We got our "new to us" Pop-UP!!!!!!

[Rland8228]

Soo... We got up early this morning and headed to the dealer to pick it up... Now mind you like my other post, the dealership is where my dad worked for a very long time and they are kinda like family to us.I call the owner by uncle and the salesmen my uncle (He actually drove my entire wedding party to the rehearsal dinner in a Monaco ) .So we got the entire tutorial well while my uncle was cranking it down it was extremely wound up apparently and sliced his finger pretty good. I felt really bad but he was fine. We signed the paper work loaded up and headed home( right down the road literately). Well we got home and it would not crank up at all. I was so upset My dad called and talked to him about it and that at this point I wanted my money back. I was not willing to go through another disappointment. He came down on his lunch took it up and they fixed it apparently when he was cranking it down and it slipped it had slipped out of place. They fixed it gave us a brand new battery brand new hoses and propane tank and tightened all of the cables. So... Here are the pictures......The other pictures are of our old camper with before and after shots.. Which really paid off because we made a little bit of a profit!

Cant wait to bring it to the fort.... Any advice anyone has feel free to leave it. The only thing I am nervous about is not having a bathroom or air.

http://s1284.photobucket.com/user/Rland8228/library/New%20Pop%20up

 

[Mmketeer]

Congrats! Happy camping.

 

[bama_ed]

Congrats! It looks roomy and you will be glad you got a slide-out.

When you are cranking down a popup roof, you are working a steel cable over pulleys inside the frame of the trailer. It's best to BARELY get the roof down far enough to snap the latches. If you continue to crank/turn the handle when the roof is down as far as it will go to latch, you will build slack in the wire cables that may get out of alignment with the pulleys. Sounds like that's what happened. It was cranked down at the dealership with some slack, you drove it home which swung it back and forth, then when you went to set it up the cable was not in line with the pulley.

So lesson is, crank it down BARELY enough to latch it. Once latched, give the handle a slight crank in the "raising the roof" direction to take up that slack right away (if there is any).

How do you plan to store your popup? Will it be outside (you'll have to winterize it) or in a garage?

Check the tires (there are codes on the sidewall that indicate when the tires were made). Anything older than five years should probably be replaced (look at the spare too). IMO trailer tires are paper mache' anyway. I replaced my tires with Goodyear radial trailer tires before I towed it 1,000 miles to Key West and it felt good.

Check our Camping Community Board with the Search function or showing all threads because we had one over there not too long ago about camping at Hershey (what sites to get, using the shuttle bus, etc).

Welcome to PUP Camping!

Bama Ed

 

[Rland8228]

Yes it will be stored outside so we will be buying a cover for it and we are going to try and look at the tires tomorrow. DH had to close the store today so left at noon and wont be home till 11. tomorrow is his day off but it looks like we are going to get hit with rain. Any advice on how to keep the canvas as clean and sturdy as possible so that we don't have to replace it or it rots ?

 

[bama_ed]

Yes it will be stored outside so we will be buying a cover for it and we are going to try and look at the tires tomorrow. DH had to close the store today so left at noon and wont be home till 11. tomorrow is his day off but it looks like we are going to get hit with rain. Any advice on how to keep the canvas as clean and sturdy as possible so that we don't have to replace it or it rots ?

There are two things I do to keep my canvas pristine (a third is storing it in my garage but you said that's not an option for you).

The first is NEVER, EVER close it up and leave it when the canvas is wet or damp. This can be a pain but it is SO important. Sometimes we leave for home early in the morning and close up the camper at the campground when it still has morning dew on it. When I get home in the driveway I pop it up again minimally and let it air/dry out until the canvas is dry. Then I close it up and roll it into the garage. Sometimes it's raining when you leave the campground and/or raining when you get home. If you have to wait a day do so, but you still have to then crank it up and air/dry it out. This is very important.

The second thing (related to the moisture issue above) is when I do close it up, I put a cup of DampRid in the doorway inside to absorb any moisture that is inside. I get it in the Home Depot paint section and they some refillable cups. It's white flakes that will transform into liquid as it takes moisture out of the air. I take it out when I'm camping of course but when after I've made sure the canvas is dry and roll it away, I put the DampRid inside. In a related note, make sure your interior refridgerator door is open when you store it or else the cold/moisture will grow mold inside the fridge while it's closed up too.

I know SO MUCH about popups because I think I've made every mistake in the book!

Bama Ed

 

[Rland8228]

There are two things I do to keep my canvas pristine (a third is storing it in my garage but you said that's not an option for you).

The first is NEVER, EVER close it up and leave it when the canvas is wet or damp. This can be a pain but it is SO important. Sometimes we leave for home early in the morning and close up the camper at the campground when it still has morning dew on it. When I get home in the driveway I pop it up again minimally and let it air/dry out until the canvas is dry. Then I close it up and roll it into the garage. Sometimes it's raining when you leave the campground and/or raining when you get home. If you have to wait a day do so, but you still have to then crank it up and air/dry it out. This is very important.

