I assume you are refering to the Pennine folding camper. They are really a compromise between a trailer tent and a caravan. They are bigger and heavier to tow than a trailer tent, but gnerally lighter and a lot lower than a caravan so have less wind resistance and can be towed with a much smaller car than a caravan. They also require less work to erect than a trailer tent, theoretically there should be no pegging out, but again, require more work than a caravan. They are often used as a stepping stone between tents and caravans.
If you post on the TT, FC part of the forum I think a lot more Pennine owners will give you advice Angela. We have a Dandy and love it, we can store it at home, put it up quickly, tow easily and put it down wet.
We have worked our way up from tent to trailer tent to folding camper and now caravan. I have found that the advantages of easy storage and easy towing are far outweighed by the disadvantages of the folding camper. The problems I have found are as follows:-
Packing it away if the weather is bad, no real storage space in transit, if the living quarters canvas isn't set up just right its difficult to get the canvas to sit just where it should, lots of extra setting up inside with curtains, bedroom curtains and roof liners, no noise insulation (if you have kids like me), set up time is tripled.
We have found that we use our van far more than we ever did the camper because if we are going for a weekend we can pop up the porch awning and have the kettle on/wine open in 10mins, whereas even when we were used to the camper it took an hour and half to set up.
It is a personal choice and I know people who swear by their campers but just thought I would let you have my views. Good luck.
It takes us a bit longer than 10 minutes to set up our caravan and it took us quite a bit less than one and a half hours to set up the folding camper we had. But the van is quicker and has other advantages such as carrying more items and a major fact for us is that you can load it on your drive easily. Little jobs/alterations can be done and it can be cleaned just by popping out to it on the drive. We now have our garage space back.
Folding campers are great but I think they need to get their prices down to be attract defectors from caravans.
I owned two folding campers before my caravan my main problems were the car always seemed full of stuff because it was difficult to preload it the weather was a major factor i tended to worry all the time are we going to get it down before the rain starts or what to do with it if it did get wet how to dry it. The one thing i did really like about the camper was the beds being up all the time and not having to make them each night but having said that does not take to long in the caravan. As Brian said doing jobs on a caravan much much easier you dont have to set it all up each time and when yu get to site it is quicker setting up with a caravan kettle seems to be on quicker.
Samandbensmum
------------- Easter: Forest Edge
May Bank Holiday: Southbourne
May Half Term: Verwood
August: Setthorns New Forest
August Bank Holiday: Arundel
and many weekends in between
We've had tents, trailer tents, folding campers and caravans, and usually more than one. There are pros and cons for all of them, IMHO, and each has its own particular attraction (I still like them all!).
I don't know which description is more apt; they do offer many of the advantages of a caravan (the main parts are already in situ, with cupboards, beds etc and only minimal assembly required for the cooker, wc, wardrobe etc,) yet the canvas cabin surely means it is more of a tent, or camper. What do others think on that?
They are easier and less obtrusive to store than a caravan and easier to tow but, as has already been said, they take longer to set up. One drawback, as far as we were concerned, is that you can't just pop in and out to put something in or take something out, it is a case of having to put the whole thing up each time (even if you don't fully pitch the cabin, you still have to roll back the transit cover, open the beds, lift the cabin roof supports and so on...).
We were always worried about packing up wet, too, something you can just about face with a caravan awning but somehow worse with a camper (for us, anyhow, and I realise not everyone will feel the same).
Then there is the expense involved; you can easily pay as much for a good camper as for a good used caravan, and I was always aware that we were still under a canvas roof at the end of the day. We had a brand new Pennine Pullman once, about fifteen or more years ago, and on our first outing to a site in Wales someone decided to light a fire, the wind changed direction and bits of burning debris blew over and landed on the roof of our camper! We were frantically trying to bat them off, from the inside, and it was a total nightmare!
So, as with all things camping, it is a subjective issue. Best to go and take a look at a display and get a feel for them.
Pathfinders are great fun and a pretty chic bit of kit. However after a couple of years of rigging them up including the awning etc it's a natural progression to move onto Caravans. I couldn't see us going back but many folk swear by their Folding Campers (Folding Caravans) and wouldn't swap to tin tents for anything! Best feature for me by far is the permanent double beds, great for afternoon naps and for getting the little ones out of the way at bedtime. Although some folk will use their FC's throughout the year generally speaking I would say it is a shortened season as opposed to the Caravan which can genuinley be used in comfort all year round. (Not by me I might add!) I loved my time with our Pathfinder.
We bought a brand new folding camper 2 summers ago, thought it would tick all the boxes for us regarding storage, towing etc. As it turned out it was a mistake, and an expensive one too. we were troubled by all the negative points on previous posts & eventually traded it in at a dealers, at a loss, & bought a small pop-up caravan - this, if you don't know is just like a regular van but with a roof that 'pops up' when in use & 'pops down' when being towed. It has been a revelation for us, it's easy to tow, lightweight & easy to store & if it's stored with the roof down, & you are not too tall, then you can get in & out to do any jobs or pack up before a trip.
Have a look at my gallery pics.
------------- Harvey 15.8.1995 - 18.11.2010. Run free, sweet boy x
You can't go wrong with a Dandy! Our's tows like a dream. With it we have driven to the South of France and northern Spain & planning to go to Italy with our's. We have used campsites inaccessible to caravans and have been able to put it up and down again in all sort of weathers. If you just use the main unit, it can be up within a matter of minutes.
We found the folding campers much better all round than the new motor caravans and caravans we have previously owned.
We first had a Trigano but changed it for a Pennine Pullman which was better in design and construction. Compared to caravans it was much easier to tow and with a VW Golf diesel auto, even though we towed them with Discovery's.
The Pennine was easier to shift off the hook and set up in about the same time as the caravans. The fc has more space with permanent bedrooms and no beds to convert. The fc was also able to be stored in one of our garages so would not get the winter leaks, muck and frost problems.
Once we removed the useless box referred to as the wardrobe we could get easy access to the inside to pack the fridge and other equipment without having to lift the lid or transit cover. Note the wardrobe cannot be packed until the unit is erected and is therefore a waste of time space and weight. We pack and carry our clothes in suitcases same as on cruises or cottages.
A folding camper is certainly NOT a stepping stone on the way to a caravan.
Motor caravans have all the disadvantages of a caravan plus tax and insurance and servicing and once they are parked on site you are stuck for transport.
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Topic: folding caravan
