Hi-Lo Campers, etc.

Granny

Granny

One day at a time...
Joined
Jun 12, 2007
Location
Cabarrus County (Rimertown)
We are seriously considering taking the plunge and getting a camper. We don't want anything much over 20' long and it will have to be a Hi-Lo, or we will have to settle for a PopUp. Our carport is borderline of clearing the average 8' 6" height of a conventional travel trailer (plus another foot for AC), and I have no interest in making it any higher. Right now I am looking at a Towlite Hi-Lo, and would like to hear some opinions.
I would also like to hear some opinions on PopUps. TIA!!! :beer:
 
look into Trail Manor campers as well, they are a hard sided folding camper similar to a Hi-Lo but the ends swing out and it looks like a pop-up when fully open.

http://www.trailmanor.com/

Might consider an "A" frame camper, those are great for a cosy couple and come in reasonable sizes, open up easy and stay dry when raining and opening/closing

We bought a Flagstaff 625D Pop-up camper 2.5 years ago, its huge, about twice the size of our old Starcraft and many more amenities. king on one end, queen on other, slide out dinette that turns into a full size and a folding couch that is a twin when flat, cassette toilet and a shower inside and out, 24ft long when open, 19.5ft tongue to tail closed, weight is ~3500 loaded ( no water in tank ) water heater, A/C, fridge ( tri power ) inside cook top and outside grill, front storage trunk, we hope to be using this for many years to come the
this was our first trip, a lot has changed since ( and been learned since )
DSCF2186v2.jpg

I like the open air feel of the pop-up and the ability to have ALL the windows open and the sea breeze blowing thru ( OBX is a Fav ), hearing the world outside has it's perks and draw backs as well.
 
Don, I had a pop up and it served it's purpose. I was dry when it rained. I was cool when it was hot(hook up or generator) and I was warm when it was cold.Heat strip in AC unit was good for about 45* and warmer. Colder than that and we used a buddy heater. No shower, no built in toilet, we did have a port a potty in side though. We didn't cook inside of it due to no hood vent, and gumming up the roof and clogging the AC filter. If you do get one, get one where table can be left up to access the bed. Draw back in my opinion was lack of storage space. Was just like tent camping. Everything had to be packed in boxes. Loaded and unloaded every time you used it. The part I liked the least was setting it up and taking it down. If you took down in the early morning or after it had rained at night, you always had to set it up again at home to dry it out. Not saying I would never have another one, but if I did, it would surely have an electric crank system! The upside was it was super easy to tow(weight).
Myself, I would prefer a camper, be it RV or pull behind, that you can do everything inside, clean up, and leave in the camper. That way, when you you get home, unload cloths, food, and be done.
If you're only worry is the height of your cover to park it, I would consider raising the roof height to accommodate the height of the camper. Long run, it will be easier.
 
My brother has a HI-LO and he says he loves it..

they use it alot and he always talks about how he loves the hard side.. now they are also in CT and it gets colder up there then down here. so that may be one of his reasons
 
I thought I would take a few minutes and update this thread. We finally bought a camper! After weighing all our options we decided on a popup. Honestly, until we started looking at them we had no idea as to how nicely they are equipped. This one has everything we were looking for in a regular camper. Also, what Kevin mentioned (post #2) about being able to open it up to let the fresh air come in influenced our decision a lot. It will still feel like camping. As always, we still won't be camping when it's real hot or real cold. Basically, if it's not nice enough to be outdoors we just won't be camping.

Anyway... it's a 2004 Rockwood Freedom Model 2280. The box/tub is 12 feet long, and it opens to 22.5 feet. It has AC, gas furnace, 12v/120v/gas refrigerator, gas hot water, sink, gas stove, toilet & shower, 20 gallon fresh water tank, and everything seems to work just fine. We have been doing a lot of cleaning and fixing minor things that it appears were simply neglected or unnoticed. All in all we believe we have a real nice camper, and we believe we got a very good deal on it. It came from a private owner. Hopefully, the heat will die down and the stinking rain will stop one of these days so we can start using it. Geez, I guess I've been saying the same thing about our boat! :confused: Oh, and before someone asks... the AC clears the roof by 3/4". :cool:

Rockwood-1.jpg
Rockwood-2.jpg
Rockwood-3.jpg
Rockwood-4.jpg
Rockwood-5.jpg
 
Don, that looks great !

only thing I can suggest is weigh it before you load it down, then weigh it again after it's loaded, know your tire weight ratings as well

the sticker on the frame is weight as it left the factory, no AC, awning, LP tanks or batteries, and you may be surprised how loaded the tires are ( I was ) we were almost at capacity without putting any camping stuff in the camper, I have since upsized the wheels and tires for better load carrying.

