Upgrading from Pop-Up

[rvb]

Hello,

On Friday we are picking up our first travel trailer, a small FR Wildwood 195BH.

About a year ago, we bought a 1999 Coleman Pop-Up. I grew up camping in a pop-up, but my wife never camped. I wanted our kids to experience camping and get away from the TV & video games, and luckily my wife enjoyed it also.

Unfortunately, we decided the pop-up was too much hassle, especially since we had horrible luck with weather. Every trip was a monsoon and that meant after every trip we had to set it back up so the canvas could dry out and sometimes we had to setup camp in the rain. Plus the inside was a bit cramped to spend that much time in when it rained...

So here we are upgrading already!

I'm afraid I'll have some regret, not getting to sleep in an open 'tent.' I always enjoyed that about the pop-up when I was a kid. But last year we only got to have the tent open one night!

I'm active on some other forums for other hobbies, so look forward to getting involved here.

Thanks,
-rvb

[Kels4g]

Welcome!

[HONDAMAN174]

Hello from Vegas! We enjoyed our pop up for the learning experience but very much happy with our TT now.


2014 Evo 2850 "Woodstock"
2011 Toyota Tundra "Clifford"

[EDABEUT]

Welcome from Michigan.

We started out with a old 17' Yellowstone TT single axle and hard to tow but liked it for the $. When we sold it we bought a used top of the line Scamper popup. I think it had every option you could get on it and we really enjoyed it until the kids came along. So we stepped up went to the RV show and ordered a Jayco Eagle 30' bunkhouse TT. Maybe one of the best RV's we ever owned. Since we enjoyed camping so much we sold it and went permanent in a RV park and bought a new 37' Salem TT. We would live in it all summer and I would drive back and forth to work from there. Had our own boat & golf cart. It was a great way to live for awhile. When kids got older we sold all that and decided to hit the road again. I came across a old StarCraft popup just like we had when I was a kid so we bought it and completely gutted and remodeled it in the old 70's colors. My kids called it the hippie hut. Had it awhile until someone made me a offer on it we couldn't refuse so we sold it and bought a used Dutchmen 30' TT. It was a POS. So we traded it in last year and bought a new 35' TT. Maybe our retirement home but you never know. Anyway been there done that and I believe you will always miss the old RV's you own but more than anything else it is the memories you have using them that mean the most. Enjoy your new memory maker.

[JustB_Rad]

I bought a 97 Coleman Sea Pine just after I had met my wife. I figured it was a good starter to get out and start camping, as I hadn't in many years, although I grew up camping on a permanent site.

I used it a handful of times, mostly for the Indy 500, but we took it up for a weekend camping once, and decided it was a TON of work for ME....while she drank beer! And with no "facilities" in it, it was not going to work for her.

We upgraded to a 23ft Crossover, and now to a 26ft Grey Wolf DBH and don't regret it for a second! In the last 2 years, we've gone on 12 trips and camped in Cold, Rain and Hot....and always had a blast!

[stevensmith2859]

As a kid, My family started out in a pop up, but since the late 80's, its been all travel trailers, including the one my wife and I have right now. I'm not going to lie, having AC to sleep on those hot, humid, mid Atlantic nights is pretty wonderful and so is having a fully enclosed bathroom.

[rmac04401]

I use to always wonder why people would trade a perfectly good TT for another one never seemed practical to me. I grew up going thru the different phases of camping. My dad had us first camping in an old green canvas tent. Almost like an old military tent. I can still smell the tent Oder that we got when we opened it. Then my dad upgraded to a canvas pop up. Then he upgraded to a all fiberglass Apache pop up that was real nice. Then when my dad retired he bought a 15-18 foot self contained to take a trip from Maine to California, pulled by a v8 Chevy Caprice sedan.

When I started camping with my family we started with a tent but jumped right to our 2000 fleet wood mallard TT we bought it in 2008 and I was going to have that forever. When my kids grew up and out of the house I bought a motorcycle. 2015. Now I had to decide to ride motorcycle or camp. I wanted to do both. The only way was to get a toy hauler. Sold out first TT which we loved and got this new toyhauler.

