We have used our Northstar heavily since we bought it in 2006, with many 30 day trips to Baja, mainland Mexico, and the western U.S., including the nastiest 4WD road I ever tried two weeks ago in northwest Nevada. We have had no problems, although in one corner of the tent fabric, at the seam, it needs some minor maintenance. A couple of things to keep in mind:

- We have toughed out some ongodly winds, and the noise and flapping (and wondering if the roof is going to peel off) makes for a sleepless night, but it has withstood all those winds!

- One night we pulled into a truck stop in Ludlow, Calif late at night, and the tent fabric lets in a lot of noise from trucks running their coolers all night. We rarely do that though.

We love our pop up and are glad we got it!

Lots of info there! Thanks a lot!!

Guess a normal idiot would have looked at your dates before replying late!

It can be pretty hard to be on the coast without being in a campground, as most areas are right on US 101 and primarily state or national parks. Just inland, particularly in Del Norte County, CA and Curry County, Ore, you have USFS land that gets real close to the coast, both Six Rivers NF and Siskiyou NF. Their maps, available in many coastal places, give you a good idea of roads that are isolated and with views, but they will be a bit inland from the immediate coast.

Feel free to get back to me with specific spots if you see something on a map!

We boondock throughout the western US and Baja California, and is the reason we bought our pop-up. We especially love ridge top camping for a sunset and sunrise! Occasionally we end up in a campground with hookups for a night, but that is a pretty rare event.

my front ones aren't and my back ones are - came that way and didn't know any different. Guess it is pretty random!

I'm new here and undoubtedly there is a thread already somewhere, so bear with me please! We want to get a solar panel to charge our battery while boon-docking for days at a time, especially in Baja and the western U.S. There are a lot of panels out there, but we have heard from an rv repair guy that you need at least a 55W panel to "heat the battery up enough to accept a charge". Can anyone enlighten me on this? A less expensive panel would sure be nice but I want something that will work.

Thanks in advance for any information.