Hard Sided Pop Up Questions

Kamper wrote:
Keeping in mind we are not new to Rving, but new to the hard sided popup family, does anyone have any comments on anything that you think we might need to know before this purchase??

Lots to consider. Personally, if we were buying an A frame I'd put a Rockwood A213HW at the top of my list, for many reasons.

First, it's a high wall and as a result there's room to fit a larger DSI fridge with a freezer instead of a small, manual light fridge with no freezer. It has a cassette toilet with access to the waste tank via an external hatch, no space wasting inside shower, water heater, furnace, microwave oven, stereo, A/C, twin beds that can be set up as a king bed, a hard wall dormer at the front to increase headroom over the dinette area, and a front cargo storage compartment. Has pretty well all the amenities any couple could want in a relatively small, easy to tow, easy to store hard side trailer. :B

Just got back from 50 days on the road to Alaska & back. Have owned Aliner aframes for 7 years.

1st one, 10' box, was too small. Either had to eat or sleep. Lasted 2 years.
2nd (current), 12' box, has permanent bed set up & permanent dinette. Good for longer trips.
Quick to set up, but does require the ability to do a limited amount of bending & stretching--one has to reach overhead to push up the roof to set up, and the ability to push a little to drop it. Really a clever approach. Us two healthy 60ish campers can set up to dive in (in a heavy downpour for example) in 5 minutes.
9 moving parts between sidewalls, roof, etc. so while the design is simple, like any RV, there are maintenance issues. Unlike most RVs, you can reach all the parts.
We love the open feeling--lots of windows. Storage is limited, but hey, we just did the Alcan (with 3 other Aliners) without difficulties. Towing with a 6 cylinder RAV4.
Serious pros: lightweight (our 12' box weighs about 2,000 lbs dry) and aerodynamic, easy to use & maintain (relatively speaking on the last)
Serious cons: You gotta shop for a decent unit. They aren't all made the same. Some standard parts, but it's highly favorable if someone in the family likes to tinker.
Modest pro: You can do A LOT of customization with limited effort.
And dang, they are cute.

When I looked at them, I recalled some had a bed or couch along the straight wall. That meant if you wanted to sit up in bed or with your legs on the couch, your back would be up against the angled wall. For me, that was a deal breaker.

My FoldnRoll is similar but isn't an A-frame. Some similarities are:

Very little storage space. No upper storage. I was able to get around that by hanging wire baskets with over-the-door hooks along the folding wall - but that won't work with the a-frames because the folding walls are the A shape. You could add removable baskets if you are willing to put screws in the walls.

When you close up in the rain, you will get some dripping off the folding walls into the camper. If it stops raining first, you can wipe down the walls. But if it's still raining you may want to lay a tarp or vinyl tablecloth over the bed/couch.

Setup is as easy as you make it. If you bring a lot of stuff, you will have more moving of gear before you can settle in.

You can't access the inside without raising the roof. When the roof is in the down position, it blocks the door from opening. There is a guy on you tube who made a mod to this - he stealth sleeps in his with the roof down.

The bed will be a personal preference. Making up the couch into a bed every night and back into a couch every morning may be annoying. And you will have to find a place to put your bedding during the day. A dedicated bed is easier that way, but you will always have the bed right there. You could add pillows and make it more of a day bed when not sleeping.

Not a lot of space. It's a small trailer. If you have a dog, that makes it that much smaller.

As mentioned above, the A frames lose head room. Go inside and spend some time to make sure that doesn't bother you.

Aliner

They have this model that has dormers on both ends. First thing that got my attention was the high price and lack of dealers that carry them near me.

For the price, you're well into a fairly decent TT that will afford you many more options, such as real beds and storage. I have one of the big pop-up called a high wall, and what kills us is just the lack of storage inside the camper. Sure, there are cubbies and small spaces carved out to put pots & pans, but the lack of vertical storage is a killer. No matter how well we try to keep things organized, it always looks like a bomb went off inside.

My son has to sleep on the fold down dinette when both boys go, and it's a PITA 2X a day setting it up and taking it down. I suspect you would have the same problems on the fold out sofa models plus the padding generally isn't as good so you're gonna have to be dealing with a mattress topper that you're gonna have to find a place to store during the day taking up more space and something else to navigate around during waking hours.

Things to consider

One thing to consider is the lack of headroom in the a-line style popups. I don't remember which company(ies) make one that has an extra bumpout on one end, that gives you a vertical wall (with windows?) & horizontal roof above the kitchen area, and a diagonal wall/roof over the bed area. More room to stand up in.

Another thing we noticed when looking at them (we have not looked in earnest, though) is that they are heavier than we expected, closer in weight to a hybrid TT than a popup. (Caveat: we are only familiar with weights of older popups, 1980s and earlier - we went to full-height trailers in 2005. I know popups tend to be bigger & heavier now than they were when we bought ours.)

Thanks, Ken… I almost hate to admit this, but I’m a little bit lazy. Actually, I’m sort of in the same boat as you are, looking for someone else’s impressions of that unit. I could drive down there and look at what they have on the lot, but I know me… I fall in love at the drop of a hat. If I like it, I want it, and then I gotta deal with the CEO, and she’s no day at the beach. She was a banking officer when I met her 41 years ago, and she can still balance a checkbook in her sleep.

No, I’m starting slow on this, waiting to see what others have to say. That’s why I was so excited by your question… saved me the trouble of asking it myself! Did I mention I was kinda lazy?

I do have another, better excuse, though, for not going down to look at the new ones… I live up in Strawberry, and it’s a 200+mile round trip to the West Side. We might as well just take the Viking!

I wonder if they do trade-ins…

Hi Mike & Suzy,
I will say that if you want to look at either the Aliner or Chalet models there are dealers, in Surprise that handle both makes right off Bell Rd..Tom's Camperland handles Aliner & Van's RV Trailer Company is right next door. Tom's had 2 models & Van's had 3 as of yesterday. Sounds like Tom's has more models at the dealership in Mesa but have not made the drive. Both makes are worthy of a look, & there are pros & cons to both, just depends on your own personal taste. Good luck in your search,
Ken

Excellent question, Ken... I hope it generates some response. My wife and I are considering giving the Aliner a look, too. We've done the full-size RV, the smaller camper vans, and have decided we love the convenience of a popup. BUT... at this point in life, our Viking is not always that convenient, especially when pulling into a campsite a little later in the day than we had planned. We were up in Colorado at a campground and witnessed a couple of guys pull in with their Aliner, and - no exaggeration - they had it up and had crawled inside in under 5 minutes!

I, too, want to know... was that reality, or merely an hallucination?

PS: I wanted to meet these guys and get a "tour" of their rig, but they were up and gone before the sun! :/

Popping up and taking down takes a while. You and DW okay with that? And no using the portapotty or making lunch on the road without lots of effort.

Many, many years ago Palomino made a hardside pop up. Long gone.