I'm looking to upgrade from our Lance 880 to a 08 1055 Lance. We want more headroom over cab, a bigger bath & a basement model for less distance from the floor to the bed, (to make it easier to get into). I "think" we can live without a slide, we tend to drive off road quite a bit & I don't really want the issues that come with a slide. I'm kind of thinking that most any new camper w/a slide will be ok for awhile but after 5-10yrs that I'm going to have problems down the road with a slide unit. Its just the two of us, & besides When the weathers decent were usually sitting out under the awning anyway, but that's just us. My Wife has a little reservation about spending the bucks for a used non slide & maybe we should get a slide model. I just can't quite come to spending 35-40k for a new slide camper.What's the opinions out there? I know this has been discussed before, but am I off based on my thinking about slides? Thanks

First thing to consider is can your pickup handle the added weight of a slide?As far as slide durability on back roads it was something we pondered on our last TT purchase, but in the end the added space was worth it when the weather went to******as we camp early in the year. Our TT is 2 years old with ~80 nights and nearly every trip involves dirt, no slide issues to day. On a TC the extra room is huge, but like I mentioned it comes at the cost of weight.

We have an older (99) Dodge 1 ton dually 4x4, it could handle the wt of a slide. But if I was going to get a new camper (bucks no object) I would get a 995 EC but it would be over 4000#'s loaded which is to much for my old truck IMO & to heavy on rough roads,etc. We do have a slide in our TT which we do like, but we never use it to travel in. We prefer the TC for all the reasons we have campers. In fact were going to sell the TT this summer because we won't need it anymore. Thanks!

If you look at the actual increase of weight of a slide, it's really only 2-500 lbs, 500 for a very large slide on the heavy side. The reason is that typically manufacturers remove cabinets and the slides aren't really that deep. A deep one isn't really that much more material. As it turns out, that's about 1 to 1 1/2 foot decrease in length for the same weight. Just think about the "actual" increase in material required.No hardside camper is going to hold up to real off-roading. Most of the components in a hardside are exactly the same if it is a slide or not. If you think you are going to bend your bed enough to knock a slide out of alignment or break it, you are likely to destroy your hardside wall as well. However, some hardsides like a Northern Lite for example are a completely different design compared to a typical hardside.By 2005-2006 when I bought mine, most of the TC manufacturers of the time had perfected the slide through several revisions starting around 2000. The newer TC manufacturers like Chalet and Bigfoot who were later to slides are a different story although the people building the Chalet supposedly are the people who designed the Eagle Caps.I suggest going to the lots in the area and pickout the types of floor plans you really like. For us, we were giving up way too much open space to get a nonside model compared to our Host. But, I'd say that not all slide model floor plans are not as open as ours. If you like hallways, you can get that it in either a slide or nonslide model. Likewise, not all campers have the same amount of windows.Obviously, the slide mechanism is one more system compared to nonslide models. However, do some searches here and you'll probably find they aren't as problematic as you might think before you do the search!

It's a no brainer for us. Had one without and now have one with. Wouldn't have a camper without a slide again. We like to spend several months at a time in our camper in the winter down south.

I like my non slide one less thingto leak or have problems with JMO

SLIDE OR NOT? | Good Sam Community

jefe_4x4
Explorer
Mar 24, 2014
bka wrote:
"So there are times, sometimes weeks on end, that I never put my slide out. When I am in travel mode and grabbing overnight spots, stealth camping if you will, I typically don't put my slide out, so as to blend into my surroundings."
Alright, tell me what part of this 47 foot rig would you say would 'blend in'? 8<)

This has been a lively discussion of the pros and cons of slides, but I'm afraid no one is going to change the results of anyone's own experience.
jefe
run100
Explorer
Mar 22, 2014
Pre-kids, started with a non-slide. Added kids, so moved to a slide and wouldn't want it any other way. Love the space and love the roomy booth dinette. Works great for meals, playing games and planning our excursions (reading maps, books, iPad, etc.)

