mzappala
Hinckley, Ohio
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Joined: 06/09/2005
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I'm not kidding...every camping trip we've taken in the last 5 years ( a total of about 15), we've had rain, with the exception of two times we went with this certain family. (They must be our good luck charm or something). The rain we've experienced has run the gamut from a light sprinkle to a near-record setting deluge with horrific thunder and spectacular lightening. We've had two different tents, a cheapo Walmart tent, and an expensive Eureka tent. They both leak.
I'm not too terribly bothered by it. I adore everything else about tent camping...the rustic-ness, the soft morning sounds of birds and breezes in the trees, the zzzzzzzzzip of the zipper, snuggling in my sleeping bag on my Thermarest pad. I love cooking on my Coleman stove, and I love refilling my cooler with ice, and I love sitting around the campfire at night, and I love having only my flashlight to guide me along the path or the road. I love the sight of a landcape of scattered tents in the primitive campgrounds we frequent. I love washing my dishes in my little rubbermaid container filled with hot water I heated on the stove. I love grilling my burgers on the grill campfire. I love tent camping.
I do have the minimum requirement of access to good drinking water, flush toilets and hot showers in a nearby showerhouse, so digging my own latrine is outside my comfort zone! But hey, I'll even bike to the showerhouse, so it doesn't even have to be really close by!
Anyway, after this past weekend's trip, where we got rained on twice, my husband has increased the volume of his longing for a popup. I'm adamant about keeping my tent!!! He wants the popup. He wants to stay dry. I think a popup is a half step closer to a TT, and I really don't want to go THAT far away from my beloved tent!
So, why should I cave and let him buy the pop-up? When we camp, I do all the packing and all the setup because I usually go a day ahead of time with the kids, and he comes up separate because of work. I am not looking to increase my workload with setting up a pop-up! I do let him do most of the work to break camp, because I know once we get home, I've got a whole lot MORE work to do in cleaning everything up! I usually pitch the tent again at home to hose it down and scrub the dirt off...remember, it's rained every time we've camped!!!!
Anyway, how can I agree to a pop-up without feeling like I'm selling out on tenting????? 
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Mrs.Anthony337
Pasadena, CA
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Joined: 04/15/2007
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Depending on the tent you use, I don't know if its MORE work to set up...
We always window shop; everything from popups to diesel pushing RVs...one day we want to full time- sooner than later, preferably. I saw a tent trailer pop up and it was so kool- I wanted to buy it then and there- I saw the handiness of alot of its features including the hose/shower outside and stuff...
(dreams)
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burgess001
Springfield, MO USA
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Joined: 04/08/2002
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Well Hon...
The older you get, the better the "off the ground" and "normally dry" camping will appeal to you. Once you get the setup routine of the pop-up down, you will love it. Having a porta-potty for emergencies on rainy nights is also a plus. You will like the optional awning. Depending on where you camp, the marginally improved security of the pop-up will sooner or later appeal to you.
So, I'm not sure how much your "purist" ideals (which I admire) can endure, but I suspect you will eventually look favorably at the pop-up. When things are secure and dry, it is actually possible to enjoy a rainstorm during your camping trip. As for the other things you mentioned, I don't think a pop-up will spoil any of that for you...unless you buy one of those $15,000 units with all the bells and whistles. Just do not go super cheap. Some are so flimsy you have to be way too careful to keep from breaking something. And DO go with the A/C, even if you don't think you will ever use it.
Jerry and Katie
More than 20 great years motorhoming and still loving it...
2004 DSDP 3810 (more than I needed...less than I wanted)
2004 Trailblazer (too heavy but well worth dragging)
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rvten
Crossville,TN
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Joined: 11/30/2000
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Anything up off the ground is better. We had 2 pop-up in the very early beginning.
Tom & Bonnie
Crossville, TN.
