To Slide or Not

One thing to look for if you don't want slides is what they call a "split bathroom". It opens up the coach like nobody's business!!

I am always getting comments from fellow RV'ers and 'many' with big Class A's how much room my MH has. Most coaches that have the side bathroom, the bathroom is so small you can't move AND it creates a long dark hallway in the coach or in some a complete wall with the hallway on the side. Making the front of the coach enclosed and small even on a 40 footer!!.

On the split bath there is a pocket door from the kitchen to bath and a folding door from bath to bedroom for privacy. When these 2 are open it really creates a big open feel from the front all the way to the back of the coach AND all the light that comes into it. Not to mention all the room in the bathroom area!! :)

We decided to go with a dual slide unit after renting a variety of lengths of class C rvs, slide and no slide, over a period of 10 years. This included Forest River, Coachmen, Tioga, and Safari brands in lengths from 24 to 32 feet.

During our rentals we found a 26 foot unit with a dinette slide to be the best compromise for us for length and maneuverability. These units also had corner queen beds. When we went to buy though, we found this 28 foot unit with dual slides and full basement.

Though it is heavier than a single slide unit it has the room to support long trips in comfort with adequate storage. It also has a full rear pass through compartment though only a couple of feet tall on the full pass through. The queen bed in the rear is walk-around with the rear slide out. The unit is also fully usable with slides in, only a couple of drawers are blocked by the rear queen bed slide.

We did not buy our Class C based on some primary way the two us and one small dog wanted to travel and camp. On the surface this approach seems to be a very practical and common sense one.

We instead bought our RV based on maximum flexibility so as to be able to use it in the widest possible variety of ways. It's a 24 foot widebody non-slide model: Being widebody, it is not too crowded even when we have to stay inside all day. Being short overall length, we can fit into small or large campsites and complete, or almost complete, U-turns on most residential streets. Not having slides we can use all of the facilities all of the time for quick stops, or during "emergencies" when the DW has to walk on a flat, smooth floor back to use the bathroom while I safely drive straight at a steady speed down a highway. Not having a slide provides stronger structural strength for our occasional rockhound exploring trips on often rough off-pavemet roads. Also, we just plain prefer to keep life as simple as possible - considering all the other mechanical and electrical stuff you have to be aware of and maintain with an RV.

Slides add room when you are parked in a campground or RV park. That is their only plus.

All the negatives posted so far are correct. A lot more weight (500-1,000 lbs each) and future maintenance problems. We use ours for traveling so less weight makes for better handling on the road. Keeps us well under the maximum even fully packed. We also overnight in rest stops a lot where slides shouldn't be deployed anyway.

Dumbest design trend is the bedroom slide that has to be deployed to use the bed. Worthless if you're on the road a lot.

I also forgot. We frequently boondock and sometimes that takes us down some pretty long and rough dirt roads. The rig holds together better with no slides and the extra weight to worry about.

For us. We have camped and RV'ed for about 48 years. We have a 23 ft Class C. A bigger rig or having slides would mean we would have to give up going to about 60% of the places we enjoy. But we love the back country and much of it has small camp sites and trees or brush around the sites and no room for slides and not much longer.

Everytime I go look at new RV's I fall in love with some unit with a slide. They feel so roomy inside compared to my non slide unit or the bed is walk around. But I have found that the non slide fits my travel style better. If I went to campgrounds and stayed for a week or longer I think I would upgrade to a slide unit, but I get itchy feet every couple days and want to move on. A few times I have gone destination camping, once in the Keys and once at Quartzite and when I got hit with bad weather the slide would have been real nice, but usually I am on the road or in a Natl park and will stay 2 or 3 days at one site then move to another park or just move to another camp ground in the same park. I like to keep things as simple as possible, my last new car (2012) had crank windows, manual trans and no keyless entry.

In all fairness, our friends' 30' Sunseeker has 2 slides; and I think they said they can access everything except one bedroom drawer when their slides are in?

Personally never been a fan. Leaks, rattles, more weight, more maintenance, more repairs, breakdowns, etc., and the structure of the slide takes up too much space when it is retracted. If I need the extra room, I buy a longer RV. Just my 2c...

Excellent information from all. I don't think that I would pay extra for a unit having a slide. However, if the price was similar to one without a slide I would consider either.

Two slides in our 30" Cambria and wouldn't have purchased without them. As far as those frightened the slide may not retract it is similar to having power windows, what would you do if your window wouldn't go up in the pouring rain.At least the slide you can manually retract.
Use the locks that keep the slide from opening by itself, I had a weld break on the bracket that is attached to the retraction rail and the rear of the slide moved out a few inches at 65mph. The front lock, properly engaged, saved the day.
Maintenance: keep the rails clean and mildly lubed. When a slide is out it attracts dust/dirt and will slow the movement in/out.
The most important suggestion is look at coaches that fit YOUR needs. Sit in it with slides both open and closed. Tons of slides out there, tons of happy users.