Campers What? No PopUp Campers.

[PilotFighter]

We looked at several campers a few years back and decided to go with a PopUp. Towing it with my truck, there isn't any place that I can't park it at. Plus with being able to crank the top down, I am able to flip a jon boat over on the top of it, then strap it down good, so the girls and I can fish where ever we end up camping at. For our longer trips away from home, it tows great behind the wifes' van. We did add a bicycle rack to the back of the camper, so we could make sure the girls always have their bikes to ride when we disappear on a trip. Another thing I have to brag on, is for all of you in Alabama. If you haven't camped at any of the states parks, then you don't have any idea on what you are missing. You just can't beat our parks here. Beautiful, and well maintained. Cleanest parks in the country as far as I an concerned. Even the local city and private owned parks are great.

 

[Volleyball Granny]

It sounds great to me! I've looked at them, but not seriously. Alas, with the kids grown and gone, I am just not a camper--not much fun without the kids.

 

[Smoke]

But how much can you store in a pop up? I was thinking hard side as you could have it as a BOB/Camper...yes maybe a popup would suffice better than none?

 

[Publius]

I have seen many of them over the years and the canvas is what go's and some I've seen had a vinyl covering much like a boat cover. I can say they are lite in weight so even a S10 pickup can tow it.

 

[Green Co.]

I have owned a grand total of one. They are light & easy to tow. The Starcraft I had was easy to set up, it could be done in about 15 minutes. But there are some downfalls, for myself at least.

As Smoke mentioned, they are easily overloaded. Most especially if you load water, a cooler with ice & frozen meats, etc. Those little tires just get too hot, too quickly.

Summer camping was great. Camping at a lake or mountain retreat was good. Just beware nearby campers may poke fun at your snoring.

Winter camping, in cold weather, sucked. If you added just a small amount of heat inside, condensation would collect on the inside of the canvas, and ya know which way that canvas tilted, right? Straight over the beds to the far side of the mattresses. Makes for terrible sleeping....

 

[Deemy]

We hubby and I decided to get a camper many years ago we went with a hard side pop up camper. Yes, it does tow nicely. No bathroom at all. My problem was I felt TOTALLY insecure in it! All I could picture was someone taking a knife and pushing it through the canvas side where I was trying to sleep. The heater wasn't good enough to keep me warm. We used it a total of tree times and traded it in for a high low which I really did love and used it for twenty years before it gave up the ghost so to speak.

 

[Publius]

For cool weather you just have to ruff it just like a tent, so having the right sleeping bags for the time of year or the part of the country you visit is what one has to do.

 

[Ruckmanite]

Ah, the great times we had in a pop-up for 7 years and a couple hundred nights. We had a 12' Jayco with a front storage bin and slide out dinette. Fantastic camper, gross weight was 3000 pounds, front bin could hold 200, and you could load the camper without popping up, fridge included. Advantages are weight and fuel economy. Great sleeping under starry nights. Disadvantages: No real bathroom (used a port-a-potti), 17 gallon water tank, small fridge, no freezer. Limited storage space, and you get real efficient on what you need and don't need.

The propane furnace in a pop-up is largely a waste. We camped often down below freezing using 2 electric heaters. One ran via the pop-up outlets. A second extension cord snaked through the bunk end powered a second one. Two 1500 watt heaters (small ones) with their fans kept the pop-up reasonably warm and the condensation down. You have to power manage carefully with any camper. A toaster running and someone turns on a hair dryer = instant fuse trip, especially with a pop up.

They beat sleeping on the ground.

The Woodall's forums on camping are fantastic. They have threads on travel trailers, RV's, pop ups, hybrids, diesel pushers.

 

[Iowa Wiley]

Seriously, if you want the economy of a pop-up and the luxury of a full-size camper then look at a Hi-Lo. The second camper we bought was a Hi-Lo and it did every thing we needed it to do at the time. Lowered down to pop-up height for towing, and all the big camper amenities when set up. Ours slept 4 comfortably and 6 if you had to. Had a bathroom with shower, toilet and sink, and a kitchen with fridge, sink, stove, and oven. Only downside was it seemed a little cramped when we were all stuck inside during bad weather. Had good heat and air too. Only reason we sold ours was we kinda outgrew it. The more camping we did the more crap we took and pretty soon it was more crap than we felt comfortable stuffing into a 25' Hi-Lo. Now we camp in a 26' 5th wheel with tons of storage.

 

[Mother Love]

Our fist camper was a pop-up. We had a lot of great experiences with it!

You can get into better sites that the big rigs can't! I do agree with Iowa....it can get cramped sometimes but when you are camping you don't spend that much time inside.

The only con I have with it is when you have kids and you put them to bed and there are still loud campers.....you can heard EVERYTHING!

 

[Nuthatch]

I like hard sided campers. Want to try a teardrop sometime. I love the looks of those things!

 

[JWP]

I have a 78 Apache Ranger hard side pop-up that I love. Can't say I would do a pop-up with canvas though.