Recreational vehicle full wall slide-out
View Patent ↗A mobile recreational vehicle includes a body enclosing a living area designed to serve as self-contained living quarters during recreational travel. The body is supported on at least one pair of wheels (and often two or more pairs). The vehicle includes a ceiling assembly, a floor assembly; and an elongated and adjustable ceiling support extending between the ceiling assembly and the floor assembly wherein the height of the support can be adjusted during installation. In some instances, the vehicle has a shortened full length slide-out to allow for additional sidewall ceiling support, and in some instances has a slide-out opening that has cambered upper edges to minimize sagging the opening.
1. A mobile recreational vehicle including a body enclosing an expandable living area where the body is supported on at least one pair of wheels, the vehicle comprising:
a ceiling assembly;
a floor assembly;
an adjustable ceiling support extending between the ceiling assembly and the floor assembly wherein the height of the support can be adjusted during installation; and
at least one slide-out movable between a retracted storage position and an extended operative position within an opening in a side wall of the vehicle between the floor and ceiling assemblies, wherein,
the vertical dimension of at least a portion of the opening is at least partially determined by a set height of the adjustable ceiling support,
wherein the side wall comprises a cambered assembly positioned above and extending at least partially along the length of the opening.
2. The vehicle of claim 1 whereby the vehicle is a travel trailer.
3. The vehicle of claim 1 whereby the vehicle is a motor-home.
4. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the cambered assembly comprises two longitudinal supports welded together and at least one longitudinal support has a gap of about 0.5 inches to 1.5 inches between a center point along its length and an imaginary straight line extending between its ends.
5. The vehicle of claim 4 wherein the adjustable ceiling support is connected to the cambered assembly by a traverse cantilever member.
6. The vehicle of claim 5 wherein the adjustable ceiling support comprises two adjustment assemblies rotatably coupling the traverse cantilever member to the adjustable ceiling support.
7. The vehicle of claim 6 further comprising a cross braced sidewall ceiling support perpendicular to the adjustable ceiling support, and co-planar with or parallel to the cambered extrusion assembly.
8. The vehicle of claim 7 further comprising:
at least one ceiling support roller assembly coupled to the at least two longitudinal supports;
a first roller biasing member coupled to the at least one slide-out; and
a second roller biasing member coupled to the at least one slide-out; wherein
retracting the slide-out places the first roller biasing member in contact with the roller assembly so as to push the at least one ceiling support away from the slide-out; and
extending the slide-out places the second roller biasing member in contact with the roller assembly so as to push the at least one ceiling support away from the slide-out.
9. The vehicle of claim 8 wherein a portion of the second roller biasing member that contacts the ceiling support roller assembly is positioned further out from a ceiling portion of the slide-out than is a portion of the first roller biasing member that contacts the ceiling support roller assembly.
10. A mobile recreational vehicle including a body enclosing an expandable living area where the body is supported on a mobile chassis, the vehicle comprising:
a ceiling assembly;
a floor assembly;
a first sidewall including a first slide-out opening having a cambered assembly upper edge extending along at least 50% of the length of the vehicle; and
a first slide-out within the first slide-out opening, the first slide-out being moveable relative to the first sidewall.
11. The vehicle of claim 10 wherein the cambered assembly upper edge is connected to a cantilever member that is perpendicular to the slide-out opening and the cantilevered member is adjustably coupled to a cross-braced ceiling support that is also perpendicular to the slide-out opening.
12. The vehicle of claim 11 wherein the vehicle further comprises:
a second sidewall opposite the first sidewall, the second sidewall including a second slide-out opening having a cambered assembly upper edge extending along at least 50% of the length of the vehicle; and
a second slide-out within the second slide-out opening, the second slide-out being moveable relative to the second sidewall;
wherein the cross-braced ceiling support is sufficient narrow and is positioned such that it fits between the first and second slide-outs regardless of the position of the first and second slide-outs.
