RE: My homemade add a room

[Suezyque]

 
Since I have had several requests for this information again, I will put it in a seperate post.
 The roof of the AAR is just the awning attached to the popup.  I purchased a number of yards of heavy duty material, canvas-type, from WalMart for $1/yd.  I measured and sewed panels to fit under the awning.  I attach them under the awning with velcro strips.  They tie to the scissor arm uprights that hold up the roof and also tie at the poles.  I have them overlap at the front.  
 During the day we leave the front panels open and use that area for cooking.  At night we close up the front panels and now we have a private area for the porta potty.
 I also used several cans of water repellant spray on the panels.  The total cost was about $20.   It s nothing special, but it serves the purpose.  It s easy to put up and take down and didn t cost a couple hundred bucks from the dealer.
 http://www.angelfire.com/tn/suezyque/AAR.JPG

[Gamecock Camper]

 Suezyque
Suezque, It is just what I have been thinking about doing.  What a timely post.  Thanks.

[wssfetch]

 Suezyque
Suzeyque,
 
 Thanks for the picture!  Do your panels attach to the awning itself with velcro stips or to the side rafters?  I like the idea of tying to the lift posts.  Thats easier than installing snaps to the side of the camper itself.
 
 Since we re down south, I was thinking more of doing something like this with screening.  Maybe with solid fabric from ground to waist level and then screen above.  Thats more work, I know.  Just thinking that if you wanted to spend the time and get fancy you could also make the panels from solid material and cut a rectangular " window"  in each panel and sew screen in.  Then ue what you cut out to drop down for privacy.
 
 Ooohhh, here s an idea.  Leave the piece you cut out attached at the top, cut out sides and bottom of the " window"  to fom a " flap" .  Stich screening into the resulting port and sew bias tape along the cut edges of the flap.  Use some of the bias tape to make strings so that you could roll up the flap and tie open.
 
 Here s another idea.  At the botom edge of the panels you could make a deep hem open at both ends to form a " sleeve."   Slide a piece of pvc pipe into the sleeve to help hold the side panels in place.  You could even put end caps on the pipe so that they could be filled with sand for weight in windy conditions.  And then when you take down the AAR panels you could roll each on up onto its own pvc pipe instead of folding.
 
 

[Suezyque]

 Suezyque
The panels attach under the awning with velcro AND to the poles and uprights with ties.
 On the bottom edge we just put heavy things to hold the panels down, or rocks we find while there, then we don t have to bring them home.

[DiW]

 Suezyque
This sounds like an interesting project. I was considering buying screen sides for our EZUp canopy but maybe will make them instead. Does anyone know where to buy good screening material (that keeps out the little bugs)?
 Diane

[RamblingWreck]

 Suezyque
That s a nice addition.  One word of caution, vertically hung fabric which has not been treated with a flame retardant is extremely flammable!  The hung fabric has a lot of exposed surface area to the atmosphere, e.g. a ready source of oxygen, one of the three components necessary to support combustion.
 
 Tent manufacturers have been sued and lost large settlements due to tent fires.  The price of a tent reflects both the R& D expense for testing materials to ensure the meet Federal guide lines for flammability and the manufacturers liability insurance.
 
 Years ago, I had a recipe for a flame retardant whose main ingredient was borax.  It was OK for homemade curtains but needed to be applied after each washing.  Borax is sometimes used as a laundry additive, so there is some solubility in water,  thus it wouldn t be my first choice to use in a tenting application.
 
 Any Textile Chemists out there with suggestions on a flame retardant for a do it your self tent or add a room?
 
 Rambling Wreck

[Suezyque]

 DiW
DiW, you can purchase rolls of screen material here
 http://shop.sportsmansguide.com/smg/cb/cb.asp?p=WX1&i=50128
 They come 36"  X 100  for $20, which is very reasonable.

