Questions about Four Wheel Finch pop up – Wind

[Sedro F. Woolley]

I know the FWC pop ups have a reputation for being bombproof, but has anyone had problems with them in high winds while set up? Is there a point at which you'd be wise to drop the lid, latch it down, and hunker down on the floor, and if so, how would you know when to do that?

 

[rotti]

Been in a lot of high winds with my two FWC and have never felt the need to drop the top. It does get noisy and rocks and rolls but I just put in some ears plugs, have another drink and hang on.

Funny, in my old Grandby I sometimes would dry it out by driving down the road with the top up. No problems but it makes you appreciate the low wind drag of the pop up design.

 

[elmo_4_vt]

I've been in mine through 50mph gusts with no ill effects, though it was little noisy like mentioned above. It definitely helps if you're able to park either facing towards, or away from the wind instead of broadside.

Also, like stated above, I've had one instance of driving with the top up. On the first big trip we used ours on, I forgot to latch the top. At around 70mph, all of a sudden I felt the truck slow down as if I was hitting the breaks hard and got a lot noisier. I realized very quickly what had happened. The front opened up, but not the back, and there is no evidence of any issues, and looked over EVERYTHING on the front end very carefully.

Don

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[ETAV8R]

Been in some windy conditions and never felt the need to lower the top. My FWC is far less noisy than my old Flippac.

 

[Northern Explorer]

I had a really hard time lowering my camper roof in the wind one time. I would get the front down and move to the back and by the time I could get my hands on the back roof panel the wind would blow in and lift the roof back up. I ended up closing the door, turned to roof fan on high to blow the air out as I pulled down. I try to park into the wind when I can.

 

[JaSAn]

Since my bed is down across the front I can sleep without popping the top anytime. I usually do it when traveling and only stoping to sleep. I also do it in cold weather as it is less volume to heat. I have done it a couple of times in high winds and driving rain; the camper doesn't rock as much.

For me it is kind of seat-of-the-pants decision. One metric I use is how bad the camper is rocking before I put the top up or if I am just sleeping and don't want to get wet. After years camping in an I-tent standing up is a luxury I usually don't want to miss.

jim

 

[Cayuse]

60 mph gusts and no issues with the top up. Ear plugs are always good to have in the camper!