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Old 12-09-2016, 11:55 AM   #1
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Why is there not a lot of Hybrids on the West Coast?

I have noticed that there are not a lot of Hybrid campers on the west coast, I never really thought much of it. Then, someone mentioned on another thread that there really isn't many out here. I have been shopping for one, so I have also noticed that there is not a lot of stock in hybrid units out here.

I would think that the climate out here would lend itself quite nicely to the hybrid experience.

I cant put my finger on why the hybrid models are not more popular out here.

What am I missing?
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Old 12-09-2016, 12:03 PM   #2
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I've been wondering about that for years.
California is the perfect place for them, yet they are scarce.
I have a number of theories but none proven.
One definite reason is that dealers refuse to carry them.
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Old 12-09-2016, 12:08 PM   #3
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When we were looking at campers, I liked the hybrids.. The salesman told me that in a lot of parks and such in the midwest and west, that they aren't allowed because Bears can get in to them.. Which I suppose would mean then that no one would be allowed to use a tent either which obviously isn't true.
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Old 12-09-2016, 12:25 PM   #4
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I have heard the bear thing as well. However, after reading the only place that I can find that actually restricts soft walls is one campground in Yellowstone.

I know in Yosemite there are bears in basically all the campgrounds, and the housekeeping sites are all canvas tent rentals.
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Old 12-09-2016, 12:33 PM   #5
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As a friend in New Mexico once said (about our Popup, but it applies to any Hybrid)...


Know what your camper is? why, it's a Bear sized burrito

On a more serious note, we traded our PUP in for a hard sided camper shortly after our daughter fell out through the bunk end and *almost* landed on some sharp objects under the bunkend...this was a momma bear executive decision and I had no say in the matter
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Old 12-09-2016, 12:35 PM   #6
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Total BS!😲

Dealers use the Bear Scare tactic to move the customer to a more expensive TT.
They do the same thing to those looking at popups.

We've camped all over the West Coast for 30 years.
NEVER seen any campground with a ban on soft-sided campers.

In fact, in all those years, Fishing Bridge CG in Yellowstone is the only one I've ever seen with a permanent ban on them.

If they allow tents, they allow hybrids and popups.
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Old 12-09-2016, 02:09 PM   #7
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Traveling from the east coast this summer with our popup, we noticed decidedly more popups the farther west we traveled. In PA there are typically 2 or 3 popups and the same number of hybrids in a campground of 100 sites. At Mt Rushmore, we estimated at least one third of the units were popups. We attributed that to regional preference, but with the preceding discussion I'm not so sure! Thoughts?
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Old 12-09-2016, 02:14 PM   #8
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One of the West Coast RV trends is "the bigger, the better".
Dealers out here are filled with huge MHs, 5th wheels and toyhaulers, especially in California.

Smaller RVs like Hybrids, aren't profit makers for the dealers.
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Old 12-09-2016, 02:14 PM   #9
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National Parks and Bear concerns

We live in the Midwest and have a Roo 23SS. We just took a trip out West this past summer and visited Glacier (Fish Creek), Yellowstone (Grant), and Grand Tetons (day trip from Yellowstone), while visiting Custer SD State Park (Sylvan Lake) on the way out, and Rocky Mountain National Park (Morraine) on the way back. In the National Parks, there are different rules regarding trailer contents for the hard sided, and tent / hybrid trailers as it relates to the use of the bear boxes. It was just my wife and I traveling, so to make life easy for all, we chose to stay in the National Parks in "Turtle Mode", with me on the dinette bed, and her on the jack knife bed. I am 6'2", and my wife 5'10" so sleeping on the dinette and jack knife beds is an inconvenience, but we endured. However, we observed many other hybrids with the end beds opened up in the same campgrounds. We just didn't like the potential of having yourself only protected from a hungry bear by canvas in hybrid mode. We didn't see any bear in the campground areas, and that was just fine. In Glacier, the guards do watch it rather closely. We left a 12 pack of unopened pop cans outside of the trailer, (I rationalized that unopened cans have no scent) and we received a citation from the guards, and they put the pop in the community bear box for us. While in Glacier and Yellowstone, it got down to 23 degrees briefly overnight. I don't know whether the single deep cycle battery would have held up overnight with the additional running time of the propane furnace in hybrid mode. We would top off the battery in the early evening during "generator time", and by morning, the battery was getting down to just 1-2 lights remaining on the indicator. The refrigerator was in propane mode, but evening lights, and running the furnace controls and fan, and refrigerator and water heater controls, and water pump usage, combine to eat up the battery, (which was new). We chose the hybrid for the extra interior space compared to the same weight hard sided TT. We also found it hard to find 60 x 80 beds in the smaller TT, that didn't compromise the interior space when not sleeping. But I am rambling! Good luck.
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Old 12-09-2016, 02:17 PM   #10
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If they wanted to sell more expensive ones, the pickup bed campers would be their best value. They take up little space at the dealer and are way out of line, pricewise.
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Old 12-09-2016, 02:21 PM   #11
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We've camped in Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Glacier and Yosemite in our hybrid.
We followed the same bear policies as those in tents and pop-ups around us.
The Rangers told us that the refrigerated food was safe in fridge.
We just put the other opened food in the bear box.
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Old 12-09-2016, 02:32 PM   #12
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Bear Scare tactic?

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Originally Posted by bikendan View Post
Total BS!��

Dealers use the Bear Scare tactic to move the customer to a more expensive TT.
They do the same thing to those looking at popups.

We've camped all over the West Coast for 30 years.
NEVER seen any campground with a ban on soft-sided campers.

In fact, in all those years, Fishing Bridge CG in Yellowstone is the only one I've ever seen with a permanent ban on them.

