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Slide-outs, more weight, more possibility of leaks, more things to break, require a larger camping spot.
I really don't like the idea of closing one up in pouring rain, all dripping with water and water on the roof of it and bringing all that water inside the trailer.
But a lot depends upon how you use your trailer. My family is only inside the trailer to sleep and to make the morning coffee. All other living and cooking is done outside. Even if it starts pouring down rain, we only move under the awning.
A different situation, my son lives in his during the work week. He wants a more home-like living situation, more room, better kitchen, better bed.
I don't normally stay in RV parks, but when I do, it is very obvious that the RV people go outside briefly to adjust their TV dish, and then they never go outside again, all the time they are there. So I can see why they would lean towards the rolling condo instead of bare bones camp trailer.
Slide-outs, more weight, more possibility of leaks, more things to break, require a larger camping spot.
I really don't like the idea of closing one up in pouring rain, all dripping with water and water on the roof of it and bringing all that water inside the trailer.
True on the weight and potential for leaks (if they're not maintained). But, if you're on the roof cleaning and resealing the roof it's minimal extra effort to check the slideout roofing and seams as well.
You don't really need that much bigger of a spot though. If you have an extra 2-3' of width, the slideouts work fine. If you have opposing slides though, you'll need an extra 6-7' so that can definitely be a challenge for some.
Slideouts have two sets of seals around them. The outermost seal acts like a squeegee and pushes the water off the slide. In all my years of rv'ing, I've never had one dump water inside. I've gotten a couple of drips where the seal missed a spot, but it's always been really minimal. But... I condition my seals to keep them pliable. Most people don't bother with it. Once they get hard and brittle they can tear and start to leak.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke
But a lot depends upon how you use your trailer. My family is only inside the trailer to sleep and to make the morning coffee. All other living and cooking is done outside. Even if it starts pouring down rain, we only move under the awning.
A different situation, my son lives in his during the work week. He wants a more home-like living situation, more room, better kitchen, better bed.
I don't normally stay in RV parks, but when I do, it is very obvious that the RV people go outside briefly to adjust their TV dish, and then they never go outside again, all the time they are there. So I can see why they would lean towards the rolling condo instead of bare bones camp trailer.
Agree with you there. A lot of the amenities aren't really necessary and it's great that there are options for everyone to enjoy. We spend all our time outside. That said... we opted for the rolling condo (complete with satellite to watch football/baseball games if there's an important one coming on). On days where it's really storming and we have little option we can move inside and either play games, take a nap, or kick back in the recliners and watch TV.
OP here: thanks for the input and keep 'em coming. For us, it would be two adults and two German Shepherd mixes.
My BF bought a 5th wheel with slides. It's a Montana that has 1&1/2 bathrooms which is great for the 130lb shepherd who loves laying in bathrooms for some reason. The built in vac is a bonus for brooming the fur over to it, just sucks it right up! We will be traveling in it with his dog, my cat who thinks she's a dog, possibly a bird and my new rescue pit bull that I have not gotten yet (still mourning my 99 pound sweet boy who died). Can't imagine having two large dogs in an rv without slides.
Ive never done an RV trip before but I have done several boat trips with dogs and cats. I expect this may be similar size wise because of having the slides.
I knew one family that had a trailer with a slide out. Unless the slide out was extended, they could not go from the back to the front. It was a real PITA.
When our camper is closed up you can get to the bathroom and the bed, and that's about it. The fridge and pretty much all the cabinets and drawers are inaccessible.
But, it's not a PITA because we don't want to use the camper that way.
Main issue with trucks and slide-outs are payload restrictions.. More often than not in order to meet payload requirements it requires a 1 ton dually, and where we travel a dually (and the heavy load) would eliminate the possibility of boondocking where we like to go.
Why would they make it so heavy a 1 ton can't handle it? Or did they overload it?
That's one thing I noticed when shopping for 5th wheels, after you put water in, you only had 500lbs of cargo limit left. Which can add up crazy fast.
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Why would they make it so heavy a 1 ton can't handle it? Or did they overload it?
That's one thing I noticed when shopping for 5th wheels, after you put water in, you only had 500lbs of cargo limit left. Which can add up crazy fast.
People want luxury even in a truck camper. I've seen some crazy Arctic Fox top of line truck campers LOADED with 2 slide outs and everything. People then travel with a full load of water and multiple propane tanks and waaay too much gear.. I've seen 1 ton duallys sagging like crazy. Waaay overloaded. A friend of mine had a luxury Arctic Fox and he custom ordered a Ford F-550 to safely haul what he wanted.
My camper FULLY loaded with water and gear comes in at 3,200 lbs. I'm over my payload by 700lbs (according to the sticker). I looked at the engineering specs for the actual difference between a 2500 and 3500 chevy HD and the differences are minimal. A 3500 has a gusseted rear axle to the differential, a higher capacity radiator and most importantly additional overload springs, a larger set of rear shocks and a different bump stop. The frames are [/b]identical[/b].
I added larger Fox shocks, a set of rear airbags and I'm comfortable at that weight. I'm over 2500 payload max but well under 3500 payload max.
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