Due to technical problems posting photos, I've fast forwarded in time to near the end of our trip to offer some observations about the XP V1.
We've been on the road from California to Florida for 30+ days now and have been in Florida for a week. Our bodies took about 48 (intimidating) hours to adjust to the heat (90*) & humidity (50%) but we're living quite comfortably now right on a Gulf Coast beach.
For posterity, this is June.
While I was confident (but curious) the XP was going to be a sweet, little dirt yacht in drier, mountain climates (like Colorado) and confirmed this assumption when we camped out at 11,200ft ASL and stayed toasty warm and full with the Webasto appliances without denting our diesel supply.
However, while enjoying the XP in Colorado, Kansas and Missouri, I knew the test of America's southern heat and humidity was still in front of us. We were definitely interested in how our XP V1 would perform in Florida.
Bottom line, we're finding our V1 entirely liveable in hot, humid climates.
The XP's aerodynamic nose is great for Florida's showers. We open the front window all the way to maintain ventilation and don't have to worry about rain coming in. This is a really, really nice advantage. The Dometic windows are also very nice in this regard because of their indexed adjustability and the aluminized reflective shades. So, between the dual fans, the front "tent" windows, the Velcro panels, the Dometic windows and the side awning, they work really well in tandem for keeping the camper cool.
Mosquitos and no-seeums are not an issue in the XP. We're using an Off! Powerpad Lantern inside the XP to prevent having to spray on bug repellant while inside. This is a nice relief not having to spray on big repellant, especially after taking a shower (an XP feature we enjoy TREMENDOUSLY). The lantern uses a small tealight to warm a card (the "Powerpad") which fits in the top of the lantern to give off an odorless vapor that repels the mosquitos. The Dometic windows have really trick bug screens which work really well.
The Heki skylight is a treat. Wanna see the moon? Don't wanna see the moon? Wanna see a little bit of moonlight, feel a little bit of breeze and none of the mosquitos? The Heki is infinitely adjustable.
The solar system rocks. I don't know what else to say other than we can make ice in Florida without plugging in to shore power.
Speaking of cooling off, we love fizzy water. Our daughter is (fortunately) addicted to fizzy water and mango or apple juice and we are, too, so we go through a lot of it. The underdeck storage will hold a dozen bottles of fizzy water. The big ones. Not the little, girly, Perrier plastic bottles but the big, honkin' WOP water bottles like San Pellegrino. It also holds a bag of dog food, several rolls of paper towels, six rolls of toilet paper, a couple bottles of wine and a partridge in a.....OK, maybe not the pear tree but you get the picture.
Or, going back in time somewhat to speak of keeping warm, the underdeck heating for the water lines works well. Pick up the floor and feel the water lines when it's 24* degrees outside and you'll find the water lines are toasty. Open up the water and waste management bay door of the XP (right side) and you'll find the same...the water pumps, the water filter, the cassette and the gray water tank are all heated. You know you're glamping when your poop is maintained at a steady 65* without having to think about it.
Passenger side storage underneath the seat? My wife loves it. She uses it as the pantry and has bags and bags of dry goods like oatmeal, pasta, cereal, etc along with boxes and jars of other foodstuffs. This has been a huge relief for her as our previous camper forced us to "go to market" more frequently than we wanted because of limited storage. We like going to markets of our choice to stock up and then enjoy using the time dividend to see/do other things.
I already mentioned the wetbath but I'll mention it again. My wife is particularly happy with the ability to go from kitchen counter space to toilet-shower space and back again with only two effortless steps. With the XP, one simply lifts the countertop (step 1) then hooks the shower curtain rod to the ceiling hook (step 2) and that's it. With a four year old daughter, we switch back and forth all the time and the negligible effort required is a relief (unintended pun) in contrast to sliding out a porta-potty. The cassette is also a huge advantage. The formerly unpleasant task of taking apart a porta-potty (old camper) is much easier and less messy now with the convenience of opening a bay door and simply sliding out the XP's cassette.
In terms of the toilet and shower, this is a brilliant victory for Mom and daughter. If you're making time, you're going to end up camping at a rest area or (gasp) a Wal-Mart and it's nice to scrub off 48 hours of grime to "re-set" your outlook. We think the shower will prove to be a nice feature when we ship to South America. While we know we'll sprinkle hotel stays in our travels, we're looking forward to not having a deadline (such as the current one of finding a house and going back to work) so that we can stay in our XP in a pretty area for a week or two. To paint the picture, I can go for a 5 mile run in the Atacama in an effort to fry my brain and come back and take a shower.
The fresh and grey water tank capacities are ******! I can't overemphasize the value and advantage of having this much capacity on such a small footprint. While there is, IMO, a queer fascination on this Forum with buying a pop-up camper and then not popping it up in order to achieve so-called "stealth camping", I find the ability to pour farfalle water down the drain, do dishes and then take a shower all without having to fiddle with a little, undersized, external, grey water tank like in other pop-up campers to be my idea of stealth camping.
The storage bins fore of the shower/aft of the bed are great. We use some Sterilite containers found at any store like Wal-Mart to corral the clutter. The dimensions of the containers fit nicely into the big storage bins and the overhead cabinets.
"Pitching" and "striking" camp are a breeze. Pitching is as simple as opening the door, raising the camper, deploying the ladder step, twisting the lock-out valve and securing the Velcro flaps of the "tent". I posted somewhere else that we were eating freshly-prepared kabobs in 30 minutes fromt the time I stepped out of the truck. That includes my wife cutting the meat and vegetables and me firing up our little charcoal grill. I felt pretty proud of our XP while watching other guys in trailers (who arrived at the same time) diddling around with their campers as I flipped kabobs and sipped a cold beer out of the fridge.
My wife and I work well as a team striking camp. I handle outside pack-up (which is a breeze with the FANTASTIC storage boxes) while she goes through the inside checklist. Once she's done, I go back through for a double-check. With a hot breakfast and dishes, we're driving away in 20 minutes.
I'll think of some more highlights and post later. We're pretty fond of our new camper and feel confident it will meet all of our needs.
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