We have a pop-up camper. It is easier to pull behind your vehicle. We like ours. It is easy to set up and take down. It doesn't take very long at all. We can pull into a camp site and have it sit up in no time. When you go shopping for one, I would ask for a demonstration of how to put it up and take it down so that you can see if that one is for you. I would recommend the ones with air, but that is just me. In Texas it gets really hot when we usually camp, so the air is really nice!!
__________________
~*Michelle*~
~Wife to Rick since Dec. 19, 1986~
~Mother to Richard, 21, Chris, 18, and Dakota, 15~
We started out tent camping, then pop up, now travel trailer. I'm so spoiled now!!!
It was definately a nice improvement to buy the Pop Up but..... Hindsight? There are plenty of very nice used ones available...ebay, local tading post, local paper, and even getting the word out that you are looking. We are still paying for ours...now almost 6 years @ $110 a month. Nothing sucks worse than to pay for something that sits in storage most of the year. We got suckered in by gizmos and gadgets. Ours has a pull out (which adds to weight...make sure you know YOUR tow capacity...I guarentee the dealers will lie).....its a slideout dinette giving extra floor space and an extra bed. The large end pull outs are king and queen while the dinette is full size. We had two adults, 5 kids. Ours also has a water heater, fridge, furnace, toilet/shower combo. Lots of curtains to divide it into rooms. No AC...which was no fun if you got stuck with a campsite out in the open. Another but...but mom I don't wanna share a bed with HER. Times 5?? Especially when they're hot and sticky?
We lucked out and my best friend and her hubby took the pop up and just make our payments. We had some funds come up and bought a 29' travel trailer on a whim. So now we can all camp together :-)
If you have a vehicle that will tow the weight...there are lightweight travel trailers that weigh in pretty low. I have a full size conversion van...and you cannot pull a trailer with any slideouts!! Plus you have to figure in the weight will be alot more once you pack all your stuff inside any camper. Trust me...read the owners manual in your glovebox. We blew out the transmission twice on our old minivan pulling that popup!!
lets see???? I love what I have now over tents and pop ups....when its pouring rain during set up or break down. You run around wishing you could just hook it up and GO. No more wet tents and wet canvas to have to set up AGAIN to dry. I love having even the one set of bunk beds although yeah,,,two sets would have suited us better. I have two occupying the bunks at the back, my youngest on a daddy created bed that lays on top of the bathtub in the bathroom (yes we now have an almost real toilet!!)(yes dump station is a nasty job)....ok...then we have one on the fold down couch, one on the dinette table, then our room. And AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!!! But honestly we've got a huge perference for camping in lots of trees so don't need it unless its horribly humid. I love having a stove, oven, microwave, fridge and freezer. In the pop up the stove was able to be used inside or outside which was nice too though. Now its like having a mobile motel on wheels. So spoiled has its nice points. Take a totally sand covered 3 yr old out back to the extra showerhead...hose her off and then give her a bath inside in the tub...or go to the spider buggy showers? I'd rather let her sit her booty down where I know its clean over listening to her screaming the bugs are going to eat her.
Every option is going to have followers, I know people who swear camping is roughing it with no electricity in tents. BTDT...its was just not for me! Yeah the popup was great for the most part and even I could drive with it on the van...but for us with 5 kids the foul moods and the time wasted unpacking it and packing it back up just made for some crappy trips overall. We got an incredible deal on a used travel trailer. We've had some really fun trips since then. It was alot less stressful once we got it all set in the travel trailer to the point where you add the fresh foods and go. Everything else just stays in there all the time in the correct drawers or closets.
Have fun researching it all...hope I've helped provide a little useful, although biased, iformation!!
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