Originally posted by Royal1585
What are y'alls opinion on pop-up campers? |
I had an '89 Coleman Sequoia pop up trailer for 15 years.
Pros:
1. Easily towed. Does NOT require a weight distribution hitch.
2. Inexpensive, compared to other types of solid-wall RVs.
3. Roomy and large when set up, but nice and small while on the road.
4. More easily parked (because of smaller size.) than travel trailers.
5. Able to see over the top, from center rear view mirror of tow vehicle. (as long as you don't have an air conditioner than sticks up to obscure your view.)
6. Some have lots of the same interior appliances as larger travel trailers, ie; refrigerators, furnaces, hot water heaters, air conditioners, etc. (Some even have bathrooms, but they are spartan.)
7. Nice large beds. Mine had a king in the front and a double in the back, plus a large dinette that made into a bed.
8. Light weight. My Coleman was 1,200 lbs and I pulled it with a 2002 4 cyl Toyota Tacoma. I got 17 to 18 mpg on the road, but steep hills were out of the question, as was 5th gear. (You can move the tent trailer around by hand. Try THAT with a travel trailer!)
Cons:
1. Cold!! (The canvas is just like a tent.)
2. Noisy. (No solid walls means people can hear things outside, especially dogs who like to bark at strange noises in the middle of the night.) I was always quieting my dogs who would be spooked at odd hours by noises from outside.
3. A pain to set up, tear down. (They are not good RVs if you only stay one night and then move on to another destination, as we did numerous times.) You have to crawl around on the ground to pull the beds out, set up leveling jacks, etc, so you can get dirty. (My OCD wife fussed at me constantly for getting on the ground to set up and tear down. Many people heard her little tirades on dirt, especially with the acoustically-transparant canvas walls!!
4. Can be a REAL pain to set up, tear down in the rain! (I kept tarps over the beds for just this reason.)
5. Almost IMPOSSIBLE to 'stealth camp' with. A motor home, truck camper, conversion van, can easily be slept in without people knowing. A tent trailer MUST be set up to be used. (People give you weird looks in Walmart parking lots! We had to stay in a Walmart parking lot once in Tennessee on vacation when we got into town at 3 am. It was basically 'Circle up the wagons', and park near the big motor homes. I felt unsafe.)
6. Must be unhitched to be set up, as the front bed extends over the tongue. Again, if you're spending a week in one place (in the summer time) this isn't a big deal, but if you're stoping each night on a long trip it can be a problem.
7. NO overhead cabinet storage!!!
My Coleman had no fridge, no furnace, no bathroom (only a porta-potty.) We used block ice in ice chests and had a portable propane heater as well as 110 volt space heater for use with electrical hook ups. I got tired of the 'cons', so we bought our rPod 180 this year.
I paid $2,250 for it in 2002, and got $750 in trade on when I bought the rPod. It cost me $1,500 to own it for 15 years, exactly $100 a year. I replaced the propane tank once and the tires twice. I greased the 'wiffle-tree' gears that raise and lower the top once myself. I replaced the elastic cord that tightens the canvas around the beds once.
All in all it was fairly cheap to own. The 'repairs' didn't amount to much money at all, especially over the long run.
Under the right circumstances they are a lot of fun, mostly if you are going to one destination to stay for an extended time. And, of course, the weather is warm and comfortable.
But, even though my new rPod cost FAR more, I still love it compared to the Coleman.