Privacy room or not (1 Viewer)

[New Dawn]

Hi people. Can anyone settle the above. We are considering purchasing a privacy room or similar after seeing SkeggySues at the Chester meet. I liked the idea & concept. But my other half thinks a small porch type awning will do the job. My argument is that, if your going to go down this route, we may as well have something that you can put table & chairs in. Especially if you have freinds popping in thus saving space. Also, if the wine or beer is flowing, you can leave people where they are till morning. What do other owners think, Any advice would be welcome :thumb::thumb::thumb:

 

[movan]

My advice would be to leave extra blankets in there.....

Do what is best for YOU and others will fit in. Dawn had a brilliant awning at Peterborough ... and Mike said it was quite draught proof through the night.

 

[Yorick]

IMHO, I would never have one. To me the whole idea of having a camper is to be able to sit outside, with a cold beer enjoying the surroundings.

If you are sat in an awning, you may as well be at home.


All IMHO of course


We do have a wind out one so we can sit out and BBQ in the rain

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[Peter & Elaine]

We have a wind out awning with a full set of side walls
It is very good
But
When elaine and I are on our own its never been used
And when we have our grand kid with us its been up twice as a play room
And once as a second bedroom when some friends stayed with us over night (never again)

Would I buy one no
we got it with van so I will keep it in garage at home just for the odd time it may come in handy
I would not keep it in van as it takes up too much room and its heavy

The wind out awning is a must for us

 

[scotjimland]

I have no idea what SkeggySue has .. can you clarify ?

Are we talking about

* sides for the sun canopy, ie Safari Room..

* a free standing awning .. like a tent

* an attached awing.. like a caravan

* or drive away with a tunnel that connects to the van

all have pros and cons..

I think you are talking about a Safari room.. as previous post, they are heavy, a lot of work to put up/dismantle and you will be dissuaded from going out for the day in the van.. most end up on ebay ..

 

[MikeandCarolyn]

We think we've finally got it right
We have a wind-out awning with windblockers for when we are touring and a Kampa Rally Air porch awning which we only take with us if we know we will be spending more than a week on any one site.

Mike.

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[TheTwoOfUs]

Only you can decide if a safari room is for you. We have one which we use when we are staying for 4 nights or more. It creates an extra room where we usually eat, being able to leave the table and chairs out without risk of theft or getting wet if it rains. We (not strictly true, it's just Merilyn) will also cook in there using the portable barbecue if we are having something with a strong aroma ie fish. In warm /hot weather we will roll up the windows to provide extra ventilation. We also sit out in there in the evenings when it might otherwise be too cool to do so. But as I said at the start, only you can decide. You pay your money, you make the choice.

 

[Inthezone]

Awning

Hi

We have both, a privacy room for when we intend to stay a week or so somewhere (more often or not on a beachfront) and a porch awning for the weekend, we only use it when we go away in the autum and winter months to provide that bit of protection when it may be cooler in the evenings or rain

:thumb:

 

[Chris]

I wouldn't personally bother. We have a safari room which was very heavy and we stopped using it and bought a Kampa awning that fits into the wind out awning. Much lighter and easier to erect.

We still have the safari room but it is too small for the wind out on our new van

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[ukbill]

if the wind decides to take ya safari room then it will also take ya wind out awning with half the side of ya van

 

[treetops1]

We have a safari they are a bit heavy but we can erect it in 20 mins no problem but we tend to use it only if we go away for 4 days or more other times we just use the wind breakers .I like to sleep in it when abroad in summer LOL.

 

[Spottycatz]

I've got one for sale if you want it. Brand new, only been up for two days...............and half a night
Gonna put it on ebay unless anyone is interested.

Half what I paid for it three months ago oh:

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[scotjimland]

.. most end up on ebay ..

I've got one for sale if you want it. Brand new, only been up for two days...............and half a night
[HI]Gonna put it on ebay [/HI]unless anyone is interested.

Half what I paid for it three months ago oh:

 

[ourcampersbeentrashed]

Do you really need one?

Do you need to worry about wind and rain and whether the awning and privacy room will get damaged?

Do you really need the hassle of putting it up and taking it down and drying it out if you have to leave when it is raining?

If you regularly are going to stop in one place for a long time, then YES get one.

If people want to steal stuff they will just run a knife through the privacy room anyway

 

[New Dawn]

Hi everyone, thanks for all your input, good and humorous. We are considering the options. We're mainly thinking of when we take our first outing to France & maybe Spain starting July. If we stay in one place for a week or two then the additional space would be welcome. But we take everyone's point into consideration & take on board your views & advice. Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply.:thumb::thumb::thumb:

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[Minxy]

With a safari room you are 'captive' on site, so if you want to pop out further afield for the day you will either have to take it all done, or more likely, you just won't bother going out.

Whilst tempting to get something now which you think will do the job, it could prove a costly mistake and as this is going to be your first trip abroad you might be better getting a cheap drive-away awning off Ebay, Gumtree etc and using that - it will still give you shelter to sit out in but will also let you 'escape' to go out for the day without having to prat around for ages first. These are much cheaper and lighter and easier to put up as, despite a safari room using your existing wind-out awning, you still have poles/clamps etc to fit so it isn't any quicker than a drive-away.

 

[UK Pete]

I bought a second hand privacy room , and am waiting for it to be delivered, my van already has the top zip awning , so i though why not give it a try, if the thing is to awkward / heavy, or not used then i will sell it on, they always sell well on ebay, it took me 6 attempts before i won my one so they are in demand, if you get it for the right price then its well worth a try.
Personally i think i will love it as i do not move my van once i am pitched up as i bring a motorbike along for transport, so this will also make a good garage for the bike in the evening , also my table chairs, BBQ , or place to stay for friends visiting
pete

 

[jezport]

We bought one, it had been used once. It had been used twice when I sold it.
It was heavy, big to store, hard to fit and made the van dark inside.

We looked at all the options on the market but couldn't find one that met our needs. We wanted it light but strong. Fully waterproof and capable of being stored when wet. Easy to set up and we wanted it to let lots of light through. So we designed one and now sell them at shows and on the internet.

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[DavidG58]

I considered the privacy room option, but was worried like earlier poster that if the wind got it, there could be serious potential damage

We have opted for a Kampa Air, blow up awning, fits into rail on wind out awning which is then fully retracted

Room inside for 4 recliners

About 10 minutes to put up and 5 to take down, expensive and we have a silly issue with distorted legs, but seems to be the best of all options

For us anyway

 

[MattR]

We're mainly thinking of when we take our first outing to France & maybe Spain starting July. If we stay in one place for a week or two then the additional space would be welcome.

We've had four 3 week trips to France, Spain and Croatia in a small camper - we took a day tent on our first trip and only used it for one night and haven't taken it since - it it generally so mild / warm at night in July / August once you are south of Troyes in the east of France or the Loire in the west that we haven't needed the shelter.

If you are desperate for space, get a drive away awning / tent but I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't use it much / at all.

 

[Wombles]

Fiamma wind out awning & Jormax waterproof windbreaks with poles for us - keeps the wind off & gives privacy. The windbreaks can be left up if you drive off site, marking your pitch & just drive in next to them again on your return - easy peasy! We haven't tried them yet but have seen lots of motorhomes using this system on sites. We had awnings with our caravans but spent too much time watching the weather stressing about packing them away dry & wiping off mud so waterproof windbreaks that can be packed away wet & washed off at home should save loads of time & effort. Would only go for a driveaway awning if extra sleeping/living space needed.

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