Campers

Those are called 'Pop up' campers... Neal Johns loves his... See it in the two Neal Johns web sites:

http://vivabaja.com/neal

http://vivabaja.com/neal2







[Edited on 3-2-2006 by David K]

Why are there always people gathered around one of Neal's tires in your pix, DK?

Thanks folks them's the one's now i will try to find out how much they cost, I plan on putting one in a trailer , any one have comments, reason is don,t want to part with my cherokee

Trailers--------and campers

Have had years of good experiences with my friend in his pop-up (Sunlite Eagle SB).
I don't think it's a bombproof steel or alum. frame like Four Wheel or Callen, but it's been placed in some challenging situations with no sign of it going all house of cards on us.
Nothing like setting up camp in the one minute it takes to crank the roof, chuck out the firewood, and extend the canopy.
Light and low-pro enough to leave on back home.
I prefer cooking outside, so I plan to go with the "delete galley" option on mine.
And while not cheap, the utility bed makes a good marriage with a pop-up.
Chuck a portadumper under the gaucho (convertible dinette) and it's even wife-approved.

Bob & Jane-----

Hi folks,
The picture of my "being worked on" camper posted by David K. above, was taken in Baja while we were wiring a separated ball joint back together with a steel dog leash! I had hit a center road separator in Las Vegas at night a few months earlier which was the probable cause. My sat phone brought two friends from the USA with a new one.

Pop-tops are a little more top heavy than a shell. My personal limit for my Tacoma with two inch lift is 30 degrees of side tilt (with a high pucker factor). This 30 degrees is also the most tilt I have seen on a two track road, quad tracks excepted.

Glad to hear Northstar campers http://northstarcampers.com/popup.asp hold up as a friend has one and I like it. The construction is wood frame. I suggest anyone buying a wood frame camper (pop-top or otherwise) buy some two inch angle aluminum and reinforce all 90 degree joints if they drive like a madman over the top of Baja washboard (Mrs. Johns little boy, for example :lol

My pop top camper is a Phoenix Coyote http://www.phoenixcampers.com/coyote.html . It is 3/4 inch plywood single wall construction with no insulation. The outer skin is Filon, a smooth fiberglass reinforced nylon that stands up under tree branch scrapes very well. Filon is an option on several campers, including the Northstar.

Many Baja four wheel drivers have aluminum frame pop tops made by Four Wheel Campers http://www.fourwheelcampers.com/ . It holds together very well. Some storage space and mattress thickness is given up along with the front and rear windows.

[Edited on 3-3-2006 by Neal Johns]

Neil------

I am impressed!!!! and you have taken your camper over the "Pole Line" road, also, I believe. Amazing!!!!

They must be making the wood-framed campers better these days than they used to, or I was just unlucky. And I certainly do not drive like a maniac, like you do.

Good info-------thanks. barry

Roof-top tents still have the main disadvantage of wind noise. Wind noise drove me to putting a plywood board in my FJ-40 from the passenger side dash to the rear floor of the vehicle. All you had to do was fine a ditch or hill to get the nose down so the bed would be level.

Then I discovered gurlzs and got a pick-up with a shell. You could not sit up, but, hey, who cares if you have a girl.

Then, I got a WIFE who used to sleep crossways in a CJ-5. --- And she told me we needed a Pop-Top camper. --- And now I am old and can't go back!