POP TOP VS CARAVAN

FromtheMount · Member

POP TOP VS CARAVAN

Possum3 · Guru

Pop-tops are heavier and don't have the insulation of full vans - full vans are not aerodynamic and don't fit in normal garages/car ports.

Ensuites in pop-tops are prone to mould as is the skirt/bellows at top.

Mid $20K would by around 20 year old single axle of either style.

Check out buying guides, technical information and check-lists at www.caravancouncil.com.au/

Bicyclecamper · Guru

We have had one full and 3 poptops. The first poptop was the best van we ever had, and the last one was pretty good, but cooling and warming poptops is pretty hard, not to mention, you always have to roll out the awning somewhat to open the poptop, plus going around to pop the releases, was not fun in heavy rain. When you are younger poptops are okay, but older NO. Fuel economy is no different neither.

hufnpuf · Senior Member

I have had a poptop and now a full caravan. At night, when the sun went down, the poptop cooled down and was quite comfortable. The caravan needs the aircon.

Opening the poptop was an effort for me, being able to just go inside is nice. Having said that, I'm small so I could go in the poptop with the roof down. If it was just an overnight, I didn't have to put the roof up. If you are fit and healthy, it shouldn't be an issue.

Poptops are cheaper so at your budget, you might want to look at them first, see what's available.

86GTS · Senior Member

Spent the past 13 years traveling around 140,000 kms all over Australia with the only caravan that we'll ever own, a 17ft poptop.

We've encountered every type of weather imaginable & never had a problem.

Our poptop has air-conditioning It sometimes gets too warm when being its used in winter so obviously there are no serious air leaks.

On hot summer nights we like to open up the all of the vents in the pop section to get any available breeze, while still having the doors & widows securely locked.

We don't find popping the top a hassle at all.

We have no bias between a full caravan & a poptop, we'd travel using a two man tent if we had to.

For us its all about travel & experiences, not luxury.

FromtheMount · Member

Thanks for the insights so far guys!

-- Edited by FromtheMount on Wednesday 18th of January 2023 06:48:18 AM

Dougwe · Chief one feather

I had a Avan Camper trailer so sort off a 'pop top' and spent 8 out of 12 months for each of 3 years having some of the best time travelling around. Then, I decided to go full time living in a van and travelling around but wanted my own shower and toilet and more room, Oh! Aircon as well. So, for nearly the last 9 years now I have had what is in my signature and it is a full van not a pop top. I love the van and glad I made the change. I love pulling up for a one-night stand and not do anything but open the door and start enjoying. As of yet anyway, I haven't had a problem with overhead obstacles etc. I could possibly still have the Avan if only part time travelling.

Keep Safe out there.

Meredith · Senior Member

Having had a pop top and now a full van much prefer the full van. Biggest plus of a full van for me is noise control, a full van definitely lets in and out a lot less noise. Other factors are more storage in a full van and ease of set up.

Cuppa · Guru

We have been looking for a truck based off road motorhome for some time & have considered poptops & full height.
Both have their advantages
Poptops are lower - providing better off road access (less concern about overhanging trees etc) & less wind drag (better fuel consumption)
The heat loss issue can be both a benefit or a disadvantage depending upon where & when you travel.
Full height = more wind drag & reduced off road access BUT they do provide significantly increased storage plus the added convenience of less set /pack up time. (More significant when travelling longer term than for short trips)

The advantage/disadvantage of any of these factors is an individual choice.

We have eventually realise that we are willing to trade off fuel consumption & some offroad access in favour of increased storage in what will be a vehicle with relatively short living space (again a choice affecting off road access).

If we were willing to compromise off road access more with a longer truck a poptop may have remained an option, but storage space *for us* is paramount, to enable the type of travel we prefer, ie. to spend as long off grid at a time as we can - requiring the ability to carry as much food (& to a lesser extent) water as possible. If we were happy to 're-provision' every couple of weeks then a poptop would remain a viable option for us. We do think it likely that much of our future travel will continue to be in the warmer north too. If we expected extended periods in souther winters that may well exclude poptops.

Just our thinking - some of which may be transferable to a caravan decision

-- Edited by Cuppa on Wednesday 18th of January 2023 12:10:16 PM

Long Weekend · Guru

With a full height van you never have to worry about forgetting to lock a pop top roof down before you set off.

Yes, I did it once - fortunately, the headlight flashing and arm waving alerted me before I had gone too far.

So that you can recognise pop tops without locked down roofs the awning holds one side (left) down while the other (right) side lifts up like a Sydney oprah house sail.

Murray

Plain Truth · Guru

Long Weekend wrote:
With a full height van you never have to worry about forgetting to lock a pop top roof down before you set off.

Yes, I did it once - fortunately, the headlight flashing and arm waving alerted me before I had gone too far.

