Hi: I've (58yo female) tent-camped alone from Massachusetts to Alaska and between for the last fifteen years. I am retiring soon and want to go on the road for three months. My hubby says he'd feel better if I traveled with a pop up. I spoke to a retired couple about five years ago at Recompense Campground in Freeport, Maine who had a small pop up that had only one bed on one side that they pulled with a compact car. Unfortunately I didn't write the name down and everything I look at that is around now even the Livin Lite Quicksilver 8.0 is too big for one person. I could use some help to identify the pop up I saw or I'll be going on the road with my tent again. Thanks alot, Bernadette
Quote from: Bernadette CorlettHi: I've (58yo female) tent-camped alone from Massachusetts to Alaska and between for the last fifteen years. I am retiring soon and want to go on the road for three months. My hubby says he'd feel better if I traveled with a pop up. I spoke to a retired couple about five years ago at Recompense Campground in Freeport, Maine who had a small pop up that had only one bed on one side that they pulled with a compact car. Unfortunately I didn't write the name down and everything I look at that is around now even the Livin Lite Quicksilver 8.0 is too big for one person. I could use some help to identify the pop up I saw or I'll be going on the road with my tent again. Thanks alot, Bernadette
Bernadette:
Look at Aliners or chalets, I have watched one person set up and take down this kinf of camper in less time than it takes two people to complete a pop-up set up. Ideal for one person.
Happy Camping,
PJay
I've seen mention of a pup that has a bunk on one end and the other is set up for storage. There's been a discussion recently about the Jayco J-Trax (http://www.rvone.com/model.asp?model=1349). I think it's probably bigger than you want, but looks pretty decent for a tent camper that wants to use the pup for sleeping only. It's probably under 2000#.
If i were going alone (which I wouldn't do) and wanted to tow a trailer, I would definitely look at the Aliners and Chalets.
http://aliner.com/
http://www.chaletrv.com/
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/car/149941018.html
If my wife and I didn't have the grandkids along sometimes, we would have gotten one of those. Our PU is ridiculously big for the 2 of us and our bird (he has a king size bunk to himself) . Sure, the room is nice but it's not needed and quite frankly, a pain in the butt to set-up on a long trip where you're going to be in a different place every night. The Aliners and Chalets look light to tow, simple and quick to set-up. They just don't have enough room for 4 people and all their gear IMHO.
Maybe you'd be interested to check these out?
http://www.leesurelite.com/welcome.htm
Small enough to pull behind a motorcycle or the smallest of cars. I don't know anything about it other than what I've seen on the web site. Pretty interesting looking.
A lot depends on what you call a compact car and what it's towing capability is. For cars like the Ford Focus, Chevy Cobalt, and Dodge Neon there aren't any hard top trailers that would be in their 1000 pound range. With all three of those cars that 1000 pounds also includes any loading the car as well.
There are several makers of ultralite tent trailers with weights in the 400-800 pound gross weight range, but you won't get things like air conditioning, bathroom, furnace, hard roof, etc.
here's a few to look at that might fit your car's capacity:
http://www.trailmasterinc.com/ (//%22http://www.trailmasterinc.com/%22)
http://www.trailman.net/ (//%22http://www.trailman.net/%22)
http://www.livinlite.com/gallery.html (//%22http://www.livinlite.com/gallery.html%22)
http://www.outbackkamping.com/ (//%22http://www.outbackkamping.com/%22)
http://www.haultent.com/ (//%22http://www.haultent.com/%22)
http://www.com-pac-camp.com/home.htm (//%22http://www.com-pac-camp.com/home.htm%22)
Our good friend and fellow PUT member surfcal (*AKIRLA Ray) has "half-a-pop-up." :D
It's made by Starcraft and you can see a picture of it on his Webshots page:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/67386972/1067387682041651227FCrYCm (//%22http://community.webshots.com/photo/67386972/1067387682041651227FCrYCm%22)
* "also known in real life as"
Hi Bernadette, Like most are saying A frame is a good way to go. We have an Aliner, the LXE model with the cassette toilet and shower. For 1 it can't get much easier unless you have a small TT like a Casita or something.
