downtheroad wrote: Terry,
I can assure you that once you step over the line to the 'slide side' you will wish you had gotten a rig with an even bigger slide or that one you looked at with more than 1 slide..
X2. The extra space it creates inside, is really nice. Helps keep inside from feeling like you're in a tiny 'box'.
Now that you're going to be camping with more people, Terry, I think you'll appreciate and want that extra space even more.
Horror stories? LOL, thats like so many other things RV related on here, Terry. You only hear on here about the few times people have issues. You never hear about the billions and billions of others that never have an issue with something.
Last trailer we had, had a huge slide. We camped with it for 8 years, never once had ANY issue with the slide at all. Never leaked, never got stuck, never any of those issues (and heaven forbid, we didnt even have a topper on the top of it all those years, and there were occasions we traveled and camped in downpours!). Trailer before that had a slide, too, and slide was never an issue with it, either.
If the slideout, seals, etc. are done properly when initially built, they will work fine. Rubber seals may need replacing after several years of use, but thats the case with almost ANYTHING rubber on an RV.
One thing I will suggest if you get a unit with slideout, that will make you feel much better about it: Make sure you get good instructions, hardware needed, etc. to manually bring the slide in/out if the motor ever fails. I've actually never had to do that, but it does give you (or it does me) good peace of mind knowing that I can work the slide manually if I need to.
That, and before you buy the TT, bring the slide(s) in/out a few times, and make sure they operate OK without too much noise, binding, etc. I know when we were shopping for new MHs, one we looked at, the slides just did not go in/out very well, seemed to jerk around and 'twist' some as it went in/out. That unit was quickly marked off our list.
* This post was
edited 03/21/12 10:27am by willald *
Will & Angela
2 children that love camping, Stephen & Allison
2012 FR Georgetown 351DS on F53 (V10) Chassis Our Rig
For years, we had a small 5er with no slide. Access within the rig was a narrow walkway wide enough for one person at a time, and one person had to sit down in order for two people to pass. We now have a 6-foot slide and we love the extra room it gives us. No leaks, and no problems. I do believe the slide out to be one of the best innovations in the more recent RV industry.
Our slide has elec and manual control. If I lose power or the elec motor quits, I can hand crank it. As far as leaks go I am less worried about the slide leaking than the caulk joinds. The rubber seals on a slide are better IMO than caulk in that they don't need maintnence. Sure you need to inspect them. The extra room you get far out ways the "may leak" thinking.
To me a slide should be standard equipment like an elec jack.
I used to feel the same way you do, and I also thought that the guy with the slide had more room thus every one showed up there to play games. If I want to go to bed I could go to my TT and go to bed and not wait for everyone to leave. Well, that lasted a few years, so now that all the kids are at our TT it's time to change my mind and get a TT with at least two slides maybe three.
In my 8 years of traveling I have only met one person that had a serious slide issue in a Class A that prevented driving. I can not speak of TT slide issues. I have had to adjust my bedroom slide once -due to a slight creep. But the space inside with three slides extended is pretty amazing.
Steve,Kathy,Josh & Morpheus the Basenji
2004 40' TSDP Country Coach Inspire DaVinci
350 Cummins, 3000 Allison
2008 Wrangler X Rubicon/Blue OX Tow Bar/Ready Brake
I would be hard pressed to own a TT without slide-outs. I had one in my last trailer, have one in my present trailer, and will have them in my next trailer.
Brad ('68), Sandy ('71), Amber (shephard), Niko (shiba inu)
Hey, theres nothing wrong with not wanting any slides. When we bought our Motorhome, we could have bought anything that we wanted to.
But we only wanted a "Wide Body Rexhall", and we also did "NOT" want any slides. The Rexhall that we did buy, we bought for a "Once In a Lifetime Buy", and we have never looked back.
Just how much room does two older poeple want with one very samll "Yorkie" anyways.
We have had our fair share of RVs over the past 45+ years as RV'ers. TT's, 5ers and Motorhomes. Not one of them ever had a slide. Not bbecasue of any issues wiht them as I do all of my own RV Reapirs and Maintance anyways.
We just have never felt the need for one, Period.
The Motorhome that we have, we just love the Floor Plan, and has plenty of room for the 3 of us.
We stayed just big enough to be able to get into most places that we want to go to or stay at. We mostly do all Boondocking anyways. We spend most of our time outside anyways.
We have every comfort that most larger RV's have. We also use our RV On/Off all year long. Winter time is some of the best Boondocking there is. Haviing no slide makes it much easier and cheaper to Heat, and to keep Cool.
Having no slides makes it easier to get into a lot of spots, that we wouldn't be able to with a couple of slides or even just one slide.
But like I said, just how mcuh room do you really need to be very happy. We find that we have more than enough room to make us happy. Even on bad weather days, we still have plenty of room to move around in, and not feel one big crowed.
It works perfectly for our needs. Good Luck. Happy Travels. Dan & Jill
Four suggestions: Post the make and model of the rig and ask for specific information on that slide and post information on the slide mechanism.
Make sure you completely understand access limitations when the slide is in and while out (outside storage). The BR slide on our last rig was on the DS. This can limit your options when parked in front of a friends house. In the case of our daughter the city would not allow parking facing traffic. But as a guess we were allowed 10 days and residents could only park for 2 days.
Make sure you understand the effects of wind and rain. ie I used a small rope as a deflapper on the last rig for high wind. Haven't needed it on the current rig. Both rigs (Monaco) have small rain gutters on the bottom sides to divert any water back outside when the slide is retracted. But use nonskid tape to ensure that the wipe seals flip to the correct orientation.
Never, ever take possesion until you thoroughly understand how to manually operate the slide.
Of COURSE you'll have a lot more posts that begin with "slide problem" than you will with "No problems with my slide". 85000 towing miles with my Rockwood and I had ONE issue with it. ON the way home from Alaska the stator cap vibrated loose and the motor fell apart. I hand cranked my slide for the last week of the trip which was no problem, and dropped the belly pan and put it back together when I got home. Still working fine today.
2011 F-150 HD Ecoboost 3.5 V6. 2550 payload, 17,100 GCVWR - 2004 F-150 HD (Traded after 80,000 towing miles) 2007 Rockwood 8314SS 34' travel trailer
US Govt survey shows three out of four people make up 75% of the total population
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