COMMENTS DWINDLING

mileshuff - I finally weighed my loaded down POPUP trailer a few years back/ Came in at 4200LBS. With my truck bed and front deck on the POPUP we can can carry some serious camping supplies everytime we head out.

Can't stick a hand in either location when we head out...


Then when coming back it is probably even heavier. Momabear loves to find all different sizes of mountain stream rocks... One rock was so so big on one trip I had to rig a rope lift with a come-along to get it in the back of the truck hehe... Yup I carry one of those as well - comes in handy pulling myself out of the rock bed creek when crossing sometimes. Only former AZ Red Rock High country and deep OAK CREEK canyons JEEP TRAIL guys know about this first hand... We lived in Tempe in the early 70s... You know where we went evey weekend haha...

We try to group all of the same location rocks together here around the house to keep them from fighting each other I guess... Blue Ridge Parkway is the winner and the Wooded VA/WVA State line behind Harrisonburg VA is a close runner up...

Roy Ken

We had 2 popups and then a hybrid used in total about 20 years. Loved them. Rain was not a big issue. If we needed to fold up in the rain we just opened when we got home to let it dry.

We since moved to a 5th wheel. We can't go to the remote places we did with the popups but enjoy the comfort of the 5th quite a bit. I also don't miss the amount of work required to hitch, unhitch, setup, take down etc. The 5'er we are practically all setup from the moment of unhitching.

Still, in my younger years the popups were well worth it. However, todays popups are much heavier and thus lose some of their advantages. Our 1st popup weighed 1000lbs loaded and our 2nd, very large popup weighed 2000lbs. Today I'm seeing 3K to even 4K popups. Too heavy to me!

I agree with azemptynester. We started with a tent, three kids and two dogs and moved into a pop-up. We have all the bells and whistles except for the shower/toilet ensemble. We love our pop-up, but admit it is a bit of work. Love the spacious feeling of it. The ability to open so many windows and let the fresh air in, listen to the birds, children playing, water lapping, wind blowing, etc. Yes, we have put away wet and are careful about the canvas when we pack up to leave. However, once home we have to open anyway to take the food out, so opening it to air out the trailer is not a big deal.

We have a hard sided pop up & love it! Fast set up and easy take down. A dream to tow. It has a furnace and a heat pump. We stay snug and dry in wet weather. Space is limited but so is a tent. Having an outdoor awning or screen room helps to expand outdoor living space as you want.

we've had motorhomes and travel trailers but this little pop up trailer is thus far my favorite!

Posted: 09/28/14 08:47pm Link | Quote | Print | Notify Moderator
I'm interested in hearing about people's experiences with pop-ups in the rain. How well insulated are they? How warm can yo stay in cool weather? What happens if you decide to move on and have a wet unit? We have almost eliminated pop-ups from consideration, but there seem to be people here who love theirs and we'd love to know more about your experiences.

We are in our 70s and are disinclined to wrestle with wet canvas, or whatever it is. So your experiences with these are of interest to us.

My wife and I have been popup camping since 1986. We have 3 kids and popup camping became a way of life for all of us. Our vacations were usually spent in the White Mountains of Arizona, but we also took countless trips to New Mexico and Colorado. When we camped with our kids, everyone had a specific job so set up went rather quickly. As our kids grew up and married, two of our boys ended up with popups as well. When my wife and I got rid of our first popup 6 years ago, we decided on buying another one. I should add that we are both in our mid 50's.

Why do we love popup camping? Maybe because we started our camping adventure years ago in a tent and sleeping bags. How well do they insulate? Not well at all. We stay warm with the heater while we eat, play cards, or read. We turn off the heat and stay warm in our sleeping bags. How are they to put away wet? Not much fun but you just have to open them up when you get home or get to your next destination and let them dry out. They can be slow to set up, but we look at that as part of the camping experience. We love popup camping because we can hear every drop of rain that hits the roof, we can see every flash of lightning and hear every clap of thunder as we're snuggled into our sleeping bags. We wake up every morning to the sound of Blue Jays or Ravens. We can open every window and our popup turns into a giant screen room. Sure it's a lot of work every trip, but we wouldn't trade it for anything. And the nice part is when we get home, we can put the trailer away in our garage.
Dan

MargaretB wrote:
I'm interested in hearing about people's experiences with pop-ups in the rain. How well insulated are they? How warm can yo stay in cool weather? What happens if you decide to move on and have a wet unit? We have almost eliminated pop-ups from consideration, but there seem to be people here who love theirs and we'd love to know more about your experiences.

We are in our 70s and are disinclined to wrestle with wet canvas, or whatever it is. So your experiences with these are of interest to us.

I have both, a hard side Aliner and a hybrid with a fold out fabric end. The Aliner is all hard side folding unit with limited interior space and amenities. The hybrid has a full bathroom, much more interior storage and the fabric fold out end can be used, for us, either storage or sleeping if we don't want to use the dinette sleep area. I have folded the fabric end wet then just opened it to let dry when I got home - Not a big deal. With the new fabric used on pop-ups, it is much more forgiving than the old canvas material. My problem with most pups is setup time. We are more travelers than campers, thus usually stay less than a couple of days in one place.

We too are in our 70s and the Aliner is definitely much easier to handle; towing, setup, and tear down. However, as previously stated there is just not a lot of inside personal space, so be sure you and your partner stay on good terms. For more info see Jerry's Campers.

We have set up and closed up in the rain (heavy at times) with no problems or leaks inside. No mold, mildew or odd odors. An advantage of hard sides.

Walls, floor and ceiling are 1" Styrofoam so nice and cozy with the furnace down in temps down into the 20s.

We did not want to deal with canvas either, but wanted the advantage of easier towing, etc.

I'm interested in hearing about people's experiences with pop-ups in the rain. How well insulated are they? How warm can yo stay in cool weather? What happens if you decide to move on and have a wet unit? We have almost eliminated pop-ups from consideration, but there seem to be people here who love theirs and we'd love to know more about your experiences.

We are in our 70s and are disinclined to wrestle with wet canvas, or whatever it is. So your experiences with these are of interest to us.

RoyB wrote:
RobertRyan - I see the 2015 Kimberley Kamper Models have been released and been going through the new brochures. Sure wish I was handy enough here to rig up my 5x8 front deck on my off-road POPUP to take on the design of the Kimberleys.

.

Pipe dreams Eh?

Roy Ken

Ken you never know if Off Road Expedition Motorhomes from here can be sold who knows?

JLTN_James, who are you calling a senior??? Wait, nevermind.

Let's dial back the inter-generational angst, folks. Everyone looks at the other age groups and are baffled by the decisions of all. It's the nature of life but doesn't call for ridicule or sarcasm.

Different rant-

It has long frustrated me that there are a number of folks on RV.net that will make a negative comment or observation about a post and others just pile on.

Especially if the person is asking an honest question, don't ridicule or belittle them. They wouldn't have posted if they weren't seeking help. Those with superior experience and knowledge can provide it without having an attitude of superiority. It used to be called common courtesy. I'm not sure it's called anything anymore.