Weather stripping / insulation around slides and tracks?

[dezertcamper]

I have a 03 Southwind and during the New Years weekend we were out in the desert camping and playing with the buggy's and quads. Our MH has always been a bit drafty in cold weather, but I did not notice it as much as I did this weekend. This was one of the colder trips we have done. It got down into the low 30's at night with a breeze making the windchill into the low 20's. The highs during the day was in the low 60's. This made for short buggy rides as the family would get cold quickly.

My daughter just turned 1 years old and she is now plays on the floor in the MH and so do I with her. This is when I notice how much colder it was on the floor vs sitting on the couch or walking around. You could actualy feel a breeze from under the couch area. And this is with the heater running!

So I started to look for air gaps and notice that under the carpet on the slide is just wood, No insulation or padding what so ever. So I figured I will pull the couch and lay down some auto insulation padding like you would see in your car. I figured anything is better then nothing?

Then I found the biggest problem. Where the slide tracks are, I found gaps anywhere from 3/8 inch to more then 3/4 of an inch. The only weather stripping or wind protection was that strip of rubber on the exterior of the body and slide. I went outside and pulled the rubber back and could see into the coach. A 1/16 inch thick rubber flap is what Fleetwood is using to keep the cold out!

Then the D shaped seal that is under the coach body that the slide is suppose to seal against when the slide is out. That seal is wavy and only touches the slide in maybe 1/2 of the areas. Some spots had more then 1/4 inch gap.


So my question to you is have you had this issue and what did you do to solve this problem?
I was thinking about using some sticky backed weather stripping that you by at the Home Depot or Lowe's for along the track area. I'm not sure what to do about the lower D-seal area under the coach and slide. I did call my local RV shop and he said that gap is pretty common and he has seen it like that on brand new coaches that come in for service or warranty work.

I know there has to be a better solution to this as I am in California, and I know living back East where the winters are much colder, people have had to be doing something to fix this drafty slide problems.

Thanks for any suggestions or fixes that you might have done.