In 2016 I posted a thread complaining about condensation in my Hawk (https://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/a-hawk-in-the-arctic.163254/). After this experience I started looking for a pop up camper with a reasonable insulation. Earthroamer and Hallmark looked interesting but when I had decided to book flights to their plants to look at their campers Overland Explorer started a build threat for a new insulated pop up. They are located in Red Deer AB which is not too far from Canmore where I live. I drove over to their plant, looked at the prototype and ordered the first production unit for my F 150. Because I was the first customer I could still influence the design a little.
A few months later in June 2018 I took delivery of the finished camper when it was back from Flagstaff where it was exhibited. The first impression was very positive. What a difference to my old FWC Hawk. The lower half of my Hawk was uninsulated 3/4 inch plywood stapled together, the upper half was mostly aluminum frame with very little insulation and plenty of thermal bridges. The soft walls where made of sturdy truck tarp. The so called arctic pack was fairly thin softer material which at least prevented us from touching the wet outer soft walls. All windows where single pane. My new camper is entirely made of composit panels with strong aluminum corners and the soft walls consist of two layers of tent material with padding between the layers. The window and the big roof hatch are dual pane. Except for the strong extrusions on the edges of both the roof and the solid walls I could not find thermal bridges. Mark told me that they are still experimenting with different insulation materials to insulate even these small remaining thermal bridges and once they decided on the right material it would be added to my camper. Pretty soon I made a trip through the Rockies in Alberta and BC to test the new unit.
All in all the Camp X passed the test with flying colors. But it became obvious that the details still need some fine tuning. Especially the lifting mechanism for the roof still needs some work. Smaller issues like some wiring problems I could sort out myself. But these small problems were no surprise. Things like that happen when you buy the first unit which is essentially still a prototype. Mark gave me tremendous support to solve these problems.
The concept however is working extremely well. We spend a total of 12 mostly cool nights in the camper and had very mixed weather with 2 cold nights in the mid 30s with lots of rain and some sleet. To test the concept I only opened the small Seitz window a crack and heated the camper to 70 F. After both cold nights with 2 people sleeping in it there was only some condensation on the 2 extrusions I had previously mentioned ( and which will be insulated soon) and on the frame of the rear door. The hard walls, the soft walls and the floor of the alcove under the mattress were completely dry. Not a drop of condensation. The Truma heater had no problem keeping the interior warm (70 F) and there were no cold corners. I don´t know how often it cycled on during the nights because the Truma is extremely quiet. Even when you are awake you really have to pay attention to hear it running. It will not wake you up. With such a well insulated pop up camper there is no reason any more to buy a hard sided camper.
In fall we will travel to the Northwestern Territories. This will be the final test and I will report.
Stefan
A few months later in June 2018 I took delivery of the finished camper when it was back from Flagstaff where it was exhibited. The first impression was very positive. What a difference to my old FWC Hawk. The lower half of my Hawk was uninsulated 3/4 inch plywood stapled together, the upper half was mostly aluminum frame with very little insulation and plenty of thermal bridges. The soft walls where made of sturdy truck tarp. The so called arctic pack was fairly thin softer material which at least prevented us from touching the wet outer soft walls. All windows where single pane. My new camper is entirely made of composit panels with strong aluminum corners and the soft walls consist of two layers of tent material with padding between the layers. The window and the big roof hatch are dual pane. Except for the strong extrusions on the edges of both the roof and the solid walls I could not find thermal bridges. Mark told me that they are still experimenting with different insulation materials to insulate even these small remaining thermal bridges and once they decided on the right material it would be added to my camper. Pretty soon I made a trip through the Rockies in Alberta and BC to test the new unit.
All in all the Camp X passed the test with flying colors. But it became obvious that the details still need some fine tuning. Especially the lifting mechanism for the roof still needs some work. Smaller issues like some wiring problems I could sort out myself. But these small problems were no surprise. Things like that happen when you buy the first unit which is essentially still a prototype. Mark gave me tremendous support to solve these problems.
The concept however is working extremely well. We spend a total of 12 mostly cool nights in the camper and had very mixed weather with 2 cold nights in the mid 30s with lots of rain and some sleet. To test the concept I only opened the small Seitz window a crack and heated the camper to 70 F. After both cold nights with 2 people sleeping in it there was only some condensation on the 2 extrusions I had previously mentioned ( and which will be insulated soon) and on the frame of the rear door. The hard walls, the soft walls and the floor of the alcove under the mattress were completely dry. Not a drop of condensation. The Truma heater had no problem keeping the interior warm (70 F) and there were no cold corners. I don´t know how often it cycled on during the nights because the Truma is extremely quiet. Even when you are awake you really have to pay attention to hear it running. It will not wake you up. With such a well insulated pop up camper there is no reason any more to buy a hard sided camper.
In fall we will travel to the Northwestern Territories. This will be the final test and I will report.
Stefan
