opinions?

Jebby14 wrote:
Hey all. Thinking about coming back from the dark side. A popup give so much more bang for the buck with space. (wife and I with 2 young kids and likely a 3rd soon) We don't use our washroom in the camper often and are thinking about taking a look at this

opinions?

At 2:00AM in the morning getting dressed and walking around the campground to go potty sounds like a lot of fun:):)

a huge step down from your current pictured rig.
bumpy

You should camp the way y’all want to, but I think you’d be making a mistake.

We had a pop-up for 8 or 9 years when the kids were young. You think there is more room but the floor is only 12 ft and much of that is taken up by the booth and counter, pulse no overhead cabinets. There is not as much room as you think.

Assuming you will keep the tow vehicle and it tows the current trailer well, I think you are making a major downgrade.
- Bathroom
- Kitchen/Fridge
- Storage for 5 peoples stuff
- Quicker to setup and tear down
- No need to dry it out after a rainy weekend.
- Quieter

Popups are workable but a significant downgrade.

First thing I saw was the year of the camper... 2001? That is 17 years old. Even maintained in excellent shape, wouldn't the folding parts have to be replaced to be dependable, just from age? How hard / expensive is it to replace the foldout cloth / canvas parts?

That camper looks nice, clean, and well maintained. I don't think you'll have very many issues with it. If this is what you really want, I say, "Go for it!"

We had a Starcraft Venture pop-up for 6 years and used it a lot over that time. However, it did not have the floor plan like yours intended purchase here. There were no beds (table folding down, or a couch folding down) that took the entire space below the bunk ends. We looked at models like yours and decided immediately they would not work. Whoever is sleeping in the bunk end will be stepping on and climbing over those sleeping on the lower bed. There's no way around it. If you have kids sleeping, this can be very testing for them. (For both the one who climbs over, and the one being climbed over.)

Folks move up and down the RV food chain all the time. I'd never want to own a Motor Home and no desire for a Fifth Wheel. I'm happy with a trailer. Others are happy with Motor Homes and would NEVER consider moving back into a travel trailer. So, don't let the nay-sayers rain on your parade. No doubt, you've thought this through and everyone's style of camping IS different from everyone else. If this works better for you, then GO FOR IT!

Just curious? Is there any way you can keep your current trailer AND still get the pop-up? Then you'd have the best of both, and if the style of camping is more suitable for one or the other, you can flip back and forth at whim. Sometimes, I wish we would have kept our pop-up so we could do more varied type camping.

Popups are great for young families. Being smaller, it would be easier to store and easier to pull. People move up to travel trailers for a reason. To me, the biggest negative to moving down would be that there will be a lot less room to put gear/supplies. As the kids grow, you would miss the extra storage space even more. When we had a popup we kept a cooler in our TV since the refrigerator was so small. How does the refrigerator in your TT compare? If you will need to start bringing a cooler along, then you will lose space in your SUV.
If you decide to go for the popup, check that the lift mechanism works smoothly. I’d also look the canvas over closely. Good luck!

my thinking is we always tent camped then had popups and liked them
family still uses them
they have more room than we have
we don't use our washroom or furnace
we spend the time outside and cook outside
even rain we prefer outside under awning
only sit inside in sideways rain
popup is lighter and easier to tow
easier to store
offers more space
lets me bring the boat (we used to bring the boat upside down on the camper) or at least the canoe is easier if I don't go with the boat.
its 10 years newer than mine with less to go wrong
will burn less gas
only real negatives I see are
losing storage space
losing some sound dededing and insulating properties
having to set up at home if wet
longer setup and tear down time

We had a large popup with a side slide and toilet and we had a lot of fun in it, but I wouldn't go back to it. Setting it up and taking it down sucked, and you had to set it up to pack it and unpack it too. The fridge was tiny. Ours lacked AC so it sucked in hot weather, but it also sucked in cold weather. Storage was seriously lacking. It wasn't nearly as nice on road trips because you couldn't access anything in the trailer easily, and forget about pulling off for a quick stop so one of the kids could use the bathroom.

My opinion is you'd be taking a big step back.