Escapepod
Advanced Member
I anticipate (won't have our new Grandby until mid-March) leaving the FWC top down in windy conditions, or when trying to discreetly sleep overnight on occasion. Anyone else want to share their top-down use experience?
Same here. Also on ferry crossings ...Cayuse said:Never felt like winds were an issue and I've been in 60+ gusts. Several people on the board have driven down the road for a ways with the top up with no apparent ill effects so while the noise might be unnerving there isn't really a danger of collapse.
I have slept with the top down on a number of occasions, typically when in stealth mode in an urban environment, after years of sleeping on a Thermarest or other pad I have no problems using the couch as a bivy location for a night, just need to find a coffee shop first thing in the morning since you can't use the stove with the top down.
yes this, ha ha !MarkBC said:... at about 10,400 feet elevation. I was awoken mid-night by the roar of wind and feeling the pressure against the pop-up part of the camper -- inches from my face. I was kept awake by the sound...and worry that at some point the structure could fail. The winds were not abating...
I have owned both rollover couch and front dinette Hawks. I think it is much easier to top down sleep in the front dinette. You just crawl in, roll-out some bedding and go to sleep in the front dinette. (Assuming you travel with the dinette in bed configuration with the table down and cushions in place as a bed, which I do.). It's easy to go in and out of camper if you want to go to the bathroom or anything else.dharte said:It would be hard to sleep in Front Dinette models with the top down-I've never tried it. I think that's the single biggest advantage of the roll over couch model. I can't even sit in my camper with the top down. Speaking of winds, one time in Capitol Reef the wind was strong enough to pop the top without me having to lift!
... or use the porta potti ...abqbw said:As you roll it over you run out of a place to be standing because it fills the aisle. Once it's rolled over it's blocks the door and it is difficult/dangerous to get in/out of the camper.
That's hilarious !hoyden said:I was so scared, I spent a good portion of the evening on my cell phone (4G up there!) researching incidents of trucks and campers being blown over by winds. I kept picturing being blown over, then pushed over the edge of the cliff (which was actually not terribly close, but only slick rock and shrubbery in the way! ha!) What I found was that it's super rare and winds have to be near tropical storm speeds for it to happen.