Who has Prevost slides?

[merle&louise]

I recently contacted Robert Jones, Sales Manager for Prevost Car Co. regarding the slide outs on Prevosts. He informed me that 99% of their production is slide outs (not a real surprise). He also mentioned that Marathon, Featherlite, and American Carriage do not use Prevost factory slides (I assume they use Valid or HWH or some other manufacturer).

So my question is "Who do they use?" Could the owners of these converters help me out here?


Below is the email response that I rec'd from Mr. Jones w/Prevost Car.

99% of the new motorhome shells that we build will have slides. The normal reason for a motorhome not having slides is that it is primarily used on the road and not while parked. Note that Prevost builds slides for all motorhome converters with the exception of Marathon, Featherlite and American Carriage. These 3 companies always add slides to their motorhomes. The market is pushing us to offer more slide options.



I understand the frustrations with slide-out problems. Prevost is working very hard to minimize these issues. Our new slide-out design is mechanically better and I am not hearing about slides that do not go in and out on demand.



Prevost is always pleased to offer non-slide shells to the motorhome market. One big issue to consider is resale value. The non-slide motorhomes do not hold their value as well as the ones with slide-outs.



I hope this answers your question. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to ask.



Best regards,



Robert Jones | Sales Manager, Motorhome



Prevost

1951 Eastchester Drive, #E

High Point, NC 27265



Tel.: +1 336 812-3504 | Cell.: +1 800 981-7386 | Fax: +1 336 812-8679

[Coloradobus]

Tuga,

Marathon uses Valid slides in their multiple slided H3-45 coaches. Valid is out of British Columbia, Canada. They still use the Prevost factory slides in the XLII.
Featherlite and American Carriage owners can help answer the rest of your question. I think they both make their own, but I am not positive.

[dalej]

Tuga, are you thinking about spending some of your grandchildren's money? A question like that makes me wonder.

[merle&louise]

Jim,

Thanks for the info, were both of your slide coaches Valid slides?
It seems odd that Marathon would use Valid slides on an H3 and Prevost slides on an XL; but I'm sure that they had their reasons. Can you comment on which one is better or worse?


Dale,

I am not buying anything right now, just doing some investigating. At $3.25 per gallon for diesel I don't think that my grandkids will have much left over!

[Coloradobus]

Tuga,

Our 2001 Country Coach 2 slide in a 1999 shell had HWH slides. CC #60449 was one of 6 that Bob Lee had done this way. By the way, Marathon has 60441 on their lot as a trade. It is identified at X-7032. The slides in this coach were of a steel frame design and very heavy. Our coach rode and handled like a "beached whale." Beautiful, beautiful coach with it's prismatic paint scheme. But it had all kinds of issues, some not slide related.
Our 2002 Marathon XLII single slide had a Prevost installed slide. I know they say they have improved upon the slide design, gun shy maybe, we like our non-slide "H".
If we were ever to have another slide coach, it will be one under full warranty both from Prevost and Marathon and we will take it to Alaska, Yukon, and the NorthWest Territory in Canada. That way, they can come up and see how much a nuisance slides are when they don't work right. It will be their nickel.
At any rate, I have it documented at Marathon when a recently built (2006) NON slide XLII ( the only one) comes up traded, we want first dibs.

[jack14r]

Marathon and Featherlite on their XLII use Prevost slides.Prevost has updated their slide at least 3 times,the latest has a pin underneath the slide instead of 2 or 3 on each side.Featherlite introduced their superslide for the H3 in 2004 the big difference is that the bedroom slide is over 10 feet wide and a king bed fits.Marathon had to compete and about coach #1020 they had Valid build a slide over 10 feet for the bedroom also.The Prevost Car web site has a new brochure that shows their new slides for the H3,there are 2 versions one being over 10 feet wide.Prevost,Marathon,or Featherlite does not seem interested in updating the size of the XLII slides,maybe that tells us where they are headed in the future.The larger slides from Prevost can be seen somewhere on here in a new Parliament H3 shell.

[Five-O]

The larger Prevost dual slide with the superslide in the stateroom have been pictured for awhile on the Millennium website. I saw Parliaments triple slide picture but Millennium has been showing the new bedroom superslide two slide for awhile now. I have seen 3 of their Hs finished with the dual superslide and they are impressive. I looked at them when looking buy choose Marathon. If I keep looking I am going to make a trade. I just love the look of Millennium's interior as does my wife and with the superslide the bedroom area looks very nice. Marathons triple slide and quad slides are taking the look of a center isle Class A floorplan. But that is too be expected when you go to 3 or 4 slides. We really like the superslide 2 slide Prevost model. To us that is enough and you are able to still maintain some curves in the floorplan. Furthermore, as I think has been mentioned here; is that the Marathon slides are not very deep. So to just say I have 4 slides with nothing but just a center isle floorplan is not what we want. You also lose the pantograph(think I am spelling that right) doors on the exterior passenger side. Again we were impressed with the Prevost superslide 2 slide bus. I am sure there will be many who want their new triple slide H but what you gain in the bedroom and what you lose in floorplan space with that extra slide coupled with a more expensive price, I just dont know if it is worth it. After typing this I think I have convinced myself that I need a Millennium. I guess I have MMF...Mad Millennium Fever.

[merle&louise]

Jim,

Thanks for the information; it sounds like you are still very bitter regarding the trouble that you had with your slide buses. I can't question that, I think if I had had as much trouble and aggravation as you have I would feel the same way about slide coaches. So far it looks to me like the "early slide coaches" are to be avoided. I would like to hear from owners who have later model slide coaches regarding their problems; specifically Prevost slides vs non Prevost slides.

Jack,

Does your Liberty have slides and if so how have they worked? Are they Prevost factory slides?

[rmboies]

4 just dont know if it is worth it. After typing this I think I have convinced myself that I need a Millennium. I guess I have MMF...Mad Millennium Fever.

heehee, I had to chuckle when I read this

Tuga, one of our Vantare's had HWH slides and both of our Millennium's have Prevost slides. We never had an issue with the HWH and have not had an issue with the Prevost slide either.

The Prevost slide in our '03 Millennium has the tapered locking pins. I am not sure what is in the '05 Millennium--likely the same? It was interesting reading Prevost's response to your inquiry....particularly how they view the re-sale value--the must not have consulted Jon

[merle&louise]

Five O,

I am with you on the 2 slide coaches; 4 slides are too many. The front salon area is too crowded when both slides are in. I saw Loc's Millenium at Birdland Coach Services in Houston the other day and it is beautiful. Loc is also a 2 slide guy. I have seen Bob & Debi's 03 Millenium S/S and it is really fine. Millenium does a beautiful job on the inside. I also like the 8.5 KW generator that runs off of the DD.

Debi,

Thanks for your reply, it's nice to hear from an owner who has had slide coaches from two different converters. Does Bob hold a world record for having owned the most Prevosts?

Do you know if Vantare cuts the hole in the shell and then installs the HWH slide or does Prevost?