Newell Gurus

Simon, we have always owned non-slide coaches before this one as my goal was to be able to be on the road when called in about 30 minutes. The slide is definitely a love/hate thing but after I get it sealed up and working it may be a different game for us. Simon, private message me if you want to talk woodworking - I can give you some tips on which tools I use most. I have several orbital sanders including a Milwaukee 18-volt that I loved until I broke down and finally bought a Festool Rotex - it is a total game-changer (I even use it to polish my cars now!), I rarely ever use my Milwaukee any more :-(.
Dave thanks for the kudos. My slide was definitely sagging in the middle (mine are HWH slides) so I’m coming up with a way to ‘arch’ the slide room ‘truss’ so it will engage the seal completely. There was also a suggestion of using Eternabond tape across the top but hopefully will not have to go that route. I’m going to be using RivNuts to hold the truss rather than the small screws - this is probably a good upgrade for any Newell with an HWH slide room. Once those screws rust out from water getting in they are pretty useless.

Hmmmmmmm. I have seen one coach that used the eternabond tape on the top. Over time the pressure of the slide seal caused the “adhesive goo” to ooze out from under the tape. It of course stuck to the seal and pulled the seal out.

The goo is a bear to remove. I put it in the same category as POR paint and spray foam insulation.

Richard, that makes complete sense! You are also correct that POR is impossible to get off anything it sticks to!. I don’t plan to use anything between the slide and seal after the repairs. Maybe 3M tape of some sort would work better as a last resort to keep rain out?

Adrian,
You may have already considered doing something with your salon slide along these lines (http://newellgurus.com/showthread.php?tid=5101). While working on the slide lock pins I checked the slide hook engagement. This solution has worked out great, I still have a positive engagement with very little perceptible sag in the middle.

Deja vu! This looks just like our salon looked like. Like you we're rebuilding it, its a major job.