Those half pop ups are nice too. The advantage to having an A frame is the ability to pop up easily anyplace to make a fast lunch or even use the facilities.
Quote from: My beautiful DW, PJayBernadette:
Look at Aliners or chalets, I have watched one person set up and take down this kinf of camper in less time than it takes two people to complete a pop-up set up. Ideal for one person.
Happy Camping,
PJay
While a A-Liner may be perfect for one person, it might be a bit heavy for many compact cars. A Chalet is even more likely to be too heavy. But for ease of set-up, nothing beats an A-Liner. We've seen ForestCreature set up and take down her ALiner just to show off. Ready to sleep in 3 minutes, ready to tow in three minutes + connect time...
Austin (Usually takes us 20. Can do it in 5 in the rain)
This is funny.....
I had a dream last night about removing one of my bunk ends and replacing the canvas on that side with a flat panel with a window :p .
I got up this morning, went down to the PU to see if this would be feasible. We hardly ever use that other bunk. It's a lot of weight and a lot of area to heat in the winter and cool in the summer.
I think that I could remove the bunk platform, slides and all related hardware without a problem. This would probably drop my trailer weight by 200-300 pounds and make set-up and tare-down easier.
I'm thinking of making the flat canvas panel angle out slightly to accommodate a 20" wide shelf all the way across. The canvas would support the weight of the shelf and anything that we might put on it. The only thing that we put on that bunk end now is the bird cage.
I think that I could do this in such a way that the bunk-end could easily be re-installed in less than an hour for those times that we bring the grandkids. Even then, they could sleep in the dinette area, if push came to shove.
The only thing that concerns me is the balance of the trailer. I can't take any more tongue weight. I will have to figure out a way to compensate for that. Might be a good excuse to put a bike rack or a storage locker on the back of the trailer. That would be much less weight than the bunk end but the center of gravity would be farther aft. HMMMMMMMM....that could work.
THANKS for the idea :D . That's what I love about this place.
How would that work if I wanted to take the front bunk out? And...what would you do with the tent canvas on that side?? Hmmm..got me thinking now! Mom is the only one that sleeps in ours!
Lisa
Quote from: bkfdwifeHow would that work if I wanted to take the front bunk out? And...what would you do with the tent canvas on that side?? Hmmm..got me thinking now! Mom is the only one that sleeps in ours!
Lisa
It depends on the PU. I have a Coleman/Fleetwood Tacoma. My bunk-end has locks that allow the bunk-end to slide completely out of the track.
The canvas is the hard part. I used to have a canvas business so it will be easy for me. I believe that you could actually do this with a home machine.
You would need enough Sunbrella (or whatever material that you choose) for the job, snaps and zippers. It can all be found here:
http://secure.sailrite.com/items.asp?CartId={E6902BBC-1346-488E-8A84-49AAEVEREST11CD881F}&Tp=&iTpStatus=1&Bc=SUNBRELLASunbrella comes in 46" or 54" widths. My PU is 90" wide but the canvas is a little less, probably 86". My roof sits about 40-45" off of the box. I would need about 90" of the 46" wide Sunbrella. Cut it into appropriate lengths to sew 2 panels together, to make a "curtain". I would need the appropriate size "Bolt rope" to sew to the top of the curtain to slide into the track in the roof. I would need about 6 snaps to attach to the bottom edge of the curtain and the other half of the snaps to the outside of the camper box.
Now comes the tricky part. I will need to find zippers that match the existing Coleman tent zippers so I can sew a 1/2 zipper to each side of the "curtain" so that I can zip it onto the existing tent material on both sides. That may present a real challenge. The other option would be to sew dual zippers on the existing canvas. In that case, I would leave the one for the original bunk-end and add one for the "curtain".
