[CoCosMom]

I am still unemployed, and DH just finished teaching for the summer... so we thought we would take advantage of having the summer off together. We just bought our first pop-up camper!

It's an ol' 1993 Coleman. Has a queen on one side, double on the other and the dining table/bench seats fold down into another double sleeping area. Has a sink, and an inside/outside propane stove. No fridge though, so we'll have to find a mini fridge or a power-cooler or something. Also want to get a battery, for the non-serviced camp sites, and a screen dining tent.

I just think it will be so much fun to take Ben and CoCo camping! We'll probably go next week!

Anyone have any experience with these, any advice to share??

 

[Wendy B.]

No experience w/campers but have a great time together

 

[AZLAB]

5 gallon bucket with lid for late night pit stops.. because if you go out to use the woods the pupster have to get up and come too...also comes in handy for rainy days. Just carry a bottle of bleach to keep it smelling decent.

Have fun camping.

(the bucket suggestions compliments of my SIL as they have a pop up tent camper)

 

[CoCosMom]

5 gallon bucket with lid for late night pit stops.. because if you go out to use the woods the pupster have to get up and come too...also comes in handy for rainy days. Just carry a bottle of bleach to keep it smelling decent.

Have fun camping.

(the bucket suggestions compliments of my SIL as they have a pop up tent camper)

lol. The sellers actually gave us their chemical toilet as well!

 

[blacklabparent]

They are lots of fun! You'll love it! =)

 

[YellowJakesMom]

Congrats! They're so much fun I still remember going with my parents and our lab when I was younger.

 

[sarah]

lol sounds like fun.. although I misread the title at first as "pop up camera" duh...

 

[Golfgirlrobin]

Is it hard-sided or does it have canvas? If it's canvas, don't write your name on the inside of the canvas with your finger while it's pouring rain outside. I did that when I was 8 and it leaked my name everytime it rained for the next 10 years. My father was still cursing me on his deathbed.

 

[BigBrownDog]

Is it hard-sided or does it have canvas? If it's canvas, don't write your name on the inside of the canvas with your finger while it's pouring rain outside. I did that when I was 8 and it leaked my name everytime it rained for the next 10 years. My father was still cursing me on his deathbed.

+1 on that. A full 3 days of pouring rain in Lake George had rain happening inside the pop-up as well.

And take railroad crossings slowly and carefully. My dad damaged the hitch the first time we took the pop-up out - it took forever to get it cranked up when we arrived at our site - in the dark - and figured out something was bent.

 

[Labs4life]

I still tent camp ( about 8 times a year) but I look forward to hearing your experience with a pop up camper. I have toyed with the idea of buying one. The fuel prices these last two years have put a few used ones on the market.

 

[Labs4life]

Oh and a little advice. Don't even whisper the word camping around the dogs. I can't touch any of our camping or canoeing gear without my two girls going through the roof. I accidently brought the dogs Float-coats in the house last week and they were insane for hours.

 

[snicksmom]

We have a Coleman pop-up camper and absolutely LOVE it! I've actually been camping with them my whole life. One must...buy a big piece of astroturf to unfold in front of your camper. It will drastically cut down on dirt getting tracked inside.

Then go to a dollar store and buy a whole bunch of utensils, etc. That way you can keep it stocked year round without having to haul stuff back and forth between the house & camper.

In addition to the indoor/outdoor stove, we bought a 3-burner Coleman camping stove. We found that the stove with the camper just wasn't big enough.

This is our typical setup.

Feel free to ask any specific questions you think of!

 

[MidwestGirl]

My only memory of a pop up camper was the time we went to Branson and at night is was 100 degrees and I couldn't get to sleep for nothing!!

HAVE FUN!!

 

[joflake]

That sounds like fun! I love to camp. You will have fun too!

 

[CoCosMom]

SUE! That looks just like ours! Likely a very similar set-up as well. We also have the coleman camp stove, with a grill and burners. We used to tent camp before Ben, so have some camping supplies.

I totally think it would be better to stock the camper then use stuff from the house. The turf is a great idea, can I get that at any home & garden store?

Do you think a screen dining tent is a good buy? I see you put up a shelter there. I was thinking we would do similar... set up the dining tent at the end of the awning.

How do you keep things organized inside? Also, do you keep the dogs on a tie out while you are hanging around the camp site?

 

[snicksmom]

We get our astroturf at a place called Building 19. It's basically a "junk store" where you can buy all kinds of remnants. You can also get it at places like Home Depot, Lowes, etc.

We are lucky in that we don't have to tie up Snicks. We saved the flags that we trained her on for the invisible fence. We just surround our site with them and she doesn't leave!

We have a screen room that attaches to the awning, but to be honest we never use it. With the campfire and usually being by a lake with a bit of a breeze, we don't typically have issues with mosquitoes. I would go out a few times first and see what you think.

I keep my cooking utensils in one of those rubbermaid storage bins with the drawer. Then I can just pull it out and put it on the table. Having a little side folding table works great for that kind of stuff. Most of the other stuff like ropes, stakes, etc. we keep in small bins under the table seats.

Under my sink I keep things like napkins, plates, trash bags, sos pads...all that stuff. And I don't use my sink at all. We prefer to do dishes by heating up water and using dish pans. I just don't want to use water or flame inside my pop-up. So I use the sink for storage too!

 

[snicksmom]

Also - on the back side of the coleman stove we have a crate that we keep coffee, sugar, paper towels, etc. in. (You can't really see it in the picture because the stove is open.) We can keep it out all day and then we just pick the whole thing up at night.

 

[Clanceycanuck]

Have fun !