Hey Folks,

I'm relatively new to the forum. I've got a 76 Trillium 13' trailer that we just picked up last spring. It needs a fair amount of work, but in the meantime it's still fine. The fridge is cold enough, the furnace hot enough, and the whole thing rain proof enough that we will continue to use it as we pick away at the minor issues it has.

I'm interested in being able to extend my living space to the outdoors. I've seen a few examples of folks who have an add-on room. I'd be very interested in hearing more about the options, sourcing, prices, and benefits/downfalls of going this route compared to a simple awning. Although I like an awning, with the winds we get, it'd be nice to be able to close off one or two sides to keep it out.

Thanks so much!

From what I've seen those that have awnings as soon as it gets a bit windy they're put away. I saw one screen room addition that took a lot of work to set up and take down. As far as increasing your living space, an awning, screen room, etc. all limit your living space. People have a tendency to stay inside the limits set by those items. If you have an awning there's also a tendency to deploy the awning even if it's not needed, thus limiting your living area.

I carry a Kelty Shade House and have carried an older strudy kind of EZUp. Very rarely do I use them. I'd much rather enjoy the whole outdoors than just the area under either one.

Click to view attachment

Court, I owed and enjoyed my screen room. It was brain dead easy to set up. It took about 15 minutes to set up after the first time of fitting it to our trailer. It is a Great addition and does double your living space. My brother lived 6 months in a similar Casita with his wife, teenage son, a German Sheperd dog and a cat. The room made it all possible.

With a floor frame, and strap, the wind is NOT as much a problem as people think. The other advantage is the ability to keep mosquitoes out.

I will probably get another one for my new trailer.

I had one on my 10foot awning. It took me 20min to put up the first time. Mine had solid walls or screen. I found i would only use it when staying in one place for a few days.

http://www.carefreeofcolorado.com/pdf/2008Journal/AAR.pdf

It looked something like Mike posted or like the one in the above address.

We carry along a 10x10 dining shelter with roll up sides. Makes a nice outdoor kitchen and can be put up when wanted on any level area, not necessarily attached to the trailer.

We LOVE having a screen room. We currrently have a cheapo WalMart 10 x 14 screen room that zips on opposite sides. We put one side against the camper so that we step right out into the room. I love having a bug-free, shaded outdoor area. The only drawback to the one we have now is that it doesn't shed rain well. It tends to collect quickly and would probably collapse if we didn't frequently push up from the underside to knock off the rain.

For this reason, we have decided to order a Paha Que screen room. They're pricey but it will be worth the money for us because we will use it every time and we stay outside nearly all the time. In addition to no-see-um screen with zippers on opposite sides, it also has flaps on all four sides that can either be rolled up out of the way, staked to form an awning or let down to block out wind or rain or just for privacy. It also has an optional rain fly. Can't wait to go camping with it!

Sandra

I'm thinking about a separate dining/hanging out shelter. Very few places we camp have a level spot next to the trailer big enough to accomodate an add-a-room. But I do like having our awning mounted on the trailer, because it keeps the rain away from the entry area. Would like to get a new awning one day, but currently use an old tent rain fly -some rope through one end allows it to slide through the awning rail perfectly, and some aluminum telescoping rods hold it up. It works quite effectively until we can get something more elegant.

We use a First-Up. We prop it against the side of the UHaul with one side unzipped. The door opens under it, so we have a bug-free (almost) extra room. We have the windscreen too, but we have not used it. We just bought roll-down sides to replace the hand-made roll-down sides made of tarp. We hope that they will be easier to set up.
We love it. Our UHaul becomes party-central in the screen-house.

CindyL