If they allow tents, they allow hybrids and popups.
I am a sales consultant at Comox Valley RV in Comox, BC. When talking to customers, who are more inclined to make a comment about bears, I talk about facts. In the last 6 decades, of all fatal bear attacks in North America, ZERO involved a tent trailer or Hybrid.
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Old 12-09-2016, 02:41 PM   #13
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I am a sales consultant at Comox Valley RV in Comox, BC. When talking to customers, who are more inclined to make a comment about bears, I talk about facts. In the last decade, of all fatal bear attacks in North America, ZERO involved a tent trailer or Hybrid.
And there you have it. You have a much better chance of getting beaned on the noggin by a yellow icicle dropped from a 737 walking into an RV dealer, than getting et by a Bar in a hybrid or popup.

Always remember.

“I, Hatchet Jack, bein’ of sound mind and broke legs do hereby leaveth my bear rifle to whatever finds it. Lord hope it be a white man. It is a good rifle and kilt the bear that kilt me. Anyway, I am dead. Yours truly, Hatchet Jack.”
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Old 12-09-2016, 02:51 PM   #14
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If they wanted to sell more expensive ones, the pickup bed campers would be their best value. They take up little space at the dealer and are way out of line, pricewise.
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Old 12-09-2016, 03:13 PM   #15
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As a friend in New Mexico once said (about our Popup, but it applies to any Hybrid)...


Know what your camper is? why, it's a Bear sized burrito

On a more serious note, we traded our PUP in for a hard sided camper shortly after our daughter fell out through the bunk end and *almost* landed on some sharp objects under the bunkend...this was a momma bear executive decision and I had no say in the matter
I heard it called a "lunchbox".
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Old 12-09-2016, 03:31 PM   #16
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We ran into black bears on more than one occasion when we used to tent camp in the Sierras and Rockies. Their behavior depends a lot on where you are. Those in the national parks tend to become habituated to humans and learn to recognize things that have food in them. This is whether they can smell them or not. I have watched a bear break a car window after seeing a lunch cooler but walk away when it can't see anything. If you follow the rules and use bear boxes, throw trash away and keep anything else tightly locked out of sight you shouldn't have any problems. I have never had or seen a bear attack and they usually run away if you start making lots of noise and throw a few rocks. This was even the case for a dumpster diving bear that came into a national forest campground we stayed at that didn't have bear proof anything.

Note that my experience in strictly with black bears which is what you have in these areas. I have not encountered brown bears and understand they can be more aggressive but my belief is if you follow the rules they too will just wander on looking for an easy meal.

As an aside I'm not sure a hard sided trailer is all that much protection from a bear that is hungry and wants whatever it can smell inside. After all part of their normal diet includes ripping downed trees apart to get grubs and the like. If you think about it that tree is likely better built than the trailer.
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Old 12-09-2016, 03:41 PM   #17
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Fact of the matter is if a bear wants in its coming in. A determined bear, and it can be one of our friendly tiny black ones we have here in PA, or one of those industrial strength western bears, could rip his or her way into most RV's in less than 10 minutes, even faster on a stick and tin trailer. Does anyone think that 2 pieces of 1/8" thick luan and a sheet of 1/16" fiberglass, or a piece of luan and some aluminum siding slightly thicker than Reynolds wrap can stop or deter a bear? He does not know he can get through canvas easier than a hard sidewall. He is going to go through the closest point to what he wants inside. One claw under the entry door and he could fold that thing like a piece of paper. If he wants in, well he's coming.

I do not know many hardcore backpackers toting around tents made of sheet aluminum or steel.

Just don't lather up with bacon grease and hang a pork chop around your neck before turning in, and you won't have anything to worry about.
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Old 12-09-2016, 05:48 PM   #18
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Originally Posted by ronheater70 View Post
When we were looking at campers, I liked the hybrids.. The salesman told me that in a lot of parks and such in the midwest and west, that they aren't allowed because Bears can get in to them.. Which I suppose would mean then that no one would be allowed to use a tent either which obviously isn't true.
I have nieces in California that have pop ups. They mostly camp at the ocean and so no bear problems. In parks like Yosemite they are equipped with bear boxes. A lot of the National Parks are because there are other critters that like to get in there. I have camped a lot of places in the Mid, North and South west and the West Coast and only had one problem. Left a couple of coolers out, one with Pepsi and one with beer. The opened one beer (I think a Coors) and threw it aside, but they drank the 12 pack of Pepsi.
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Old 12-09-2016, 08:13 PM   #19
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My wife and I have been camping in a variety of vehicles since marrying more than 44 years ago: Tents, Surfer Van, Pop-up tent trailer, hard-sided trailers (2), and finally a luxurious 5th wheel. We are fortunate to be able to stow the 5er in our back driveway, where it serves as a "guest house" when family or friends visit. The draw-backs to tenting and van-camping are pretty obvious: climate control is non-exixtent; bears; convenience; hard, rocky ground, etc. We enjoyed our pop-up for more than ten years, until we stayed at Sequoia NP and had no access to a food locker at our campsite. That was it from my DW. We bought a hard-sided trailer the next month.

I suspect that most California families have been camping on average for more years and in more places than the rest of the country - - the benefits of a mild climate. We have gradually evolved from primitive campers to more deluxe accommodations over the decades.
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Old 12-09-2016, 08:34 PM   #20
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One of our first campers was a pop-up, and several of our friends had various hybrids. We all agree that they were great 'starters', but would never purchase another one due to all the reasons stated by other replies. For us it was mainly the cold, noisy fabric and the aggravation of setup/tear down. I think you don't see a lot of hybrids as folks buy them to get into rving and then quickly move up if they enjoy it. So you don't see many folks who camp a lot using them. But I could be as full of poop as my wife claims
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