Slides and Driver Seat Position

OFDPOS wrote:
Wonder why it seems most C's with slides are on the drivers/street side?

Actually there is a "logic" to this. A slide out on the passenger side has two primary issues.
1) The main entry door is behind the passenger seat by a small amount so the slide out would be shifted rearward, working with only a few long models.
2) The passenger side with the main entry door, is the side that people hang out under the main awning. A slide out under the awning crowds the covered area.

The driver side is the better wall for slide outs to keep the campsite and covered awning area most spacious.

Everyone has their own priorities when it comes to wanting a slide out. My wife and I jointly agreed the extra floor space & resale value did not outweigh the extra cost, sacrifices to wall space, and other consequences, so we special ordered our rig eight years ago without the slide out. We have no regrets to this day, but it has always been just the two of us. We'd likely consider a slide out in a much larger rig if we still had our kids traveling with us. We purchased our rig after the kids grew up, doing life on their own.

Thanks for the replies , Ron's post pretty much nails it by the pics and description.

Wonder why it seems most C's with slides are on the drivers/street side ?

I understand its all about "what they can cram (build) in such a tight (small) space"

But dam you'd think they would give us the little bigger than ave person some more leg room with the slide location !
Like my thread started out with I came up on a deal on one with the slide but with no leg room in the little drivers seat movement it killed the deal.

We own a Triple E Grand Touring with a slide on the drivers side of the motorhome. My drivers seat is always in the position as far away from the steering wheel as possible. The slide opens and closes without moving the seat to the front.

We drove a Big Foot Motorhome once and it was not possible.

This issue is strongly influenced by the style of the transition wall between the van and the house which applies to both sides of the rig.

If that wall is flat to the wind, the outfitter will often place the slide out close to the driver seat as this example shows.


If the transition wall is angled for aerodynamics, that forces the slide out farther back from the driver seat as shown here.

ol' yeller wrote:
My '08 Aspect 26A has almost a foot of room behind the driver's seat when the slideout is in. I can put the seat all the way back and still recline the seatback. The Aspect Cambria comes in lengths from 24' to 30' so others may not have as much room.

Our Aspect 23D is the same.

The goofiest one is on my brothers Lazy Daze. No slide but a front bath. The drivers seat reclines into a sprung panel on the side of the bathroom. Your head is in the head!

Norm

I have a street-side slide out, but it is almost a foot behind the bulkhead between the cab and the house, so no seat clearance problems on that side. Passenger side, the dinette is built against the bulkhead, but the dinette back can be folded down for clearance to recline that seat.

Issues like these will depend on individual model and model year. Some manufacturers pay more attention to things like this. This slide out/seat clearance issue, and a couple of similar "it just doesn't work for me" things was why friends of ours traded a two slide Sunseeker for an Outlook 29B (equivalent floorplan) after only one season of trying to use it.

If you want a slide out in that position, shop other brands and models and you might find one that works.

Another friend has a fiver with five slides all run by a single hydraulic pump, and to get to her refrigerator she has to run them all out because the one she needs out is the last one to move. Inconvenient for lunch stops. So whether slides can be operated individually is something else to check, for usability.

Could just be the layout (dinette) more than the slide; our Coacmen Lepracaun 3050 has no slide-- the dinette is behind the passenger seat restricting it from reclining. The couch is behind the driver seat with an empty space inbetween.

OFDPOS wrote:
How many have a slide on street side/drivers side and when the slide is in do you have enough room for the drivers seat to move back.

Found a deal on MH with a slide BUT with the slide in I was totally cramped for room. Killed the deal...

We had looked at other Brands of MH's that had slides drivers side and same thing with the drivers seat NO room to slide back.

Not trying to start a slide no slide thread , just questioning about leg room with a slide..

On mine, the seat will go all the way back, but you could not tilt the seat back, back at all. So I was sitting bolt upright. My remedy was to use a sawsall, to cut a contoured notch, if you will. To allow the seat, back to tilt. Made all the difference. I am 6'2"

MH is now very comfortable to drive

Slide trim did not appear to be structural, and 10 years and 50k miles later. It appears, to have experienced no bad side effects from my surgery.

Our Jayco Greyhawk 31FS has a street side slide behind the driver's seat. The slide is about 6 inches behind the driver's seat and does not impact the seat position. I am 5'11. I move the seat a little forward from its rear most position and fit comfortably.

-Michael

An "RV Shopping Question" that should be investigated every time/every unit. The seller will usually display the coach slides-out to create the best first impression. Not just the cockpit seats... Can you slip sideways to the bathroom, squeeze into the dinette, slides IN? We were fortunate to be given the use of a 36-ft triple slide fifth wheel. With Slides IN, we could:
1. Use the Queen Bed but not walk around it
2. Access the Bathroom wide open since it was on the way to the bedroom and no slide there
3. Use Dinette with no restriction
4. Barely access Refrigerator - Behind that were two opposing slides and NO access from there to the rear
How many of these are important to you?