How long does it take you to put it away?

[CajunCamper]

I'm curious; when you return from a camping trip in your pup, how long does it take you to empty it, clean it and put it away?

For me sometimes I can have it cleaned and put away the same day and sometimes it seems to drag on for days.

How about you.

CajunCamper

[Shredder]

I'm curious; when you return from a camping trip in your pup, how long does it take you to empty it, clean it and put it away?

For me sometimes I can have it cleaned and put away the same day and sometimes it seems to drag on for days.

How about you.

CajunCamper

We generally clean it before we take it down, so unless it is wet we do not put it up again untill the next trip. We don't keep food or clothes in it, those things go in the car or just in the door of the camper to get out easy. If it is going to be a while before we go again I may drain the water out of it, that takes only a couple of minutes.....shredder

[wavery]

We generally clean it before we take it down, so unless it is wet we do not put it up again untill the next trip. We don't keep food or clothes in it, those things go in the car or just in the door of the camper to get out easy. If it is going to be a while before we go again I may drain the water out of it, that takes only a couple of minutes.....shredder

We do the same as "Shredder".

It takes us about 1 to 1 1/2 hours to clean up, pop-down and start down the road.

We back it into the parking space in our garage and don't open it again until next trip, unless we need to work on it.

Having said that, everything that is in the PU stays in the PU except our clothes. We have a special set-up for our clothes, in (large) drawers. http://good-times.webshots.com/album/549352213lEjnyL  We pack the drawers before leaving home, pack them in the truck then install them in the PU after popping-up. Before popping down, we put the drawers back in the truck. Our chairs, BBQ, EZ-Up, Bal-leveler etc go in the back of our truck. We have a special locker for our camping gear that we put all of the hard items in. That takes about 15 minutes.

[wernstriumph]

Usually I empty the PUP as soon as we get home and do a quick cleanup whick takes about an hour. But sometimes I leave it popped up to do a mod or repair. In the winter, I'll Pop up just to check for critters and to run the heat and make sure everything is OK.

[6fordaroad]

Ours is typically popped up at home.  Hubby likes to use the dining table as his office to get away from the kids.. Takes us about an hour total for pop up and down.

[JonesFamilyJayco]

I will pop up my camper either the same day we arrive or the next day if we get home late to let it air out well.  If we use the refrigerator, I want to be sure to let it dry out.  We will usually bring our dirty dishes home to wash and then replace them in my cook box.  

It takes me longer to unpack our travel trailer than the pop-up. For the travel trailer, we seem to take more stuff, so I have more food and laudry to clean up.  Like with my pop-up, I usually have some dishes (most times just what we used to make breakfast) to clean.  Since I store our travel trailer at a storage lot, I have to complete the break down same day as our arrival.

Last, I bought a journal from the PopUPTimes store and I always log our trip in it. It is a great way for us to remember our trips; I hope my children will value it some day.

[flyfisherman]

Obviously I clean the camper after every use, however, it gets just one major house cleaning and emptying out, and that's at the end of the season. Between times the PU is used during the season, it's given a good cleaning after use, however, it's not emptied except for perishables. I keep aboard a backpack with a long weekend's change of clothes, sealed & canned "rations" to last the same amount of time, along with clean bedding, towels and such. At any time during the camping season the camper is ready to roll ... all I have to do is hitch-up,  make considerations for fresh water, load into the TV whatever perishable food stuffs, the fishing tackle and any other special items that will be needed. The end of the season's major house cleaning, plus emptied of the sealed rations (so there will be a rotation for the following season) and anything else that's not to be stored. But items like pots & pans, camp dishes, dutch oven, lanterns and such, are not removed but made certain they are cleaned and ready for the following season.

When planning a trip an extra day is figured in (if possible), where the camper is given a good cleaning and all dishes and linen are washed, either at the campsite or when back in the driveway, and the PU is ready to roll for the next outing. In other word, during the season, the Starcraft is ready to go at very short notice.




Fly

[Lifeangel1]

I also clean it as we tear down camp. It gets a good cleaning out at winterization and everything gets put back in the spring.

[JimQPublic]

Two weeks.  Unless we're camping the next week then one week.

It stays popped up in the driveway but is often a mess for quite a while after a trip.

[PattieAM]

Before breaking camp, I empty the fridge into a cooler, toss the clothes/linens to be washed into a basket and out the door, wipe and dipe the PUP and take out the trash --  Whats left to be done?  Puppie gets closed and towed home and is ready for the next trip.  

