To Slide or Not

rockhillmanor wrote:
For these reasons I decided on a no slide MH. :C

Our decision process was similar. To add to Rock's excellent list of slide-retracted restrictions, in some coaches, the retracted slide restricts the position of the driver and/or passenger seat.

For us, though, the decision was pretty much weight and maintenance driven. We looked at a 28 and ended up with a 31. That eased "space" issues, adding to maneuvering issues. There's still a choke point where both of us want to be in the narrow space between galley and dinette, even if one is just passing front to rear.

IMHO Slides are highly over rated! You think you are gaining a whole nuther room, but in actuality all it does is push your couch or dinette out which gives nothing more than one or maybe two feet more 'aisle space' to the actual interior of your coach.

If you do decide to buy one with slides be SURE to make the owner/dealership pull ALL the slides IN before you buy.

The first thing the salesman will tell you is there is no battery installed so he can not bring the slides in. Yup, he does NOT want to bring the slides in because you will see just how much it limits the use of the coach when they are in.

I make them get a battery and pull the slides in or walk off the showroom floor to another dealers.

You will find on many if not all, that when the slides are all in you have NO access to one or more of the following, the sink, bathroom or closet in the bedroom. When you are traveling or choose to stop to rest etc. You will not have access to most of the inside of the coach.

If the DW gets cold while you are driving and wants to get a sweater out of the closet you will have a very unhappy DW because she won't be able to get to it. A bedroom slide when in eliminates your access to it when it is in.

And, forget about getting a sandwich on the run made while on the road because you will most likely not be able to get to the sink and/or fridge.

The more slides you order the less access you will have to the inside of your coach unless you deploy the slides.

If you are a destination weekend RV'er this might not be a problem for you but if you full time, snowbird, or take long trips it will become inconvenient often.

The C's have a weight issue to begin with adding the weight of the slides just adds to the problem.
I've often wondered when they add a slide to just one side if they counter that weight to balance the coach?

For these reasons I decided on a no slide MH. :C

I think it has to do with your personal use of your rig. If it is a single person, maybe a couple going with no slide might be just fine. Also depends on how much time you spend inside, versus outside. Our Jayco has one slide, we like the additional space for friends or grandkids. But if it is just the two of us we could go without. Our's works manually as well. It doesn't obstruct the bathroom door or anything. Matter of fact, we often travel and don't open it overnight unless we are staying longer. Ours secures with braces so the slide is double locked closed. Hope that helps.

I am one who did not have them then got them and now this next coach that I have ordered will not have any. The slide steals storage space for a bit of extra walkway. Sure some layouts let you have a east west bed in a slide but everything is a compromise. I rather be solid and no slide issues and the benefit id when traveling you are home still. I am going smaller now but if I went back to a class A I would either order a coach without one or go with a super c without one. I have had them for ten years and did not have them for 7 and decided that I rathe r not have any.

I went from a no slide class A to a 2 slide class A and will never go back to non slide, I might down size in the future but it will still have to have at least 1 slide.

Also I think slide outs will help with the sale down the road when your ready to change.

Deb and Ed M wrote:
The 13' slide on our 5th wheel made it open up to almost "hotel-room size" - but we couldn't use the furnace unless the slide was open because it covered the floor vents!

Our former Class C was a no-slide model - and that made it perfect for traveling. We could pull into our overnite spot, toss out the electric cord - and go to sleep. We didn't need to worry about being particularly level. Packing up in the morning meant we pulled the electric cord back in ;-)

In Australia slides have become fairly generic, but many manufacturers of Caravans do not offer them. In Europe they are rare as their Caravans are fairly light and a slide would add too much weight. Strangely their mainly Class C Motorhomes do not have them, although the same vehicle base(Ducato, IVECO, Sprinter, Renault Master) do in Australia. All Japanese Truck based C's have slides
Never to be seen in the US, a Renault Master with a small rear slide

Love the space, but ...it's definitely a love-hate relationship. We had a problem on our maiden voyage in our new-to-us (three-year old at the time) Class C. On our particular RV, retracting it is not a one-person job, not easy to do, and requires some muscle power, a ladder and the correct size screwdriver. With help, we got it done and were on our way home. Had to replace one of the motors.

Hopefully it won't happen again but at least we know the drill now, so the advice is good about getting familiar with your unit (as always). It's just one more thing that can go wrong at a bad time. If I were out shopping and liked two units, I'd go with the no-slide choice.

No matter what type of RV you have, I would suggest researching the emergency procedures for the type of slide system you have. What are you going to do when the slide is stuck in the out position or you have no power? What problems have other people had with that brand of slide?
Proper maintenance can prevent future problems. What maintenance does your slide require?
Things rarely break at convenient times, so the more you can learn about the various systems on your RV the better off you will be.

We've had slides in both our TT and our current Class C. The benefits of them is more room when extended. They do make a difference. The thing is to make sure that you can access everything when the slides are closed. We could not with the TT, but we can with the Class C.

My opinion is to avoid them if you can. Our next unit will probably be a Class B or maybe back to a small TT (wife isn't on board with that yet). But we will probably avoid slides. Probably won't have too much of a choice on the Class B (the ones we like don't have them).

If you are living fulltime and sit in a place for a month or more, then you will probably want slides.

The 13' slide on our 5th wheel made it open up to almost "hotel-room size" - but we couldn't use the furnace unless the slide was open because it covered the floor vents!

Our former Class C was a no-slide model - and that made it perfect for traveling. We could pull into our overnite spot, toss out the electric cord - and go to sleep. We didn't need to worry about being particularly level. Packing up in the morning meant we pulled the electric cord back in ;-)