The other idea that I had was to install a light weight "hard side" as apposed to a "curtain". I could even put a piano hinge in the middle to fold it in half for easy stowage and have it so that it locks in place. It would still require zippers though. HMMMMMMMMMMMM, the possibilities :D
http://www.fleetwoodrv.com/element/
[IMG]
Here is a 1/2 a PU called a Neon element.
box 6'10'' open 14'8'' GVWR 1500 UTW 105
looks good.
I just measured my opening. It's 47" from the top of the box to the inside top of the roof. It's 83" from side zipper to side zipper.
My slide out bunk is 72" long. That means that I can make a solid pop-up panel that is 80" wide by 47" tall and put it up in one piece. It will fit snuggly up inside the top, to keep out rain. I will still have to put a 2" piece of canvas on either side (vertically) to zip into the existing front and back canvas.
I can make the panel out of aluminum inside and out with a 1" foam core and 1"x1" wood frame. The whole thing should weigh under 20 pounds. If I add a window, maybe another 10# but I will still be saving well over 100# on the trailer. It will also be a lot easier to set-up. Just lift the panel in place and zip up 2 zippers.
I'll start on it when I get back from our cruise. We'll be gone from this Thursday until a week from Sunday (11 days). When I get back, I'll start drawing plans and collecting material. I'll take pics along the way for anyone that may be interested.
The reason that I decided on the solid piece panel was because it will give the trailer a lot of lateral stability (fore and aft) for the roof, to keep it from swinging when the wind blows. I may have to come up with something to stabilize the side-to-side swinging of the roof because I am removing the support (bunk-end canvas) on one side. Any suggestions on that would be helpful.
Quote from: waveryI just measured my opening. It's 47" from the top of the box to the inside top of the roof. It's 83" from side zipper to side zipper.
My slide out bunk is 72" long. That means that I can make a solid pop-up panel that is 80" wide by 47" tall and put it up in one piece. It will fit snuggly up inside the top, to keep out rain. I will still have to put a 2" piece of canvas on either side (vertically) to zip into the existing front and back canvas.
I can make the panel out of aluminum inside and out with a 1" foam core and 1"x1" wood frame. The whole thing should weigh under 20 pounds. If I add a window, maybe another 10# but I will still be saving well over 100# on the trailer. It will also be a lot easier to set-up. Just lift the panel in place and zip up 2 zippers.
I'll start on it when I get back from our cruise. We'll be gone from this Thursday until a week from Sunday (11 days). When I get back, I'll start drawing plans and collecting material. I'll take pics along the way for anyone that may be interested.
The reason that I decided on the solid piece panel was because it will give the trailer a lot of lateral stability (fore and aft) for the roof, to keep it from swinging when the wind blows. I may have to come up with something to stabilize the side-to-side swinging of the roof because I am removing the support (bunk-end canvas) on one side. Any suggestions on that would be helpful.
Just go out and get the new Neon Element. No problems
Quote from: TexasCamperJust go out and get the new Neon Element. No problems
This modification is fairly simple (believe it or not) and give us a lot of options. We have 12 grandkids and sometimes do family camping and like to have both king size bunks. Most of the time it is just the 2 of us and we go camping about twice a month, winter and summer. The smaller, easier set-up would be nice for a weekend trip to the beach. It would also be nice to knock off that extra weight if we want to go to the mountains.
Besides, we have what we have and we really love our set-up, other that the waisted bunk (and all that goes with it) and extra set-up time.
Some people claim 20 minute set-up and take down times. We time ourselves every time. From engine shut down to lighting the campfire is 1 hour. Nothing I do changes that other than running around like a maniac. That's not why I go camping :p . We start cleaning and packing up at 10:30 to get out of the campgrounds by 12:00. Maybe we are just old & slow but I don't think so. I would love to get set-up and tare down a little more simplified.
Quote from: waveryThis modification is fairly simple (believe it or not) and give us a lot of options. We have 12 grandkids and sometimes do family camping and like to have both king size bunks. Most of the time it is just the 2 of us and we go camping about twice a month, winter and summer. The smaller, easier set-up would be nice for a weekend trip to the beach. It would also be nice to knock off that extra weight if we want to go to the mountains.
