xrsforever

Member
Nov 2, 2000
249
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anyone use a popup camper as a support vehicle??? I am thinking about buying one.Give me positives as well as negatives. Thanks !:cool:
 
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Rodzilla

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Jul 21, 1999
615
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Hey XRF,

I bought my first pop up this year. It's an older one but its a 13 footer so its pretty big. Has a sink. furnace,fridge, and hot water heater with a shower.
I can't imagine using the "shower" as I can see getting everything soaked. But It will be nice on long riding weekends having hot water and the shower head to clean up (you can run the shower head outside the camper).

The only down side (for me) has been hauling. I have a topper on my truck, so either I pull tripple (no thanks) or I have to pull my topper off to bring my bike.

Since I've been a tent camper for my whole life, this is a big step up for me (although my best friend just bought a big camper/trailer). If you live in a really windy area the fabric walls can detach from the runners they are attached too. If the camper is newer they probably have fixed this.

If your buddies are still in tents, you may find they start using your camper as a changing area:scream: So you may need to be prepared for company if you camp with others

Rod
 

lawman

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Sep 20, 1999
764
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i have a towlite trailer, which is sort of a hybrid. it has hard sides, but telescopes up & down with an electric motor running a hydraulic lift. tows super-easy & goes up in about 10 seconds. i really like it, it has all the comforts of a camper. it has taken some extra maintenance; i bought it 3d-hand & the lift system broke a cable once. i put the bike & generator (when needed) in the back of my pickup.
 

JWW

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Apr 13, 2000
2,529
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Is there anyway to load the bikes on top of the pop up? Obviously in the closed position........
 

zio

Mr. Atlas
Jul 28, 2000
2,291
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my guess is no, just because I don't see any internal structure heavy duty enough to handle the anchor points. Ours has a rack for bicycles, surfboards, etc., which does seem pretty sturdy but I'm just not soo sure. On the other hand, I don't see why you couldn't beef it up a little- like on a boat just use plywood underneath the fiberglass for support & anchor there. Good luck getting the bikes up there. You'll need a pretty long ramp!

We love ours. We were tent campers, too, before buying our second-hand Coleman. There are quite a few out there for sale, and most we looked at were in pretty good condition. It's surprisingly roomy inside, goes up/down easily, and tows like it's not even there. Sure, it'd probably be cool to have one of the 18-24 footers. But if you can't afford one and the monster truck to tow it, this is definately the next best thing. Another plus is you can park it in your garage, or in the driveway and not have a huge obstruction to peeve the neighbors.
 

roosteater

~SPONSOR~
Dec 27, 1999
216
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There's no way you're going to be able to put dirt bikes on top of a pop up. The tops of them just aren't sturdy enough. I really question whether you'd be able to make them sturdy enough to support the weight of a couple of dirtbikes (or even one for that matter!).

I have a 99 Palomino pop up camper. It's great. Furnace, fridge, sink, no water heater though. It's definately a lot better than sleeping in a regular tent.
 

Smitty

Alowishus Devadander
Nov 10, 1999
707
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Do these popups usually have air conditioning? Assuming you bring a generator to power it.
 

lawman

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Sep 20, 1999
764
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mine has 13,500 british thermal units of cooling power--it'll freeze you out of there. i wouldn't dream of putting a bike on top. betcha could rig up a bumper rack on the back of the trailer, tho, for 1 bike.
 

ktmdad

Member
Feb 29, 2000
314
0
We pulled a pop up from Cleveland, OH to Stalpes, MN, and then again to White Plains, KY with a V-6 Ford Aerostar ok. Just don't expect to get going real quick. The van was also loaded with two bikes, and supplies needed for a long 4 day weekend.

Gas mileage dropped to around 275 to 350 mpg from normal 425 to 475mpg.

Camper worked out nice. Especially if it rains.
 

CAB

Member
Nov 18, 1999
43
0
The only gripe I have with pop-up trailers (I have one) is the set-up and take down time. You have to add to that the packing and unpacking of all your gear, coolers, etc... which you generally cannot simply leave in the pop-up while you set it up or take it down. On the plus side, they do generally give you a lot of room once they're up. My next purchase will be a hardside trailer.
 

oldguy

Always Broken
Dec 26, 1999
9,419
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We just moved up from a pop up to a toy hauler.
The popup was great but remember you need a truck to haul bikes. My wife would go but disliked tent camping and the popup was our comprpmise. Once thekid started racing we got alot of use out of the popup gooing almost every weekend. I had the setup down to about 15 minutes start to finish. Takedown is another story- when dry out about 1/2 hour but if raining at least another 15 minutes but then the mandatory setup to dry out at home (never skip this part). One trick we found is rubbermaid tubs- 1 for each of us to pack clothes (if it doesn't fit you don't need it)- short enough to slide under the camper. That way you have plenty of room inside without climbing over clothes. We also would on extended trips take along a small dome tent to put excess items in.
The popup beats sleeping on the ground but after having the toybox at DW I can't see any other way to tow
 

JuliusPleaser

Too much of a good thing.
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Nov 22, 2000
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Oldguy's toybox is very cool. When the bikes are outside, the cargo area becomes living quarters, with furniture that folds down from the walls.

A pop-up sounds like a good idea. Any naysayers?
 

Flyin-w

Member
Jul 16, 2001
5
0
I've been thinking about hauling two dirt bikes on top of a popup for some time now. Not all pop ups are created equal some are pretty flimsy. I seen a bicycle rack for 6 bikes for popups. and it works great. If you come off the front and back with vertical telescoping support tubes from the frame so you could pull a pin when raising the top.Then go on top of the roof w/2x2 steel tube w/ sheet metal welded undeneath that would be the channel for the wheels then chuck the font wheel and weld a perpendicular tube for tie downs.It could work... One problem is the scary ramp you would have to ride up.
 

mknight

Member
Jun 14, 2000
63
0
There are a lot of pros and cons to pop-ups and I'm sure you heard or considered many of them. However, for what it is worth, one of the items that really persuaded us away from them, was the matter of having the tent portion flap in the wind. We do a lot of camping in the spring and fall in the deserts of Utah. Without fail, the wind seems to always be blowing. My wife couldn't stand the flapping of the tent all night (having tented it before). This is just one thing to consider....not trying to talk you out of it because there are a lot of other upsides such as ease of towing, weight, smaller, therefore able to sometimes camp/park in tighter areas, cost, etc.

I ended up really shopping around and found a pristine '96 23 foot camp trailer for not much more than a pop-up and probably cheaper than a nice new pop-up. For my family, this works much better and keeps the wife happier and I am therefore able to go and take her and the family more places. But if you don't have the vehicle to pull something like that, then it probably isn't much of an option for you.
 

lawman

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Sep 20, 1999
764
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i didn't want a tent-type popup b/c i didn't want to lose heat/cool air out of the canvas; didn't want the setup/takedown; & for what the 1s cost that have all the camper comforts, i got the towlite. they are, however, much lighter & thus easier to tow. the towlite also shares a drawback with the tent 1s: limited storage space.
 
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