TC Doors. Small Pop up doors vs Larger Hard side doors....

OP Here. Thank you to all who replied to my question. I appreciate the real world experience.

Since we live in Kansas City, the pickings for Truck Campers for sale is pretty slim.

As suggested, we will find both pop up and hard side units to test out for ourselves.

I am exciting to migrate away from our TT to something more suitable for our travel style. I am considering either a TC or Class B / converting a van. I would love to convert a high top van (new transit).

Van or TC. That's kind of where we're at for our next road trip unit. It's an exciting decision....can't lose either way. I love the stealthiness of the Van, but the off pavement capabilities of a 4x4 TC is also great.....decisions....decisions........a new 4x4 Sprinter is out of budget...but very cool.

Thanks to all

Huck

IMO, you need to personally go into the different manufacturer pop-ups and experience it yourself. The XPCamper has the tallest/full size door. Outfitter has the next tallest door in the pop-up market that I know of. Hallmark is a little shorter and 4 Wheel Camper is made for Hobbits.

Alaskan makes a mini. Would this be the best of both worlds??

An add on- last year my wife was having knee issues and had one scoped and the other replaced. The short door made her nervous every time she went in or out.

I have a Northstar 850SC which is a pop up with the short door. As a reference for you, I am 50, 5'11" and a touch over 300#. It depends on the day as to the short door being an issue or not. Is my back sore? Am I trying to carry something? I usually put bags (food, backpacks, etc) in first but then you have to climb over them. This whole "you are climbing up and in" theory doesn't work for me. My best approach is to stand up on the bumper and then lean down and in. This is my 2nd pop up with a short door and this works for me. My 1st pop up was a Palomino with the 2 piece tall door. I much prefer the tall door. I am looking to trade this winter to a hard side for a couple of reasons. 1 is noise. The up side to a pop up is the idea that it's still closer to tent camping and nature. Same thing is a downside. It is closer to everything that makes noise. I stay in it at temps of zero but a hard side should be a little easier to heat than a 1/2 tent camper. Don't get me wrong, I love this camper but there it is. I stay in it 1 night per week, every week and about 3 other full weeks as well. I have lots of time in it and climbing in and out of it. If you are boondocking then I can't imagine a better set up. If you tend to be in a more settled environment then the hardside would be better. I guess this was more than you asked for but... I'm having gastric bypass this winter so I imagine the short door will be easier for me next year if I keep this camper.

Never had an issue with the full-sized door on my Outfitter Apex 8.

I'm thinking if you have back/bending issues, a TC is probably not the camper for you. Especially a popup. It takes some flexibility and agility to get in and out of the bed.

Popup cabovers are more like submarine bunks. There's no way to sit up and scooch out of bed on your butt. It's more of an unflattering sideways belly slide until you can swing one leg down to the step. IF you can reach the step. Otherwise it's a leap of faith which is hard on your gentleman parts as you go over the edge of the bed tray. God help you if you miss, because you end up in a heap on the floor.

I had a pop-up with a tall door. It was in two pieces and after you raised the top you locked the two pieces together so it opened as one. I think it was a Palamino camper.
After having had the pop-up and now the hardside there's no way I'd go back to the pop-up. Noise and thermal insulation, security, storage, amenities, and room are all much better.
Fuel mileage and RV's just don't mix no matter what you do.

I thought along the exact same lines when shopping for our camper last spring. Funny thing is, I didn't even notice the door height difference when we were checking out the Northstars on the same lot as the Wolf Creek we ended up with. It didn't even dawn on me that it was a non-issue until the ride home! At 6'5" I thought it was going to be a deal killer but we ended up basing our decision on other criteria like tank capacities and noise isolation. The "getting old" factor was an important part of the decision but it had nothing to do with the door height.

For what it's worth the Four Wheel Campers are a bit tighter door entry. We didn't get to try any other brands. Perhaps it has to do more with the step design and entire entry implementation than door height?

I sometimes do wish we had a lower profile camper, particularly when cruising through more primitive camping areas or motoring across the desert in high winds. I was really surprised when we discovered the door height turned out to be way less important than I had imagined.

jimh425 wrote:

s1214 wrote:
The one time I hit my head, I was jumping straight out the door to break up a fight.

Don't leave us hangin. :)

Not much to tell. Was working and some carnies decided behind my camper was a good place to settle some differences. Didn't last long after I flew out.