Trailer: 1982 16 ft Scamp / 1990 F350 (Veggie-Oil Conversion)
Posts: 8
Hi,
My husband and I are brand spanking new at this rv stuff. We are doing our research, but research without experience is like knowing the map without knowing the road conditions.
We are looking at a 1982 16' Scamp this weekend. It has no awning, no screen door, no water tanks, no water heater, no bathroom, and no fan, but the price is right if everything is as tight as the gentleman claims, and there are no hidden bad-nasties (mold, leaks, etc...).
If we purchase it, the very first thing we must do is add an awning and screen door. I was going to order an awning from Scamp, but I read on this forum that their standard awnings are difficult, at best, to put up, and they take about three people to do so. I am short, aging, and have a tetchy back, and I need to be able to erect the awning single handed.
I would be interested in hearing your suggestions, options, and/or solutions.
Many of our members don't use traditional awnings that are attached to our trailers. Many use free-standing screen rooms or pop-up awnings instead. I remember that Gina had one that she really liked (on little red) and Fredrick does, too. That might be an alternative to an installed awning.
We have a 16ft Scamp that had a damaged containerized awning on it when we bought it. We replaced it with a simple Jayco awning designed to go on a Jayco pop-up camper.
It mounts in a zip-up bag on a simple awning rail, bolted to the roof. Ours was brand new; it included a complete screen room and is very simple to set-up. We travel with the awning rolled up on the 'edge' pole and zipped into the bag. Then we snap the bag to the roof with the straps. The awning 'bolt-rope' which fits the rail has a small screw in the forward end to keep the awning from working out of the track. The poles and screen room ride in the tug.
It does not require lines and pegs to hold it up although pegs are used as tie downs for the vertical supports. It uses spring tension rods that install under the awning. These tension poles have simple crutch tips to hold them against the underneath side of the awning rail. On the outer end, they share a plastic fitting with the vertical poles.
One person can set it up or take it down in about 5 minutes provided no-one needs to go in or out. This is because the awning hangs down over the door until you get the poles all set.
We haven't used the screen room yet but we have installed the skirt that snaps on along the bottom edge of the camper.
We bought ours on Ebay for under $300 complete with all fittings, poles and screen room.
Seems to fit our needs.
On the really cheap side, we saw a screen room at one of these dollar stores the other day that is designed to drape over one of those picnic table umbrellas. It claims to fit umbrellas up to 9 feet in diameter ... it was selling for $24. Hard to beat that.
I looked at the instructions; it attaches with suction cups to the vehicle, so ought to attach to a trailer. But it looks like the car door is opened after the poles are set; that would NOT work with a trailer. But it might work somehow.
I Installed the a&e trim line bag awning on our 13 footer, all poles foldup and roll up with the awning, the awning can be erected carport style, or by using the brackets supplied withe awning to secure the poles using the ball and sockets . Setting up is easy with two people and storing is just as easy.
Hi Jamie,
We have a Casita and we didn't have a screen door, but I bought some screen cloth from REI and made a drape like door, figure about 1-1/2 times the width of the door and about 4 inches taller than the door. Put a cloth top and bottom on it with a pocket and ran a tension rod through the top which is put just above the door. In the bottom I put some lamp chain that was just hanging around, this acts as some weight on the bottom.
It works perfectly, hanging like a drape in front of the door, cost me about $15 bucks and about 1 hour of work. Put a tie back on it when we don't need it.
Jamie,
We opted to buy a screen room and place it right against the Scamp with one side open to allow access into the camper. We found a great little screen room at Wal-Mart for under $40 last year. It's 10' by 14' and the top is water resistant. This one has openings on two sides, so it's perfect for us.
Sandra
Jamie,
We opted to buy a screen room and place it right against the Scamp with one side open to allow access into the camper. We found a great little screen room at Wal-Mart for under $40 last year. It's 10' by 14' and the top is water resistant. This one has openings on two sides, so it's perfect for us.
Sandra
This looks perfect for my Burro also do you have a brand name/model number or anything like that for it?
Thanks
Dave
Dave,
Our screen room is made by Ozark Trail, model # WMT-1410. The size is 14'x10'x84". It has color-coded poles and T connectors that snap together very easily. The whole thing fits into a carrying bag with a strap. I can put it together by myself in 15 minutes. I would recommend buying a set of decent tent stakes (also at Wal-Mart) and just throwing away the ones that came with it. It's water resistant, not water proof, and water will collect & cause the top to sag if it rains a good bit. That's the only drawback we've found and it's an excellent value for the price.
