"Can I borrow your camper?"

[A2SuperCrew]

There is no way I'd loan out my camper.  There are too, too many variables involved in towing, set-up, care, take down, backing up, etc...  Tim

I am in complete agreement!  

[wavery]

I couldn't care less about the camper. There's not much that anyone could break that couldn't be fixed or replaced (even the entire camper, if need be)........It's the personal relationship that may suffer the most damage. Just not worth loosing a friend, in my book.

[jdonham]

I second the comment about the insurance. My DW and I just bought ours new and insured it through state farm and we were told it would not be covered if it was in someone else's possesion.

[skamper75]

DW and I had talked about it before anyone had a chance to ask and the answer here would also be no.  Ours doesnt crank up but is manually lifted, its kinda heavy and if care is not taken hands can be severed quite easily.  

That being said; I am so greatful that I was able to barrow a freinds popup not once but 3 times before we got ours.  Its what got my city girl wife to go camping. We noticed on the second trip that the camper was a peice of junk, ready to fall apart and I no longer wanted to borrow it. If something breaks while in my possesion, I WILL repair or replace it before returned. It was only a mater of time before something would have broke. Unfortunatly the freind that loaned his camper wont get a chance to borrow ours, and he knows; he can break an anvil with a feather and deminstrates that fact all the time. I have taken him camping in it a few times.

[fallsrider]

My sister-in-law and brother-in-law asked to borrow ours Labor Day weekend. We said no. Our brother-in-law can be an erratic driver with shotgun starts and stops. The thought of him towing our camper down the road or backing it into a campsite made our decision easy. We love them dearly, but we drew the line there.

It was easy for us, though, because we told them that they would need to get a hitch installed on their Mountaineer. I don't think they want to spend that money for one weekend of camping. There is no way they are borrowing our camper AND our SUV.

Saying no to family can be hard. But I learned a long time ago how easy it is for the unknowing to damage a camper. In an earlier part of my life, I had a different popup and was going camping with my parents and sister. My Dad was helping me set up the camper. I showed him how to unlatch the roof, and he went to the back to take care of those two latches. I asked him if he had released them and he said yes. I started cranking, and when I realized that one corner in the rear wasn't raising right, I stopped and backed the winch back down. He had popped the latch, but hadn't released the inner part from the roof bracket. It bent the lift post bracket underneath the Palomino. I never told my Dad what had happened because he would have felt terrible. It fortunately only cost me about $40 to get the bracket bent back. But families and friends can have serious fallings out over simple damage like that. My parents have since bought a popup of their own and I now would loan them mine considering how well I know they would try to take care of it. But when a family member has no experience with such things, they would have to go camping with me a time or two and walk through the whole experience with me before I would consider it (and that's assuming I trust their towing abilities!).

I know, I'm a mean person....

[fallsrider]

...he can break an anvil with a feather...

I've never heard that expression before. I'll have to remember that one!