Pop Up

Taking a quick look at 2014 actual specifications reveals the following manufacturer-supplied information using the two largest producing manufacturers:

Rockwood highwall series: 2,806-3,738 pounds dry; 3,741-6,055 pounds GVWR
4 models: all are above 3,500 GVWR

Rockwood hard side series: 1,893-2186 pounds dry; 2,898-3,816 pounds GVWR
9 models: 7 of which have GVWR of 3,200 or less

Rockwood Premier series: 2,445-2,555 pounds dry; 3,339-3,351 pounds GVWR
4 models: all are less than 3,400 GVWR

Rockwood Freedom series: 1,344-2,975 pounds dry; 2,027-5,292 pounds GVWR
13 models: 9 of which have GVWR of around 3,000 or less

Jayco Jay Series: 1,800-2,415 pounds dry; 2,550-4,550 pounds GVWR
4 models: 2 less than 3,000 GVWR and another at 3,450 GVWR

Jayco Jay Series Sport: 1,200-2,385 pounds dry; 1,995-4,150 pounds GVWR
7 models: 6 less than 3,300 GVWR

Of the models above, 22 were 2,050 pounds or less dry. More than half of the new PUP models are around or below 2,000.

Our first rv was a pop up about 35 years ago and we loved it. Since then we have had Airstream, motor home another tounge pull and now a fifth wheel. Recently we also got a pop up. Love the lay out and the king size beds. However it's not for me. With all the cabinets and storage at floor level at 73 its to hard to get down and back up. As soon as my daughter gets a truck it's hers.

Newer high side popups are getting to be too heavy to appeal to the market they are designed for. That being light weight and towable by smaller vehicles. A Hybrid trailer offers the benefits of a hard side while still having the tent beds for increased sleeping space and 'campy' feeling. Ours weighed about 3800lbs dry, 5000lbs fully loaded and was easy to pull with our Durango or small truck.

Prior to that trailer we did have a 2000lb popup pulled by a Nissan mini-truck. I'm seeing today's popups weighing in at 3000-4000lbs with only a few in the 1500-2000lb range. Hybrids make more sense unless your tow vehicle is very limited.

Although we've moved on/up (depending on how you want to look at it!) we did have a Rockwood 10' box Pup for 3 years. My pro's/con's are similar to everyone else's.

Pro's: lightweight, could be pulled EASILY by my Honda CRV, great gas mileage, could have stored in my garage (if there had been room-LOL!), could move it by hand so I didn't have to bother with 'backing up', easy maintenance, no trailer brakes or WHD needed, what I could afford (bought it 4 years old & paid $3500 cash), held value well (sold it 3years later for $3200 in 2 days!), got us up off the ground & with some amenities (better than a tent). Also LOTS of room when opened up & could sleep a number of ppl.

Con's: the major one is we did 90% of our camping during the summer in TX, FL, & AR. Unless we got a site COMPLETELY in the shade, the 13.5 BTU AC couldn't keep up. Even with a tarp over the site AND covers over the bunk ends. And putting up all that extra 'stuff' just to keep it in the 80's got old after awhile. FORGET overnight camping. Just wasn't worth the set-up in the summer.

Other Cons: set-up/take down, leveling so the door would fit right, minuscule 'fridge' if you want to call it that -- that required also being perfectly level, added cooling fans to the back, and BARELY kept things cool in the summer. Lots of movement even when leveled, blocked & chocked. No permanent storage & had to open it up to access things & load/unload it for every trip. Awning was a pain to set up & stake down.

And the other major thing that finally caused me to then buy an HTT: the wind effect. The Pup never leaked (& we were in some pretty amazing storms!), but OMG the wind causing it to move scared the Beejeebers out of me. Once camping at Ft. Davis in Texas at night, the wind was gusting 35-40 mph and shaking the Pup so bad I made DS get up and we went and slept in the CRV. I was THAT scared it was going to tip/blow over or the roof was going to come off. It didn't of course, but it was scary! We had several other instances where the wind & the Pup's shaking/moving kept me up all night. So that was basically 'it' for me.

However we did make some awesome memories in that Pup & I've never been sorry I bought it!

I love the pop ups. They give you such a wonderful feeling of being outdoors and still offer all the luxuries of home. They are also easy to tow.

bigjoey38 wrote:
How much weight can those beds hold?

Some friends of ours had a combined weight of 600#+. They had the dealer install two additional support poles under their bed. It was an early 90's Coleman IIRC.

Had a pickup camper, popup, hybrid, and now another PUP. Even in the hybrid, we felt too enclosed. Our current PUP has black and gray water tanks, and a shower that is bigger than the one in our hybrid. Biggest downside: colder in cold weather camping. As for gas mileage, our hybrid and current PUP were the same length and weight towing, but we got 11 MPG with the hybrid, but 14-15 with the PUP. The hybrid acted like a sail and just ate gas to get it down the road.

I have an fifth wheel and a Coleman/Fleetwood Westlake.
I like the king size beds in the PU.Never had any water problems.With only two interior lights it can be a little dim but use florecsent lanterns. most Nearly all my camping is in bear country, never worry about it. Toilet capacity is adequate, fresh water barley, carry extra if I plan on showering. Cons I hate the set up and teardown physically tireing. All storage is on low to the floor. Small tires call for extra caution boondocking. Always have to carry extra ice chest, store cloths in the truck as well as most lawn chairs, grills ect. I might mention I'm 72 and not as flexable as I once was Thus the dislike for the low cabinets and the set up and tear down.

A 95 palomino yearling was offered on FB rummage sale near me. The crud wanted $1,975, I told him high retail was $900, and offered him $500. I said I wanted to demo it and make it into a flat bed trailer. Needless to say, I got banned on the rummage page for speaking the truth.

bigjoey38 wrote:
Thanks for the info.. I have a teardrop camper which is good for 2 as its main purpose is sleeping in it... However might be looking for something mid range as my grandson would like to go camping...

How much weight can those beds hold?

I just bought a Coachmen Clipper and each bed is rated for 1050lbs!

Sorry miss post