first cold night in a pop-up, soaked canvas by morning, and how people actually heat these

it is condensation, not a leak, and you already found the proof: beaded water on the metal roof underside is your own breath and the dog's, hitting the coldest surface in the camper. three people and a dog put off a shocking amount of water vapor overnight, a gallon is not a crazy number. canvas breathes a little, metal does not, so the roof panel sweats first.

the fix is air, not heat. crack a roof vent an inch even when it is cold, and unzip a window a couple inches on the downwind side. you want a slow draft carrying the damp air out. a closed-up camper with a heater running is a terrarium. i run the Fantastic vent on its lowest speed pulling air out and leave a window cracked, and the canvas is dry by the time i am making coffee.

for heat in a pop-up i like the furnace precisely because it is the only one that vents combustion outside and runs off a thermostat while you sleep. loud and thirsty, yes. the others are a daytime tool.

Clipper 128LS here, same soft-wall deal, we camp spring and fall in the Pennsylvania state parks and it gets down in the 30s plenty. couple things that cut our morning-wet way down.

wipe the sleeping bags off the canvas at night. if a bag is leaning against the wall the fabric cannot dry and it wicks. we put a cheap pool noodle split down the side on the bunk rail to hold the bags off the canvas an inch, looks dumb, works. and a small 12 volt fan moving air across the ceiling does more than you would think.

on heat, we run a little 750 watt ceramic heater but only when we are on a powered site and only when we are awake. never asleep, never on battery. for the overnight it is the furnace or a hat.

i am in Arizona so cold is relative, but i take the Flagstaff up to the high country around Flagstaff the town in october and it absolutely gets to freezing. the thing nobody tells you is to deal with the moisture before bed, not at 6 a.m. wipe the canvas down dry when you climb in, start with it dry.

i will say the unpopular part about the Buddy heater since somebody will bring it up. i own one, it is great sitting around at dusk with the door open, and i do not run it closed up overnight. those things dump a pint of water into the air for every pound of propane they burn plus the stuff you cannot see, and in a sealed pop-up that is how you get both the wet canvas and a headache. crack it way open or do not run it.

this is the one honest knock on soft-walls and it is why i went A-frame, so take this with that bias stapled to it. my hard panels still get a little condensation but there is no canvas to stay wet all day and smell like a basement by sunday. that said your fix list is exactly right and it is the same airflow story in any camper.

one more for whoever finds this in a search: a cheap hygrometer on the wall is worth it. once you can see the humidity number climb you stop guessing and just crack a vent when it hits 70 percent.

total newbie, have not bought yet, reading everything. this thread talked me out of being scared of cold-weekend camping. one question, for the park camping part: how do you find which Wisconsin or Minnesota parks even keep a loop open past october and have electric sites. is there a real list or is it call every park.

answered my own question halfway, the state posts it. for Wisconsin the Wisconsin DNR site has the campground pages with which loops stay open and which have electric, so you are not guessing. figured i would drop it here for the next person.