Realities of owning a pop-up camper

Setting out on an adventure with a pop-up camper brings a unique blend of freedom and responsibility. In this blog, I'll describe the pros and cons of owning and traveling with a pop-up camper, sharing insights, tips, and personal experiences to help you make the most of your nomadic journey.

When I was pregnant with our son, we decided to buy, renovate and travel with a pop-up camper for 2 weeks across the country. Renovating was a lot of work but traveling from site to site was even harder.

Here are a few pros and cons of owning a pop-up camper.

Canvas

Pro - Easy for travel because it breaks down. Hauling around a 13 foot camper makes me nervous so it certainly helped looking through the back window and being able to see over it, onto the road behind us.

Con -It’s only canvas. Both beds are essentially wrapped around the frames using a haphazard system of rope loops and bungees and ours was missing a few. I woke up one night to our Great Dane *halfway out of the canvas*. His legs were dangling out the side and his top half was desperately trying to stay in. It was sad and hilarious and we got him back in right away but still… not ideal and definitely scary with small children. Another mention would be weather. Our camper was in great condition with no rips in the canvas so rain really wasn’t an issue. And we were caught in a storm or 2 while we were popped up. We stayed dry but what was scary was the wind storm we found ourselves in in the Utah desert. Though, the camper never actually lifted or moved, it swayed… a lot. Remember that train scene in Parts Unknown with Anthony Bourdain when they're in Myanmar? If you've seen that episode, you know my terror in that wind storm.

AC and Heat

We never used or needed AC but a tiny electric space heater worked very well in the desert at night. We renovated in the summer on a black driveway and when we opened it up each day, the camper was scorching. What was nice was that it cooled down fast once all the windows were unzipped. The whole thing is essentially one big window.

Pro - Heats up very quickly.

Con - You need to be hooked up to electric.

Cooking outside

We replaced our indoor stove with extra counter space because we knew it wouldn’t be used. Our research told us that cooking inside the camper leaves the whole place smelling and it’s hard to get out. That becomes and issue when you’re exposed to all kinds of creatures. We bought a small propane stove for the “outdoor kitchen” which is just a dropdown door on the outside of the camper. It worked great and was easy to transport as well.

Pro - Cooking outdoors, in my opinion, is one of the best parts of camping.

Con - Weather permitting.

Renovating

We could have easily taken the camper traveling as is but there were a few things that either bugged us or were just an eyesore. One big issue was counter space so we decided to give ourselves more by removing the stove. We also used the same wood as that to build a new dining table and it ended up looking really nice. We painted it and added new vinyl stick-on tile too which brightened everything up and just made it cozy. And I wrapped the dinette seats in vegan leather. Our camper was from 1991 and it hadn’t been changed once. It was worth the renovation in my opinion because it made our experience traveling that much more special.

Pro - Way cheaper and easier to do than a larger travel trailer or RV.

Con - Still a renovation so you have to take cost and labor into account.

Set up

Or as my partner and I like to refer to it as, "the popping of it all."

Ok, this is the #1 reason why we sold our camper almost immediately after getting home.

Con - It's a lot of manual work. I takes a good amount of strength and effort to pull the beds out. First, you lift the top with a crank and then you slide each bed out and connect the poles to hold it up. And you can't get inside without doing all of this so you don't have a choice. Getting it down is just as annoying because everything has to be packed perfectly so that the beds can glide on the tracks. Bedding was a huge issue for us because we had a foam topper and mattress protectors on each bed. They had to be pulled off and nestled in the empty space on the floor or the top wouldn't shut. Do all of this every night (or every other) and add a 7-month pregnant person who can't really help and your back will be killing you after a while. We stayed in hotels from New Mexico to Philly (home) because my partner just couldn't anymore.

Pro - I suppose if you're not planning on traveling every day or only doing weekend trips, this becomes less of an issue. The couple we sold it too keeps it on their property for guests and takes it on small, seasonal trips.

Simplicity

Pro - It's certainly more compact and easy to travel with than any larger trailer. The size only allows so much so you only take what you need and, in a way, connects you more with the camping aspect.

Con - You're very much part of your surroundings, therefore, can be more exposed to the elements.

Storage

Claiming that there's no storage at all is a bit of an exaggeration but it's limited and fills up fast.

Con - Once you've put all your dry food, cookware, and cleaning supplies in the drawers and cabinets, you're out of room. The biggest frustration, however, was there are no compartments big enough to store a suitcase so you just end up using one entire bed for all your clothes. That's obviously an issue if someone needs that bed.

Pro - There's always your car. We often just kept our clothes in the trunk to free up space. It's where we put our portable fridge too.

Final thoughts

It may seem like I have a lot of gripes about pop-up life but I loved so much about the time we spent renovating and traveling with our camper. It was an experience my family will always cherish and I don’t have any regrets from it.

Whether you’ve just bought your first pop-up or are thinking about taking the plunge, I hope this gave you a little insight. Happy camping!