Aspect 29H 2008
Class C passed Class A owner
Pontiac G6
There is NO such Thing as a B+
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kknowlton
Wisconsin Border Country, IL
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Joined: 05/27/2005
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I echo everything burgess said. We enjoyed our tent, but the popup was SO much better!! (How much better, you ask? - we probably camped 1-2 times a year when we had a tent; after we got the PUP we camped at least once or twice a month from May through October, plus at least a full week for a trip, and often more.)
A popup is not, IMO, halfway to RVing. It's more like a baby step towards it. As long as you get a fairly basic PUP you can still enjoy living in a tent (and the zip sounds, as you'll be zipping & unzipping the windows & walls, depending on the weather), and communing with nature. You can still "dry camp" in some fairly nice, private campsites if you wish, or you can take advantage of having lights etc. in an electric site from time to time. You will be able to store some of your stuff, rather than pack EVERYTHING in the car each time you go camping. You can opt to cook outside or in (many PUPs have stoves that can be used both outside & inside, hooked up to a gas line, plus of course there's the grilling option).
And believe me, there is virtually no more setup with a PUP than there is with a tent, unless you have one of those tents that you toss in the air and it comes down all set up!
Tenting in the rain, IMO, sucks. Camping in a PUP in the rain isn't bad at all - a dry place to sit, a dry place to sleep (assuming you remember to keep the window ends zipped up in bad weather), a dry place to sit & eat or play cards or read or play games, without worrying about sitting in the mud you just tracked in. And sleeping off the ground (in any weather)?? Pure heaven!!
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jtbeck
Kentucky
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Joined: 04/23/2008
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mzappala, I really love your description of why you enjoy tent camping so much and I totally agree with you.
But, there's no reason you can't enjoy tents and PUPs. I do.
We've got a 3 room family sized tent for, obviously, the whole family. We've got a 3 man tent when it's just me and one of the kids and we've also got a Coleman PUP. Our PUP doesn't have a toilet or a shower. It doesn't even have hot water. It does have A/C, a furnace, a waterproof roof, a fridge and a water system, though.
They say that when you're in a trailer of any kind, that you're no longer camping, you're RVing. I don't agree with that. I think a PUP is VERY close to tent camping. Close enough that you would probably like it.
I use my PUP for, I'll admit, most of our camping. And honestly, all of those wonderful things that you love so much about tent camping are also the same experience you'll get PUP camping (aside from the zipping sound which will be replaced by the slamming of the camper door which is, I'll admit, irritating). You're still sleeping under canvas, and when you unzip all the windows (hey, there's that zipping sound for you!) you won't believe how open the camper is. But in a PUP you can actually ENJOY a rainstorm while sitting either inside on a comfy couch playing board games at a table or watching a movie or under your awning just listening to the sounds of the rain.
We cook on our Coleman stove, use our Coleman lanterns, sit outside around the fire and make s'mores, carry coolers full of ice and snuggle in our sleeping bags. With the tent ends on a pop up you also wake up to the sounds of nature (or your neighbors if you're unlucky). And we grill our burgers on the campfire, too.
We do our dishes in our little sink instead of a rubbermaid container and we can get our fresh water either from our on-board storage tank or city water. And as a bonus if it's just super hot outside we can turn on the A/C, and when it gets ridiculously cold we can fire up the furnace. And when it rains, WE DON'T GET WET.
I honestly LOVE our PUP. It's the best of a travel trailer and a tent all mixed up in one convenient little package.
BUT...
I still love to tent camp. There's no reason to give that up. I don't know how I could drag our PUP along behind a canoe to use it on a river. And I'll still camp in our tent even in places that I could take our PUP sometimes, just because tent camping can be it's own reward. There's something really cool about not needing anything but your tent for shelter isn't there? But if the weather looks ugly, I'll be in the PUP.
Also, the PUP can really extend our camping season. Now we can go earlier in the year and later in the year as well.
You don't mention whether or not you've got kids, but they were a major factor in getting our camper. It's a lot easier to talk our daughter into camping in the PUP than in a tent ALL the time.
