Looking at a gulf stream conquest 255 with slide out and a 25lx heartland prowler no slide out. Rest of the features are about the same. Price the same. It's me my wife 2 girls 7 & 10. Plus two big do...
I would talk to a RV repair center about slideout repairs. They will give you something to go on. How long you plan on keeping the RV comes into play as well.
With a large family and dogs a slideout would make it a lot more liveable.