13. A method of manufacturing a mobile recreational vehicle including a body enclosing a living area designed to serve as self-contained living quarters for recreational travel wherein the body is supported on at least one pair of wheels, and the vehicle includes a slide out unit, a sidewall with an opening for the slide out unit so that the slide out unit can be operatively extended outward to increase space, a ceiling assembly and a floor assembly, the sidewall opening having an upper edge support member, the method comprising:
providing a cantilever support member extending across the ceiling assembly to operatively connect to the upper edge support member;
providing an adjustable ceiling support connected to the cantilever support member; and
positioning the adjustable ceiling support to adjust a vertical height of at least a portion of the upper edge support member to obtain a predetermined vertical dimension of at least a portion of the sidewall opening.
14. The method of manufacturing of claim 13 further including providing a cambered upper edge assembly as the upper edge support member.
15. The method of manufacturing of claim 14 wherein the cambered upper edge support assembly is formed by connecting two longitudinal tubular members together to extend upward at an intermediate point between ends of the longitudinal tubular members relative to the longitudinal tubular members respective ends to counter sagging of the upper edge support member.
16. In a mobile recreational vehicle including a body enclosing an expandable living area having at least one side slide-out movable between a retracted storage position and an extended operative position for use when the mobile recreational vehicle is stationary, the improvement comprising:
a first sidewall on the recreational vehicle including a first slide-out opening having a first cambered upper edge assembly, and a first slide-out mounted to extend into and out of the first slide-out opening underneath the first cambered upper edge assembly;
a cantilevered member connected to the first cambered upper edge assembly at a first end of the cantilevered member; and
an adjustable support unit also connected to the cantilevered member for adjusting a vertical height of at least a portion of the first cambered upper edge assembly to obtain a predetermined vertical dimension of at least a portion of the first sidewall opening.
17. The mobile recreational vehicle of claim 16 further comprising:
a second sidewall on the recreational vehicle including a second slide out opening have a second cambered upper edge assembly; and
a second slide-out mounted to extend into and out of the second slide-out opening underneath the second cambered upper edge assembly.
18. The method of manufacturing of claim 15 further including the cantilevered member connected to the cambered upper edge assembly at a first end of the cantilevered member and an adjustable support unit is also connected to the cantilevered member for adjusting a vertical height of at least a portion of the cambered upper edge assembly to obtain a predetermined vertical dimension of at least a portion of the first sidewall opening.
19. A mobile recreational vehicle comprising:
a body enclosing an expandable living area having at least one slide-out movable between a retracted storage position and an extended operative position for use when the mobile recreational vehicle is stationary, and
a first sidewall on the recreational vehicle including a first slide-out opening having a first cambered upper edge assembly, and a first slide-out mounted to extend into and out of the first slide-out opening underneath the first cambered upper edge assembly, wherein the first cambered upper edge assembly includes two longitudinal tubular supports that are cambered and fastened together to have a center point of a vertically lower longitudinal tubular support above a straight line extending between respective ends of the vertically lower longitudinal tubular support.
20. The mobile recreational vehicle of claim 19 wherein the two longitudinal tubular supports are formed of one of aluminum and steel and are welded together.
21. The mobile recreational vehicle of claim 20 wherein the two longitudinal tubular supports have a rectangular cross section.
22. The mobile recreational vehicle of claim 1 wherein the cambered assembly includes at least two longitudinal tubular supports of a rectangular cross section welded together so that a vertically lower longitudinal support has a center point above a straight line extending between respective ends of the vertically lower longitudinal tubular support to counter any sagging of the opening in the side wall.
23. The mobile recreational vehicle of claim 22 wherein a ceiling support arch is coupled to a top surface of a transverse cantilever support member.
24. The mobile recreational vehicle of claim 22 wherein a lower transverse support is positioned in the floor assembly beneath and aligned with the adjustable ceiling support.
25. The mobile recreational vehicle of claim 24 wherein a ceiling arch support is positioned in the ceiling assembly above and aligned with the adjustable ceiling support.