'm going to caulk caulk caulk and retest... I'll let you know what I find. I am surprised that this is not a common problem.

I hate that it took ruining the back wall of the camper to find and fix... I'm making plans to build a carport I want to go with 12x12x40 so that it is big enough for this camper and our next few campers







I know I have to go with 12 guage metal here in VA, does anyone have any suggestions for reasonable priced manufacturers?


----------



## Robert Kay (Jun 19, 2010)

Here are some pics of the damage... Still caulking and hose testing to be certain that I get it all sealed up.

Have been running dehumidifier non-stop for about a week now and things are drying up.

I am also still seeing quite a few carpenter ants that seem to be in the walls. Does anyone have suggestions on how to get them out? Using foggers does not seem to do it and I do not have a good way to get granular or other poisions to them as I am not sure exactly where they are. I do know that I got a major nest of them that was in the back wall with all of the rot.


----------



## thefulminator (Aug 8, 2007)

One more thing you might want to look at. On my 21RS, the rain gutter above the awning gets clogged up when debris get into it. The gutter passes under the rear awning attach bracket and makes a choke point. The lot where I store the 21RS has maple trees nearby and the helicopters end up in the gutter. When this happens, the water in the rain gutter pools since the awning is acting as a dam along it's length. I have wondered if this could cause a leak around the edge of the rubber roof. This may not be your case but might be worth checking out.


----------



## Patty (Mar 4, 2010)

Sprinkle Borax in the walls before you seal up or somewhere where they have to walk through it. They will track it back to the nest where it will eventually kill them. It isn't an instant fix but will do the job.


----------