Besides, we have what we have and we really love our set-up, other that the waisted bunk (and all that goes with it) and extra set-up time.
Some people claim 20 minute set-up and take down times. We time ourselves every time. From engine shut down to lighting the campfire is 1 hour. Nothing I do changes that other than running around like a maniac. That's not why I go camping :p . We start packing up at 10:30 to get out of the campgrounds by 12:00. Maybe we are just old & slow but I don't think so. I would love to get set-up and tare down a little more simplified.
It takes me about 45 minutes to set up, that
Quote from: TexasCamperIt takes me about 45 minutes to set up, that
I have been thinking about this mod too for some time. I would like to take the back bunk out and have a big picture window there, right by the table...very cool. I was wondering if bearcreek canvas or the other canvas replacement place could make me that part. I like the idea of a shelf to put things on, kind of like a bay window. Let us know how it works out if you do it.
Quote from: HersheyGirlI have been thinking about this mod too for some time. I would like to take the back bunk out and have a big picture window there, right by the table...very cool. I was wondering if bearcreek canvas or the other canvas replacement place could make me that part. I like the idea of a shelf to put things on, kind of like a bay window. Let us know how it works out if you do it.
I'm gonna do it. That's for sure. The big window is easy with the hard side or the canvas.
I want to have this done before we go to Yosemite in July so I may just start out with Sunbrella because I already have plenty to do it with and that would just be a 2 hour project. I have enough plastic window material to do a 48" x 40" window. The Sunbrella is dark blue but so what :p .
I'll call Bearcreek Canvas tomorrow and see how much they would charge to make that panel. They would have all the correct material (zippers & bolt rope) and the correct colors too. I'll let you know what I find out. I'll tell them that there may be an entire market for this. In fact, they may already have them.
I'll be watching this mod closely! We have a 1991 Palomino SXL, it's the hardside. My one question for now would be if you could do this to the bunk on the tow bar end, and does it matter which bunk you do?
Oh, another question! Where is the bird going to go???
hahaha
Enjoy your cruise!
Lisa
Quote from: bkfdwifeI'll be watching this mod closely! We have a 1991 Palomino SXL, it's the hardside. My one question for now would be if you could do this to the bunk on the tow bar end, and does it matter which bunk you do?
Oh, another question! Where is the bird going to go???
hahaha
Enjoy your cruise!
Lisa
You could do it on either end. just be aware that it will upset the balance of the trailer and some adjustments may have to be made to compensate for the weight difference. I actually changed my mind and we are going to eliminate the front bunk and keep the rear bunk.
Funny that you should ask about the bird. We were talking about that tonight. We are going to incorporate a 24" wide shelf 80" long in the bottom which will taper the whole set-up outward. This will give us the ability to stabilize the roof somewhat also (I was concerned about that).
For anyone that is interested, I just sent the following email to a couple different pop-up canvas shops for a price quote:
----------------------------------------------------
Hello,
I am going to remove the FRONT bunk-end on my 2002 Coleman/Fleetwood Tahoe Pop-Up camper.
I would like to have a panel made that I can just zip in the place of the bunk-end canvas. That way, I can put the bunk end and original canvas back in if we are taking others along.
The panel that I would like to have made is approx. 83" wide and 50" high.
It needs to have bolt-rope in top to slide into the factory channel that the bunk-end canvas goes into and zippers (to match existing Coleman zipper) on each side to zip onto the factory front and rear panels.
I would like 5- Twist locks on bottom with the other half of the twist-lock for the outside of the camper body.
I would like a plastic window 60" wide x the same height as the factory window in the front of the camper (approx 30-40"). Permanent screen on outside and zippered plastic window that rolls up (Not down) on inside.