So that you can recognise pop tops without locked down roofs the awning holds one side (left) down while the other (right) side lifts up like a Sydney oprah house sail.

Murray

Guilty of that too

86GTS · Senior Member

Long Weekend wrote:
With a full height van you never have to worry about forgetting to lock a pop top roof down before you set off.

Yes, I did it once - fortunately, the headlight flashing and arm waving alerted me before I had gone too far.

So that you can recognise pop tops without locked down roofs the awning holds one side (left) down while the other (right) side lifts up like a Sydney oprah house sail.

Murray

Two words come to mind, CHECK LIST, we've been using one ever since we bought a caravan.

We don't move an inch until everything has been ticked off.

Craig1 · Guru

Our 2014 Paramount Classic allows walking room when down, 5' 9 1/2. 1994 Jayco was a bend over job.

EyeWantItAll · Member

Well we have just purchased a new 12ft (yes you did read that correctly) off road hybrid caravan. We are in our mid 70's and no longer wanted to experience the joys of setup and pack up. We wanted a van that could go anywhere that our four wheel drive could. We wanted a reasonable towing weight (1.8 tons). We wanted a van that we could easily manoeuvre by hand if need be. We wanted a warm/cool comfortable environment that we controlled. We wanted a king size bed, albeit we ended up with an east west one. We wanted a full ensuite without the delightful mouldy canvas. We wanted storage by the bucket loads. We wanted reasonable security. And we wanted a van that did not stick out like dog ball$ in our driveway.

Bobdown · Guru

EyeWantItAll wrote:
Well we have just purchased a new 12ft (yes you did read that correctly) off road hybrid caravan. We are in our mid 70's and no longer wanted to experience the joys of setup and pack up. We wanted a van that could go anywhere that our four wheel drive could. We wanted a reasonable towing weight (1.8 tons). We wanted a van that we could easily manoeuvre by hand if need be. We wanted a warm/cool comfortable environment that we controlled. We wanted a king size bed, albeit we ended up with an east west one. We wanted a full ensuite without the delightful mouldy canvas. We wanted storage by the bucket loads. We wanted reasonable security. And we wanted a van that did not stick out like dog ball$ in our driveway.

Well done!!, you forgot to add you wanted an outside kitchen...ha ha smile Cheers Bob

86GTS · Senior Member

Bobdown wrote:
EyeWantItAll wrote:
Well we have just purchased a new 12ft (yes you did read that correctly) off road hybrid caravan. We are in our mid 70's and no longer wanted to experience the joys of setup and pack up. We wanted a van that could go anywhere that our four wheel drive could. We wanted a reasonable towing weight (1.8 tons). We wanted a van that we could easily manoeuvre by hand if need be. We wanted a warm/cool comfortable environment that we controlled. We wanted a king size bed, albeit we ended up with an east west one. We wanted a full ensuite without the delightful mouldy canvas. We wanted storage by the bucket loads. We wanted reasonable security. And we wanted a van that did not stick out like dog ball$ in our driveway.
Well done!!, you forgot to add you wanted an outside kitchen...ha ha Cheers Bob

Has anyone noticed that the slide out kitchen at the front of these types of rigs is not under the awning.

So the cook has the pleasure of standing in the p*ssing rain cooking while the other half sits under the awning high & dry with a beer wanting to know when the meal will be ready.

EyeWantItAll · Member

Well Bobdown as for the outside kitchen, well truth is we have not used it, but I will have a view post the experience.

EyeWantItAll · Member

Good grief 86GTS (gee that does not look like a Monaro or Ho), well yes that thought did enter into consideration, but upon closer inspection our slide out kitchen is well under the electric roll out awning. But of course there is a trade off, as our fridge slide out (Evakool 80L) is as you suggest, but we have that issue covered as well, we think? For our daily refrigeration needs we have a massively expensive ($189) Kings 15L fridge which does have a secop compressor. And the little fridge can be outside or inside as required. Ideal for a late night cuppa or drinkies if we are entertaining. Needless to say I had absolutely nothing to do with the previous, but I know someone who did!

PeterInSa · Guru

If I could not store a Full height van in our yard, only then would I buy a pop-top to fit under the Carport door.

86GTS · Senior Member

EyeWantItAll wrote:
Good grief 86GTS (gee that does not look like a Monaro or Ho).

No it doesn't, but they still manufacture my car, unlike the Holden & Ford which a just part of history. smile

Screenshot 2022-12-28 at 05-01-39 Toyota 86 - Wikipedia.png

-- Edited by 86GTS on Saturday 21st of January 2023 05:19:12 AM

EyeWantItAll · Member

Well Peter whilst our little van is just a tad over 5m in length, it is just over 3m with the A/C in height.

EyeWantItAll · Member

Well 86GTS very snazzy indeed (the prototype) but of what use is it in the outback?