I've found that if I get a good start the night before we leave camp, it might take 20 minutes to get the inside stuff put where it belongs for the tow home, about another 20 minutes to disconnect the utilities, lower the roof and hookup.
(This is me doing it solo).

I rarely find the need to pop up at home (except when dumb me forgot to get the drivers license/credit card out of the drawer of the PUP), unless I've got some new toy for the PUP or need to winterize.

[sacrawf]

When arriving home from a trip I immediately back the camper into the garage and pop it up.  I can empty the refrigerator, clean and vacuum, and carry out the sheets, blankets, and towels for the laundry. The RVque is then cleaned if necessary. The camper is left popped up in the garage for usually 2 or 3 days to allow it to dry completely.  Then I outfit it with the freshly laundered bedding and towels, restock any essentials that were low in supply, and close it up all ready for the next trip except for the clothes and foodstuffs.  I usually put on the battery charger to top off the charge.    

I also always update a camping journal (I got mine from Gander Mountain).  I make entries at night while camping, but finish up notes after our return, and the journal returned to the camper "library" (the cabinet that also has a Scrabble dictionary, nine National Audubon Society field guides, a bird list, and a couple of novels).  Also after each trip I print the digital photos I have taken and put them in the photo album.

,

I'm curious; when you return from a camping trip in your pup, how long does it take you to empty it, clean it and put it away?

For me sometimes I can have it cleaned and put away the same day and sometimes it seems to drag on for days.

How about you.

CajunCamper

[cndlzrus]

after we get it back into the driveway and pushed back to the garage... (I have a narrow driveway and there is only an 1 inch on the side to fit the pup through the gate)  We pop back up immediately after we get home.  I do take the all the food out of the frig before we leave the campground and put into the cooler.. and the dirty launder get thrown in a launder bag and those two items ride in the back of the Explorer....  That way if it is raining or can't pop up because of lateness in the day.. I don't have to worry about spoiling food, or stinky clothes...   As far as a time... about an hour, just like set up... Unless I really have to clean because of rain, mud or some other force of nature that has happen in our trip....  Then a day or two later after the smoke has aired out from our campfires, I check the canvas to see if I need to clean it, or the inside for any mishaps the  kids have done, and not tell us about...  Once the camper is close up again, I wash the camper and have it ready for the next trip... If I am not camping with in the next two week, otherwise I will wash the body of the camper the day before we go, or pack up to leave...    My camper is cleaner than my house...

[ScouterMom]

With the little Starlette that I had for me and my son, it only got opened up at home after camping trips if it had rained while camping and we needed to dry it or air it out. I would outfit it in the spring, and empty it in the fall, but during the season, everything stayed stocked except for clean clothes and fresh food.

If the bedding needed cleaning, or staples restocked, they were packed in the car before we left the campsite, or noted on a list, and added to a rubbermaid bin that could be reached without opening the camper all the way. We even kept some basic clothes in the camper - like flip-flops,  swimwear, a few t-shirts, 1 spare set of underwear and socks each, sweatsuits, and light jackets.  We didn't really HAVE to pack and could take off at a moment's notice.

This made it real easy to take off for a weekend - we could be home from work/school on a friday and on the road in less than an hour. Since our favorite campground at the time was only 1 hr away, we could be roasting hotdogs on the beach by 7 pm!

With the larger Starmaster 6, we haven't finished 'remodeling', and we haven't settled into a pattern yet.  We still sometimes go tent camping, or need some of the equipment out of the camper between trips.  We go to different places, requiring different equipment.  There have been times the PUP has stayed up in Camp driveway for weeks, hoping we'd get some time to work on it.   I'm hoping that next season we'll be able to do less 'packing' and 'unpacking' each trip.

Once I get the new flooring in, I should be able to set up the storage for easier packing, and better access. I'm hoping we can get back to the simplicity of packing only clothes and fresh food, and only having to open up at home if we need to dry out damp canvas.

Laura

[BIGDAD]

It takes about two days to clean it up after getting back from camping i put the camper up clean it out. and if its wet i keep up for a coulpe of days to let it dry.

[A2SuperCrew]

It depends on the trip.  If the weather was wet or the campsite messy, it takes longer to clean out.  Post-camp cleanup and put away can range from one or two hours to a couple days if things were really wet or muddy.