Experiences with cold/rainy weather

[Cruiser79]

Hi everyone,

I am the proud owner of a sixpac camperunit for on my landcruiser Hzj79. I really like it but I'm thinking of buying or building a pop up. Because the height starts being anoying at some times.
Surfing on the internet I found ATC and FWC campers, and here in Europe they are very unknown. I really like the concept, and they look quite tough. I read on this forum that wind and rain will not be a problem, I read that wind gusts above 100 kmh aren't a problem, even not on combination with rain. But how do they act with big temperature differences? In my sixpac we have some issues with condensation, especially in late fall or early spring. The matress in the cabover gets wet and sometimes you wake up early due to waterdrops from the ceiling...
Are there a lot of cold bridges (is this proper English??) in the ATC and FWC concepts?

I'm not English, so apologize for my language skills..



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[MarkBC]

Welcome to WTW from across the pond.

Yes, there can be condensation in FWC and ATC campers, mainly on the parts of the walls that do not have insulation -- the soft pop-up sides. Insulation can be added to the soft pop-up sides, and that reduces the condensation.
Personally, I've never had a problem with condensation -- maybe because I usually camp alone, and one person produces less moisture (breathing) than multiple people.

I have never had a problem with water dripping from the ceiling, which is insulated...but I have seen frost form on fittings in the ceiling that extend through the insulation.

 

[N'kwala]

I, too, camp in the Northwestern US and Western Canada, pretty much year around, in a small ATC pop-up. It's a part of the world that can get really wet and kinda cold. Yes, there's some condensation, but keeping a vent open a bit seems to make it all manageable. I've never had problems with water drops from the ceiling. Insulation is a good thing.

Where in Europe are you? I can think some of the North Atlantic countries could get pretty soggy. I lived in the Netherlands for two years and the amount of moss growing on things was an indicator, I think.

 

[Cruiser79]

Thanks for the replies! So it shouldn't be a problem, and maybe with some extra insulation besides the cold weather packages you can avoid it even more.
I live in the Netherlands, and indeed, the climate over here is quite wet. Moisture is mostly above 80%...
Last year we went to Scotland and there its pretty the same.
Actually we prefer the northern countries (scandinavia, Scotland etc.) so isolation and condensation coulde be an issue. Fortunately you don't have problems, so I am not afraid of it anymore.
So now I can continue to compare different makes and types of campers.
Actually I was thinking of a flat bed model, but maybe it is better to buy a slide in, and make it a flat bed myself. Distance btween original tray and top of cabin is quite larger at my landcruiser than most other pickups.
What is the average Distance btween tray and cabover of most mid size trucks?

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[smlobx]

Welcome Cruiser-
It's my hope to one day ship my rig to Europe and do a little overlanding!
Anyway FWC has a dealer in Germany that might be better able to answer your particular questions and maybe show you some of their products...
http://www.fourwh.com/popup-truck-campers-dealers/

 

[Cruiser79]

Thanks, never knew that there was a FWC dealer in Europe, maybe because I focussed more on the ATC campers for some reason.
I sent them a mail, now waiting for an answer. Hopefully they speak English, German is a kind of problem for me...

On their site I saw a few used truckcampers but I was a sort of shocked when I saw the prices.. >20 k for a 2011 used wildcat is quite a lot in my opinion.

 

[whizbang]

We had condensation issues with our FWC while camping near in ocean, and, in freezing weather. Of course, we also had identical condensation problems with a hardside Alpenlite. Aluminum framed campers act like heatsinks and the framing sucks the cold and moisture into the interior.

My present camper is a wood framed Jayco and it is much dryer than my FWC and Alpenlite were.

 

[kmcintyre]

My routine in the morning is to flip the mattress over and sometimes even take it outside to dry, but normally just flipping it is enough. When I bought my Eagle used, the old mattress, etc. was really bad so we upholstered a new bed with memory foam.

 

[billharr]

We had condensation issues with our FWC while camping near in ocean, and, in freezing weather. Of course, we also had identical condensation problems with a hardside Alpenlite. Aluminum framed campers act like heatsinks and the framing sucks the cold and moisture into the interior.

My present camper is a wood framed Jayco and it is much dryer than my FWC and Alpenlite were.

Wood frame campers suck moisture, just not all the way inside where you see it. You find it years later as dry rot.

 

[craig333]

Just me and a large dog and I have few condensation issues. I do leave some, ventilation active no matter the weather.

 

[Freebird]

Response moved to avoid hijack....
See:

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/10929-hole-in-affordable-pop-top-availability-market-opinion/?p=124630