To slide or not to slide?

[Jacjayco]

Looking to upgrade from our 212qb to something a bit bigger. Most of the units we are looking at have slides. Almost all of them have more than one.
There are lots of threads here about problems with slides.

Bottom line, are the benefits worth the hassle?

[JimD]

Purchased my new 2017 Greyhawk with a slide and would never be without one. It just gives you so much more room. When we looked at the models available they had a slide that went almost the entire length of the rig. I avoided that one thinking it would make that side weaker. The other one had a slide in the bedroom in addition to the main living area. I decided on getting just the one slide. Since the purchase I wish I would have gotten the one with the two separate slides.

Granted, I haven't had any issues with the slide but like you said, many people do. I would guess that there are more people out there that do not have any issues because we would only hear from those that have problems.

I would say get the slide. You will like the additional room.

[ARoamer]

I tend to fall into the KISS category, more options = more potential problems. But, after having to do the chineese fire drill just to get to the bathroom for many years, after getting a RV with a slide out I really like the extra room. If you spend a lot of time RVing I think you will be more comfortable with slides.

[spoon059]

Slides are great. Never had a problem with mine. Put some protectant on the rubber bulb seals every fall and some dry lube spray on the roller track every year and its been trouble free and TONS of room inside!

[norty1]

Mine has 3. Perfect fp for us. We have had rigs with none, 1 and 2.

I cringe when I see a rig with 4 or more slides.

If I ever purchased another rig, I would do extensive research on the type slide out mechanism.

[Midnightmoon]

This is one of those choices that really needs to match your camping style. We drop the trailer and spend 90% of our time outdoors. We also tend to travel quite a bit with one night stops fairly common. For us, a non-slide unit is perfect and is actually what I intended to buy when looking for this unit in '17. If we keep using it the same way we are now, I would make the same choice.

With that said, we have been actively trying to get a seasonal spot at our favorite campground (not having much luck). If we do, I will purchase something with slides to give us more room and keep our current non-slide unit for our road trips.

[Lake Huron]

Mine has 5 slides, 4 of them are the hated schwintek slide mechanism. My main living slide is the typical underside track slide. The underside version I've had on all 3 of my past trailers and never had an issue with them and honestly everyone I know that has a trailer with that set up has never had an issue with one.
The schwintek system, I've had a couple of minor issues with mine and it's been nothing more than a quick in and out resyncing of the motors didnt fix, and it's only been 1 of the 4 schwintek slides. The others have been flawless 5 years and running.
The size trailer(s) you're looking at will have the conventional underside system, so I wouldnt worry too much about it. Slide outs give you so much more room inside and very minimal maintenance.
Go for it.

[Jay2504]

Our current and former rigs both had one slide. No real problems with either unit. I have a friend that has a no slide toy hauler. The open space in the middle and back, along with the extra tall ceiling make it pretty roomy. If I were to get a no slide camper, that is the way I would go. Jay

[dvspl]

This is very much a personal decision based on how you camp and the floor plans you're looking at. We have 2 slides and (so far) haven't had any issues. I'm expecting to have some problems at some point, just based on the reality of the number of posts I've read about them. But this floorplan fits us and we love the extra space. So I think the potential hassles are worth it. I'd say to pick a floorplan that you like...avoiding slides shouldn't be a consideration.

[JimParker256]

I've had campers with and without slide outs. We've had zero issues with any of them, and we're had all three types of slider mechanisms. We do keep them lubed, including the seal flaps, and have our local mobile RV tech check everything out at least every couple of years.

The smallest trailer (no slides) was great for overnight stays, and since it was our first one, we didn't realize what we would be missing. But I can tell you that moving around in that cramped space was not a lot of fun. I think it heightened frustrations and led to us using it less and less over time.

Our second trailer was the same length as the first one, but had a small slide out for the dinette, which opened up the kitchen area (directly across from it) and allowed us to actually pass each other without one of us having to sit in the dinette. It was much better, but there was no way to sit anywhere other than the very small (and tight) dinette booth. Could not even use a folding chair in the aisle without completely blocking access to the restroom.

So we replaced that one with a much larger (34' 8" long!) 5th wheel with three slides: bedroom, and two across from each other in the living area. One contained just the sleeper sofa. The other was much larger (probably 18 feet long), and included the dining table as well as the rocker/recliners. The mechanism was hydraulic and was quite trouble-free, other than a circuit breaker that would trip every 10 seconds or so while extending or retracting the slides. It turned out there was a wire connecting to the hydraulic pump that was only finger-tight. Once we tightened that connection, it was completely trouble free.

We loved the 5er when we went places where we stayed for a week to 10 days at a time. It towed much more nicely than the bumper-pull, and was like home away from home once we arrived and got set up. But that 34 footer was a much bigger PITA to park, and set up/take down was a lot more of a chore (no auto-levelers). We do a lot of trips where we go somewhere for two or nights, sightseeing during the non-traveling days, and those are often single-day stops. And as we got older, all the bending and crawling underneath became harder and harder. Plus, my wife could not (or would not) drive the truck+5er combo, so it was all on my shoulders. This came to a head when I got sick (really bad flu) the morning we were supposed to check out of the campground. Luckily, the CG was able to extend our stay, and we didn't even have to move to another site, but it scared the you-know-what out of my wife. She realized that if anything happened to me while we were on the road, it would not be pretty...