PeterInSa · Guru

Re (Well Peter whilst our little van is just a tad over 5m in length, it is just over 3m with the A/C in height.)

Over 2.8m in height, you will pay the same as a B double on NSW Toll Roads. ( Like our Cruiser/Tandem Traveller Caravan and maybe our Sprinter Campervan at 2.85m)

86GTS · Senior Member

EyeWantItAll wrote:
Well 86GTS very snazzy indeed (the prototype) but of what use is it in the outback?

I never take it there, its a bitumen only sports car.

Its an exhilarating vehicle to drive & it makes a great contrast to lugging a caravan around behind a diesel ute.

We've already spent years traveling in the Outback, no novelty there.

EyeWantItAll · Member

"exhilarating" ???? Nah do it on two wheels! Now that is exhilarating.

yobarr · Guru

EyeWantItAll wrote:
"exhilarating" ???? Nah do it on two wheels! Now that is exhilarating.

Although I used be a bit of an idiot on a Kawasake 1100 I never dropped it. According to others, this probably was because I wasn't riding it hard enough!

Cars are a different story altogether, and I absolutely love driving sideways at more than 160kmh in my 530hp road car. Cheers

EyeWantItAll · Member

Ok yobarr, fully deserving of post of the day that has absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand. And I agree, as someone who has high sided a few/many times (LOL), half a century ago, your effort was well short of what was required. First the pleasure of flight and then the pain.

So FromtheMount after such an extensive discussion, albeit with a little diversion, what is it going to be Pop Top or a Caravan?

Long Weekend · Guru

Earlier I mentioned the possibility of forgetting to lock down the roof before towing.

There is another factor with pop tops that, while fairly rare, does happen and that is the failure of the lifting gas struts. With old vans often the gas in the struts leaks out, making the roof very hard to raise. When that happens the struts can be removed and re-gassed quite cheaply. Even if that is not possible then replacement struts are also comparatively cheap.

After we had our second hand Jayco Freedom for some three years one of the struts sprung a leak leaving black, oily residue everywhere. That happened just as we began setting up for a two week stay in Geelong. I was able to raise the roof with a bit more effort than usual so we were able to enjoy our two weeks in Geelong, I removed the strut but found out that once they leak they cannot be re-gassed. But the local Jayco outlet had a replacement strut for something like around $50 - although as it was eight years ago I am not sure.

However, I found the replacement strut impossible to fit 'in the field' so left it until we returned home.

Then when it came time to lower the roof the missing strut caused the roof to pull to one side making it impossible to lock down with the latches. Solved that problem by tying it down with a couple of ropes thrown over the top. Got us home fine. At home I worked out how to compress the strut using a ratchet tie down strap.

Anyway, for owners of pop tops that find that the roof seems to take more effort to raise than just getting old you might like to have the gas struts checked. A giveaway could be the roof being slightly out of alignment when lowered.

As I mentioned, loss of gas is fairly rare, but then again there are businesses in most large cities that make their living by visiting company offices regassing chairs!

Murray

Tony Bev · Guru

FromtheMount wrote:
I'm sure I'm starting a war.... but we are about to buy a new van.
We haven't owned one in nearly 20 years, but should we look at a second hand Pop Top or a full caravan.
As a returning Caravanner we loved our previous PopTop, but we have been told we should consider buying a "full" caravan due to insulation differences.
We are intending to use it to escape the cold winter here down south to the north over winter. Is it worth the difference?
We really are looking for a van in the mid $20 000's so... need some advise.
Thoughts?

I have towed both pop top and full caravan

My opinion is that I preferred the Vicount pop top, over the Jayco full caravan for two main reasons

1. The pop top was better to tow, fuel economy wise

2. When parked up and there was a breeze, with all windows and canvas flaps open, the pop top felt cooler

I normally use low cost/donation/free camps, so have no idea how they would compare with air condition operating

rmoor · Senior Member

Looks to be about Even Stevens on the comparison.
It really comes down to the individuals wants and needs.
I only recently bought my first (and hopefully last) van for retirement travels.
Looked into the pro's and con's for a while.
Eventually settled on a rear door entry Roadstar pop top.
My theory was when travelling if I want to stop for (a pre prepared lunch) or a snooze I can enter via the rear door alongside a road or rest stop in most places and have no need to raise the roof for a snack or a lay down for a while.
The other considerations were storage height, travelling height wind resistance etc.
I also drove a van for many years and noticed the winds from the side had a big effect on road. Figured there was less effect of crosswinds on a poptop?
At the end of the day I really only wanted somewhere to sleep as most of my activities will be outdoor for many hours of each day.
The choice of a rear door poptop allows for easy entry and duck in a straight line to access lunch or a rest for an hour or so in transit.