Do you like it? Can you store it outside for years and years? Thinking about buying one for my place but may pay a little extra and get a hard shell small trailer. Want something to tow easy that sleeps a small family of 4 but don't want something huge. Most people I talk to with big travel trailers say they hate towing them.

ya, we have a 37 footer... but it was bought for me and my brother to live in, not tow around the country... and ya, it sucks to move it anywhere, goes on about 2 trips a year....

Good luck finding a pop-up that will sleep 4 comfortably, we just bought a big trailer but it will just stay at the lease not for towing around. You can still find those FEMA trailers everywhere for pretty cheap.

i know of a family of 9 that used a pop up trailer... some of those are extremely roomy.... i dont see why u would have a problem finding one that sleeps four...of course some of u will have to share a bed....

My brother's pop-up has a queen size bed on one end, a little smaller bed on the other end and a table that makes into a kid bed. It will easily sleep 4 adults and a kid or two.

He got it dirt cheap and we used at our lease for two years.

That being said, there were many times we wished it was a hard shell because it would get infested with rats and bugs. Ours was also rated for spring/fall use so you froze in the winter and burned up in the summer.

For $1,000 it was great though.

Well the hard shell won't keep em out either...In the early eighties (in my young twenties), I used tents...NO mice...in the late eighties I upgraded to a pop up camp camper and it felt like I was staying in a 5 star hotel...but we had mice....since that time I've had no less than 5 travel trailers on various leases....anywhere from 16' to 37'....they ALL had mice....ain't no way that I've found to keep them out...they ALWAYS find a way in. All you can do is leave out some poison and hope they find it.

A trick I do now that helps rid the population a bit is I leave a 10 gal tall kitchen wastebasket (empty...no bag) in the trailer near the door up against the wall. For WHATEVER reason they like to get in the bottom of that thing. Once they get in, they can't find a way out. Every time I go to the ranch I find anywhere from 1 -6 in that wastebasket. Theres a little bit of a wang in the air when I open the door, but it's not too bad and disipates quickly. I then set out my glue traps for the weekend and catch me another 5 or 6...thats not to mention the 2 or 3 I catch by hand.

They are ALL field mice....very slow...or much slower than city mice IMO. I keep thinkin I'm gonna thin the herd...but they always seem to have others to replace them. The mice don't bother me...what DOES bother me is in summer time then snakes have a tendancy to camp out near or...God forbid...IN the trailer for easy dinner. Last thing I want is to open a cabinet and be face to face with Mr. No Shoulders. Not happened to ME yet...but in Junction, another member pulled out a 7' shed at 2:00 in the morning out of his trailer...turned out to be a bull snake shed, but still a 10 on the ole puckermeter. We are pretty sure he got in chasin the mice...THATS what scares me!! (that and carnies...)

You might want to make sure it has a good built in heater. I bought Jayco 1206 in 2005 to use at deer lease in SW Arkansas. We just about froze every time we used that thing and you'll never keep all the critters from sharing it with you.

I used my popup camper this season. It worked out great. I kept the camper popped-up at the lease the whole season. I covered it good with a large plastic tarp using bungees when I wasn't at the lease. I did not have any critter problems. When it got cold, I used my ceramic heater and my zero degree rated sleeping bag. You need to be pretty organized as space can be a problem if you have company. I used a huge black plastic box (from Walmart) and used the truck to keep extra stuff stowed. Oh, and I've lost my lease so the camper is available.

One other problem with popups is if it rains or is damp in the mornings, you should wait until it dries out before packing it up, otherwise the canvas will get moldy and rot.

A couple of us started out with popups on our lease. One guy eventually tired of having to wait all day for it to dry out, or leave it up until the next weekend, or take it home and dry it out there, so he built a roof over it, which didn't work much better. We eventually pulled the popup out and built a whole cabin under the roof.

My popup's crank broke putting it up one weekend and it took 2 hours to get it the rest of the way up. Once up it stayed up. When the canvas rotted away I replaced it with plywood and roll roofing, then eventually put a tin roof over all. It would have been much easier to just start out with a real trailer instead, not to mention not having to battle mice in the trailer all these years.

Pop ups are ok, but sure would have been cold sleeping in one this...

We’ve had a pop up for a dozen years and have literally hauled it all over the country for both camping and hunting. Ours has 2 king size beds on the ends as well as a single and the table folds down into a bed. With the kids now grown, it’s usually just my wife and 2 dogs that use it lately, but it will easily accommodate more people. It tows easily. We’ve used it in all kinds of weather and locations from blazing temps in the desert to single digit temps bird hunting in the Midwest. It’s definitely not the same as a hard sided trailer, but it works for us.

growing up we started with a hard side pop up in the early 80's it was nice but once we got a regular bumper pull 29' I would not want to go back. the regular trailers are much better in the cold for sure

As cheap as you can get the FEMA trailers now, I would spend the extra money on a Travel trailer. Just make sure you check the FEMA trailer, some do not have holding tanks, RV fridges, Awning, Jacks, and Etc..

I sold RV's for years, and have been doing mobile RV service for the last 10 years. I personally would not ever own a Pop Up.

Mice can come in no matter what style camper you have. The best way to handle them is to kill them before they get in. Just spread the rat bait around on the ground under your camper. You will have to do this about every 3 weeks. It is better to kill them before they get in than after. Mice in the trailer will attract snakes.