Here comes the tricky part. I would like to put a 24" wide shelf in the bottom, the width (83") of the camper, to lay on the edge where the bunk used to be and extend outward, over the trailer tongue. That means that there will have to be tapered sides that go from zero at the top, to 24" at the bottom then a double bottom piece of canvas 24" x 83". I would like to be able to snap it on the inside and outside which would demand an extra flap on the inside with 3 twist locks. I would like the bottom to be a double layer so that I can slide a 78" piece of 3/8" fiber board into the pocket (78" so that I can flip it to the inside for fold-down). I would also like to have a webbing looped tab sewn into each outer corner and one in the center (where the 24" wide shelf is) so that I can put a tie-down line through them, to tie it down taught to the trailer tongue. That will sharpen up the tapered edges and give some support to keep the roof from swaying.
If you would like, I can draw some plans. I know that you have the exact measurements for the the bunk-ends so that means that you know the length of the zipper sides and the top bolt-rope for sure.
I have been talking about this on Pop-Up Times:
http://www.popuptimes.com/And it has drawn some interest from others.
Please give me a price for this. Please keep in mind, there may be a sizable market for this modification. A lot of couple have Pop-Up campers and that extra bunk is a pain to set up and tare down. It is weight (about 200#) that isn't necessary and space that must be heated and cooled even if it isn't being used.
Thank you,
I can't wait to hear the reply! If I could do this mod, then I don't think that I would have to go with a smaller camper, once the kids stop camping with me. This is a really cool mod.
wow! this is exciting! Since I am not a braveheart enough to try this on my own without "plans"! What would you do to compensate for the weight loss on the front?
I have a very narrow floor space allowance on the side, the back of the dinette seat and then on the door side there is an icebox that is cracked and up against the front is the cubby that is also accessible from the outside. Is the balance and weight issue only while you are travelling or once you set up too? I'd hate to go to all the work of removing the bed just to have to carry around an extra dead weight while it's set up!
Thanks for all your info on this! The world is watching! hahahaha
Lisa
I got a reply from BearCanvas. He doesn't recommend the shelf concept. He feels that there may be leak issues with the stitching in the widows. I'm not really concerned about that but I will respect his opinion. He makes the flat panels all the time and he charges $150 for it. That makes it not worthwhile doing myself.
I'm still waiting to hear from the other place.
As far as the weight distribution is concerned, it really shouldn't be all that serious because the weight of the bunk is proportionally spread out from about 3' back from the hitch ball to the center of the trailer. It is recommended that you have about 10 to 15 percent of the trailer's gross weight in tongue weight. On a 2500# trailer, that's between 250-375#. I would estimate that the weight change may be about 50# of tongue weight. My tongue weight is currently 310 (I weighed it the other day). I can make up a lot of tongue weight (if need be) by putting my generator and firewood forward. The other factor is the speed that you drive at. I never tow over 55. I have experimented driving faster and I don't experience any sway at 75MPH. Every trailer and TV combination will experience different results and will need to adjust accordingly.
The weight and balance is not an issue after you are set-up because you will have your stabilizer jacks down. Roof sway could be an issue on some PUs but that would simply be a matter of running a strap from the roof to the end of the trailer tongue to compensate for the lack of lateral support from the missing bunk end canvas.
When I get back from our cruise, I will remove the bunk and canvas and weigh the tongue with it out. I'll keep you posted.
Just out of curiousity .... anybody have any more advice for the original poster? :D
Personally I like the Aliner/Chalet idea ...[/FONT]
Quote from: KellyJust out of curiousity .... anybody have any more advice for the original poster? :D
Personally I like the Aliner/Chalet idea ...[/FONT]
Actually, the idea that I am toying with would work quite well for her. That's the main reason that I didn't start another thread.
Sorry if it seems like I hijacked this thread, that certainly was not my intention :( , although it had crossed my mind that I might be doing just that. If one of the moderators would care to, please feel free to put my modification posts in a new thread. :D
Quote from: KellyJust out of curiousity .... anybody have any more advice for the original poster? :D
Personally I like the Aliner/Chalet idea ...[/FONT]
I like the
http://www.fleetwoodrv.com/element/ and think the TV could be a car.
Quote from: waveryI actually changed my mind and we are going to eliminate the front bunk and keep the rear bunk.
