Just a couple of observation I have made using a pop-up, with an insulated Weblon soft-wall:
-we have camped in extreme winds during tropical storms (Norfolk, VA area: 45 to 55+ MPH) and in desert windstorms (Island in The Sky, Utah: 50 to 60 MPH)
a) we eventually put the top down at the Utah site to lower our wind profile (the truck was moving like a yacht in 30 inch broadside waves), but were pretty comfortable with the top up for ~8 hours; some dust did get in around the Weblon soft-wall stitching, the Weblon soft-wall barely moved at all during these extreme winds.
b) the TS we went through at Norfolk was an extreme one (Norfolk streets were very flooded, as were the roads through Currituck area). We spent the night ~120 feet from the beach, and had horizontal rain blasting us broadside for most of the night. Slight streamers of water was coming in around a few sections of stitching at 4 of our windows, but were easy to dry up with rolled up dish drying towels. The soft-walls barely moved in the wind. By morning, the water was up to the bottom of the differential pumpkin, so I brought the roof down and we waded out (with rafting sandals) to the truck, and headed down to the OBX.
So, for us, there were a few negatives riding out such storms, but we would probably continue to occupy camper with roof up in similar situations in the future. No biggie.
...oh, in winter (winter starts for us around October 5th, with our 1st snows), before we store the camper away, we usually get 3 or 4 good snows. The camper is always set up (24/7) when parked on our property (I use it as an office 5 days a week) right up to the day it goes into heated storage (about Oct 28th). I have absolutely NO problem heating "my office" with a small space heater (900 to 1100 watts) to ~64F ~ 71F with the camper covered in snow. Especially since the Weblon soft-walls have insulation sandwiched between 2 layers a very robust reinforced polyester, guaranteed not to stretch beyond about 0.5%
About ~1.5 hours before the TS hit:
Near Elizabeth City (on route to OBX):
Boondocking at Overland Expo East near Asheville, NC last October (at 27F):
I like the idea of a hard top if I want to stealth camp at a rest stop or Walmart. I would like to know if is possible to use the soft side while the top is down, access to head, refrig. And can you sleep on the dinette with the top down?
We've boondocked in several towns in Maine-- one of them was Freeport, several times, mid ~September ("LL Bean" has an RV parking section down on the lower part of town). We both (wife and I) easily sleep on our dinette bed while boondocking. Read, sleep and eat, too, all with roof down. Our camper has 100% blackout curtains. We also have a large electric flush toilet (full height) installed in our Outfitter closet (a Thetford Curve: 4 gallons fresh; 5.5 gallons black). Quite expensive, but worth it. The fridge runs on propane. Full access with roof down. My wife can almost stand up in our camper with roof down (I have to stoop down, and walk around). Both of us can very comfortable operate at our dinette when the bed is made up (we both work with the laptops when roof is down; prepare food; everything)...
Anyhow....that's my story with our pop-up.