Tips on setting up awning and add-a-room by yourself

[CajunCamper]

I have read more than once about the difficulty that some have had in setting up their awning and the add-a-room that attaches to it, thus causing them to either sell it or stow it away never to use it again.

The first time I used mine I'll admitt I wonderd if it was worth it, but I was determined to find an easier way of setting it up. We have really enjoyed our add-a-room and I hope these tips will encourage those of you that have given up on your add-a-room to use these tips and give it another try.

First let me start by telling you that I have a 1997 Coleman Santa Fe with an awning in a bag that is attached to the roof of my pop up. My add-a-room attaches to my awning using grommets, velcro and tie straps. These installation tips only refer to this type of system.

This is how I set up the awning and add-a-room by myself in less than 15 minutes

For this setup I always make sure that I bring along a small step ladder, or at least have something that I can stand on.

The first thing I do is set up my pop up completely before setting up the add-a-room, once this is done I lay down my outdoor carpet, unzip the bag containing my awning and crossbars, remove the crossbars and while facing my pop up unroll the awning. Once unrolled I unfold the two poles on the corners of my awning and stand them up into position.

From here I keep one hand on the front rail of the awning to hold the awning in place while with the other hand I place the tip of the crossbar into the hole provided in the front rail of the awning and then place the other side of the crossbar in place on the roof of the pop up. I always set up the center crossbar at this point.Now your awing should stand freely enabling you to proceed with the remainder of the set up.

Now I position my add-a-room so that the front of the add-a-room is directly under the front rail of the awning. I start this portion of the set-up by holding the corner of the add-a-room at the corner grommet in one hand and the side crossbar in the other hand. I place the tip of the crossbar into grommet and then into the hole provided in the awings front rail and then place the other end of the crossbar into place on the roof of the pop up. Don't worry about the velcro at this point. Repeat this on the other side and once that is done, go back to the center crossbar and place the tip through the grommet and re attach the crossbar. Now the tough part is done.

Now I secure the velcro on the front of the add-a-room to the front rail of the awning and now we move to the sides.

The sides of your add-a-room should have tie straps at the top and bungee cords on top and bottom where the sides of the add-a-room meets the pop up. Tie the straps around the crossbars on each side of your awning and attach the bungee to the clips provided on the side of your pop up, once this is done it makes it easy to attach the velcro on the sides of your add-a-room to the awning.

Attach the small flap of vinyl that goes under your pop up using the velcro provided.

All that's left is to tie the tie straps to the verticle poles at the front of your awning, stake down your add-a-room and use rope to stake down the front corners of your awning.

Like I said, this process takes me about 15 minutes by myself and the rewards are well worth it.  

I did make one modification to my add-a-room. Because it has four sides, the front wall, two side walls and the rear flap that goes under the pop up that are all attached, it was always a challenge to fold or roll the add-a-room to place it back into it's bag. I decided to cut the rear flap that attaches under my pop up off. This allows me to lay the add-a-room out flat and roll it up nicely when packing it away. It also make unfolding and installing easier.

Well that's my method of installing my add-a-room. The add-a-room provides us a bug free environment outside our door also decreasing the number of pest making their way into the pop up. When it's pouring down rain, we can move freely in and out of our pop-up into the add-a-room without getting wet. We can keep the flaps open giving us a screened room or close the flaps giving us privacy. With the flaps down it's a great place to change out of wet bathing suits after a swim and it's where we keep our port a potty at night.

No I don't own stock in the company that makes add-a-rooms, I just know how it has made our camping experience much nicer for years and I hope that it can do the same for you.

Happy Camping

CajunCamper

[ronerjones]

Very nice explination. I was one who was hesitant the first time setting up our add a room figuring it was just one more thing to take up time and space. The wife talked me into it and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to set up and take down. It does add that little extra touch to the camper. I have taken note on a couple of your suggestions and will put them to use the next time out, THANKS.

[naganthunter]

Very nice explination. I was one who was hesitant the first time setting up our add a room figuring it was just one more thing to take up time and space. The wife talked me into it and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to set up and take down. It does add that little extra touch to the camper. I have taken note on a couple of your suggestions and will put them to use the next time out, THANKS.

I agree, however I went from hesitant to outright frustrated with mine.  It got stuffed back in the box and I went out to WalMart and got a free-stander that took about 10 minutes to figure out AND set-up the first time.

Kudos to those who have the patience to set one of those add-a-room things up!

[CC777]

May I add one thing?

The fine folks on another forum taught me that before I crank up my pup I can unzip the awning bag and unroll the awning.  Then,  when I crank it up the awning would be ready to set up.

It wasn't imperative with the Palomino but with my Hemlock it is a challenge for me to unzip the bag after it is set up...even with a step stool.  The last time we went camping the wind whipped up and I decided to roll the awning up.  I had to have my DD and friend support the awning in different spots then stand on the inside of the door holding it up while one of them used the step stool to zip it all the way across.  It was awkward but we got the job done.

Anyway...it is also a recommended way of rolling it up.  Just take out the additional inside supports and have someone supporting it while you crank the pup down.  When the roof is shoulder level it is way easy to roll up and zip it!


CC