We love our new one but do miss the old one at times. (Payment vs. no payment)😄 so now I understand why you would change from a perfectly good TT to another.

the underlying thing to my rambling is when life stages change, your needs change,and you need something that fits your needs. Each change, though different, provides new memories.

Enjoy camping no matter what you do it in.

[JustB_Rad]

Originally Posted by rmac04401

I use to always wonder why people would trade a perfectly good TT for another one never seemed practical to me. I few up going throw the different phases of camping. My dad had us first camping in an old green canvas tent. Almost like an old military tent. I can still smell the tent Oder that we got when we opened it. Then my dad upgraded to a canvas pop up. Then he upgraded to a all fiberglass Apache pop up that was real nice. Then when my dad retired he bought a 15-18 foot self contained to take a trip from Maine to California, pulled by a v8 Chevy Caprice sedan.

When I started camping with my family we started with a tent but jumped right to our 2000 fleet wood mallard TT we bought it in 2008 and I was going to have that forever. When my kids grew up and out of the house I bought a motorcycle. Now I had to decide to ride motorcycle or camp. I wanted to do both. The only way was to get a toy hauler. Sold out first TT which we loved and got this new toyhauler.

We love our new one but do miss the old one at times. (Payment vs. no payment)😄 the underlying thing to my rambling is when life stages change your needs change and you need something that fits your needs. Each change though different provides new memories.

Enjoy camping no matter what you do it in.

Long story short....

Spring - 2012 - Bought a 15 year old pop up with no ammenties. The 97 Sea Pine loaded was around 3k lbs....towed with a 2011 Ford Explorer

Spring 2014 - Upgraded to a 2011 Crossover - 3300 lbs...a little over 4 loaded. Had bunks, but no slide...we tried to buy "SUV Towable". We had no kids, but bought with the intention of having kids. Towed it for 2 trips and decided it was TERRIBLE......bought a new Ram 1500 a year sooner than my wife wanted to.

Spring 2015 - We had a baby and I wanted to camp...thinking we had anything and everything we needed in our crossover....WRONG....there was NO SPACE to do anything. It was only 90" wide too...no tub for the baby to bathe...no room to walk around and mainly...no room for a pack and play! So we bought our 16 Grey Wolf....which we are 100% happy with our decision...even after walking through the RV show in February!

Circumstances change every day....In hind sight....If we would've known we were going to upgrade the truck, we would've gotten a camper with a slide and bigger bunks right away....We didn't have the foresight to see certain things not working out.

[rmac04401]

We love our grey wolf also. Don't get my last post wrong. I was not saying anything was wrong with upgrading. I was just saying at one time I could not understand. But my circumstances changed and then I understood. I just don't want people to take my last post wrong.

[Wiscampsin]

Hello from Wisconsin and congrats on your Wildwood 195BH. Kudos for having the kids take a break from TV and video games. Back when our kids camped with us our TV was only on when I watched the local weather or they could watch a movie at night only if was raining. Turned out they would rather play a family board game instead which was great by me.

[aceinspp]

Welcome to the forum. Enjoy your new tt and. Like most My first camper was a pop up and we work our way up the latter to bigger better now we worked our way back to just a tt. Later RJD

[rvb]

I can certainly see how the upgrade cycle happens!


Right now the 195bh should work for a couple years. I'm already worried it may be a little cramped when the kids get bigger. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it...


We won't have a whole lot more "living space" compared to the pop-up, but each kid will have their own bunk (which should reduce some of the bed-time bickering), we'll have a lot more storage, we'll have a toilet/shower, and a lot less work at set-up/tear-down time.


Looking forward to it!


We have a trip booked for Memorial Day W/E. All the electric sites were booked, so we'll be going "primitive" for our first trip out, a new experience in itself!


