01-14-2018, 07:03 PM
Gang,
My No 1. slide has given me ample reasons to expand my vocabulary. Problems have been multiple bearing failures, rotted ceiling, and one "waterfall event" where water actually poured into the coach. After some serious troubleshooting it became clear what the problem was.
My slide is really long, and "sags" in the middle. This sag means that the bladder seal cannot reach down to the middle of the slide and water can just run in. These pics are of the top of the slide with the slide extended (valance removed).
Richard Entrekin helped me study the leak and we were able to determine that the hook that is designed to lift the middle of the slide ceiling when the room is extended was not engaging in the slot in the coach frame. (Newell had previously beefed up the metal bar that holds the hook, but now the hook was hitting the wall instead of the slot).
Note: if you have not looked closely at the top of your slide this description will not make sense. If you are wondering about your slide PM me and I will explain more.
We decided to build a structure like a suspension bridge...specifically a Bowstring Truss Arch to help support the middle of the slide. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truss_bridge. Our first experiment was to modify the steel bar that Newell had previously beefed up and add a long bar to the top and some supports. It was ugly, it was heavy...but it worked. It removed about 3/4" of a bow with a 50 lb weight suspended in the middle.
The first prototype is the one on the right. The final version is on the left
For the final version, we scrapped the idea of using the heavy steel 1x1" tube that was previously used. Instead we used 1x1 thin-walled steel tube along with a suspension system using rod steel. This took a lot of weight from the structure but added strength. We ended up with about the same strength but removed about 20lbs of weight. We also investigated rebuilding the valence structure to remove weight but decided that it was time to test the beer Richard had been brewing.
Once we put the room back together, we found that the "hook" that pulls up the middle of the room was now hitting the slot in the frame about 1/2" higher. This allowed it to to its job properly. (Before it was hitting the wall and just bending the room inward)
I have now moved the coach and tested the room and it seals well. In fact the entire room structure seems far more rigid!
DO YOU HAVE THIS PROBLEM? The easiest way to diagnose this problem is to darken the inside of the coach on a bright day. If you can see light coming in on the top side of the slide....you could have this problem.
Ps. Squire Wipple was the inventor of the bow-arch truss.
My No 1. slide has given me ample reasons to expand my vocabulary. Problems have been multiple bearing failures, rotted ceiling, and one "waterfall event" where water actually poured into the coach. After some serious troubleshooting it became clear what the problem was.
My slide is really long, and "sags" in the middle. This sag means that the bladder seal cannot reach down to the middle of the slide and water can just run in. These pics are of the top of the slide with the slide extended (valance removed).
Richard Entrekin helped me study the leak and we were able to determine that the hook that is designed to lift the middle of the slide ceiling when the room is extended was not engaging in the slot in the coach frame. (Newell had previously beefed up the metal bar that holds the hook, but now the hook was hitting the wall instead of the slot).
Note: if you have not looked closely at the top of your slide this description will not make sense. If you are wondering about your slide PM me and I will explain more.
We decided to build a structure like a suspension bridge...specifically a Bowstring Truss Arch to help support the middle of the slide. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truss_bridge. Our first experiment was to modify the steel bar that Newell had previously beefed up and add a long bar to the top and some supports. It was ugly, it was heavy...but it worked. It removed about 3/4" of a bow with a 50 lb weight suspended in the middle.
The first prototype is the one on the right. The final version is on the left
For the final version, we scrapped the idea of using the heavy steel 1x1" tube that was previously used. Instead we used 1x1 thin-walled steel tube along with a suspension system using rod steel. This took a lot of weight from the structure but added strength. We ended up with about the same strength but removed about 20lbs of weight. We also investigated rebuilding the valence structure to remove weight but decided that it was time to test the beer Richard had been brewing.
Once we put the room back together, we found that the "hook" that pulls up the middle of the room was now hitting the slot in the frame about 1/2" higher. This allowed it to to its job properly. (Before it was hitting the wall and just bending the room inward)
I have now moved the coach and tested the room and it seals well. In fact the entire room structure seems far more rigid!
DO YOU HAVE THIS PROBLEM? The easiest way to diagnose this problem is to darken the inside of the coach on a bright day. If you can see light coming in on the top side of the slide....you could have this problem.
Ps. Squire Wipple was the inventor of the bow-arch truss.
Bill Johnson
Birmingham, Alabama