The other thing you can do is look around under the trailer, especially wheel wells, and seal any cracks or holes with expanding foam. Any hole big enough for a rat is big enough for a snake.

A guy on my lease had a pop up and just bought a new RV, he'll be selling the pop up cheap pretty soon. PM me if interested.

I love mine. Pulls like a dream compared to my old 27' bumper pull... Sooo easy to forget it is back there when towing it. Mid 80s JayCo. that I got for $300 and put $650 or so in new canvas. She ain't pretty, some fool very sloppily painted the top with roofing paint trying to stop the roof from leaking. The real problem is that the AC is too heavy for the top. I pulled the AC and added some bracing inside the camper to keep the roof in a slight arc, and then remounted the AC. Not a drip since and I have had it in some ugly storms - Like last year hunting out at bentmans with watchale when it iced up about like this. Learned a key lesson that day - never setup a popup on top of a hill with no trees. No damage, but no sleep that night for fear of it, not to mention wondering if the next gust was gonna carry me to Kansas. Oh, and it is damn cold when a big gust rips the velcro loose when it is well below freezing at 2 in the morning... brrr

That frozen night being an exception I usually heat the thing with the stove while I dress and such, usually with coffee or breakfast on. I like to prep it all at night and then lean over from bed and kick on the stove. When the coffee starts smelling good it is probably warm enough to crawl out of my mummy bag. Good sleeping bags are worth every penny.

I have slept 7 in it without much fuss. Two adults in each slide out bed, two kids on the dining table bed, and a teen on the sofa bed, though he later switched to a sleeping bag on the floor because his feet hung off the end. Not the roomiest, but it will do.

Couple of things I would like to do to it might include adding a receiver to the back so I can add a shelf for when I tow it with an SUV. Maybe add a rack or maybe some slides to the top. I carry my jon boat on top resting on a couple of 2x4's and I think that could be improved upon. Wouldn't mind adding an electric lift to it so when the wife needs something she has packed away inside she can get it herself.

All that said, for a weekend trip going solo I just as soon sleep in the back of my truck under the stars or with a topper.

-ww

We used a couple years ago... back to a tent now. I'm looking at buying a new one. If you have the money, the high walls are the way to go and have a 14' box, but you can get a decent bumper pull for the same price($14k +). If you buy a used one, check for roof leaks and check the caulk on joints.
Most mfg have the same layouts, but quality is the difference. Some are wood framed, some metal(Coleman/FTCA). Jayco's have the best new warranty- 2 years. I was looking at the Coleman Niagara.
however, FTCA that builds them shut down last week and they won't have any warranty on new ones.
You may want to go to RV.net and look under the pop ups, tons of info there.

Have one, use it, stores out side well (10 years now), tows well and works great for my family (4).

I used one and they get COLD.

Used to have one when I was a kid. We had it set up at my grandpa's place, and me and my cousin used it every weekend. After using a tent last summer, I will definatly be looking for a pop-up for this summer. I think they are pretty good.

had one sold it last year, had two queen beds each end twin one side and the seat pulled out into a small bed, it had slide out. make a lot more room, it was a 12ft a friend had a 16ft mine had lots more room. also get heated matress pad for the ends as they stick out with nothing but cold air under you. best invest i made could sleep the coldest night with just a light blanket.

I have had two popups over the years. I had a great time camping with the family in them. But I cannot recommend leaving them out in the weather. They aren't built for it. You need to put them under a shelter when you aren't using them to keep them nice. As far as leaving one on a deer lease, I've done it, and it is hard on them. I know of stock actually eating the canvas off one that was left up...not mine but a friend's. Mine, I had to fight mildewed canvas and eventually, wood rot and a faulty lift system when I left the nicer one up.
But I'll admit to probably having got my money's worth of fun out of it thru the years.

I have one but have not used it at the lease. It is mainly for the girls when they go camping. A/C will cool it real well. My unit does not have heat. I carry a little ceramic heater and used it at Beavers Bend when it was in the low 40s. You could not turn it on high. It is a cheap model (Skamper) but it has a real heavy canvas. It is some kind of poly coated canvas. I do not think it breathes at all. I would not leave one set up but moisture could be a problem. Towing mine is a snap. SOme are a little heavier but you do not have the wind resistance.

We've had a couple of pop-ups. I'd never buy a new one. If you can get into one cheap enough, their fine. We did and had fun with it when our son was younger.

Trust me. You don't wanna be inside one when a storm rolls thru. Actually, just a mild breeze and that canvas starts flapping.

They are noisey.

For a couple hundred bucks, I think I'd rather have a nice fiberglass topper on the pickup. You could slide a portable bunk over the wheelwells, roll out a sleeping bag and stay warmer and drier.

I had one and heating it was no problem. I Placed a couple of clay flower pots over the lit propane stove burners. Since a little air gets in and out of them, I wasn't worried about getting gassed.

I took mine to Colorado elk hunting. When I got up in the morning it was 6 degrees outside and 60 degrees inside. I know other pop up owners who have done it with no ill effects.

On long vacation trips, they are the way to go.

If it is for your family and you will vacation with it, then a pop-up is very good for that. If it is for the lease and will stay there, then I would go with a hard side. We bought a 20 ft hard side for less that $500. That was the trailer and all the stuff we bought to fix it up. It sleeps 4 very easily with the dog too. The only thing it doesn't have is a bathroom and I will be fixing that with some walls and a chemical toilet.