Anyone have experience with High Wall popups?

[Robmoo]

I didn't care for the Starcraft 23rbs because I didn't enjoy towing anything that big. The 2001 Cole Niagara is ok, but I'd like some of the amenities that I lost in the Starcraft. A High Wall pop up looks like a nice trade off between the two. Does anyone have experience with the High Wall pop ups? Any disadvantages. At 6' (minus the AC height) high one should ride nicely behind my 2006 Envoy. The Niagara tows so well at times I don't notice that it is there.

[mileshuff]

Rustycamperpants wrote:
One final storm in South Dakota at 2am caused us to pack up and leave the CG was the last straw. As we pulled out all the TTs were still comfy in their beds. Shortly after we went to the dark side.

We weathered many strong storms in both our popups and hybrid. 40+mph winds and heavy rain, even a dusting of snow a few times. Never a leak, always comfy albiet noisy! Our move to a TT was more due to us getting older and don't dry camp down dirt mountain roads much anymore.

Like you, our popups and later our hybrid served us well. Dozens upon dozens of memorable trips over several decades. But now, we're enjoying our 5th wheel greatly.

[Rustycamperpant]

Before our move to the dark side, we had our 2nd pup ... a 2007 Starcraft 3608 high wall. We loved that pup, the higher countertops and all the other bells and whistles. One final storm in South Dakota at 2am caused us to pack up and leave the CG was the last straw. As we pulled out all the TTs were still comfy in their beds. Shortly after we went to the dark side.

That high wall sure was a nice camper though.

[mileshuff]

aftermath wrote:
I also went from a pop up, although not high walled, to a 21SSO. I question your statement about weight. Even if a tricked out high walled PU weighed a little more than the hybrid I would think that pulling the PU would be a lot easier. You will not have a big white box behind you. When it comes to towing, wind resistance is a much larger factor than weight alone.

My first popup was a small Coleman Roanoke weighing 1200 lbs loaded. I pulled it with ease using 1st a tiny 1988 Suzuki Samurai and later a 4 door 1991 Suzuki Sidekick. Our 2nd popup was a Coleman Shenandoah weighing 1800 lbs fully loaded. Pulled with the Sidekick and later a 1993 Nissan pickup.

While wind drag is the larger factor, moving to a high walled would require a larger vehicle than the Suzuki's or Nissan. I felt if I was gonna buy a new tow vehicle I might was well move away from the popups. I bought a 1/2 ton truck which pulled the 5,000lb hybrid easily.

Simply put, standard popups can be towed with rather small vehicles while most high walled require something a bit stronger.

[patperry2766]

I have a 2014 Flagstaff HW27KS model. We like the camper when were towing, and after it's set up. "Popping" it up takes about 30 minutes after we have unhitched, we could probably go faster but we don't want to take any chances to miss something.

Space wise, it can comfortably accommodate about 4 people and their stuff, 5 if you really want to push it. Just like every other brand, we've had issues with assembly, loose connections and things falling apart because they're cheaply made.

If we had it all to do over again and for a few more dollars, we would have gone with a hard sided model

Let me know if you have any more questions

[aftermath]

mileshuff wrote:
We went from a standard popup to a Hybrid and skipped the high wall. The weight and cost of high walls led us to get a hybrid instead. Cost to do was marginal and the high walls weight required a larger vehicle than a standard popup. So a hybrid made much more sense. More room and faster setup and tear down. Our Starcraft 21SSO weighed 3800# dry and just under 5,000# fully loaded with gear, luggage and water tank filled.

I also went from a pop up, although not high walled, to a 21SSO. I question your statement about weight. Even if a tricked out high walled PU weighed a little more than the hybrid I would think that pulling the PU would be a lot easier. You will not have a big white box behind you. When it comes to towing, wind resistance is a much larger factor than weight alone.

[lfloom]

We owned a Coleman Sequoia high wall. I loved it. We went from a 10 ft Coleman to a 14 ft high wall. Suddenly I could cook and cleanup inside. Big kitchen area (though I still prefer to cook outside). It was nice to have a bathroom, too. The bunk area ceiling is lower than on a normal popup, but not bad.

When the kids moved out, we wanted to go back to something smaller so now we have a 2417 Trailmanor.

[Robmoo]

mileshuff wrote:
We went from a standard popup to a Hybrid and skipped the high wall. The weight and cost of high walls led us to get a hybrid instead. Cost to do was marginal and the high walls weight required a larger vehicle than a standard popup. So a hybrid made much more sense. More room and faster setup and tear down. Our Starcraft 21SSO weighed 3800# dry and just under 5,000# fully loaded with gear, luggage and water tank filled.

We owned a Starcraft hybrid for a while. It was more trailer than I felt comfortable towing. Also, it leaked like a sieve.

[mileshuff]

We went from a standard popup to a Hybrid and skipped the high wall. The weight and cost of high walls led us to get a hybrid instead. Cost to do was marginal and the high walls weight required a larger vehicle than a standard popup. So a hybrid made much more sense. More room and faster setup and tear down. Our Starcraft 21SSO weighed 3800# dry and just under 5,000# fully loaded with gear, luggage and water tank filled.

[H2oSprt]

I recently bought a jayco 2008 jayco 12hw. It's been great, tows easy, decent fridge space and nice outdoor storage. We had a normal pop up, and I prefer the hw. .

[Robmoo]

cabranch47 wrote:
I have a flagstaff HW27SC and love it. Had "regular" popups in the past. I like the higher counter tops, not having to fold down and up the kitchen, the hard wall bathroom, the larger refrigerator, stove/over, and the headroom (about 7'). You can't see over it like a regular pup but you get used to it. Pulls great, although heavier (3800#?). Good luck.

How do you like the Flagstaff? I was eyeing the same Rockwood model. Is the slide-out kitchen as nice as it looks? Does having no seating inside except for the dinette become an issue? How's the storage? I'm thinking that the slide-out kitchen takes up a fair amount of space that would otherwise be storage.

[cabranch47]

I have a flagstaff HW27SC and love it. Had "regular" popups in the past. I like the higher counter tops, not having to fold down and up the kitchen, the hard wall bathroom, the larger refrigerator, stove/over, and the headroom (about 7'). You can't see over it like a regular pup but you get used to it. Pulls great, although heavier (3800#?). Good luck.