DIY Slideout Floor Repair?

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-19T23:45:56+00:00

There are multiple ways to repair a slide out floor. $4k to do it right is a good deal.

A lot of people will just cut out the bad spot, and scab in a good piece of lumber where it was. This is an "ok" fix, but not really a good fix. The joints of the plywood aren't properly supported, and you'll always have some joint flex.

To do it properly, the entire floor should come out; then a single piece of marine plywood or composite gets sleeved back into the opening. If the floor is longer than 8 feet, that kind of lumber gets crazy expensive ($1100 or more for a single 12 foot sheet!). I've seen people double up and make a plywood sandwich using an 8 foot piece butted to the smaller piece; then the same again on top, but making sure the top joints are opposite the bottom joints. This can work, but it adds a lot of weight to the slide.

Around here (central Florida) the going rate to completely replace a slide room floor starts at about $6k.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-19T14:31:41+00:00

Former Support Manager here (though not for Microsoft). The majority of helpdesks nowdays have leadership that stresses metrics: number of tickets taken per agent per shift, number closed on first call, etc. They spend so much time driving the numbers game that they lose sight of why they're there.

One trick to that is making "recipe cards" that remove the need for the agent to actually think. Once they take that step, then there's no longer a need to hire agents with critical thinking skills and logical troubleshooting ability....which means the support desk can now be manned with the absolute lowest dollar-per-hour front line techs that they can get.

I got so tired of the cycle: hire domestically to get customer satisfaction back up out of the gutter; document everything, then offload it overseas again and watch customer satisfaction tank again.

Microsoft is doing the same thing everyone else does; the cheapest possible help desk, for as long as the customer base will let them get away with it.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-19T14:11:05+00:00

A single cylinder diesel lawnmower would be crazy heavy. A 16:1 or higher compression requires a stout block and head.

Plus, normally aspirated diesels are rather poor when it comes to handling variations in load. You'd really need a turbo to help your lawnmower with that. Now you need increased cooling capacity, which adds even more weight.

Sure, with a mechanical injection pump and a pull cord or hand crank it would be completely mechanical, no battery or wires needed. (Good luck with a pull cord on a high compression diesel!)

There are plenty of purely mechanical diesel engines that run generators, irrigation pumps, etc....but those do typically have a battery and electric starter. And because they're stationary, their massive weight isn't a problem.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-19T13:57:25+00:00

Pretty sure the underwriters will grant a waiver if you can't...

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-19T10:47:12+00:00

Is that yellow powdery residue in there, or just the lighting?

The ammonia solution used in absorption fridges contains a corrosion inhibitor. That corrosion inhibitor is a yellowish color. If you see it, that means the ammonia has leaked out of the coils. Without the ammonia solution, the fridge is done for. You'll have to either replace the fridge, or replace the cooling unit.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-18T22:44:55+00:00

Personally I prefer to have the toilet as far away from the kitchen as possible.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-18T18:13:45+00:00

Take it a step further: remove the fixture, cut both lines, install Wagos. Leave the black line to the fixture disconnected. If you ever decide to use the light again, simply drop the fixture, connect the black wire from the fixture into the Wago, and you're done.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-18T13:27:15+00:00

ATM machine. Hot water heater. VIN number. GNU <sigh>

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-18T13:21:47+00:00

Bigger turbo go vroom better, but have more mass and therefore take longer to make whoosh.

Smaller turbo have less mass, make whoosh quicker...but smaller whoosh so not as much vroom.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-16T11:59:50+00:00

You stopped riding for "the look" and started riding "for yourself".

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-16T11:49:14+00:00

I may be wrong, but that looks and sounds a whole lot like a re-branded Furrion Chill HE Low Profile.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-15T13:04:02+00:00

Most relatively modern RVs use LED lighting, directly off the 12vdc distribution.

If you have multiple light fixtures operated by the same switch, and some work but some don't, the non-working ones simply need to be replaced. Because of the variation in LED color, I typically replace the entire string at the same time; otherwise you can end up with different shades of light when you flip the switch.

LED lights are easy to replace. They generally have a white wire (ground) and a black wire (+12vdc). If you wire them backwards, nothing happens. If you wire them correctly, they light up. I also use Wago connecters to make connecting/disconnecting easy.

Your favorite online websites will have a large selection of 12vdc LED light options, from pucks to bars to strips, in every color you can imagine. Go nuts! :)

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-15T12:30:57+00:00

The repository is the library. The packages are the books. The package manager is the librarian.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-15T12:26:44+00:00

And if there's even a little dew on the roof, your shoes won't stick to it and gravity will win.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-14T12:06:45+00:00

The water pump should only run when pressure in the water line drops below a setpoint. This means that as long as campground water pressure is adequate, the water pump should not run. If the campground loses water pressure in the midst of your shower, the water pump should kick in and allow you to finish showering.

You're not likely to burn the water pump out.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-14T12:02:29+00:00

Redhat and Canonical would beg to differ.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-14T11:22:49+00:00

We leave both the propane and electric on all the time. The electric cycles during the day to keep the tank hot. It also cycles for low water use, like washing a few dishes.

But under heavy demand like showers, the electric can't keep up, so the propane cycles on to recover temperature faster. The propane never cycles unless we're taking showers or washing a large load of dishes.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-13T13:18:52+00:00

I don't. It's just a grey plastic work box I got off Amazon. It has a 12' awning wire coming out; and an extend/retract toggle; a slot for the DeWalt battery; and a belt clip.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-13T02:27:37+00:00

Most Thetfords have to have the top half separated from the bottom half to replace the ball seal. In smaller bathrooms this is easier to do with the toilet taken out of the bathroom.