[wssfetch]

 Suezyque
Did some searching and found another site for materials as well:
 
 http://www.americanhomeandhabitat.com/catagories/fabric.htm
 
 Looks like they carry a lot of other useful stuff as well.  Also found another online source for pop-up stuff, including screen rooms on sale at:
 
 www.rvworkshop.com
 
 This afternoon I read through the part in my owners  manual about screen and AAR installation.  Apparently with the Jayco screenroom the tension rafters on sides of awning slide through a sleeve at the top of the screenroom and the front of the screenroom has velcro that attaches to the front edge of the awning.  This sounds easier and easier to DIY.

[Horscampr]

 Suezyque
What a neat idea!!  thanks for posting the picture.
 
 I would like to get some sort of AAR for my camper, but haven t quite figured out how to do it yet.  My camper does not have an awning so I m out of luck there.
 
 My mom suggested to just get a seperate screen tent instead since we primarily want it to get away from bugs and for eating during crummy weather.
 
 I would still like to attach it to the camper somehow, but I m not sure if I can figure out a good way to do it.  If I had an awning, I would certainly try to do something similar to what you did....thats an AWESOME idea (although I too, would do it with screening material if possible).

[Gamecock Camper]

 Suezyque
Hey Carol (Horscampr).... You might be able to find a pop-up awning in the Classifieds forum.  I have seent that several people have upgraded their bag awnings to better awnings. I bet you can find one pretty cheap from another PUTer.   For most of them you would just need to buy and install a receiver rail on your camper for the awning to install on the camper.   The awnings are usually about 1ft shorter than the camper s roof (i.e. - a 12ft camper usually has an 11ft awning).....  You can do it.

[Gatsmommy]

 Suezyque
Carol,
 I ve remeber seeing a post where someone used a C - Clamp (whatever that is) and sewed a rope int the edge of a tarp to slide it in. This is actually similar to what our awning is. It s a pcv pipe (I think that s the right kind. You know the white plastic stuff) wigh a slit cut out of it, and our awning is basically a piece of plastic with a string attached we pull through. The poles just stick through holes in the top I think.
 
 We actually have never put it up, but it looks fairly simple. Just haven t had space or time.
 

[sandykayak]

 Suezyque
Yo! SZYQ...haven t seen postings from you in ages.....Looks as if the Susans are really active and creative.
 
 I really needed this thread to encourage me to work on my AAR again.  I have the roll of screening from sportsmansguide.  I ll need to digest all the comments as I have already sewn the velcro and was thinking it might be too heavy, so I made some ties.  
 
 Now I have to check out the bit about sliding the whole shebang over the Jayco s tension bars.  That sounds like it has a lot of potential.
 
 For those who don t have or don t use their awnings (wish I had the supersport!), I find the popups look nekkid w/o them.  I like sitting under the awning with a table and chair as I hate sitting at the picnic tables.  The hip arthritis makes the inevitably constant getting in and out quite painful.
 
 

[iwantapopup]

 Suezyque
Thanks for posting this again.  If we get the awning figured out right, we might be able to do this.
 
 I didn t really think about the fire issue but that is good to bring up, especially if you were cooking under your AAR and being attached to your camper; it wouldn t take long to spread.
 

[Jo Ann]

 Suezyque
great idea SQ!
 
 I am gonna get the screen room for my awning since its under 200 bucks...but for rainy days...i am gonna get that heavy plastic that wallyworlld sells in rolls and gonna make them attach to my screen room with  velcro to protect us from the rain....i used to do that with a screened in canapy thing....worked nicely.

[sandykayak]

 Suezyque
Jo-Ann, are you going to get the clear " vinyl/plastic" ?  I m still working on my AAR and haven t figured out what to do here.  Vinyl shower curtains - the clear kind but with a design (fish or something) might work well.
 
 Will you give it a roll-up feature?  Probably too heavy for the velcro to hold.
 
 Another thing, will you put it on the inside or out?  It will probably look nicer on the outside, but then you ll get wet lowering them.