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Cutting openings for slides.
We have built several 180 Ft. high 1/4 " plate smoke stacks over the years. Each one usually has large rectangular holes cut into the sides to allow the air to enter. Rule of thumb, each of those openings require a surounding structural collar equal in total weight to the material removed. If someone cuts a hole in the side of a bus for a slide the opening must be surrounded as described above and continuously welded to to the main internal structural members as a minimum. Further structural calculations are required to verify the strength of the structure as a whole including bending moments. I don't know about Prevoust being this careful in their engineering, but I have toured a major Motor Home plant and saw their prized Monocot chassis completed with incomplete welds on the tubing and complete side units hoisted onto the structure and screwed on with a few # 14 screws and on down the line.
With todays computer generated structural design analysis there should be no excuse for not getting it right.
I guess those of us that don't have slides and claim we don't want any will forever try and find reasons for not owning them.
We could order a nice wide modular home put somewhere. But thats not what were about.
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JPJ, tune in here and straighten this #42 out on the manufacturing of a Prevost shell. He is comparing it to a monococque (sp) which is a piece of crap compared to a p-shell.
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Lew
You are either reading too fast or thinking too slow. I did not intend to compare our precious p-shell to a Monocot, The point was if any coach has a big hole cut in it for a slide it must have the opening surrounded with enough mass to support the original intended integrity. I didn't mean to ruffle your feathers. You do a great job of helping us all out on the technical side of our coaches.
I thank you for that.
Harry
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To Slide or NOT to Slide.
Our first 2 Prevosts had slides. The first coach a CC 45 XLI had 2 HWH slides cut into it. The 2nd coach, a Marathon XLII 45, had a single slide.
Our current coach is a NO Slide "H".
We had various problems and dilemmas with both slided coaches, so much so in the end we were desparate for a NO slide.
Whew, now we no longer hold our breath to wait and see if technology will work. Such things as dragging external structural slideroom re-enforcement, slides rooms not going in because chassis is tweaked on uneven terrain, or ice getting in the way of slide room operation.
Never had a ny leaks like others we know have had, but we're glad for no slides.
Even if we intend to sit for longer periods, a no slide coach is the only way for us.
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SLIDES
Read the previous thread from Coloradobus.
If it can't be done right, don't do it !! I REST MY CASE.
Harry
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Hey harry,
You didn't ruffle Lew's feathers, he gets that way when he forgets his meds and he's very frustrated that he can't be in Oshkosh since he loves planes!:D
Slides? Bus said it all and I'm the same way after 2 CC's with problems.;)
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I've gotta tell ya that slides in the long run are the bane of simple over the road living. Hitman Frank says that he could build a business just fixing slides that go out of alignment, leak, etc., etc.
With the new Prevost 3 or perhaps 4 slides, you ain't seen nothin' yet.
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At the risk of overloading Lew's brain, and simultaneously stirring the pot, slides make perfect sense if certain conditions are met. First and foremost the frame must be one like a trypical truck. That way slides can be installed above the frame and the frame is never compromised. Second, the mechanism must be such that the slide moves in or out perfectly straight, a likely expense no manufacturer will incur, and lastly, the seal when retracted or extended must be perfect. CObus had experiences with slides that did not meet any of the conditions, and I don't see anybody meeting the conditions for the future either, although I think Newell meets the first condition.