Water damage repair at Wakarusa service center?

[Letsgoagain]

Good evening,
Recently discovered we've had a slide seal let water leak in on the roadside bedroom slide for apparently some time as some of the wood at the bottom of the aft portion of the slide is damaged.
Looking at alternative sites to have repairs done and I see that Monaco has reopened a service center in Wakarusa IN.
Has anyone had service reapirs done there and specifically any repairs that were related to water damage? If you have were you satisfied with the repair?
Would appreciate any replies or suggestions on other places to have the repairs done as we want to get this taken care of soon.
We live in Southern IN so any suggestions within 300 miles or so would be helpful.
Thank You,
Keith

[Steve Ownby]

Keith,

Monaco up in Wakarusa might be a good place to solve the problem. There is also an independent business on up in Elkhart that has some very knowledgeable techs and I would intrust them with any coach problem. If you are interested give MasterTech RV a call and run your problem by them. Call for Jack Harris at 866-895-4556. We were there last summer for the month of July for some interior remodeling and watched them do a lot of slide work.

[Drifter]

When Monaco went under they hired the best of the best seasoned Tech's, The Service manager is JD. Great people

ESC - RV Customization, RV Service, RV Maintenance and Repair

[Letsgoagain]

Steve Ownby and Drifter,
Thank you for your replies. I haven't spoken to Jack Harris at MasterTech Rv yet but I have talked to JD at Elkhart Service and Collision and also to the Monaco Wakarusa service center as well as checked them out online. They all seem capable to perform the repairs I need.
If not for the informed opinions of fellow rver's such as yourselves then I would really just be taking my chances that wherever I chose to get the repairs done would do it right.
I truly appreciate your opinions and replies.
Best Regards,
Keith

[rex]

Keith, I had the same problem and had it repaired at Wildwood when Monaco operated that facility. Good news is that they did a fine job and you should see the same in Wakarusa. Bad news is that it is very expensive. Cost me a little over $4,000. The slide had to come out and the entire bottom was replaced. I also thought I had a seal leak but it turned out that a screw head had rubbed through some of the Eternabond where the slide wall joined the outside of the slide. Took about three days to complete the entire job from the time I arrived till I could leave.

[Letsgoagain]

Rex,
Thanks for recounting the experience you had. Of course I was afraid that this might be an expensive repair but that does give me some sort of idea what to expect.
Don't want this to get completely out of hand and cause further damage.
I actually thought about having the work done at Wildwood because we are going to be in the Ocala area in March but I really am not sure about Alliance coach and waiting two more months for the repair probably isn't a good idea.
Thanks again for your reply.
Best Regards,
Happy trails,
Keith

[rex]

Keith, I would not worry about the qualifications of the techs at Wildwood. Lots of them are old Monaco guys. One of the current owners was in charge of the facility when Monaco had it and is working hard to establish a good reputation. They can do anything that the factory can, and no I am in no way affiliated with them. If mine was a problem again I would not hesitate to take it to Wildwood for repairs.

Wildwood does have water/electric parking and there is a dump there. I had to go to a motel for one night while mine was being worked on. The rest of the time it was on one of their pads. The tech would pick it up each morning about 7:45 and bring it back around 4 pm. I was able to go into the shop anytime to see what was being done. They still have an open shop policy.

When you have it repaired is a good time to have all the gaskets replaced for that slide. Once they are and the slide is back in, check the top corners when the slide is out only an inch or two to make sure the gasket on the outside wall of the slide will cover the top opening corners. If it doesn't it will leak at that point. Sometimes the techs will put the new gasket on the outside of the slide and have a radius on the corners. The opening in the coach has square corners and a radius on the slide may not cover it.

[Letsgoagain]

Rex,
From your earlier post on the cost of your repair. I'm wondering if getting my insurance involved is worth a try. Did you try with your insurance and if so were you successful? Hope that question isn't to personal. If so then please forgive my forwardness and disregard.
By the way I have scheduled an appointment at the Monaco Wakarusa service center for the repairs. Taking it up next Friday if the Elkhart, Northern Indiana area doesn't have a snowstorm or something.
Best regards,
Keith

[rhoda1]

What was your experience with the Wakarusa service center? I have an appointment to go there in late Sept to get a balky slide taken care of?

thanks for any comments positive or negative

[deSanford]

Had two of my slides worked on at Coburg, Ore. last week, and now all is good. They found loose nuts on the cable etc. At my suggustion the techs used blue lock tite. deSanford

[Letsgoagain]

Rhoda1,
My experience at the Wakarusa service center was a mixed bag. I feel they did a good job repairing the water damage to the slide out but when they installed the slide out back Into the motor home they didn't install the bottom sweep seal correctly. I didn't see the light shining through the bottom seal until I got the motor home out in the sunlight at home which was 300 miles from the shop. I was in Florida about 1 weeks later and paid another rv shop to make another repair to the seal. cost me another $370.00 to have it done right, so you can say I was very unhappy about that. while I was at Wakarusa I had other things repaired, some they did a very good job and a couple small things not very well. one thing I will say is that they looked the whole coach over to reseal any caulk lines to prevent any more water damage in other places. they didn't do a very good job of that because the place in Florida found some places that Wakarusa missed.
All things considered I think I will look someplace else the next time I need repairs.

[rhoda1]

many thanks for the candid evaluation...think I might go elsewhere.