Side Out Trays

Both of mine are dual acting and extend 5' out on either side. One that I bought in 2005 is assembled with a plywood base and hence can be set up for any width. There is also no metal lip on the ends which means I can extend out from the base as needed.


The second one came with the current rig and is all welded steel including a steel lip on the ends.

There is space under each storage slide for poles, hoses, etc.

I had a slideout tray in a fifth wheel, and didn't care for it. It seemed to take up usable space and returned no really useful advantage. JMO of course. But I wouldn't have another one.

fj12ryder wrote:
I had a slideout tray in a fifth wheel, and didn't care for it. It seemed to take up usable space and returned no really useful advantage. JMO of course. But I wouldn't have another one.

Understandable.

We haul a lot of stuff because we're traveling for multiple months and easy storage access was desired. All of our storage is under slideouts so it's lower with more restricted access. I have 20" of vertical access for the storage trays and limited room on either side and under the tray. There is also additional vertical room above the 20" on the outside of the chassis rails and on one storage area I built a 7' wide shelf for chairs etc above the storage contents. Can't have to much storage space.

Under stoage area on the newer flat floor 5ers would be similar.

Just as an aside, I can't see the flat floor 5th wheels catching on. Seems to me that climbing six or seven steps every time you walk in has no advantage over three or four steps climbing in. Yes, I have to go up three steps to the bedroom/bathroom, but I'm in and out of the trailer more often than I go up the other three stairs. Could happen, but IMO there simply aren't enough pros to outweigh the cons.

It's always been one of the things I've disliked about motorhomes is the climb up every time you enter.

Stairs can be a con. One big pro is the very significant storage size but only if one wants more storage. Not sure that a flat floor toy hauler will be practical.

CA Traveler wrote:
Stairs can be a con. One big pro is the very significant storage size but only if one wants more storage.

From what I saw, they don't necessarily come with extra cargo carrying capacity. So it's great storage, but you can't actually put much in them. (shrugs)

I'm not a 5er guy so how does the Palomino Columbus River Ranch stack up at 3895 lbs cargo weight?

And with only 2 axles I'd be skeptical. Or is that OK?

My last DP had 2 of those slide outs and this one don't. Its the thing we miss most. Ours came from the factory and slid all the way out for easy loading and finding things.

Our mh had one and we picked a second one that someone put by the garbage can in an RV Park. You do lose a bit of storage room but we like being able to slide them out

I had a toyhauler that had the storage slide that worked both ways. I liked it so much that when I got the present 5er I took it out of the toyhauler and installed it in our present 5er. Works great for us.