slide question

On my main slide, I typically put powder on my seals once a year and I put dry lube on the rack teeth twice a year. On my bedroom slide and since it is a cable drive unit, I check the tautness of the cables quite often. If I find one that is a little slack, I'll tighten it up.

Other than that, I don't do much of anything else except to make sure there's no debris under the awnings before I close the slides. I do have a problem at home with a sparrow who insists on building her nest in the awning cover. I'll pull it out and the next week it's right back there again. I won't have that problem any longer as last winter I built an rv garage.

Ron

Would someone please explain the required maintenance, and frequency of it, to properly maintain a slide?

I have had campers with slides. I have had campers without slides. Current camper has no slides. Since we tend to use the camper as a bedroom and potty and spend the majority of our time outside enjoying what we went camping for in the first place, I see no reason for slides anymore. With just me and the DW we don't need a lot of room. If you have need of more room then get a camper with slides. Just a matter of preference for your situation.

I've had 2 TTs with slides and no problems. My current TT is a KZ with a rear king bed slide and a dinette slide and they work great and keep my overall length down. Just keep them clean and debris free when you close them up.

There are personal variables to consider: Can your TV handle the extra weight, how many will be in it, will a larger floorplan without the extra weight (slide) work better for you, etc...
My first REAL TT was a 26' KZ Sportsmen without slides. At the time it was DW & I with one small DD. Worked fine for us and my 4.6L F-150 had no problem with it. Over the years the family grew and it became too small. Since then I upgraded the TT and we have had two more, larger, heavier units with slides. I have had no problems with a slide and, even now that we are empty nesters, I doubt I will have another one without at least one slide.

I went back to a KZ FW and really like the KZ brand. The first one we had for eight trouble free years and I hope to get at least the same with this one.

Put me in the "big deep slide is better" category.

DH won't consider anything without a slide. We like to have our grown children visit and we need the room inside to cook, eat and play in - especially when it rains. Our current trailer is a Wildwood 26TBSS that has a very big slide. Note that slides come in different sizes (both width and depth).

We had one trailer with no slide, it was like living in a hallway. You can't get to the bathroom if someone is cooking as they blocked the way.

If you have 2 or more people, slides become more important.

You do need to consider how functional the trailer is without the slides out. For example, can you load the fridge with the slide in? Can you get to the bathroom with the slide in?

I can use my fridge with the slide in which is great for stopping for groceries on way to campsite. But I can't use the bathroom with the slide in - so I open the slide if I need to use the bathroom.

Ed

Have had both, no slide and now a slide. I would never buy another trailer without a slide. Our Jayco Eagle and a very large slide which gives you the feeling of almost doubling the side of the trailer.

Never had any problems with the slide.

Wow. Thank you all for the replies so far.

I've had 1 trailer with no slide and 2 trailers with slides: 5 slides in all.

The "extra" maintenance is pretty straightforward and the alleged nuisances of slides are more alleged then real. The extra room, IMNSHO, more than outweighs the downsides.

1 of the trailers with slide(s) was a big KZ 5th wheel....no problems whatsoever with those 3 slides.

I can't vouch for problems with slides because we've only had ours for less than a month. I can tell you that our slide is only the sofa, and only moves out about a foot, but wow what a difference in floor space and "openness". I'm willing to put up with what ever extra maintenance I have to do to keep it working nicely. and ours blocks nothing when closed, but I have seen those that block inside access.