Need info on buying a pop-up camper

[riverboy]

Fellow campers

I am thinking about buying a pop-up camper. Do you guys have any suggestions on a good model such as Colmen, Jayco, etc.
Is there any models I should avoid? Is there anything I should avoid in extra options. Does anyone suggest a dealer in the tri city area? How well do there retain heat in the winter. Do they ever leak in heavy rains? Any input would be helpful!

Thanks

[Sarge]

Jayco and Coleman or Coleman and Jayco (they take turns) are the #1 and #2 campers for quality and features. They are also the most expensive.

Look real hard at those 2 to get a feel for quality and comfort. Then shop your guts out, and pick a camper that you are in love with. If you can't afford it, wait til you can. You might find a less expensive unit with all the things you love, but if you compromise, you may regret it out there where you intended to be having a blast.

Both of those first paragraphs are 100% accurate. Now go out and do what you want to do. You are the only one you have to please, and camping is all about pleasure. Go for it.

[Neapolis]

I had a Jayco pop up before I got my 5th wheel (also a Jayco) and from my experiance they are great. Pop up's do retain heat resonably well, I had a furnace in mine, but be careful - they are the devil to put away when it is cold, the colder the harder it is to get the canvas to fold up properly. We camped a lot in in the fall, but I always watched the weather forecast for the temperature forecast. We were in a couple of pretty good rainstorms with no problems other than being damp inside, but no leaks.

[riverboy]

thanks guys for your input. The wife and I are off shopping for pop-ups this week. Hope to be camping in it next weekend for sure

[SA ULTRA MAG]

Riverboy,
We use to own a Coleman Pop-up and moved up (?) to a travel trailer and have been thinking of going back to a Coleman. I know that around the Grand Rapids area the best prices (by far) are at Bonners in Muskegon. It might be time well spent to make a phone call. Good luck.

[lzqwhr]

Riverboy,
I was in the same 'boat' as you about 2-3 months ago. I bought a Jayco. You can learn alot from this website below, go into the message board and read-n-learn. Coleman and Jayco are usually the most common. You will read or hear good and bad from both sides. If you look at any Coleman's with the ABS roof, LOOK THE ROOF OVER CAREFULLY. They have problems with sagging and cracking. Another point to consider is the size of the camper vs. what you are going to use as the tow vehicle. Alot of the bigger campers are heavy, so make sure the tow vehicle can handle the camper.

PopUpTimes (http://www.popuptimes.com/)

[riverboy]

lzqwhr

thanks for the advice that is a pretty informative web site. Im not to concerned about the weight I'm sure my truck can handle it. But the size is important. Im looking for a smaller one cause a lot of the camping I do is out in the woods down a pretty bad 2-track. The campsite camping is with the wife and kid. Ill be sure to check out the roof real good. Do the new ones have a problem with their roof's?

[fishinlk]

We've got a 2001 Coleman Cheyenne and it's GREAT! The ABS roof problem was fixed after the 2000 model year and I believe they are replacing the bad ones for original owners. The Colemans are considerably heavier than the comparable trailers in other brands but I chalk it up to better construction(IMHO).

A couple of other notes/tips:
They(Coleman) changed their fabric in 2001 to a mildew resistant material.
Look at the tire size, a larger diameter tire is going to reduce a lot of bumps and vibrations on your camper traversing over bumpy roads

If you can afford it wait and buy a new one. You can finance them for up to 7 years and if it has a porta potty you can write the interest off on your income taxes as a second home(sleeping eating and toliet facility are the requirements).

Hope these help!

[Ron L]

Well, I got into this in a completely different way. A couple of years ago, my wife and I were considering a pop-up and a friend was looking to get rid of one. We looked it over and it had a couple of problems, but we figured it was basically free, so what the heck. A $13 spring fixed the mechanism and a little elbow grease cleaned it up good enough. At this point, we've got around $300 invested over two years. Why did we go this route? We didn't have enough to buy a much newer or better one, and we weren't sure we would even stick with it, so why invest so much? This one is a 1984 Rockwood. Sleeps 6 and everything works. I'm glad we went this route because after working on this one and using it, we know what to look out for and we know what features we'd want in a newer one. Yes, I said newer one. Needless to say, we're hooked and we'll hopefully move up to something newer and nicer next year.