maillemaker wrote:
Well, everyone has to look at their own finances. For me, I can't imagine spending $15K total on a camper, let alone spending $15K a year for some number of years on one.
Lots of people are suggesting pop-ups. As far as I'm concerned from our experience, pop-ups suck. Maybe if you have hookups and can run the AC and keep dry air inside they would be fine, but we always boondocked, and in the south with the high humidity at night when the outside air cools down all your breath condenses on the canvas roof awnings and every time someone rolls over in bed it rains all over the sleepers as the condensation shakes off the canvas roof. That is what drove us to upgrade to an RV. If you can run AC to keep the inside air dry you won't have that problem though.
A lot of folks are saying, correctly, that you can make memories in an old tent the same way you can in an expensive RV, but you have to remember that a lot of wives just ain't gonna go "camping" in a tent where you have to hike to the camp ground potty in the middle of the night and use some nasty campground shower if you want to get clean. There may in fact be a minimum barrier of entry to "camping" family memories. :) We camped for years in tents but my wife is pretty spoiled with our RV now. And frankly, so am I. :)
Another thing to consider is for $15K a year you can have a DARN FINE trip to Disney World every year for a week for half of that. How's that for some memories?
The second biggest thing to consider for an RV, besides initial investment, is time. You have to be able to use the thing or it's a waste of money and they just fall apart on you from neglect. We use ours about every other month year-round. Can you make that time commitment?
Steve
I fought condensation in my popup forever, especially when running the A/C. I finally solved it when I found Clorox gallon buckets of humidity absorbers. I tried other products for the same effect with no luck. But where you are matters. I'm sure in my native Louisiana, there would still be some issue with humidity. It kept humidity out during rain storms last summer though so I am sold on the product for PUP camping.
I think a popup is a great way to camp if you can be flexible on weather. I am evaluating my options to move up because of the rain factor and breaking camp.
