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Has anybody heard of an issue where the outside rubber slide seals get soft and gooey so that if you touch it the goop comes off on your finger and leaves a hole in the rubber? It's not road tar or anywhere no like that…it's almost like some sort of solvent got on it and turned it into almost a gum like substance. It's only on one of our seals, the front vertical one on the galley and about the top 3 feet or so. It's like 9-10 feet off the ground. Only ever had rain, car soap, and water s bug spray on it and weve used the same soap and spray for going on 5 years. I know seals eventually wear out and need replacing but I've only ever seen dried out sun cracked ones…nothing like this.
Same thing here. After 3 years did a total replacement (lots of $). With the new ones have been using slide seal conditioner (spray on, wipe off) The replaced seals are now about 3 yrs old and look like will need to be replaced again soon. Next rv will have less slides. Mine get tar like and eventually chuck off. The chucks are still soft tar like. My guess is that the vibrating of the slide in the wall opening creates heat which with the constant rubbing causes the wear. Maybe should use slide locks to keep the slide tight to the wall openings?
Thanks…but I wouldn't have thought it would be vibration or heating…they're not really worn though like vibration would be and I would think that overheating them would make them dry and stiff rather than soft and gooey…as I said it almost looks like they were softened/dissolved somewhat by some sort of chemical. The spot is also very high on the slide…so one would think well away from anything on the road getting splashed up there. Our galley slide sits in pretty tight against the rig as well…but you may be right as I have no idea what's the actual cause.
I've got an email into the service guy at New Horizons for a recommendation…I'm told that if you can get to both sides of the seal it's a relatively quick job and we're probably only looking at replacing this bad section rather than all of them. Still be more $$ than you want to spend though. I'm not quite sure how to get to the inside portion of the seal yet…fro looking at my pantry layout I'm thinking that you get to it via the back of the pantry but haven't verified that with NH yet.
Has anybody heard of an issue where the outside rubber slide seals get soft and gooey so that if you touch it the goop comes off on your finger and leaves a hole in the rubber? It's not road tar or anywhere no like that…it's almost like some sort of solvent got on it and turned it into almost a gum like substance. It's only on one of our seals, the front vertical one on the galley and about the top 3 feet or so. It's like 9-10 feet off the ground. Only ever had rain, car soap, and water s bug spray on it and weve used the same soap and spray for going on 5 years. I know seals eventually wear out and need replacing but I've only ever seen dried out sun cracked ones…nothing like this.
Hi Neil,
I would agree with you on the solvent possibilities. You didn't spray a wasp nest or any type of aerosol like that up there did you? The only thing I could think of that would be localized like that. Anything on top of the slide in that area that could have run down onto the seal from the top? You have had it parked there for a while. I can't imagine sap or anything doing that. I might have to stop over and take a look at this. Keep me posted on what you find out. Sorry I can't be any more help.
-- Edited by Bruce and Robin on Friday 10th of February 2017 09:54:44 AM
I would agree with you on the solvent possibilities. You didn't spray a wasp nest or any type of aerosol like that up there did you? The only thing I could think of that would be localized like that. Anything on top of the slide in that area that could have run down onto the seal from the top? You have had it parked there for a while. I can't imagine sap or anything doing that. I might have to stop over and take a look at this. Keep me posted on what you find out. Sorry I can't be any more help.
-- Edited by Bruce and Robin on Friday 10th of February 2017 09:54:44 AM
Nope…never sprayed anything like that up there (or anywhere else on the rig for that matter)…just the water soluble bug spray…same stuff that H&L use and recommend. I agree that tree sap wouldn't do it…but then we're not under any trees here anyway. It's got me stumped as to what the cause is…but that's not really relevant to getting the seal replaced…and I'm still trying to get some info from New Horizons to figure that out. You definitely need access to both sides of the seal (inside and out) to replace this type…and I don't see any way to get to the inside of the forward galley seal without pulling the slide…which would make it (a) an expensive proposition and (b) mean a trip to the NH factory to have it done as we're not likely to let a local shop do something that major.
