Lower slide room flap gets caught in rollers. Service center says it is due to using 303 Protectant?

Dear Dave, 
On the bottom of our Schwintek slide, I just noticed that the bottom seal is getting caught in the rollers. We bought it new in 2019 and are the original owners. After you review my pictures, is there a seal that will work better than the original seal installed by Forest River, and should I replace the original one? One shop told me that because I used 303 Protectant on the seal it softened it, so that now it folds back when I’m closing the slide and gets caught in the rollers. —Eugene, 2019 Forest River Luxury Surveyor model 226 RBDS

Dear Eugene,
First, I believe this is an installation issue and not because you used 303 Protectant! The flapper seal, as we call it, is designed to flip back and forth to wipe the surface as the slide room goes in, and also keep it sealed when extended. Looking at the photo, it is evident that nobody used a plumb line or anything close to a level when installing the metal trim piece.

Using 303 Protectant probably would have helped

Also, a continuous piece of rubber all along the bottom is bound to get caught up in the rollers, in my opinion. The flap is designed to flip in the direction of the movement of the room. However, when new, they are stiff and sometimes do not flip but rather slide in the original direction. We have had to install trim pieces on the side wall of some rooms to make the flap “flip”. If your flap was not flipping, it most likely did not flip in the direction of the roller, and that is why it did not get caught for a long time. Using 303 Protectant would have made it more pliable, which is a good thing. But when it did flip, it got caught in the roller.

No need to have flap cover roller

All the designs I have come across have the flap cut out on each side of the roller, as you can see on these two examples. The roller spins freely and there is no need to have the flap covering the roller. It will seal just fine when the room is fully extended as there is a bulb seal on the inside flange.

I think you would be OK with just cutting a notch at the rollers. However, since it is such a wavy mess, you might want to redo this yourself. You can buy stock flapper trim from etrailer.com or other suppliers. It looks like the trim is just a stock metal edge trim, as the flapper seal comes with an adhesive strip, not the metal one.

 You might also enjoy this from Dave 

My RV’s slide room flap won’t “flip,” so I use a stick to pull it out

Dear Dave, 
You’ve answered several questions for me—many thanks. Today’s question is: The wipers on my RV’s slide rooms do not extend all the way on the opened slide. I have made sure to keep them sprayed with silicone spray. I saw this when we had our walk-through. The salesman said don’t worry about it, with use and spray they will extend. It’s now been over two years. I use a small, long stick to work them out. Thanks again. —Steve, 2021 Reflection 303RLS

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Dave Solberg is a leading expert in the RV industry and the author of the “RV Handbook.”

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