Pop Up Soft Side Campers in the Winter

crosscheck wrote:

SidecarFlip wrote:
A HS is superrior but they are also much heavier. We lay in foil-bubble-foil between the inner canvas window closures and the rain flaps. That insulates the canvas pretty well.

Most HS TC's have little insulation in the sidewalls anyway (unless specified at build time as a cold weather camper and the walls (between the inner and outer aren't very thick anyway (maybe an inch of dead space) so insulating isn't much, no matter what.

I agree that there is not a lot of insulation in the hard side TC's but I have to take issue with them being much heavier. I just looked up the dry weight of your pop up (1978lb) and a similar length Northern Lite(2150lb). very similar in weight and the northern Lite had a larger fridge plus other standard features that your pop up did not have. Yes, there are hard sides that are over 5000lbs with triple slides etc. but when you compare apples to apples, the two styles of TC's are not that different in weight. My Outfitter 9.5' had a ready to camp weight of 3250lbs. Not a lite TC.

Of course COG, less wind resistance, etc are some of the reason folks choose pop up TC's.

Dave

My Lance had an advertised dry weight of 2375 and Lance is noted for erroneous light weight figures. Add in water, propane food and assorted stuff and you are pushing 3000 pounds in a high profile, not fuel efficient package and because things like the refrigerator, microwave and storage cupboards are mounted high, the CG is high so the unit becomes a handful on the road and off road. I know. That is why I sold it and went to a popup.

My SS1500 Palomino has an advetised dry weight of 1900 pounds or 2400 loaded with everything, not particularly light but well within the capabilities of my F350 SRW pickup. More importantly however is the lower CG of a pop up and the profile. It's easier to deal with in the wind, on the road and the lower CG makes off road handling much better and I camp primarily off road.

An added benefit for me is I can store the pop up in my garage, out of the weather when I'm not using it, protected from the elements. That was impossible with the Lance HS. A major plus in my view, in as much as all RV's deteriorate at a faster rate when stored outside constantly. The sun and rain and snow take their toll on seals and the general apperance of any RV. Inside storage adds to the life and keeps the unit looking nice.

If you plan on trading off every few years for a new unit, inside out of the weather storage may not be a factor, but I keep a unit long term so inside storage is an important consideration.