Chuck_S wrote:
For us camping is sleeping in a tent or tent trailer for which a hybrid qualifies with the added niceties of a nice galley, and bathroom. Different strokes for different folks: my wife refuses to even consider a hard-sided "RV." We have a camper. :)
Sleeping under canvas remains paramount for us. Yeah there are compromises including drying the tentage if you have to close up with it's wet. But that's really all there is. Ya gotta make choices. Temperate weather with all the screens open is wonderful.
14 camping seasons in the same 2006 Roo 23SS with just minimal preventive maintenance and tiny repairs. 4 camping seasons prior that in a Coleman Bayside popup which was only replaced because we ran out of room inside. My wife and daughter used every cubic foot of space for their "stuff" and I literally had to keep mine in the truck. We plan to get another 14 seasons out of the Roo.
Because of their complexity popups and hybrids are often more expensive than "sleep in a box" trailers so they're not necessarily stepping stones to a RV.
-- Chuck
Glad we aren't the only ones. These are the EXACT reasons we went with a hybrid.
We started in the "family" pop-up, a 1993 Coleman Seneca that my mother-in-law bought new. My wife grew up camping with it.
We decided we wanted a bathroom to avoid midnight bathhouse runs with kids, and the option to turn on the AC if it got hot (and our own camper so we wouldn't be fixing things other people broke).
But we didn't want to give up the open feel of the popup, and call us crazy but we like a good rainstorm in canvas tent beds. So we got a hybrid, and don't regret it.
BTW, that 25 year old Coleman popup is still kicking. My brother-in-law camps in it now.
