Traveling across the country in a Hybrid???

Setting up a hybrid tent end may take 3 of 4 minutes at the most and only a portion of that is outside. Getting wet setting up or breaking down the tent ends is a non issue, you still are going to be ten minutes in the rain hooking up the hitch bars lights, picking up your leveling blocks,etc.
We have camped in our HTT in torrential downpours and they DO NOT get wet inside at least we personally have never had any leakage.
Hybrids are noisier than 4 hard walls and the temperature varies more. Hybrids are a compromise between weight and space. I tow 23' on the road, but have 28 in camp. A 28 foot hard side would absolutely max out my half ton truck, while my 23 is a perfect fit.
Go to a show or dealer have them demonstrate setting up and breaking down the tent ends and try it yourself.
We have taken ours on a couple of 7 or 800 mile trips, an overnite at a Wal Mart or truck stop we usually turtle, just for security reasons.
As to bear resistance I can't speak,but although you do hear of an occasional problem I don't give it a moments thought.

In parks with bears, hybrids can be restricted, I assume because the bear can get through the material in the slide out section. I have seen these restrictions in a couple of national parks.

We used a canvas pop-up for a lot of camp trips and they can get extremely cold and damp depending on the outside temps. If they're wet when it's time to move on, you'll be dealing with the wet canvas to fold up on the bed top.

In summer heat they can be very hot.

Personally, I would suggest a small travel trailer and it will be a more enjoyable trip for you.

We bought a hybrid to take a week's trip in, sold it soon as I got back home.
To me, it seemed to have all the disadvantages of a tent and very few advantages
of a tt. I bought a class c and love it.

Thinking about bears, you will have to be much more careful with food in a hybrid when in bear country. When we were canoe camping we always hung our food up in a tree and never had food in the tent. Part of the evening entertainment was trying to throw a rope over a high enough branch of a tree. If you have food scraps in the trash in the hybrid you are asking for trouble. Cooking smells could also attract bears.

OTOH, you may never be anyplace near a bear.

If you are doing retirement why would you settle for a hybrid? Being retired allow winter use and summer use and although we had a hard side Apache for 10 years prior to our first trailer we would never want anything less than a TT again. Our current TT is 32' and works nicely for the two of us. One should list what they really want while enjoying the trips, ie: king size bed, full living area, full size shower and stuff.

Wow! Thank you all so much for your input. Very valuable information and even some things I never thought of...bears!!! I will link my husband into this thread and let him take in all of the great advise. My main concern was worrying about parking overnight in places like Walmart or truck stops and "Turtling" as it would be called but there is so much more to think about!

ncrowley wrote:
In parks with bears, hybrids can be restricted, I assume because the bear can get through the material in the slide out section. I have seen these restrictions in a couple of national parks.

please name the national parks you have seen these restrictions.

when ever the bear/soft-sided camper topic comes up, the only place i've ever seen, with a permanent ban, is Fishing Bridge campground in Yellowstone. all the other campgrounds in the park, allow soft-sided campers. and if you "turtle" in your hybrid, you can stay at Fishing Bridge.
i have never read of any other national park with a permanent ban on soft-sided campers, not even Yosemite.

but i'm always willing to be shown proof in other national parks.

richardwise wrote:
We bought a hybrid to take a week's trip in, sold it soon as I got back home.
To me, it seemed to have all the disadvantages of a tent and very few advantages
of a tt. I bought a class c and love it.

too many new hybrid owners buy them without taking in consideration the canvas ends. they are attracted by all the sleeping space and openness in a much shorter/lighter package.

one of the Hybrid Forum's sayings is: "if you don't love the idea of sleeping under canvas, DON'T buy a hybrid".
most hybrid owners are former popup owners and still love that experience but want a few more amenities. they are willing to deal with the few negatives to be able to continue that love of canvas.

When you say Van, are you refering to a full size van or minivan? Big difference in towing capacity. Don't know the towing capacity for your Dodge 1500. You might look at some of the hybrids with a solid wall rear bead slideout. Like the Rockwood Roo 23RS. GVWR 6145 lbs.

http://www.forestriverinc.com/TravelTrailers/Roo/default.aspx?model=roo&page=floorplandetails&floorplanid=4013&RVType=trailers