Permanently attached tent ends when did this happen

Yes, long awaited improvement.

I saw a 1970's something slide in camper, and it had a expanding back wall, that when open had tent sidewalls, and a bed in the back. The wall stayed attached at the top, the bottom swung out about 3 feet. So the solid sidewall (or rearwall as it was) kept the people inside dry.

Then in 2004, I started seeing rear beds that slid out of the back of a small lightweight travel trailer. Later I even saw some with solid walls that slid out over the hitch. Sort of a manual slide out room, but it slid out the front or back, on certain models.

Then some had tent sides, so that they are lighter, and less complex, easier to install and perhaps easy to set up? Personally I think that solid sidewalls are easier to set up and put away. You have no worries about putting them away wet and mold starting on the canvas. . ..

Have you looked at ALiner.com They have a solid sidewall and solid roof that pop up to give up to 7' of headroom!

I wish that Aliner made a truck camper, with it's unique roof system running front to back, with 5' wide panels the length of the camper (up to about 12 or 14' long) that would fold up and meet in the middle, giving plenty of headroom above the cab.

Fred.

I think this started after several instances of children falling out by going between the tent material and the floor.

We Cant Wait wrote:
I think this started after several instances of children falling out by going between the tent material and the floor.

X2 - there was a discussion here about that, and the next year Jayco came out with fully attached bunk ends. (I seem to recall they were first, but maybe not?)

It was a concern for us when we first got this trailer - we put adults on the end of the bunk. Now the kids are old enough (and big enough) that it's much less of a concern.

My 2011 Jayco X23J had the permanently attached bed ends. Since we were upgrading from a pop up, that was a big selling point, less to set up. Didn't know that they were previously unattached when we purchased the trailer.

But wouldn't they be a real pain to fold up?

On the other hand, no condensation or rainwater could get into the camper as long as your windows were zipped up, so that would be an improvement.

In looking at them at shows, I did notice that some models can only unzip the windows from the outside now- which I thought was really dumb!

We Cant Wait wrote:
I think this started after several instances of children falling out by going between the tent material and the floor.

Yep happened to us in our 2007 hybrid, our son fell out one night and came knocking on the door to get back in. Part of the reason we got rid of our hybrid. That was 2011 and a couple manufacturers were just starting to attach them permanently then.

So to answer your question, I would say maybe starting in 2010 - 2011 is when this changed?

My 2008 Starcraft. Has permanently attached tenting. The world does not revolve around forest river.

My 06 Starcraft has permanently attached tenting, easy as pie to close up and no trouble with rain.

We Cant Wait wrote:
I think this started after several instances of children falling out by going between the tent material and the floor.

I was concerned about that with my 6 and 4 yr old. Worst thing so far has been a water sippy cup. We use normal fitted bed sheets and tuck them in really well on the outside edge.