Personally, I'd be weary of eliminating the front bunk -- even the weight of an empty bunk cantilevered out helps with the weight distribution.
Eliminating the front bunk, and laying in the back bunk does start to create a more significant "moment of force" on the rear stabilizers - quite possibly exceeding their weight rating. If you had softer dirt (did not realize - say it rained in the night, softening the ground under the stabilizer), you could have a bad time!
The "half-popups" (like Ray, and the Fleetwood) all kept the bunk over the hitch. Those bunks, on the Colemans, have a better support bar, since they don't only go into the bumper, but also onto the hitch bar area itself (less angle).
Finally, if you are going to put a window in the new canvas - would you rather look out the back (like onto a lake you backed into), or the front, where the cars and other campers are looking in at you? :)
he only thing that concerns me is the balance of the trailer. I can't take any more tongue weight. I will have to figure out a way to compensate for that.
Easy, without the bunk taking space to slide and ride you could stack stuff higher. The design would get harder but if you sloped the new wall as stock that would solve the window leak problem.
Why not 2 or 3 shelves.
DW and I tied the extra mattress to the cieling in the basement before our first trip.
Quote from: zamboniPersonally, I'd be weary of eliminating the front bunk -- even the weight of an empty bunk cantilevered out helps with the weight distribution.
Eliminating the front bunk, and laying in the back bunk does start to create a more significant "moment of force" on the rear stabilizers - quite possibly exceeding their weight rating. If you had softer dirt (did not realize - say it rained in the night, softening the ground under the stabilizer), you could have a bad time!
The "half-popups" (like Ray, and the Fleetwood) all kept the bunk over the hitch. Those bunks, on the Colemans, have a better support bar, since they don't only go into the bumper, but also onto the hitch bar area itself (less angle).
Finally, if you are going to put a window in the new canvas - would you rather look out the back (like onto a lake you backed into), or the front, where the cars and other campers are looking in at you? :)
Thanks for the input. We considered all that but it really comes down to the floor plan of our camper (in our case). Also, I wouldn't mind taking some weight off of my hitch. If I remove the rear bunk, I would actually be adding weight to the tongue. My tow vehicle just won't carry any more weight. We have a 12' box and we sleep in the aft bunk now. We like it there. You have a good point on the jacks. I will keep a close eye on them. I may put my bottle jack in the middle to relieve some of the stress. We usually swing the trailer around so the front door faces the best view as our dinette is in the front.
The nice thing about this conversion is that it can be used on either side, if I change my mind. I intend to build a rear storage box (as described earlier) this summer. I may change around to the front bunk at that point.
This looks like the one I saw in Maine can you tell me the name of it?
Thank you, Bernadette
Quote from: griffsmomOur good friend and fellow PUT member surfcal (*AKIRLA Ray) has "half-a-pop-up." :D
It's made by Starcraft and you can see a picture of it on his Webshots page:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/67386972/1067387682041651227FCrYCm
* "also known in real life as"
Birnie, you might want to contact http://www.pecocamping.com/ (//%22http://www.pecocamping.com/%22) about the Starcraft & Fleetwood light single end trailers. These folks are very knowledgable and are happy to help folks.
BTW just what kind of car are we talking about for use a the TV?
Quote from: Bernadette CorlettThis looks like the one I saw in Maine can you tell me the name of it?
Thank you, Bernadette
Hi Bernadette!
I'm sorry, I don't know the model name or number of this Starcraft single-bunk PU, but if you e-mail or PM Surfcal through the PUT boards, he could tell you. :)
Thank you a Toyota Corolla.
Quote from: mike4947Birnie, you might want to contact http://www.pecocamping.com/ about the Starcraft & Fleetwood light single end trailers. These folks are very knowledgable and are happy to help folks.
BTW just what kind of car are we talking about for use a the TV?
Another piece of advice, try posting over at http://www.popupexplorer.com/forum/default.asp (//%22http://www.popupexplorer.com/forum/default.asp%22) if you haven't already. There are several folks towing with Toyota cars that are VERY knowledgable on car/PU combinations.