Ron, unlike you we wouldn’t consider a unit without a slide. I’m curious from a want to learn standpoint what it is that has turned you against a slide? Weight? Concerns about leaks? There are slides I would not consider such as a full length or one with a residential fridge in the slide.
Do you really want my opinion? I used to share it now and then but would always get quite a negative response via the old "unneighborly" button. Before I start, I want to say that I am surely in the minority. Most people LOVE their slide-out(s) and I respect their feelings about having them.
Okay, here goes. Keep in-mind that our goal is to own our PC for over 30 years, hopefully over 35 years. So "long-term reliability" weighs extremely heavy compared to "resale value".
1) A slide-out costs a lot of extra money if buying a new PC or other brand. Is that money better spent on other features?
2) Each slide-out adds between 400 and 700 pounds depending on it's size, to an already concerning load.
3) Even with the topper, slide-outs can get standing water on top from wind-driven rain. You have to dry it off after pulling in the slide-out, before moving your rig or the puddle of water becomes air born inside your rig.
4) Bugs, dirt, pine needles, leaves, and general wetness get a free ride to the inside of your rig when closing your slide-out.
5) Slide-outs can rattle when driving, especially with age.
6) Slide-outs can radiate in and leak in cold when it's cold outside, and heat & humidity when it's hot outside, especially with age.
7) Slide-outs increase sensitivity to the leveling of the rig. We often "wing it" for a night or two with less of a worry.
8) Outside noise penetrates more with a slide-out.
9) You loose notable storage with a slide-out. Both up top with smaller hanging cabinets, and sometimes below.
10) You loose wall space to accommodate the slide-out, even worse when the slide-out is adjacent to the transition wall.
11) The reliability of a properly functioning slide-out diminishes with the years.
12) Having a slide-out creates a huge hole and also a very heavy plug in your wall. Over-all integrity of the house is compromised.
13) During the travel portion of the trip, the box is in the house. Irene and I don't like that.
14) In our 2350 scenario, a comfortable dinette was critical, a couch was not. Our bolt-down captain seat with seat belt by the entry door provides a compromising half couch. Our no-slide dinette in our 2350 utilizes the transition wall & slide-out wall thickness(x2) providing a decent table & leg room, by utilizing the much extra linear wall space.
15) Since the primary slide-out has included the fridge since model year 2010, other mechanical compromises were made.
CLICK HERE to see pictures of our slideless dinette. Note the rear bench is right up against the fridge wall. The front bench is many inches inside the transition wall, but no so much to interfere with driver seat adjustment. Some pictures show our original cloth cushions with standard foam. We changed cushions around 5 years ago to the vinyl cushions with memory foam. That increased the comfort factor immensely, a wonderful improvement.
CLICK HERE to see our general interior. We don't value the elbow room of a slide-out nearly as much as all the benefits I listed. BUT....I do wonder if we were snow birds living in our PC for many months at a time, if we would feel differently.
