Slide Sidewall to Floor Leak -- Fixed by Guardian Plates

[boiler73]

Last month I noticed that a gap in the full wall slideout wall where it meets the floor had developed. Upon investigating further, it is clear that this was caused by a design weakness in Monaco's build that causes a leak in the seam where the underfloor meets the sidewall. By the time the separation occurred, rot in the wooden floor of the slide was apparent!

When I called REV and sent them pics (see below), they immediately quoted me nearly $8K to replace the entire floor at their service center. Fortunately, thanks to members on this forum, I found Chris Throgmartin @ Talin RV who makes a terrific fix for the issue. I contacted him and he custom fabricated and installed them on my coach for MUCH MUCH LESS. His Guardian Plates are polished stainless steel and install on the bottom edge of the slide to preclude any and all leakage forever. And they look fantastic!

Moral of story --- Every Monaco owner should CLOSELY inspect their slide every few months for evidence of this problem and take action to correct it before it can't be fixed. If you do find it, I recommend Chris at Talin RV most highly.

Bill
2008 Monaco Diplomat 40SFT

[vito.a]

Wow, that does look serious.
Do you have a picture after the Guardian plate was installed?
Is that the same Chris that does Stone Voss replacement awning material?

[windsorbill]

Originally Posted by vito.a

Wow, that does look serious.
Do you have a picture after the Guardian plate was installed?
Is that the same Chris that does Stone Voss replacement awning material?

yes, it's the same chris. They sell the guardian plate through Talin RV.

I started another thread here about the slide binding. The thread drifted into the Guardian Plate. I would encourage everyone to check the underside of their slide, looking for rot or indents/marks caused by the rollers. The picture above is a good example of serious issues that the plate can remedy if you catch it soon enough. The Guardian plate is a DIY project if you want to take it on.

[10Boomer]

Originally Posted by boiler73

Last month I noticed that a gap in the full wall slideout wall where it meets the floor had developed. Upon investigating further, it is clear that this was caused by a design weakness in Monaco's build that causes a leak in the seam where the underfloor meets the sidewall. By the time the separation occurred, rot in the wooden floor of the slide was apparent!



When I called REV and sent them pics (see below), they immediately quoted me nearly $8K to replace the entire floor at their service center. Fortunately, thanks to members on this forum, I found Chris Throgmartin @ Talin RV who makes a terrific fix for the issue. I contacted him and he custom fabricated and installed them on my coach for MUCH MUCH LESS. His Guardian Plates are polished stainless steel and install on the bottom edge of the slide to preclude any and all leakage forever. And they look fantastic!



Moral of story --- Every Monaco owner should CLOSELY inspect their slide every few months for evidence of this problem and take action to correct it before it can't be fixed. If you do find it, I recommend Chris at Talin RV most highly.



Bill

2008 Monaco Diplomat 40SFT

Do you have an after picture of the same slide?

[windsorbill]

Originally Posted by 10Boomer

Do you have an after picture of the same slide?

go to www.talinrv/com and look at their guardian plates link. Plates/trim look very nice. You can see your reflection. I'm going to try one on my rear curb side slide. I don't have the rot but i'm starting to have a little roller issue leaving an indent in the bottom of slide. I could go with just a piece of sheet metal or stainless under there, but the guardian plate is a better way to go, imo.

Besides, it's something else for me to shine!

[jleamo1]

Every Monaco owner?
Do we have a year range this became an issue?
What caused the rot? looks like water damage

[windsorbill]

Originally Posted by jleamo1

Every Monaco owner?
Do we have a year range this became an issue?
What caused the rot? looks like water damage

Yes, every monaco owner should check it out if you have slides. Up till the BK, in 2009. After that was REV group. I don't know how those slides are built, maybe okay, maybe not. The problem is the way they built the slide outs. If you look at the video's on TalinRV.com it's pretty eye opening as to the problem.

I've had my coach since new and it's always has been stored inside. I also live in the desert, so coach has been subjected to limited extensive rain. Just on trips. Fortunately I don't have any rot, but I can see where it would be a problem if coach was subjected to rain and water over the years.

