Pop up camper vs hard sided camper
Just started recently looking at TC's. My wife no longer wants to travel in an A. When I went to Alaska I always admired the spots the TC's were able to camp in that I could not. Having said that The ...
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SidecarFlip wrote:ajriding wrote:
At all cost avoid the HECO roof lift system.
What is that? is that what Alaskan uses with the 4 posts in the living area?
Heco is the brand. do a non-google internet search for the pics and it will come up.
Is basically a rack-n-pinion system like steering on autos.
They are great until they go bad, then lots of issues. I ended up getting rid of a camper and really hated the camper due to Heco.
It uses a torsion spring at the roof, under tremendous tension, to make the roof neutrally buoyant. The crank gear is garbage made from garbage steel.
The tension tears at the roof and bends the roof on the end.
When the springs sag the crank gear tears up with each lift, They are about $45-50 shipped for a new one and only made in Australia I think and a WI company sells them, maybe one other seller in US.
Heco has hinged steel round arms that fold into the camper interior when down, at the ceiling, and this is how you spot it. Also has the rack n pinion track under the top bed with a hole in center for the crank gear to insert into. Run away.
Look for a pop-up with a very light roof that is intended to be lifted by hand or is assisted only by the gas shocks like you have in your car hatchback, or the Alaskan lifts, which I know little about but seem to work great, although slow.
I also did not like that the bed had fabric walls, my head and feet were in a tent. I much prefer a solid wall behind my head, and in bed also like to lean the pillow on a real wall to sit up in bed before sleep time.
it was also noisy next to a fabric wall as they do not dampen sounds.
I always felt a bad person could wack me in the head with a bat if they wanted to. I felt vulnerable when boondocking.