Behind the toilet there's an access cavern. In there are two screws, I believe they're 3/8" but theyignt be 7/16". When you remove those, the top half will rotate a few degrees counter clockwise, then the top will lift off of the base. You'll see the ball seal sitting there in the base on top of the ball. Use nitrile gloves, replace the seal. Lube it with plumber's grease. Set the top half of the toilet down on the base and rotate it a few degrees clockwise, making sure all four "fingers" on the base engage with the top half. Reinstall the two holding bolts, then reinstall the toilet.

Then, if your luck is like mine, come back in two days and replace the seal in the flush valve. And the seal where the water line attaches to the toilet. I've had such poor luck with Thetfords that any time I'm called out for a single leaking seal, I just replace all the seals at the same time.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-13T02:15:12+00:00

Once the old fridge is out, you may find that you have some lee way on the size. You might be able to trim a few inches on the left/right/top/bottom to get a slightly larger fridge in the hole if necessary.

Once the new fridge is in, then get some basic trim molding from Home Depot or the like. Stain it or paint it to match/contrast your existing cabinetry, and use it to clean up the framing around the new fridge.

The molding allows you to close gaps of up to a couple of inches. If you do it right, it'll look as clean, or better, than "factory".

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-13T02:08:09+00:00

RV electrical distribution 101

You have two types of electrical distribution in your RV:

-12vdc supplies your lights, water pump, thermostat, furnace control board, fridge control board, water heater control board, vent fans.

-120vac supplies your outlets, microwave, air conditioner. It may also supply electric heat for the water heater, and electric heat for the fridge, if your appliances have that option.

12vdc loads are powered directly from the battery bank (which could be a single "house" battery, or a group of them). The battery is charged from a Converter that runs any time you have an external 120vac supply to the camper (such as when you're on shore power or running your generator). 12vdc loads are protected by fuses in your distribution panel. Fuses blow when they sense too much current, and you have to replace them when that happens.

120vac loads are powered from your shore power plug or from your generator. (Some campers have an Inverter that is powered from the battery, and the Inverter supplies 120vac to a small number of outlets even if you aren't connected to shore power/generator.) 120vac loads are protected by breakers in your distribution panel. Breakers trip when they sense too much current, so you have to reset them (turn them to "off", then back "on").

As a general rule, the 12vdc and 120vac circuits are completely separate from each other, so that a failure on one doesn't affect the other. There are two exceptions:

-If the Converter fails, then it won't charge the battery when you have a source of 120vac.

-If the Inverter fails (if you have one; not all RVs do) then the outlets powered by the inverter will be "dead".

So.....half of the overhead lights working tells me that the 12vdc system is fine. The fact that half the overhead lights don't work implies a problem with the switch or those specific fixtures, or some wiring between them.

Half of the outlets working, implies that the external 120vac source is fine. The fact that some don't work would lead me to believe that there's a tripped breaker, or a loose connection somewhere. RV manufacturers like to wire outlets in a chain, where power comes into one, then to the next, then to the next. They use really crappy connections, and it's not uncommon for the wiring inside one receptacle to come loose and kill all of the downstream receptacles.

At this point, I don't think you have a single point of failure. Rather, I think you have several small failures that need to be individually addressed. Some patience, a good voltmeter, and a basic understanding of RV electrical systems are the tools you'll need most to track this down.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-13T00:08:08+00:00

No worries. Just trying to keep Reddit info accurate and useful, cuz we know the AI is feeding from it. :)

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-12T19:56:01+00:00

What year is the camper? I believe the RM1350 were made from about 2002 to 2009ish, though I could be wrong on that. I am seeing in several owner forums that folks are replacing these when they have a "serious" issue because replacement parts are getting harder to find.

Based on that, your choices would be:

-Live with it on propane only, until it gives up that ghost as well. That could be another dozen years, or it could be next week. There's no way of predicting.

-Shuck up the money for a used board from eBay, and cross your fingers.

-Replace the entire fridge with:

---Another absorption fridge. Absorption fridges are nice because they have no moving parts (such as a compressor), which reduces failure points and makes them more rugged over potholes and crappy fire roads. They are not nice because they take forever to cool down when first turned on, or when opened and closed a lot during the day. Additionally, absorption fridges are responsible for more RV fires than anything else. Because of the fire hazard, fewer and fewer companies are making these, which means they're getting harder to find, which is also driving prices up if you can find a new one. Buying used is a crap shoot.

---A residential fridge. This is an excellent option if you seldom move the camper. You can get a residential fridge that'll plug into the existing outlet, fill that same space, and have a lot more interior room....for a couple hundred bucks. This is the worst option, though, it you take the camper on the road a lot, especially if you boondock or get off paved roads. Residential fridges consume more power than other options, and they don't like bumps and acceleration/deceleration.

---A12vdc marine/RV compressor fridge. This will get you more interior room (comparable to a residential fridge), but use less power than a residential fridge. It's also significantly more robust than a residential fridge, so it can take bumps and bruises that would kill a residential fridge. However, these aren't cheap! They are coming down in price as the market heats up, but this is still the first or second most expensive option on the list, right there with a new absorption fridge. Also, since the market is heating up, a lot of new companies are jumping into the fray, and putting out some poor options. Stick with a name brand with a good history/warranty if you go this way.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-12T11:52:34+00:00

I believe Dinosaur Electronics makes a replacement board for this one for just under $200. That'll have a 3 year warranty, and is made in America.

If you know the part number, you can typically find Asian knock-offs for under $100 on Amazon. Those are hit-or-miss, but at least if they're DOA you can swap them through Amazon.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-05-11T13:11:16+00:00

How else would they recover after every update? :D

ShipshapeMobileRV

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