Hello- As I am new to pop ups I have a question about weather. I live in the midwest so spring storms are a sure thing. During my tent camping time I've been through storms and I've seen neighbors in pop ups. Do these pop ups hold well in weather? Obviously a 80 mile an hour wind is a lot. Has anybody had experience riding out storms? If so how bad was the storm and experience? Thank you
I camped in some pretty strong winds with no trouble, some owners will add extra lines (just like in tents ) using extra lines if really bad winds are expected and of course roll the awning up and store it.
I had a hell of a storm at Shabbona State Park. Wind gusts up 55 mph and a tornado about 7 miles away. Pop up did fine, getting the awning down in the wind that was hard to do solo.
Just dont park it under any dead trees. Otherwise, ive left mine up in 50 mph winds , it survived, unscathed.
My rule of thumb is 45-50MPH winds... Been in a lot thunderstorm over the years... Always carry a WX RADIO along with us and note the WX conditions to be aware of anything approaching us... Not good idea having to lower the POPUP at 2AM in the mornings haha... We also always note where you can go in a emergency at regular camp grounds... I installed eyelets on My POPUP trailer side roof to keep roof sway down to a minimum. When I first got my POPUP I could stand in the door way and push out of the roof a good 6-8 inches of sway. This would be enough to knock things off my portable shelving during high winds... I realized it was something I needed to take care of when one night my microwave and small HDTV come flying off the shelf haha... I run four of the 1/2 inch x 15 feet ratchet straps from my side eyelets to 18-inch ground augers that you can screw into the ground without any problems. These leave no marks when you take them back up... Roy's image Google image's Back in my tent days we always used a ton of ropes to tie down everything associated with tent camping. Since the ratchet web straps come out this is the best way to go now for tent camping. All is re-usable now - Never have to cut the ropes anymore... We still like to lower the top for approaching high wind storms and go seek shelter in a bldg somewhere when camping in our POPUP trailer... Having a good WX ALERT RADIO along with you is a great idea... Roy Ken
We rode out a pretty good storm at the Warren Dunes last fall in our PUP. 50+ mph winds and such. I will say we were in a protected site so the wind was really up in the trees. We did have a a sliver dollar sized branch land on the roof and put a hole in it! Scared the whole family, but we never felt unsafe.
we rode out 50 mph wind and storms there in the midwest. We were under a tornado watch. The tenting made a heck of noise with all the flapping; the camper was moved a bit as evidence from the 1-2 inch skid marks in the gravel from the stablizers - but no issues with the camper. But it was not a restful night.
Several years ago I was camped for an event on a summer weekend. An amazing storm (and front) came thru overnight. My Coleman rocked and wobbled but held up fine; didn't even have water leakage from firehose-quantity rain. The event the next day was delayed for hours due to trees down in the area, blocked roads, etc. The nearby airport reported gusts of 70+ mph, putting it very close to hurricane force. I was glad I didn't have the canopy out though.
We camped in a storm with straight line winds of over 70 mph. Was a little scary but no issues with the popup camper.
