Shower toilet option

[swordfish]

I am starting my search for a popup.  What is the latest technology in shower and toilet for a popup?  How adquate are they? Thank you for your help.

[fritz_monroe]

Welcome to the forums.

One of the first things you should find out is how much you can actually tow.  What will you be towing with?

I don't really know what you are asking here.  I have a cassette potty in our Bayside and it's been great for us.  We use it for liquids only, but it's cut out many late night trips to the bath house with the kids.  We decided that we didn't want a shower in the pup, but we do have the outside shower.  We've only used that to rinse off feet.

[dcampbell1969]

We love the shower/toilet.  While the shower is closed quarters, it beats having to worry about the CG showers being clean and so forth.  The toilet is great and we use it just as fritz does.  #1 only and early mornings/late nights.  The #1 only preference is mine, since I have to empty it, and the early morning/late night or when you can avoid it, saves us from filling it too quickly.  But having that option always there is great.  The wife really loves sitting on our own seat.  She probably uses it more and appreciates it more being a woman.

[fritz_monroe]

The #1 only preference is mine, since I have to empty it, and the early morning/late night or when you can avoid it, saves us from filling it too quickly.

Same here, I've put this limit on the use.  If we go places where there is no bath house or they are in poor shape, we will be able to use it for solids as well, but I want to limit that as much as possible.

And as you see, the shower is strictly personal preference.  Take a look at how you camp now and determine if you want the shower.  The real benefit to our way of camping would be that the pups with the shower option have an access door for emptying the cassette without opening the door.  I'm actually thinking about how I could turn my cassette 90 degrees and putting an access door on the side.  That's something else to think about.

[rsm8]

If you are able to tow the larger popups you would do well to at least have a toilet.  Like others have pointed out, it is nice to not make trips to the campground bathroom at night.  Showers are nice to have as well.  The larger high wall popups have a toilet and shower with three hard sides  the tent as the fourth wall.  This provides for privacy not found in other popups with a cassette toilet or porta-potty.  The toilet is full size porcelain like you have at home.   Fully loaded our Fleetwood Arcadia weighs about 3800 lbs. and most of the others are in that range as well.  You really should sit in as many models as you can to get a feel for how they will be camping.  Our trailer has a slideout dinette as well which provides a lot more interior floor space.   One last thing.  Consider buying a larger popup with all of the features you want and can still tow comfortably.  This way you won't have to upgrade every few years.  We didn't and are now on our third and hopefully last popup.  good luck

[dcampbell1969]

...Consider buying a larger popup with all of the features you want and can still tow comfortably.  This way you won't have to upgrade every few years...

Another good point.  We took that advice from others and so far, we are extremely happy that we did.  And we too love the Fleetwood Highlander series. Fold up bath walls, gray and black water tanks...

Swordfish - consider each trade-in/upgrade as money lost, so try to get what you want from the start.  You know your limits, wants, needs, so take plenty of time.  We spent 6 months looking, researching, sitting and so forth...  Good luck.

[swordfish]

Thank you so much RSM8 and Dcampbell1969.  I didn't know that popups have real toilets. I suppose you can also hook up with the sewage drain?  I have a Grand Voyager with the towing package.  I think I want to stay under 3,500 lb.  Fleetwood Saratoga may be what I am looking for. Another question, with the popup, how much reduction in gas milage do I expect to get?

[beacher]

....Fleetwood Saratoga may be what I am looking for. Another question, with the popup, how much reduction in gas milage do I expect to get?

That's a nice new Highlander model, (with the real toilet).  You can expect to get about 4-5mpg less when you are towing.


Keep in mind that even the "low walled" PopUps, (less expensive and a little lighter than a high wall Highlander series also can be virtually fully loaded, and have complete showers and self contained toilets.  The Fleetwood Williamsburg, for example, has a shower/electric flush cassette potty, and everything else the Niagara has except a hard 3-walled shower, conventional oven, and the microwave oven.

.

[dcampbell1969]

The Fleetwood Williamsburg, for example, has a shower/electric flush cassette potty, and everything else the Niagara has except a hard 3-walled shower, conventional oven, and the microwave oven.

We looked hard at the Williamsburg, before going with the Niagara.  A standard pup with those extras should be in your weight range.  The W'burg is rated at 3500 gross capacity, 2630 unlaoded, with shower/toilet and a great floorplan. The Westlake gross is 3000, unloaded 2135.

[swordfish]

I need a popup so I can clear my 21' sea kayak on top of my minivan. I like a clear rear view when backing up.  I need light weight for my minivan to tow (3500 lb towing capacity).  My wife wants flush toilet.  The choice is clear.

Just for my curiosity, how come some hybrids are lighter than the comparable popups? For example, Fleetwood Saratoga (the lightest of the series) is 2,845 lb unloaded, whereas a TrailManor model 2619 is only 2,673 lb unloaded.
http://www.trailmanor.com/WebDocs/Showroom/BuildRV/SelectModel.htm
Look at Casita, all solid walls, dry-weight of a Delux 17' is only 2,385 lb.http://www.casitatraveltrailers.com/17-layout.html

[ge99ne]

I need a popup so I can clear my 21' sea kayak on top of my minivan. I like a clear rear view when backing up.  I need light weight for my minivan to tow (3500 lb towing capacity).  My wife wants flush toilet.  The choice is clear.

Just for my curiosity, how come some hybrids are lighter than the comparable popups? For example, Fleetwood Saratoga (the lightest of the series) is 2,845 lb unloaded, whereas a TrailManor model 2619 is only 2,673 lb unloaded.
http://www.trailmanor.com/WebDocs/Showroom/BuildRV/SelectModel.htm
Look at Casita, all solid walls, dry-weight of a Delux 17' is only 2,385 lb.http://www.casitatraveltrailers.com/17-layout.html

I think the answer is materials and methods of construction.  I belive casitas are all fiberglass for the walls & roof.  The unitized construction allows for thinner walls with the whole assembly behaving like an oversized box beam.

Perhaps pop ups have heavier frames due to the point loading tendancy of the crank up roof?

I'm in the same boat as you. Wife is leaning more towards a house on wheels.  I lean more towards the evolution from fleetwood.  I like to visualize myself boondocking more than campground camping.  It's probably just the marketing from jeep kicking in.  Making me think I need to go somewhere wild & uncharted.