Sandra
Dave,
Our screen room is made by Ozark Trail, model # WMT-1410. The size is 14'x10'x84". It has color-coded poles and T connectors that snap together very easily. The whole thing fits into a carrying bag with a strap. I can put it together by myself in 15 minutes. I would recommend buying a set of decent tent stakes (also at Wal-Mart) and just throwing away the ones that came with it. It's water resistant, not water proof, and water will collect & cause the top to sag if it rains a good bit. That's the only drawback we've found and it's an excellent value for the price.
Sandra
I too bought that neat sunroom from Wal-Mart, however I think they have discontinued that particular model.
It's not on the walmart website, and I haven't seen it locally at all this season.
ConwayBob
We bought that one too, but alas in the desert sun of the SW the quality of the materials etc, it is already almost unusable after a couple of trips. The sun made the top brittle after the first trip and it has several tears in it. The screen punctures very easily and our SW natural plants have added quite a few holes in the screening. Our monsoon winds have torn off one of the fabric guy points. So in our experience with it, if you are looking for a very light duty screen room this might be ok, but if you need a sturdy tougher situation, these don't hold up.
After our last trip to San Diego it seemed 9 out of 10 folks were using the EZup(or something similar to that name) that Wally sells for around $90. I think there is a screen option that you can add to it. Very sturdy looking and seemed that it was very easy to put up.
I found online a awning that appeals to my cheapskate nature... A lot cheaper than the typical RV awning & looks like it may be pretty versatile.
It may offer some alternative to the usual fare.
Trailer: 1982 16 ft Scamp / 1990 F350 (Veggie-Oil Conversion)
Posts: 8
Hi folks,
Thanks for all of the input. I hadn't thought of using a screen tent instead of an awning for the Scamp. I think I am going to go with a Paha Que screen tent if I can find one at a good discount. The awnings/walls that close over the screen look mighty appealing.
At a music festival this summer, a family next to us had one of these. The mother set it up in about 10 minutes. One night there was a terrific thunder storm, and while we were huddled under our Wal-Mart special reinforced with tarps and bungee cords avoiding the leaks and drips and trying to stay warm, they were comfortably playing Scrabble by lamplight.
I had been thinking about replacing our screen tent with a Paha Que before we started looking at trailers. Now I can have my cake and eat it too!
We have an older screen house (with the outside poles) that has 4 flaps and two doors.
Last time we were out an about we put the screen house about 4 feet away from the trailer---put the flap up on the trailer roof (to where it raises in the middle--boler) and tied it down to the back bumper and the front to the tongue.
Worked great even when it rained-(no poolong of water) --gave us a "breezeway" out of the trailer door..a few steps into the zippered screen house and you could go out the other side.. Made it so you did not have to go in and out of the screen house to get into the trailer..
Having it tied down so securly to the frame of the trailer--no need for poles or anything..Was the first time doing it this way--although I had suggested it to dh for years---I think it will be done in the future....
Check the height of the door on your trailer. I wanted a Paha Que screen house also. I chatted last week with their sales person. The side screens are only 5'6" tall. If you want to use it as a house that your door opens into, that might be too short. It was for us.
So we went to Walmart over the weekend and bought the EZUp. We also have the Walmart one that was posted earlier, but it went over in a windstorm and needs duck tape to keep it together. It is also more work to set up than we wanted. The EZUp exactly fits the top of our door, so it works perfect.
CindyL
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1988 Bigfoot Silver Cloud, "The Egg Carton"
The screen curtain has two zippers. We can roll it back to accommodate the door. The wind curtain has only one zipper, I think. We may look into a second one, so it can be rolled back.
CindyL
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1988 Bigfoot Silver Cloud, "The Egg Carton"
I don't know about the wind. We just got it. However, it has stakes that go far into the dirt with stake-down ropes. Our last one just had little plastic pegs.
The hubby just measured it but used a short 3' tape. Our door appeared to be 6'1" to the top edge. The screen house sat on the lip of the little rain gutter that we have over our door.
CindyL
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1988 Bigfoot Silver Cloud, "The Egg Carton"
I would be interested in hearing your suggestions, options, and/or solutions.
1970 Trails West Campster
2011 Escape 15A
Bigfoot Silver Cloud
Howie - now sold
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