So we sold the 5er, and purchased a 25' Jayco Redhawk SE 22C, with a single Schintek slide out for the queen bed itself. That slide allows us room to walk around the bed on three sides (no climbing over each other in the middle of the night), and allows the bathroom to be much larger – enough so that I can comfortably take a shower and get dressed in the bathroom. The slide itself extends only about 2 feet, so it's not very obtrusive.

This MH is small enough that my wife is actually fairly comfortable driving it (and will get more comfortable over time as she drives more). The floor plan gives us enough interior room that we won't want to kill each other when we stay somewhere for a few days, or get stuck inside for a few rainy days... We are looking forward to being able to go a lot of places our larger rigs simply could not go. For now, we're not planning on using a TOAD, but are taking a pair of e-bikes with us for getting around the campground. We're going to try it for a while without any auto-levelers, but have agreed that if we decide we want them, we will add them later.

At this point, I would not even consider a camper that didn't have a slide out. Like others have mentioned, I'm more partial to the smaller slide outs, and am still just a bit leery of those "full-wall" sliders.

[kirkelli]

If you stay on top of your slide maintenance/lubing etc. you have a lot better chance of having no issues. I have an RSTS with 3 slides, two with the Schwintech's. Almost monthly, i'll blow out all the Schwintech gear channels with compressed air and Lub them with CRC Power Lube. (Don't use anything else) I Also lube the motor gears per Lipperts' procedure. On the big kitchen slide, we are careful with weight. Last but not least, when you bring your slides out or in, make sure to keep the slide motor running for about a second after reaching it's stop point. This step is part of the syncing process to avoid them gettin out of sync. And when you are using the big slide, it always helps to cross fingers and say a prayer.. So far my slides have not failed me.

[Jacjayco]

Many thanks to all of you for your responses!

We were really happy to hear the positive remarks. Looks like a slide probably will be in our future.

Thanks again

[Toad]

Depends;
My wife and I bought a 232RB last year "no slide" and are very happy with it. Just the two of us and occasionally a grand child. We like it because for 1 thing it is lighter for towing. A slide can add between 400 and 700 lbs to trailer weight. It takes less time to set up "however a slide only adds a few minutes more". We are not very big people so a 2 foot hallway vs a 3 foot hallway "when slide is out" is not a big deal to us. Without slide, less mechanical problems to go wrong. If we stop at a rest area we do not have issues parking " when slide is out" or getting back to bathroom when "slide is in".

Personal choice mostly though.

Originally Posted by Jacjayco

Looking to upgrade from our 212qb to something a bit bigger. Most of the units we are looking at have slides. Almost all of them have more than one.
There are lots of threads here about problems with slides.

Bottom line, are the benefits worth the hassle?

[wwgilstrap]

We have a 2020 Jayco Pinnacle 5er with 6 slides, gasp! Only one issue so far and I was able to resolve it myself. Now that said, we take it to our mountain property in the spring and bring it home in the fall so not many in’s and out’s. We absolutely love our fifth wheel, luxury at it finest.

[crmillsjr]

I have 6 of them. Love the room.

[Charlie G]

How many times a year are you going to open/close slide? Every day or 10 times a year? I have had two RV’s each had one slide and have never had a problem. Get the RV you want and don’t make slides a major factor.

[Moconno]

I was concerned about the slide issues before purchasing our Jayco Melbourne 24l as I had problems with 2 prior class A units that We had. It’s been 2 years and many miles and trips and we are very satisfied. We would not be happy with the downsizing without the wall slide. Enjoy!

[blakei]

We have a Jayco 28BHS and love the floor space provided by the long slide - we often have 6+ people in the trailer. Uses rack and pinion and so far no issues.

What do you all use to lubricate the rubber and rack? I haven’t done that yet…

[Mikec557]

Originally Posted by Jacjayco

Looking to upgrade from our 212qb to something a bit bigger. Most of the units we are looking at have slides. Almost all of them have more than one.
There are lots of threads here about problems with slides.

Bottom line, are the benefits worth the hassle?

As noted above, it really is a personal choice. It also depends on "how" you camp. When we were full timing, we had a 5er with 3 slides, two of them opposing in the kitchen/living room area. That created a great amount of room in that area... when camping. When traveling, the closed slides completely blocked access to the kitchen and fridge. That was definitely a downer. The third one was a closet/dresser in the bedroom. That added a great amount of space. Every time we loaded up to leave we had concerns about bringing in the 3 slides. When we decided to sell that RV and buy another, we decided that we wanted only 1 slide. And we decided the Floorplan had to, with the slide closed,: 1) provide access to some of the kitchen and the refrigerator, 2) provide access to the bathroom, and 3) provide access to the bedroom.

We now have all that. The one slide contains 2 recliners and a dinette. The RV has two doors, one accesses the bedroom, the other accesses everything else. Not that we have to, but if we move the cable driven slide out about a foot or so, either door will provide access to everything.

Remember, Floorplan is everything. I think one slide is optimal. But don't let the number of slides override choosing the right Floorplan for you and your family, and your camping style.

[Mr Bee]

Different slide types have different issues and some are a lot more prone to problems. Do a search on youtube and watch some videos. The slide mechanism in our Jflight SLX is the most basic and also the least likely to have issues. Also simple to do manually IF it does malfunction.