Ruffling feathers ? Pop up

[rustytoolss]

Been thinking of building a standy TTT. But after adding all the cost. And seeing what most standy TTT weigh . I might be better off looking for a "good" use small pop up. I'm sure most hear would scoff at that idea . But for me , it "may " be the best answer.
My plans are not yet set in stone. Just exploring my options . . If I can find a small pop up in the 750-900 lbs range, for less than $1000. I just need small, light, dry, and something that I can stand up in.
Let the beatings begin.

[KennethW]

Great get what fit's your needs. I don't like to wait for a camper to dry out. I also over night at Walmart, Truck stop's and rest stop's when traveling. All of them are out of bounds for popup's
Just something to think about.

[jstrubberg]

Not at all. I'm not a fan of the pop up myself. They take quite a bit of time to set up and they let way too much campground noise in for my liking. AC is also tough in a popup (not impossible). We have maybe two months out of the year that I can sleep without AC or heat.

Nothing wrong with them, they just don't fit my needs.

[Trebor English]

I have been considering a Tim Lemke style vardo. See http://www.amvardo.com/ According to my spreadsheet it can come in under 900 pounds loaded up with stuff in it. It is tall enough for me to stand. The upper half is tarp and reflectix so it is light.

The round shape is not stealthy at all. If your roof tarp is brightly colored or not people will remember it.

Someone said that towing it would be like pulling a parachute. I haven't experienced that. I'm just gathering parts at this point.

[rustytoolss]

Great get what fit's your needs. I don't like to wait for a camper to dry out. I also over night at Walmart, Truck stop's and rest stop's when traveling. All of them are out of bounds for popup's
Just something to think about.

The events I go to are at a local dragstrip. 2 three day weekends. So I won't be stopping over at walmart, or rest stops. Like I said , just expanding my options.

[Cosmo]

Maybe you already considers it but a large tent and cot would be an inexpensive comfortable alternative that is small, light and inexpensive.

I think the forum rules allow pop up owners to still post here. Ha ha ha ha ha.
Pop up's are a good choice for many campers. I almost purchased one when I was choosing a trailer.

-Cosmo

[beakman]

Yup. Get what fits your needs.

I looked at popups for years (when I was younger and broker) due to light weight and lower cost. My problem was once I got to a low enough cost ($1000-1500), I was looking at a potential money pit. They're always in high demand, so what should really cost $500 at most will be $1500 at least. Then you're dealing with tires that are about shot, canvas and screens with holes, and usually they just plain smell funky. All those porous materials (canvas, seats, mattresses, cheap wood) plus humidity equals funky. And most people store them outside, making it worse. Most people simply don't take very good care of their stuff, be it campers, boats, cars, whatever.

So for that same amount of money roughly, I'll be building a teardrop exactly they way I want, which will hopefully only smell like wood, polyurethane and me.

I know there's not really much room inside, but in the pop up camping I've done, all we usually did in there was sleep anyway. We did the cooking outside to keep the heat and smell out, and the point of camping is to sit outside and enjoy things. I'll just bring our easy-up canopy with screen walls to put next to the pop up and actually end up with more room than the popup anyway.

All that being said, it isn't for everyone. Nothing is. And that's OK. Get what you want and go campin'!

[beakman]

Maybe you already considers it but a large tent and cot would be an inexpensive comfortable alternative that is small, light and inexpensive.

I think the forum rules allow pop up owners to still post here. Ha ha ha ha ha.
Pop up's are a good choice for many campers. I almost purchased one when I was choosing a trailer.

-Cosmo

Agreed. That's what we ended up doing after borrowing popups, etc. We're heading down the teardrop road now, but we've done quite a bit of camping in our ginormous coleman instant tent. Big enough for 2 queen air mattresses, standing room for even my big 6'2" self, tough as nails, and my wife and I can literally set it up (including stakes) in about 10 minutes. We'll still use it for spare room, etc, but we're getting to doing more road trips with the Mustang, so we want the tear for light weight and no real setup time. Road trips like Route 66 mean a new town every night, so cutting out setup time really adds up.

[les45]

I loved my teardrop and the experience of building it but I found it too confining. I decided to go to something bigger but still small enough to see over while towing. A modified pop-up seemed to fit my needs. I am currently working on a "different kind of pop-up" that will have lightweight hard walls instead of canvas and no outrigger beds. I found an old Jayco 10 footer and basically gutted it. When I'm through, I'll have a standy with a queen size bed, a two person dinette, a porta-potty, AC/DC power, and a small galley cabinet. However, we will still have our EZ-Up set up and a lot of our activities will still be outdoors. If anyone is interested in this concept, you can get more details in my journal at: http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=64782

[rustytoolss]

I loved my teardrop and the experience of building it but I found it too confining. I decided to go to something bigger but still small enough to see over while towing. A modified pop-up seemed to fit my needs. I am currently working on a "different kind of pop-up" that will have lightweight hard walls instead of canvas and no outrigger beds. I found an old Jayco 10 footer and basically gutted it. When I'm through, I'll have a standy with a queen size bed, a two person dinette, a porta-potty, AC/DC power, and a small galley cabinet. However, we will still have our EZ-Up set up and a lot of our activities will still be outdoors. If anyone is interested in this concept, you can get more details in my journal at: http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=64782

I have been following you build, since I found it. Have you gotten the walls up yet ?

[les45]

I have been following you build, since I found it. Have you gotten the walls up yet ?

No, the heat and summer travels have slowed down my progress. I'm currently framing all the interior furnishings (bed, dinette, galley cabinets, etc.) and paneling the low walls. I probably won't get to the portable walls until late August at the rate I'm going. I want to finish all the interior and paint the exterior before I start on the walls as I can do all that work inside the garage. When I start the walls, I will have to take it outdoors in order to raise the top to the full 4' height. I hope to be posting some updates to my journal soon.

[bobhenry]

I'm with Les.... I went a little bigger too......

[rustytoolss]

I have not gave up on the idea of building my own TTT. But have no plan to build a teardrop at all. Some may like them. But for me , I want something to stand up in. And get out of the rain. And be able to move around. Cooking in the hard rain, does not sound like a good time to me.
As for a pop up. I had not given much thought about mold. Each type of camper has PRO's and CON's
I'm just going to look at some pop ups, that are in my price range (cheap & get what you pay for ). And see it a pop up will work for me. If not, then I'll start to build my own TTT.

[VijayGupta]

I had several pop-ups after the family got too big for our tent
Positives:
- low weight (relatively speaking)
- low height
- lots of interior room for overall size.
- great ventilation with windows unzipped.

Negatives
- Takes a while to set up / take down
- A pain to do above during a rain or take down after a rain
- Easily damaged by falling branches (think storm)
- Not easy to keep it warm in cold weather or cool in hot weather

It worked fairly well for the years that we used them ('82-'95)

[rustytoolss]

I would be using mine during the summer month in Ohio. So I will not need to worry about heating it. And a n electric fan in the summer would be fine. All I have now is a small 5 man dome tent and an air mattress. As far a branch during a storm. I would think that a Foamie teardrop would have the same problem, if not worse. Or a teardrop with 1/4" thick roofing plywood also.