So, I say keep an open mind. Maybe you guys could rent one and see what you think. I adore our little PUP, but I'll never give up on tents, either. Honestly, as long as you're camping, I don't think you can lose.
EDIT: I meant to tell you, the worst leaking tent I've ever used was a Eureka. The best, driest tent has been a Columbia. I was SORELY disappointed in the Eureka tent.
ANOTHER EDIT: You DID say you've got kids. I need to read a little more thoroughly before I run my virtual mouth. You'll love a PUP with kids.
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Me (69), DW (69), DD (95), DS (00), DS (01) and 1 camping toy fox terrier (08)
95 Fleetwood Utah, 02 Ford Explorer Limited (V8)
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Hiker3
Florida
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Joined: 01/21/2007
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I was a backpacker and tent camper. I have ALL the tent camping equipment.
Then...I wanted my family to start camping with me.
THEY refused to go tent camping. Sooooo....we bought a small PUP (actually a Folding Tent Camper -- "tent on wheels") and we use ALL of my equipment (Coleman stove, Coleman lanterns, screen room, camping chairs, Petzel headlamps,etc.).
My "tent" got bigger (on is on wheels), but I get to wake up to birds singing and can hear the rain on my canvas roof. We open the windows and have fresh air through the screen (just like a Eureka tent on the ground).
Hope you go for it. Try it...you'll like it!
Livin Lite Quicksilver 8.0 (Folding Tent Camper) only 900 lbs!
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junmy3
Warner Robins GA
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Joined: 02/03/2004
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Quote:m not too terribly bothered by it. I adore everything else about tent camping...the rustic-ness, the soft morning sounds of birds and breezes in the trees, the zzzzzzzzzip of the zipper, snuggling in my sleeping bag on my Thermarest pad. I love cooking on my Coleman stove, and I love refilling my cooler with ice, and I love sitting around the campfire at night, and I love having only my flashlight to guide me along the path or the road. I love the sight of a landcape of scattered tents in the primitive campgrounds we frequent. I love washing my dishes in my little rubbermaid container filled with hot water I heated on the stove. I love grilling my burgers on the grill campfire. I love tent camping.
Almost everything that you like about tent camping you can also have with a PUP. I am not sure about the zzzzzzzzzzzzzzip of the zipper. DW and I had a PUP for 6 years that did not have a refrigerator. We cooked outside and washed dishes outside. The good part of camping in a PUP is that you can stay dry when it rains and to us that made it much more enjoyable.
Jim & Junnie
2005 Sunline Solaris T-2553
Our Web Site
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quark
Hillsborough NJ
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Joined: 08/05/2008
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I started camping in a tent with my parents as a child and eventually we graduated to a tent PUP and then a hard-top PUP. Then, when I got married it was back to the tent. Then we were given a vintage trailer for free and now we are spoiled, but it is nothing like a today's motorhomes. It's still pretty primitive, and even has a gas lamp we love for that Coleman lantern feel.
I have to say, after 45 years of camping, rain is no fun no matter what you are in. Yeah, I'm dry and warm in a trailer compared to the tent we used to have, but being cooped up for 3 to 6 days is STILL miserable. Either that, or it's 101 degrees for 7 days - no fun either.
I am tempted to put our TT on a seasonal site and only go camping on nice days! 
MH: 96 Ford E350 7.5 Fleetwood Jamboree Searcher
TV: 1995 Nissan Quest
VTT: 16' 1963 Yellowstone "Canned Ham"
Controller: Tekonsha P3
Hitch: Equil-i-zer .
http://www.vintage-yellowstone.com/
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welovecamping07
Indiana
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Joined: 09/22/2007
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I must agree with everyone here...I think you will enjoy a PUP as much as tent camping. Just don't get one that's all souped up, just go simple and no one says you can't continue to do all the things you enjoy while tent camping. At least you should be able to stay a little dryer!!!
~Becky
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