Just my opinion on the issue. I have zero connection with Talinrv.

[podschweit]

Had found the same problem with my 2008 Monaco Knight 40DFT I have an appointment with Chris @ Talin Mfg Nov 6 2017 to get the plates installed.
I have spoken with & emailed Chris about my problem and I look forward to meeting him and getting the plates installed. Chris told me he goes to several rallys during the year and always comes across either Monaco Brand or Holiday Ramblers that have this issue.
If you check out Talin Mfg Chris does an excellent job explaining how he discovered & solved the issues with the Monaco & HR models having this problem it is a very interesting article and I suggest you take the time to read it.

[boiler73]

The only pictures I've taken were "in-process" repair, and I've attached one of those. The finished product is exactly what you would see on the Talin RV site.

One other note --- the damage that you see in my pre-repair picture became evident over the span of 3-4 months. Three months earlier than my first pic was taken, the separation was less than 1/16 with a length of about 1 inch. That caused me not to notice it at the outset. And my coach has ALWAYS been stored indoors for the (approx) 8 months per year that we are not travelling in it. So don't be lulled into thinking that it takes years and years of constantly sitting outside in rainy conditions for the damage to occur.

I'm not in any way connected to Talin RV, either. I am very thankful that this restorative (and preventative) fix exists, though, and want others to know where to look for the problem if it occurs on their coach.

[boiler73]

Oops -- Forgot to post the in process repair pic. Here it is!

[MSHappyCampers]

Hi Bill! Welcome to IRV2! We're sure glad you joined the gang!

Thanks for the tip, I'll keep an eye on that! Keep her between the ditches!

Good luck, happy trails, and God bless!

[Chris T]

Good Lord. Who is that fat ugly guy in that picture ? I am remember doing your plates Bill. I am still recovering from the work in 90 plus degree temps.

First let me say thank you to everyone for the kind words. I am extremely happy I have been able to come up with a fix for this issue other than an expensive floor replacement. I own my own coach and I am an RV'er and we have had the same exact issues as everyone else. Rotted slide floors. That is what drove me to find and develop a fix.

In regards to the question of what coaches are prone to this ? All monaco brand coaches that have slides from the late 90's till the time Rev took over. If you have a 2015 coach or newer then this issue will not be a problem for you. REV reverted to the industry standard which is to encapsulate the corners. All other Monaco makes and models are subject to this issue including those made by Navistar. I have found rotted slide floors on every single Monaco & HR model and year up to 2015.

I have done numerous plate jobs and have seen some seriously damaged floors. Most of these the owners never knew they had. I cannot begin to tell all of you how important it is to check your slide bottom corners as well as the underside of your raised floor slides. Not only is there rot issues on the corners but there are serious wear issues from roller assemblies which is scaring and digging into the bottom of the slide floor. These wear issues will go away if plated properly but if you let them go they will cut the white laminate right in half. I have found some with holes big enough to stick your fist into.

My advice is to check your slide bottoms and corners every 3 months. If anyone has any questions I am always willing to answer them or assist you in any way I can. I try and do everything I can to assist coach owners because I am one.

Chris T

[USCGMech]

Picked up my coach from Chris today, nice new shiny Guardian plates on the driver front Slide. The other slides are still ok! Also had two new Stone Voss slide covers installed while it was in for the Guardian Plate installation. I can’t thank Chris enough for all his help getting my coach to do list done!

Regards,

Bill

[SmokyPond]

I did both of my slides with Chris's Guardian Plate system last weekend. They sure look nice!

The installation went very well. Chris's phone support was a great help during the process. In addition, he's a lot of fun and very interesting to chat with as well! Thanks Chris!

Chris is right. You do have to keep an eye on these areas of your slides. Things can go bad pretty quickly. Back in June I could just barely see a bit of delamination starting to occur on one corner of my rear slide. By October it looked like the second picture. Thank goodness I found out about the Guardian Plate system here on the forum.

-Matt