Got An Aar, But.......

[angelsmom10]

Just wanted to say thanks for all the input on my earlier post about AAR's.
 
DH decided to "bite the bullet" and get an AAR for the PU, but....
 
He picked it up Wed before we left for a short weekend trip to a local SP.
 
We left Thurs with just enough time for him to set up the PU before he had to leave to go to work and return just in time to go to sleep, then Fri morning we got up and wanted to set up the AAR. Of course it is a little difficult when the camper is alread up, but he managed. Now is when everything starts to go wrong. To begin with the instuctions were photo copied and put in reverse order (no big deal), and part of the pages are cut off, so you have to try to figure out whether what is missing is very important.
 
I had asked about the awning zippers in relation to the awning poles and just the poles are mounted too far out so attaching the AAR got to be difficult as the zippers had to stretch over the top of the pole and of course now on the side of the AAR, they snaps are too far up in order for us to determine where to put the snaps on the PU (but I assumed that we would have to attach velcro to the PU and velcro the AAR to the side of the PU (I'm not sure about attaching the snaps, I just don't want to permamently putting the snaps on the PU, but I'm thinking of just attaching HD velcro to the AAR and to the PU.
 
Not sure if this is the way with other AAR's, but the zipper to get into the AAR only has a 1 sided zipper, in order for you to close the zipper once you're inside, you have to reach under the AAR and zip from the outside (the zippers that attach to the awning have 2 sided zippers).
 
Then we go to attach the skirt and it doesn't fit around the step.
 
Then the privacy panel on one side is missing the top half of both straps for the one side.
 
Another panel the privacy panel was cut at an angle at the top and was cut wrong that part of the top portion does not cover the screen.
 
He drives back to work for Fri eve and gets back to CG in time to go to bed again.
 
Saturday we get up and decide that before it rains AGAIN (we had really bad storms both Thurs and Fri after he left and we were expecting it to rain again Sat), we wanted to take down the AAR to fold to put back in box to return and get the probles corrected.
 
Layed out the AAR, and looked at one of the panels and part of the panel was sewn into the seam, so now the bottom part of the one panel is pulled and if you try to separate, you will have a hole in that panel.
 
Then we look and on the only panel that didn't have a problem, did have one, the bottom part is a totally different color then the rest of the AAR.
 
This then makes all 4 panels having a problem.
 
So now another trip up to the dealership with the awning and all it's problems and then to make an appointment to have them correct the awaning problem on the camper.
 
We are not trying to decide if we really want to hassle any more with this. DH said that setting up the AAR wasn't as difficult as he had expected, if we hadn't run into problems and had set it up with the awning before raising the roof, it would only had taken about 5-10 minutes.
 
We are definitely going to have the dealership fix the awning, but not sure about adding the snaps to the sides of the PU or adding velcro.
 
How does everyone's AAR attach to their PU?
 
Do you think the velcro idea would work?
 
How does the skirt go around the step?
 
Can you raise the roof with the AAR attached to the awning without doing any damage to the lift system because of the added weight?
 

[startx]

I can only talk about our screen room and I'm just posting because we have had some similar problems with the screen room.  Regarding velcro, our screen room attaches to the canvas with velcro, or it did at least, until a nice hot Texas summer campout, when all the velcro adhesive got too warm to stay stuck.  Course it didn't come off completely, just enough to keep the velcro from sticking, the rest of the adhesive works quite well though for sticking to dirt, skin, and bugs.

The portion that fits around our step had to be cut to fit, it didn't do that automatically, and the person who owned the camper prior to us, didn't quite do it right, so even on the very rare occassion we use the screen room, we usually leave the portion around the step off.  We still get a pretty good bug reduction, since that is the only reason we use the screen room anyway.

We always add our screen room to the awning before cranking all the way up, haven't noticed any problems because of it being on there, but it is ligher than an AAR.

The screen room attaches with a combination of the aforementioned non functioning velcro, as well as some turn screws on the camper body.  I think they are called turn screws anyway, they aren't snaps, but are the little metal tabs that turn one way and are flat so the corresponding grommet on the screen room will slip over, then you turn them 90 degrees and they grommet won't come back off until you turn the tab again.

I think for most of our campouts, and our camping style we wouldn't use an AAR, but that is just us.  We have a family in our camping club that puts up their AAR every time we camp, and they just love it!  We use the screen room when the bugs are especially bad, but for the most part find the zipping/unzipping to be a pain, especially with the kids.

[tlhdoc]

[
How does everyone's awning attach to their PU?  

On the Coleman/Fleetwood trailers the awning attaches to the PU with an awning rail.  It is 3/4 of a tube that is attached to the side of the PU and the awning bag has a "tongue" that slides into the awning rail.
 
Do you think the velcro idea would work?

I have Velcro on my AAR skirt (sewn on) and have had to re-glue/replace the Velcro on the PU.  I like the idea of screw/snaps.
 
How does the skirt go around the step?

The Coleman/Fleetwood trailers, with the stepper door, has the skirt go around the back of the door.  The Velcro is attached to the frame under the trailer.
 
Can you raise the roof with the AAR attached to the awning without doing any damage to the lift system because of the added weight?

My instructions say to attach the AAR when the trailer is half raised.

[angelsmom10]

I asked the wrong question at first, it should have read attach the AAR to the PU, not the awning .....duh (having a senior moment)

[tlhdoc]

I asked the wrong question at first, it should have read attach the AAR to the PU, not the awning .....duh (having a senior moment)

My AAR attaches by being tied to the "rafters" and then the awning velcros to the top of the AAR end panels.  The front of the AAR attaches to the awning rail with velcro and the end poles of the 3 rafters also hold it to the awning rail.  There is also 1 snap that holds the front panel to the awning rail.  The skirt is attached with velcro.  Where the side panels attach to the PU itself with velcro and bungee cord.

[topcat7736]

Nancy,

All the AAR's and screenrooms are different. Attachment places for our Taos' are completely different than those of Tracy or Startx.

Your best bet is to take the trailer to your dealers lot, open it up, hand him the AAR & tell him to attach it. When it's all up, you will be able to see how to put it up while taking it down.

This scenario is the same with every manufacturer. They sell us products with manuals, written in pigeon english, which don't even match what they sold us. Then they expect us to put the things up correctly. Forget it. For the price we pay, let THEM show us they know how to do it! (heh heh)