the cassette toilet, walmart has the chem paks about $12 a dozen, toos one in the actual cassette, not the fresh water fill, the chemical will kill the pump motor, the tank is easy and pretty painless ( and if you use the right paks, odorless ) to clean, just watch the water pressure at the dump station, it's pretty impressive some places.

your floor plan appears to be very similar to ours without the slide out, I love having the room when opened up, but not the bulk and wind brake of towing a huge box ( yer ole truck my struggle a bit, but it'll be ok ;) )
 
I love having a popup with a potty! Like was said, the cassette is a pretty easy deal. It'll fill up in a couple of days if you're a regular guy. ;) Most sites I've been to don't mind if you just carry it across the road to an empty site with sewer instead of trucking it up to the dump station. I still haven't figured out what the best chemicals are, though. Thetford liquid seems to work well, but still leaves a little to be desired when you open the flap. Still, it beats dealing with a poop-filled hose! Your grey-water storage is limited. A couple of Navy showers is usually all it'll hold, but I'd rather shower in my camper than most bath houses.

You should love the pup. Our situation, with two kids, it's getting a little crowded. We're looking at moving up to a triple-bunk hybrid with a slide in the next couple of years. I'm going to consider hanging on to our pup, though, for getting into small campgrounds.
 
one pak WAY over treats a 4.5 gal cassette ,BUT the STANK is pretty much gone at a dollar per pak, I'm good with that !

aecx.images_amazon.com_images_I_51edMIUZTmL._SX385_.jpg
 
This stuff works great. I use it in my Forest River Surveyor. No funky smell when returning to the unit after a day of hiking or whatever. It will also help keep the holding tanks from being slugged up. I drop em in before I start using them and while it sits in the drive way. I use it in the Grey water tank to.
 
I'm going to Tom Johnson's in the morning to get a few things. While there I hope to find out exactly what fluid to put in the flush tank and what cleaning product to use on the Thetford "facility". The cautions in my owner's manual have made me wary to just dump anything in it.

In other matters... our intention is to just use the Thetford for the middle of the night Pee calls. Normally we will use the campground facilities for the showers and daily rituals. Appreciate the comments! :)
 
Granny said:
I'm going to Tom Johnson's in the morning to get a few things. While there I hope to find out exactly what fluid to put in the flush tank and what cleaning product to use on the Thetford "facility". The cautions in my owner's manual have made me wary to just dump anything in it.
Click to expand...

THetford has their own fluid, is messy ( blue dyed liquid in a bottle ) the paks do the same ( and smell better ) and are sealed until wet in the tank ( toss pak into OPEN tank then flush a bit of water in and close the flush valve, I learned the hard way that with a good seal, a small amount of pressure builds up in the tank, tossed a pak onto the flush plate, got it wet with about 2 cups of water, then opened the valve, the mess sure was a pretty blue, and it did smell ok, but damn, it was all over the place ! )
There is a seal on the flush valve that needs greased, again, Thetford has their own, but it's silicone grease ( dielectric grease ) available anywhere for less.

In other matters... our intention is to just use the Thetford for the middle of the night Pee calls. Normally we will use the campground facilities for the showers and daily rituals. Appreciate the comments! :)
Click to expand...

good plan, my wife and daughter use it, I'm 6'5" and kinda big, my knees get wedged into the shower knobs on the other side. for me, it's "Emergency Use Only"
 
Good looking Pop up Don. I miss ours a little bit once in a while but I don't miss hand cranking that top up. I hope your's is electric.
I've got so lazy now I have a remote on our camper to operate slides, awning, lights and jacks. It's nice on those 95 degree days when check in is at 3pm.
 
You can get a lot of what all the rv dealers sell for much less online. That being said its nice to support the local man and his business, but I have yet to find one that earns it time after time. My family and friends have delt with several of the local dealers throughout NC, few earn repeat business.
 
WARRIORWELDING said:
You can get a lot of what all the rv dealers sell for much less online. That being said its nice to support the local man and his business, but I have yet to find one that earns it time after time. My family and friends have delt with several of the local dealers throughout NC, few earn repeat business.
Click to expand...

I agree with this 100%, you may also find that many dealers have little interest in dealing with pop-up owners or pop-ups in general ( Camping World pretty much came right out and said it, I haven't been back since )

I guess I don't understand it, as what is the next move from a pop-up ? a larger camper, be it a Hybird, travel trailer or Class B,C or A RV. treat me like crap now, why do I want to deal with you when I buy up ?
 
