The main thing is to keep it clean and make repairs quickly. We purchased a like new 2005 Jayco 1206 in April and love it. I hope that you don't get carried away with the idea that you need to upgrade. PUPs are great campers and depending on the style of camping you do, a PUP may be perfect for your family. A few year ago we moved quickly up the RV ladder to a TT and now we are back in a PUP. I wish we had purchased the PUP we have now back then. We could have saved ourselves alot of money.
I've heard you should actually wet down the material and let it dry when you get a new pup. Supposedly the material expands when it first gets wet and self seals. I don't know if this is true. I've never owned a new one.
We had new cushions made years ago and noticed moisture passing through the bed to the wood. Suggest if your bed cushions don't have some sort of moisture barrier (Our old cushions did) add one.
We cut out a piece of Polly tarp to fit under the beds and the problem was solved. I think we had a problem with this because we do cold weather camping and body moisture would move through the bed to the wood.
We also had a center seam roof leak two years ago that caused minor damage until I found out where the water was coming in. That was an easy fix but something you do not want to delay in fixing if and when it happens.
Other than that, we have camped in our Coleman at least six weeks a year since 1985 with no other problem and looks like it will last many more years to come.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I especially like the moisture barrier idea under the matress. That seems like a really good idea.
I'm not looking to upgrade all that soon. I think the popup will suit us perfectly. The places we will be camping, will almost always be in close proximaty to a scuba diving capable body of water. The room these little things afford far surpasses the TT room, and these are much more affordable. Add that to the fact that we have a minivan that is pulling it, it's about the only thing we could use anyway.
We are taking it out on it's maiden voyage on the 29th down to Lake Travis. I can't wait to get out there. We got some down-filled matress pads that make the beds as comfy as my bed at home. And the dealer installed a 15000btu AC that I'm sure will keep up with this Texas heat if I can get it into a shady spot.
Thanks again for the tips. Keep them coming if anyone can think of anything else that has been tried to keep our little homes on wheels from staying new.
"We all have within ourselves the ability to do great things." Ken Hendricks, Founder ABC Supply Co 1941 - 2007
I purchased a used '87 Starcraft many years ago and had it for 17 years. We sold it for more than we paid for it and it was still in very good shape.
Park it inside if you can but most of us just can't do that. Mine sat outside all of the time.
If you want to protect your PU always be thinking of water. You have to manage anything that is wet. The canvas must be dry before storing and keep an eye on all the seams and edges. Caulk stuff up when needed and take care of any little boo boo that happens. Water is the enemy.
The fact that you are asking this question tells me that you will be paying attention to the little things. Yours will last a long, long time because you are not just going to use your trailer, you are going to take care of it too. Have fun.
We had an '88 Starcraft PUP, purchased brand-new, and kept it until 2005. We always made sure that it didn't stay wet inside (if we had to put it down wet, we'd set it up within a few days - earliest we could - and let it dry) and we tarped it (with a brown tarp, later a gray one, bought from the local hardware store) every winter, and never had a leaking problem after that. (No brown/gray/blue marks either.) For the first 4 years we did not cover it, and ended up with a roof that leaked around the vent and went soft - roof was replaced under partial warranty (whew!) We did get the frame repainted when it was about 10 years old, as things tend to rust around here. Never had to replace the canvas (and it was really canvas, not the lighter-weight materials used now). We were ready to move on at the time we traded it in, and our dealer gave us a good trade-in on it, as he said it looked better than most PUPs half its age.
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