Considering pop-up. Where do I start my research?

[ToddD]

The wife has admitted that if we could increase the level of comfort, she'd be willing to go camping more often. Our current set-up is a large tent with air mattresses. I'll admit, even I wake up stiff and sore.

So, we have the room to store a 20-25' foot long trailer on our property, and are budgeting $10-15k. AC and a porta-potty would be nice. Tow vehicle is a 1 ton truck. 3 season camping is our goal, nothing in the winter. We also have a 7 year old kid. I'm a big dude, 6' 5", 260lbs.

So: where do we start our research? There seems to be a TON of manufacturers and models out there, and it's challenging, to say the least, wading through options.

Does our budget suggest pop-up? Should we look at other configurations? Best brands? Must-have options?

Can y'all help a noobie out?

Todd

[ToddD]

Thanks for all the insight, folks.

In the end, I think some of you may be correct: a hybrid is really what we are looking for.

We have the budget, and we have the tow vehicle. It should give us the best compromise between comfort and connection to nature.

Now I get to repeat this thread on the hybrid forum! 😉

[ElBesoBlanco]

We love our Flagstaff A-Frame pop up by Forest River! Set up and take down is simple and fast. Ours sleeps 4 and has all the amenities except for a bathroom. We take along a portable toilet w/privacy room. Some models have a bathroom and even a shower...mine is a 2012, and since then two other companies have entered the A-Frame market (Starcraft & Jayco). Aliner and Chalet are out of your budget, but the other brands are not (and being new to the a-frame market, they include more options for the dollar)

[PAThwacker]

I had a new pup before jumping up to hybrids. Imagine coming home from work, loading a truck with gray tank, coolers, clothes, and firewood. Imagine whatever toys from bikes to canoes.

Drive 1 hour to closest state park. Spend 2 plus hours fumbling with a bag awning, dual drains, unloading a truck, hungry kids, loading pup, and finally making dinner 2 hours after unhooking. I actively tried to rip off the bag awning in a fit of rage after my lab was attacked by a loose dog and knocked the awning leg off. First trip, dw opened door and ripped that pos awning. Did I mention that I despise pups with a passion after 2 years of PTSD fumbling with a pup?



Onto hybrids, tts, whatever.
Unhook hybrid, level, drop beds, and make them. Done deal. Time for beer thirty. Climb in whenever you want. Load them, keep the beer in the fridge in that secret hideaway from the rest of the family. TT unhook, level, and crack open a beer.

Boondocked one week each in a pup and hybrid during hurricanes Irene and Sandy. Hybrid was a piece of cake during Sandy, but the pup got me fired after Irene!

Easy towing with a pup, yeah right! One jerk of the wheel and the train starts to sway!

[bfast54]

I also highly think you need to look at a hybrid instead of a pop up for the kind of money that you're talking

You can get a really good hybrid and its going to Suit you much better in my opinion having used pop ups for many years.

[PAThwacker]

Jeesh, your needs/wants shoot you out of pups and into the hybrid domain. Some are higher than 6.5 roofs and have 60 by 80 queen beds.

[rexlion]

I doubt that the design of molded fiberglass trailers meets the fast production-line manufacturing criteria of the big companies.

Although molded FG units can still leak at window seams or door edges or plumbing like any unit, eliminating the roof and sidewall joint seams helps greatly. When water gets into a stick built trailer, one can quickly have hidden mold in walls, delamination, and rot. When water leaks around the window of a molded FG trailer, one mainly gets wet cushions. (But if the leak is neglected for years, floor rot still can result.)

Come to think of it, maybe the big companies see the potential longevity of molded units as a liability to future sales. Planned obsolescence boosts sales.

[tatest]

Not so much a ton of manufacturers as a lot of brands.

For "traditional" pop-ups with tent ends, since Fleetwood left the towables market, the manufacturers come down to Forest River (Rockwood/Flagstaff), Coachmen (Clipper/Viking), Vanguard (Palomino), and Jayco/Starcraft. Since Forest River owns Coachmen and Vanguard, for me that is just two.

If you are looking at used, Fleetwood used to make five or six models, and also made the Coleman brand.

Look at the models available for the brands that are sold in your area, choose a model that fits your needs: size, weight, floorplan, amenities.

I'm shopping popups and folding hard-side (latter category includes F-R, Jayco, A-Liner, Chalet).

I visited the Jayco factory showroom yesterday morning, and came away a bit disappointed. Jayco has greatly pared back their model lineup for 2015, dropping a couple of my top candidates from 2012-2014 model years, and gone to a door that folds down to be a step, which I absolutely don't like and will not buy. Also, on the hardside folder I inspected, I found a few "fit and finish" issues I don't usually expect from Jayco, starting with a poorly fit mitered joint in aluminum trim on the door, exposing my hand to sharp edges and metal slivers.

Right now, for the widest selection of models, look at either Flagstaff or Rockwood, what dealers have and what else is offered. They are twins marketed separately, so a dealer will have one or the other, not both, but it doesn't really matter which one. Both brands have three trim levels in the pop-ups, plus high-wall and hard-sided models.

