Add a Room

[Wiseacre]

How many people have the Add a Room and use it?

I went to my local RV dealer to inquire about purchasing one and the salesman actually talked me out of buying it.

He felt as I am a long weekend to 5 day max camper that I would use it once and never put it up again because it was too much work for a short camping trip.

I was surprised he didn't want to sell me one any way but respected his integrity.

Any one agree with his opinion?

[Oz and Us]

Any one agree with his opinion?

Having purchased an AAR at the time we bought our 2000 Fleetwood Santa Fe I would say I probably do agree.  We did initially use it a few times for weekend trips and I modified it quite a bit to make it easier / quicker to install and take down but as time went on I found we used it less and less, to the point where after a couple of years we just never bothered dragging it along with us at all.  For bug protection they're not effective at all unless you seal it everywhere to the trailer, which means installing the PITA skirt every time ... it also means having to zip / unzip the darned entrance every time you enter / exit the AAR and that becomes old really quickly.  Mine was made up of three separate pieces plus the skirt so we eventually gravitated to not even bothering with the front panel at all, or the skirt, and just sometimes used the end panels for privacy from those walking by our site or from those camped on the site behind us.  An AAR is also heavy, takes up a lot of room to store, and like any tenting must be dried thoroughly if it gets wet.  Overall, my take is that an AAR was certainly handy to have once set up, especially in inclement weather, but just dealing with it was so annoying that I'd never buy one again.  Fortunately, our current travel trailer has a 17' awning which offers plenty of dry space even during pounding rainstorms so I wouldn't even remotely consider an AAR or screen room for use with it.  All that said, some still do think an AAR is worth all the hassle so ultimately it's up to you to decide just which camp you're in.

[Tenttrailer]

i have known a lot of people how have the same story with the screen room. Used it once or twice and never used it again.

For Mosquito:  look into the thermacell. I got a tip from a camper who camped in a camp ground where I''ve camped may times, and would consider the worst place for Mosquitos when there no wind. I bought the Thermacell and it works great for about a 15x15 foot area.   I have found that even when you don't think there is win, there is a slight breeze and placment of the thermacell needs to be up breeze.

[kfriceman]

The sound better than they are....get a self standing canopy and call it good.

-Kevin

[squirrelbox]

I love my add a room and use it on every trip. It takes me 15 min by myself to set up (timed myself). I have my kitchen , and cooler, ect inside. We also keep excess luggage and gear in it. It adds a little more privacy and a buffer from the outside. Everything oz said is generally true , for me I dont mind setting up and taking down or the storage , although it is my hardest item to store. It is like adding a room onto the camper. To each his own , I have used one for more than 10 yrs and am glad to have it.

[bakerkids]

Although I don't have the typical add-a-room that pop-up owners have, I'd like to add that we love ours and use it often.  It's actually a necessity if we have one or more of our college kids along.  We usually have a couple of chairs, a table, toaster oven and coffee pot, ect., in there.  We also keep our clothes in the add-a-room. 

I am annoyed by zipping and unzipping the door, too, but we completely open the front during the day, if weather allows, and don't mess with zipping.  The zipping is mainly after dark when we want to keep bugs out, or if we're running AC.

We can also cool/heat the room easily by leaving the window and door of the T@B open.

[mhc77]

We also use ours every single time.  Hubby sets it up almost all by himself and (as long as the kids aren't underfoot), it doesn't seem to take too long.  We camp where there are fire restrictions a lot so we use ours at night a lot when our kids are in bed.  we can be out in the AAR reading, talking, playing cards etc.  We also keep our coolers in there (away from the AZ sun). 

We took an 8 day trip last year and it rained (hard and long) for hours every day/night.  We stayed nice and dry in our AAR when kids were napping/sleeping and we didn't feel "trapped" inside the PUP.

[stumps]

had one with our first camper, never used it.

When I bought my second camper, I didn't even get the awning.

Here's why:

It takes a fair bit of time to set up properly.  and by properly I mean that you have to secure it to withstand weather.  I've come back to the campground after a day of adventure, only to find that a storm had blown through.  Our camper was fine -no awning deployed and no screen room.  Many of the popups around me had severe damage - those awning/screen room poles and punch holes right through your roof when lifted up. 

second reason - the space that is enclosed by the screen room is right in front of your camper.  Now that's OK if that's where you want it, but we've been camping many times where we would have preferred to have the screen room over the picnic table, or at least somewhere else on our site.  For that reason, we have a stand-alone screen room for when we camp with bad bugs.

You should know that the Stumps camping motto is -keep it simple. 

For these reasons, no, we don't own one, and yes, I'd agree with your dealer. 

 

[poncho62]

Our AAR came with our used Santa Fe....I use it for weekend or longer stays....If we are traveling and just overnight, I wouldn't bother......It takes about 20 min to put up, adds extra room....I put the television in there

[camplogg]

Our pup came with one and from the looks of it the PO never used it either - it is still in the original box.  We have since put it I our garage along with the cook top.  We like to keep it relatively simple - we use our road trip grill for the majority of our cooking.  We recently purchased an EZ up that we'll be trying out on our next trip.  We've deployed our awning only a few times since we seem to be windy/rain magnets.  I think the EZ up while not easy to put up may work better since we can move it away from the pup and pull the fabric off in the even of a lot of wind - idk, that's what we are hoping.  Good luck with your decision.

[UNI]

Here is another option:

We also have a add-a-room, but ours is attached to our Jeep roof rack.  The only draw back to this, your vehicle isn't going anywhere when the unit is set up. This works for us because, we usually base camp and do all our activities from that point. (Canoe, hike, fish, etc.) 

Here is a video link: Not our vehicle, but the same awning and room set up on our Jeep.  Very easy set up!

[yooperguy]

Although I don't have the typical add-a-room that pop-up owners have, I'd like to add that we love ours and use it often.  It's actually a necessity if we have one or more of our college kids along.  We usually have a couple of chairs, a table, toaster oven and coffee pot, ect., in there.  We also keep our clothes in the add-a-room. 

I am annoyed by zipping and unzipping the door, too, but we completely open the front during the day, if weather allows, and don't mess with zipping.  The zipping is mainly after dark when we want to keep bugs out, or if we're running AC.

We can also cool/heat the room easily by leaving the window and door of the T@B open.

That is a very cool and eye catching set up.  Sharp!

[Mikey]

Our first PUP came with one but we never used it,  about half way through the season, I ended up just leaving it the garage to save space in the PUP.  When we purchased a new camper, it was offered, but we did not take it!

[RhinoDave]

I'm another full time AAR user. I set it up on almost every trip. I have the setup time down to only a few minutes longer than setting up just the awning. One thing I have noticed is that my older, one piece AAR is much easier and faster to setup than the newer four piece ones. Mine is pretty beat up from years of use so I bought another one when the opportunity came up. With the zipppers and the extra clear vinyl flaps it is quite a bit heavier than my older one. Until my old one falls apart, I will continue to use it and keep the newer one as a backup.
The old one:

The newer four piece one:

[zuley]

For anything longer than two night ours is a must.  It adds to the usable space of the camper.  I've added snap domes that simplifies and speeds up the set up.  The one draw back we have found is the tear down.  We are pretty adamant about putting it away clean and dry.  Us?  Wouldn't be without one.