The second thing (related to the moisture issue above) is when I do close it up, I put a cup of DampRid in the doorway inside to absorb any moisture that is inside. I get it in the Home Depot paint section and they some refillable cups. It's white flakes that will transform into liquid as it takes moisture out of the air. I take it out when I'm camping of course but when after I've made sure the canvas is dry and roll it away, I put the DampRid inside. In a related note, make sure your interior refridgerator door is open when you store it or else the cold/moisture will grow mold inside the fridge while it's closed up too.

I know SO MUCH about popups because I think I've made every mistake in the book!

Bama Ed

lol I think that is my biggest fear is ruining the canvas.That and not having a bathroom. I hear people talk about re waterproofing it, have you ever done that? We are letting it up tonight there is a small rain coming and my dad suggested we see if it leaks and where.. Hopefully that's a good idea?

 

[bama_ed]

lol I think that is my biggest fear is ruining the canvas.That and not having a bathroom. I hear people talk about re waterproofing it, have you ever done that? We are letting it up tonight there is a small rain coming and my dad suggested we see if it leaks and where.. Hopefully that's a good idea?

You can live without a builtin potty.

I agree with setting it up and letting it rain (or setting it up and spraying with the hose). The bunk end tops have the extension bars that are adjustable and you should keep the canvas as stretched and tight as you can while it's set up. I have to extend my bar in summer months and in winter months I have to adjust it inward. Never had to waterproof my canvas but then again I am the original owner.

Speaking of making every mistake, I have packed up my roof/canvas and when I latched it I "pinched" a hole in the canvas where it was between the roof lid and the bottom. I put a piece of plain duct tape over it and it is still holding. Our trailer dealer (and your uncle) probably have some really sticky patch tape if any hole is anything other than minor.

Replacement canvas is no more than $1,000 material cost but see how you turn out with your overnight experiment.

Bama Ed

 

[Rland8228]

Thanks Bama Ed for all your help! We just cant wait to get to the fort. I am thinking we may do a small trip in March but it might be an adult only trip.. if that's even possible. We get three weeks of vacation next year and seeing friends that just came back complaining of the crowds I think we will always try and go in off months lol, But hopefully we can get down there in March and put a face to a name! lol

 

[2goofycampers]

Congratulations! I hope the rain test goes well.

 

[MDKLHunter]

Don't fret about not having a bathroom, at least when you're camping at the Fort. We camped in a rental pop-up and the comfort stations are fabulous. (and I'm sure cleaner than my bathroom at home if we tell the truth!) We camped in the 1500 loop which I'll request and pray for again next year during Easter peak week, and although the stations were busy in the morning, I never had to wait for a BR stall or shower. Enjoy your new camper, there's so much fun to be had!

 

[Nixie]

Buy yourself a porta potty. The good ones like Thetford are around $100, but well worth the money spent. You wanna look for one that has the piston type flusher instead of the bellows because the bellows crack and leak after awhile. Also you want one that comes with a flip out nozzle on the bottom to make dumping easy.

You can always have an air conditioning into added to your pop up (depending in your roof type) but it isn't cheap. Probably around $500 - $800. Most pop ups come already prepped for A/C installation.

I couldn't see the pics, so I can't comment on your lift system. Each manufacturer has a different system, so each system has its own quirks and such. You said it came crashing down at the dealer and then wouldn't crank up at home?? It almost sounds like a cable snapped.

 

[Rland8228]

So the leak test worked it really rained this morning but nothing in the camper, let it out all day and it was completely dry before we put it down. I think we are just going to buy a ports potti with the kids and also with me bring type 1 diabetic I get up two three times a night and don't wanna run out of the camper. Can't wait to bring it to the fort next year!!!

 

[Rland8228]

So the leak test worked it really rained this morning but nothing in the camper, let it out all day and it was completely dry before we put it down. I think we are just going to buy a ports potti with the kids and also with me bring type 1 diabetic I get up two three times a night and don't wanna run out of the camper. Can't wait to bring it to the fort next year!!!

I forgot to put my uncle said it would cost around 1200.00 to put the air in so I'm not sure what we will do.

 

[PixieCamper]

If your roof isn't already braced for an AC, you can cut through the box and install a window unit. We did that with our old pop up because we got tired of dragging the portable A/C around and taking up counter space.

Having said that, the portable A/C did a great job of keeping the camper cool. I would say the most important thing we found for our popup and now with the hybrid..is Reflectix on the bunk ends and in the window zips.

We bought the popup gizmos but they didn't work half as well as reflectix and binder clips. Just buy a roll of relectix and cut it to fit the tops of your bunk ends and fasten to the edges with office binder clips. Cut Reflextix to fit your windows and zip them inside.

It makes up to a 20 degree difference winter or summer

this will give you an idea about the window unit (not our pic but you get the idea)

http://www.starling-travel.com/wp-content/uploads/How-to-add-AC-to-a-Popup-Camper-1.jpg

Congrats on the pup!

ETA: When we were using the popup, we bought a Luggable Loo because we could just tie the bag, lift out, and throw away. No one wanted to have to clean a porta potty LOL! We thought the Luggable Loo with kitty litter worked great for middle of the night.
http://www.basspro.com/Luggable-Loo...325005007_325000000_325005000&hvarAID=vantage

 

[Pooh2]

Congrats and enjoy your trip to the fort!

 

[loislane]

Nice! Enjoy.

 

[veraletta]

Congrats, wishing you many years of happy camping..