-rvb

[Choppy72]

Hello from Annapolis. I looked at the WW 19BH and fell in love with the WW 201BH (Murphy bed) but the width was what ultimately changed my mind. If you're not fully committed to the 19BH, may I suggest checking out the Clipper 17BH and doing a side-by-side comparison...very nice unit for sure. We took ours out for the first time with our 14 & 16 year old boys and (and of course, Luci, the basset hound). They're 170lbs a piece and were very happy with the bunks.

[rvb]

Originally Posted by Choppy72

Hello from Annapolis. I looked at the WW 19BH and fell in love with the WW 201BH (Murphy bed) but the width was what ultimately changed my mind. If you're not fully committed to the 19BH, may I suggest checking out the Clipper 17BH and doing a side-by-side comparison...very nice unit for sure. We took ours out for the first time with our 14 & 16 year old boys and (and of course, Luci, the basset hound). They're 170lbs a piece and were very happy with the bunks.

we looked at one very similar at the show, maybe a different brand label, but what we didn't like was the narrower width resulted in a smaller dinette for fitting 4 people around, as well as no end access to get into the bed (or able to use that floor space for storage/shoes/etc). width wasn't really an issue for towing or storing, so I didn't see a benefit going narrower, personally.

something like the 201bh is what I see us upgrading to in a few years. I like that floor plan. right now we are somewhat price driven and don't want a loan and that model is another 30-50%.


Lived in Severn MD for several years...

-rvb

[geeman53]

Holy Cow ! Talk about jogging my memory . We started in a pop up ,also. Setting up in a tropical depression in our first trip to Myrtle Beach was horrible. We ended up w/ a bent bed pole- that sucked . Makes me appreciate !

[Unnamed Reader]

We did a similar path -- found the pop up just too much work (and a rain magnet) so we upgraded to small TT. NO REGRETS! We love the ease and quick set up of the TT vs the pop up.

I do miss the tent feeling of the pop up though. I do sometimes wish we'd bought a hybrid. However, at the time the hybrid was $2000 more and price was the deciding factor.

You made a good decision.

[Bae]

We just bought a 2306 Mini Lite with a Murphy bed. The TT is the way to go, my wife doesn't like setting up and taking down much.

[BC Boy]

Welcome! The majority of my camping life has been in tents, save for a short period between 8-10 years old when my parents bought a tent trailer. But after a couple seasons in there with my sister and then sisters I had enough and when back in to a tent . Up until last season I have only tent camped as well, along with my wife and three kids. We started them young as our parents bad with us. Now we just just upgraded to a travel trailer and can't wait to get out and start using it. Looking forward to all the benefits and getting off the ground . Also being able to extend the camping season. I can't agree with you more about getting the kids out and away from the electronics. Ours are 8 almost 6 and 3 and it can be a struggle to find that balance. Here's to getting out and making some great memories :beer:

[rvb]

Originally Posted by geeman53

Holy Cow ! Talk about jogging my memory . We started in a pop up ,also. Setting up in a tropical depression in our first trip to Myrtle Beach was horrible. We ended up w/ a bent bed pole- that sucked . Makes me appreciate !

one of our first trips last year it poured all night, 3-4". we were surrounded by a couple inches of water when we woke... that got us thinking about an on-board restroom after wading to the bath-house to 'go' in the morning. Our trip was cut short when our neighbors called and said power had been out in our development, so we headed home to man the generators/sumps. We just left everything at the campground and I drove back the next day to pack up the campsite.

-rvb

[rvb]

Originally Posted by Unnamed Reader

We did a similar path -- found the pop up just too much work (and a rain magnet) so we upgraded to small TT. NO REGRETS! We love the ease and quick set up of the TT vs the pop up.

I do miss the tent feeling of the pop up though. I do sometimes wish we'd bought a hybrid. However, at the time the hybrid was $2000 more and price was the deciding factor.

You made a good decision.

I really like the concept of the hybrid. we looked at a couple. the knocks were the price bump as you mentioned and if caught in the rain we'd still have the same hassle of having to open it up to air out canvas, only now we can't store it on our property like we could the pop-up, so that would be even more of a hassle.

-rvb