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Seals, wipers and slide toppers

Seals only work when the room stops in the right place and the wipers lie flat on the room. Most slide leaks are a wiper lifted by debris, water standing on the room roof, or a room that isn't reaching its seal, and a slide topper changes all three.

The short version

The seal set on a room

Most rooms carry two kinds of seal on the coach side of the opening. Bulb seals (Lippert's parts lists call some of them D-seals) are compressed: the outside one by the flange when the room is in, the inside one by the fascia when it's out. Wiper seals (sweeps, wipes) are flaps that lie on the room's top and sides and sweep it as it moves.

In-wall rooms add seals at the columns. Lippert's in-wall parts list includes a sweep seal, a 1-1/4 in flap, a 1-1/4 in flat side wiper and a 1-1/4 in single wiper with leg, and the D-seal at the bottom of the column is held by one screw. Some of these are in the way of service: the bulb seal at the top of the column slides down to reach the motor retention screw, and motor disengagement on pre-2011 units starts by bending back the wipe seal.

How they're supposed to contact

Lippert's in-wall service manual asks for proper seal engagement with no binding and about 1/4 in nominal overlap. Through-frame rooms set the contact with the stops: too tight crushes the fascia, too loose doesn't seal.

Wipers should lie flat on the room and face out. Ember's sealing bulletin for its Overland trailers checks exactly that: wipes flat against the slide roof, wipes flat and facing outward at the fender area, bulb seal fitted with no visible gaps. A wiper that's flipped under, torn or snagged on a gear rack screw is a leak and a drag. Lippert's in-wall checks also look for seals caught in the floor rollers.

The light test finds a seal that isn't touching: one person inside in the dark, one outside with a bright light, then swap. Light past a good bulb seal with the room in means the room is sitting high, low or to one side. Fix the room before you replace the seal.

How water gets in at a slide

Find where the water shows up, then work up and out from there. Water on the room floor at the outside edge usually came in at the top or a corner and ran down the room wall.

Conditioning and replacement

Makers don't agree, so follow the OEM for that coach. Lippert says its slide seals need little treatment and should be cleaned with mild soap and water, although its maintenance checklist recommends an RV-specific spray lubricant on seals. Keystone says it does not recommend lubricants on its sweeps because they attract dirt. Mechanisms are separate: Lippert says no grease on in-wall racks or through-frame parts, and dry lubricant only for squeaks on SlimRack racks.

Replace a seal when it's torn, flattened so it won't spring back, or pulled short at the corners. Match the profile and size. Lippert lists its seals by dimension, and Jayco's 23-100 leak fix depended on a larger bulb, not just a new one.

Slide toppers and the room

A slide topper is a spring-loaded roller awning over the room roof. The fabric edge sits in a rail on the coach wall, the roller is on arms attached to the room, and the spring winds the fabric up as the room comes in. It adds weight to the room (Carefree: about 13.5 lb at 42 in, plus about 1 lb per 12 in) and it has to roll straight or it rubs.

TypeExamplesWhat to know
Open roller with anti-billow lockCarefree Slideout Cover, Alpine, SOK IIILock engages when the room closes and releases when it opens; the arms must be fully engaged in the brackets or it billows
Roller with a cover or deflectorCarefree AscentDeflector mounts to the room at the top of the flange; hinged cover; no fabric exposed with the room closed
Open roller, short or tall bracketsDometic Slide Topper (98000 series; older A&E Deluxe and Elite)Bracket height suits the flange; 198 to 259 in toppers need extra kits
Open roller with access platesSolera Slide Topper (Lippert)Brackets mount at the T-molding; set the extension rod so the roll tube doesn't touch the room

Wind, water and debris on a topper

Dometic says not to close the room or topper with leaves, sticks or other debris on the fabric, to keep it stowed when snow, heavy rain, wind or severe weather is expected, and never to leave an open topper unattended. Its older A&E instructions add that snow or freezing rain will keep the topper from closing and can damage the topper and the room. Some drips under the canopy are normal.

Water pools on topper fabric in rain or under an AC discharge. Carefree says to bring the room in 8 to 12 in at a time to dump it, and to close in roughly 6 to 8 in steps in wet weather.

Topper symptoms often point back at the room. Solera lists rub marks (debris in the track, spring tension, end caps), sagging (spring tension) and rolling at an angle (anti-billow device, rail square to the housing, fabric cut square), and notes misalignment can damage the topper or the room.

Careful: Topper springs are wound. Carefree and Dometic both warn the roller can spin out of control if the spring lets go; insert the spring lock pin (or leave the cotter pins in until told to remove them) before working on the roller, and keep hands off the spindle.

On the job

  1. Ask where the water shows and when: rain while parked, travel, or only with the room in or out.
  2. Get on a ladder and check the room roof and topper for debris, standing water, failed sealant and loose topper hardware.
  3. Check that the wipers lie flat and face out across the top and down both sides, and look for gaps at the bulb seals with the room in and out.
  4. Do a light test in the dark with the room in, then out.
  5. If a seal isn't touching, fix the room position (height, square, stops) before replacing seals.
  6. Replace damaged seals with the same profile, reseal corners and moldings, and water test before handing it back.

Numbers

Shop tip

Carry a small broom up the ladder. A lot of slide leak calls end when you sweep the room roof, wipe off the standing water and watch the wiper settle back flat.

Where this comes from