Larry,

You have been given several good suggestions regarding slides and I would like to give you our viewpoint. The best suggestion, in my opinion, is to go to the converter and HWH and ask a lot of questions.

This is what I can tell you first hand. We have HWH slides in our Vantare. They have been in and out at least 50-60 times since we have owned our coach and we usually store our coach in our building with at least the salon slide out. We have never had an issue with them getting "stuck" in or out. If you follow the correct extension and retraction protocol, they have always worked. The previous owner related the same experience and he and his wife traveled the country with this coach. The only slightly negative point we have seen is that if you retract the slides when they are wet they will squeak just a little until they dry. Not annoying and not for long. Other then that, no increased road noise, the coach is steady, balanced, and drives like a dream. I personally thought our H3 and our Liberty had much more road noise with the built in cabinets in the stateroom rattling

It is just logical, that if you cut holes in the side of a coach, you will have to install extra bracing and support. We used to have a Featherlite Trailer dealearship that our son-in-law managed. Many times customers would ask that a side door be installed for vending, etc. When re-inforced properly, the side door was never an issue and we never had a trailer returned for that reason.

Is there a certain risk involved with a coach with slides--sure. Is it a greater risk then any other conversion issue--I don't know, all I can say is that it has not been for us.

We have also been told by a well known converter that when Prevost wanted to engineer their own slides they asked HWH to come on board with them and work on it together. For whatever reason, and likely we will never know the real reason, they parted ways and Prevost decided to do it themselves.

As with any new engineering change the only true test is time. I would ask as many folks as I could who DO HAVE PERSONAL experience with owning a slide coach what type they are and what their experience has been. Law of averages may give you an accurate idea of the positive and the negative.

Best of luck with your search and please share the news with us when you find the one that "fits"