Although full access is possible with the slide in on a Lance 855S, sometimes we put it out about 6-inches when stopping along the road. The remote control makes it simple and it literally takes a few seconds. If you can operate your cell phone, you can put out your slide with ease.
bka0721
Explorer II
Mar 21, 2014
BobTowne wrote:
bka0721 wrote:
If you do decide to go with a slide, you might want to put a priority of being able to still use the truck camper when the slide is in.

b

This was definitely one of our priorities - it falls under one of our prioritized categories, functionality.
Functionality is often in the Eye of the Beholder. For me, not being able to funtionally use the interior of my TC, would be a game killer. As I often keep my slide in, during sand and wind storms (Heavy wind/sand/cold infiltrates the slider's seals) and extreme cold conditions. So there are times, sometimes weeks on end, that I never put my slide out. When I am in travel mode and grabbing overnight spots, stealth camping if you will, I typically don't put my slide out, so as to blend into my surroundings.

But, if your camping is mostly/entirely within areas where a slide is always slid out and utilized, such as a campground, driveway, dry camping/boondocking, without stops in between. Then not having full access to your interior is not as much as a priority as it would be for me. Thus, purely functional for you! But not functional, for my uses.

b
BobTowne
Explorer
Mar 21, 2014
bka0721 wrote:
If you do decide to go with a slide, you might want to put a priority of being able to still use the truck camper when the slide is in.

b

This was definitely one of our priorities - it falls under one of our prioritized categories, functionality.
nycsteve
Explorer
Mar 20, 2014
Get the slide topper installed. Much less water on the top of the slide when it rains plus no branches or leaves.
Sparky87k5
Explorer
Mar 20, 2014
ck1 wrote:
...if you do go with a 1055 (which is a great camper by the way) go with a dinette..i ordered mine with the sofa and wish i didn't...when we are in there eating you are staring at the bathroom wall vs a dinette you are able to look out the window...

I had the same conclusion when I bought my '05 Eagle Cap 850 non slide. It had the sofa and after one trip of eating and staring at the bathroom wall I decided to change it. Removed the sofa and all the material from it for later use to make cushions for the new dinette I built. I used as much of the OEM materials I could and bought a new table for an 850 slide version that matched perfectly. Cut the table down to fit my new dinette and we are much happier as we eat and look out the windows now. We used almost all the foam and cloth from the original sofa to make new cushions for the dinette, only thing not used was steel framework of sofa.
Butch50
Explorer
Mar 20, 2014
dakonthemountain wrote:
brholt wrote:
I'ld just add that we try and go out on weekends. The weather forecast up here in winter is usually rain but we go anyway since the forecasts are often wrong and there are often "breaks" that are pretty nice. If the forecast is correct we settle in the camper and read a book, work on a project, or otherwise relax (we come prepared). The extra space of the slide is very nice in those circumstances. I don't know if we would try and go as much if we were ending up "cramped" in a non slide too much.

Here's my question about that.... if it's raining and you put the slide in before you go don't you have to get up inside the camper on top of the slide to wipe/dry the water off? Or does the seal sort of squeegee it off like in my fiver I had years ago?...

Dak

Slides have a wiper on them when they are retracted. Some work pretty good and some don't and leave water on the top of the slide. Or course it also depends on how level it is across the top of your slide to how well they wipe off the moisture.
dakonthemountai
Explorer
Mar 20, 2014
brholt wrote:
I'ld just add that we try and go out on weekends. The weather forecast up here in winter is usually rain but we go anyway since the forecasts are often wrong and there are often "breaks" that are pretty nice. If the forecast is correct we settle in the camper and read a book, work on a project, or otherwise relax (we come prepared). The extra space of the slide is very nice in those circumstances. I don't know if we would try and go as much if we were ending up "cramped" in a non slide too much.

Here's my question about that.... if it's raining and you put the slide in before you go don't you have to get up inside the camper on top of the slide to wipe/dry the water off? Or does the seal sort of squeegee it off like in my fiver I had years ago?...

Dak
JacintoKid
Explorer
Mar 20, 2014
Had one with and one without. The next one might have 2. No problem getting in and out of the camper with the slide in, no problems at all with the slide mechanism. No problem stealth camping/overnighting, with the slide in.
SugarHillCTD
Explorer
Mar 20, 2014
wintersun wrote:
I would go with your wife to a Lance dealer's lot and look at the model you are considering with a slide or slides and see what it feels like inside with it out.....

Exactly.

We had a non-slide and in 2012 I found a barely used 2012 Lance 855S.

Cathy and I went to look at it. That was all it took.

SWMBO gave it a big thumbs up and it was a done deal.

Is it something else that can go wrong mechanically? Sure- but not likely. If we were all concerned with mechanical problems, we wouldn't have running water, heat, A/C, etc.