I understand fully what you guys are saying, but I still have some confusion regarding the fluids.... my 2004 Thetford manual calls for Thetford Toilet Fluid to be added to the clean water (flush) tank. Having noted that Thetford Toilet Fluid is now obsolete, I want to find out what, if anything, I need to add to it. I don't believe anyone has touched on that subject yet. As for the waste tank additives, the previous owner gave me the following: 2 - 8 oz. bottles of Campa-Chem with Formaldehyde, 5 - 8 oz. bottles of Campa-Chem without Formaldehyde, and 1 - bag of 12 Campa-Chem packets. The bottles with Formaldhyde have a warning saying that California knows they cause cancer, but I'm sure that California also knows that bubble gum and Kool Aid probably cause something too. In my book, California ranks high on the list of the most f---ed up states in the nation and I don't take much of anything they say as being of much use. Sorry about the rant!

Anyway... I agree that camper place don't have much interest in the popup crowd. Tom Johnson's is located adjacent to the Charlotte Motor Speedway and the lot is filled with $100k-$200k motorhomes. However, I am hoping the parts guy is an average Joe like the rest of us and maybe will be willing to share some knowledge. I will share whatever I find out. You guys keep the ideas coming... this is a new ballgame to me. :)
 
Continuing... the parts guy at Tom Johnson's said he didn't know about a 2004, but the later models he is familiar with take nothing but plain water in the flush tank. So... I am going to flush out the tank, get rid of all the blue stuff and fill with plain old water. As for the waste tank, he said the packetts, or the solutions were fine, including the Formaldehyde type. The tank seal should be regularly lubricated with Olive Oil. Also, he seemed to share my opinions on the California nonsense as I bought a City Water Regulator while I was there and it too was illegal for use there for some unknown reason. We both had a good laugh over that. Anyway... I'm cleaning the potty now and when that's finished it will be ready to go. :)
 
I have a fresh water tank that's for potable water which also feeds the toilet while camping without a water hook up. It has its own sanitizing procedure and does not get any chemicals other than chlorine as prescribed. So from what your saying your cassette toilet has a freshwater storage separate from any other fresh water holding tank? If so I'd probably treat it once a year with a diluted bleach solution just to keep it from molding or growing something funky but I wouldn't waste any of the waste tank chemicals on it.
I'd definitely use the chemicals in the grey water and black water storage. (These may not be separated on your pop up. Or yours may not have storage at all. Some larger ones have small tanks.)
The holding tanks are a closed system until you pop the drain so they tend to sludge up with grease and other non soluble funky stuff. Its not like a working septic system with the differentiating fluids and bacteria to digest the effluent. (I built and studied waste water molds for 8 yrs. I know my crap!)
Another good practice for campers with larger holding tanks is to use them and allow them to fill up before dumping. Greater flow is established and better emptying of the tanks. The tanks have very little fall on them so heavy stuff will clump up and the normal flush doesn't move it on through to the drain. Clear adapters are available to hook a garden hose to the drain end to back flush the system when unhooking. Mine has and external hose hook up on the tank end with a whirly gig turd buster inside! Uh, tank flush spray nozzle. I thought it better to have two water hoses for the camper now.;)
Do you have any potable water storage Don?
 
OK, still some confusion.... here's a pic of the Thetford cassette toilet/shower...

cassette.jpg


...and here's a link to the owners manual: http://www.thetford.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=0hPO+QNzqmY=&tabid=567&mid=1464

The camper has a 20 gallon potable water tank. It does feed the shower, but does not flush the toilet. The water tank (flush water) for the toilet is under the two caps/knobs on each side of the bowl. The black water tank is below the bowl, and pulls out from an access panel on the outside of the camper. Take a look at the manual and I think it will explain things better than me trying to explain how the thing works.
 
I like that setup, no worries if you get a little off target or ate that second gut bomb burrito, just rinse it on down!:gitrdun:
 
using the shower wand to fill the toilet tank is much easier than trying to fill with a garden hose or hell, even a watering can, the shower head is restricted enough that you can just hold the wand tight to the fill, and watch the sight tube until it's full. the turn off the shower wand, twist the fill spout to dump the excess and return to stowed position. ( shower hose should reach the toilet fill outside by passing thru door opening either before install, or just pull open the canvas around the door and slip hose thru )

The Brit's real put a lot of thought into how these toilets work, and over the years have been improved ( ours is a '12 model ) the newest have a full tank warning light for the refuse, and an electric pump to move the water thru the bowl, some of the older ones use a bellows type pump that you have to push several times to flush effectively. they all have their own quirks and problems, but it sure beats standing behind a tree or bush when it's raining like hell !
 
Jason W. said:
I like that setup, no worries if you get a little off target or ate that second gut bomb burrito, just rinse it on down!:gitrdun:
Click to expand...

...if you eat one of them damned burritos... you can just tote yer stinkin' arse to someplace downwind, and far, far away and park it behind a dead tree... please don't dump it on a live one! :shaking: :lol:
 
Back
Top