I'm not sure how F-R's Palomino Basecamp and the Clipper/Viking twins relate, many floorplans are similar to Flagstaff/Rockwood models, but not as many variations are offered.

[rbpru]

Breeno,

I know the feeling, when my wife decided we were going to “see America”, that meant that creature comforts trumped all else.

Now do not miss-understand, I like the full bath, bed you enter from either side and a host of other features.

But….there are times when a PUP is “just right” for some of my adventures so I kept it. Peace and harmony all around.:B

[breeno]

I agree with everything RoyB says above, that's a great summary.

Highly recommend Popup explorer -- great resource for all things Popup.

Linky

Loved our Popup. On a nice spring day with everything open nothing quite like that connection to nature. Mama wanted more creature comforts, and I didn't want the hassles of finding another mama, so....no more Popup 😉

[pigman1]

Sounds like you've done a lot of thinking on this and have a reasonable idea of what you need and what you want (they're not always the same). A good place to start would be the Hershey RV show in September. A LOT of dealers and a lot of different makes and models, floorplans and varieties. My daughter bought a very nice PUP there a few years ago and was pleased with the price and is happy with the rig. Take your time, do your looking, asking and comparing and choose what works best for you. I bought a Starcraft PUP when I returned from Vietnam in 1969 and my kids are still using it. With care there rigs go for a long time and give many happy hours of camping. We used the Starcraft with 5 kids, so family size does not necessarily drive what you have to buy.

[ToddD]

Lawrosa: why a pop up? Good question. We primarily do single or two day overnights, nothing long term. While hard sided campers certainly have more luxuries and usable layouts, I guess all we're looking for at this time is a minor step up from tenting. In my mind, along with more features and functionality seems to come more work and also more isolation from natural surroundings? Also, we're looking for something compact that can fit in a 25' or shorter park space, and a $15k max budget.

What's the main reason most people look at pop up over other formats?

[kknowlton]

At 6'5" you will want to make sure you have a bed that is at least full-size (some camper beds are a little short). A popup or hybrid trailer with a king-size bed might be a good option, and worth asking about when you go looking.

Great summary on popups by RoyB. We had one for 17 years and loved it. Disadvantages are similar to those of tenting (except for the sleeping on the ground part) - mostly problems in bad weather or bear country.

Another option you could consider in your price & size range would be a hybrid trailer - it's a full-height travel trailer with fold-out beds similar to those in a popup. It has the advantages of being able to load the fridge without crawling in on your belly or setting the camper up, more storage space, a bathroom with toilet & shower, and a little more comfort in bad weather, but you still have the access to lots of fresh air via the bed ends. Some of them may have king-size beds available. As previously mentioned, with a 1-ton truck, you would have no problem pulling one of these as well.

Good luck with your search!

[RoyB]

POPUPs are not for everyone...

We are avid tent campers for the 60's and hardly ever sleep on the ground per say... Our tents was three room tents and we always used the fold-out camp bed that is up off the floor and has a slot for a air mattress to slid into it. Very comfortable sleeping...


We went to the OFF-RoAD POPUP camping in 2008 with this STARCRAFT 14RT which has 15-inch wheels and well known to be a OFF-ROAD type camper. Our camping love remains getting off the power grids and setup near a creek somewhere off to ourselves...

When you get the larger trailer with all of the 120VAC and 12VDC appliances you will want to use them. This takes alot of planning if you still want to do most of your camping OFF-ROAD. We changed to smart mode converter/charger, more batteries, LED lights, and do just fine camping off the power grid with out 255AHs battery bank. Our Idea is to run all the things we want to run in an one day/night run off the batteries and then be able to recharge our battery bank the next morning is a short three hour generator run time.




There is just the two of us and we have all the room we need. In a POPUP everything will have its assigned place for storage. We mainly use our POPUP for sleeping and some inside use of HDTV and other home entertainment items before going to bed. Most of our camping is outside around the camp site. Our POPUP includes a shower and cassette potty combo...

The beauty of the low profile POPUP during travel mode is GREAT GAS mileage. Our truck does not know the POPUP trailer is behind us as we get almsot the same gas mileage (19-21MPG) whether we are are pulling the POPUP or not...

We can also go anywhere the truck will go at the camping spots. One of favorite places to go somewhat local here is up on the Virginia/West Virginia wooded state line behind Harrisonbrug VA. We are all to ourselves with a few occasional JEEP guys coming thru. This is only accessible by the forest service roads and one we have to cross a rock bed creek.

We thought about getting hard sides one time but never did. There are many choices out there in the 20-26 foot size hard wall trailers. We have all the same appliances they have just maybe a bit short on the moving around room inside the trailer. We like sitting around the PATIO area anyway when camping...

When our kids come with us we always have a tent for them to use if they like. Kids would rather sleep outside anyway... Our second POPUP tent bed is normally our catch all area during the day...






Roy Ken

[lawrosa]

Video.. I have seen these selling in the 16k range..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a70XCodLAiM

Here is another.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP0C7fKTqpU


But its all personal choice on what you are looking for...