How to Turn a Pop-up Into a Camper

If you aren't familiar with pop-ups, at first glance you might be scratching your head wondering how to actually camp with this small, hard-shelled trailer. Pop-ups aren't so much "turned into" a camper as they are deployed for proper use for camping. Within that small little shell are fabric walls for sleeping bunks, kitchens, sitting benches and tables. To "turn" the pop-up into a camper, open it up and set up the interior gear. Most pop-ups use one of two methods for opening and closing: motors or cranks.

Things You'll Need

  • Wheel chocks
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Instructions

    • 1

      Remove the towing arm off of any towing vehicles after parking the pop-up camper in the designated camping area or lot. Place wheel chocks under both sides of the camper tires.

    • 2

      Walk around the camper and make sure all wires and plugs are unplugged from the towing vehicle. Unlock all roof locks; typically four of them. Look for the locks at the corners of the roof.

    • 3

      Open the roof control panel on the outside of the enclosed trailer. Look for panels on the right hand side of the camper, near the doors. See if your pop-up uses a motor or a hand crank. If it is crank model, the cranks are stored in the panel. If it is a motor model, find a box with several buttons like "Up," "Down" and "Stop."

    • 4

      Raise the roof by hand cranking (insert the end of the hand crank onto the spindle-spool nut and turn clockwise) or pressing "Up" depending on your type of pop-up. Raise the roof until the spindle won't move or until the motor stops and the roof locks into the upright position.

    • 5

      Go to the ends of the camper and pull out the sliding bunk floors from the mid-center of the ends (both ends have camping bunks). Look under the floors and see if your pop-up has locks on the floors next to the camper shell. If there are, lock them.

    • 6

      Go inside the pop-up and push the sleeping bunk walls out and above the bunk mattresses. Push any rods or poles up and into grommets to support the walls and bunks. Set the mattresses into the sleeping bunks.

    • 7

      Connect any campground electric or water hookups on the left side of the camper (where the hookup plugs typically are found). Run water through the sink to test and turn on some lights to ensure the electricity is working.

    • 8

      Unzip the window covers to allow air to circulate through the mesh panels and make the camper less stuffy. The pop-up is now ready for camping.