F45s privacy room advice

[andy mccord]

Hi

I'm not new to motor homing, but I am new to privacy rooms and awnings, I have a 4metre F45s awning fitted to my chausson, I'm looking to go down the privacy room route, but I'm concerned that I will end up buying something that is a pain to use, we tend to go away for 3/4 nights to each site, so I need advice as to whether they are worth buying or not, your input is appreciated

also my awning stops short over the garage door so what happens there with relation to the privacy room? does the door become un openable?

Regards

Andy

[flicka]

Hi Andy

A close neighbour had a 6berth motorhome & wanted additional living space on sites, headed for a touring holiday to France. He only used it for one night & said never again. Certainly not recommended & too much time to erect/dismantle.

They are bulky & heavy, especially if you don't have a big payload capacity.

If you only intend short breaks, IMO I think the disadvantages outweigh any benefits. Although I can see the benefits if you intend to pitch up for longer periods, without moving the Motorhome.

Additionally the volume of "nearly new" or "little use" Family rooms, advertised in the magazines, suggests to me that many are bought but found to be impractical.

[Cattwg]

Hi,

We had a privacy room that came with a camper we bought about 7 years ago. We used it once, and once only. We gave it to friends who again used it once or twice and then passed it on. These ‘rooms’ are OK if you a sited for a longish period and don’t intend moving your vehicle. To my mind a drive away awning is a much better option or the Lilliput wind stop curtains, although the curtains are not waterproof.

Cattwg :-D

[BruceM]

We had one come with the van when we bought it. It had hardly been used. We erected it to check it out then sold it on. In my experience they’re bulky and heavy to store, a faff to put up and only of use if you either have a lot of stuff you want to store outside the van or you’re carrying additional passengers/dogs that you want to sleep outside of the van. Additionally, I couldn’t imagine going to the effort of putting one up every two to three days. It might be justified for a two week stay somewhere but otherwise no. I think the question to ask yourself first is why you would want a privacy room?

[andy mccord]

many thanks for the reply's, I will look into a drive away awning I think based on your feedback

 

Andy

[ColinM50]

We considered one, mainly to put the bikes in if we go out whilst on site and somewhere to keep the dogs beds etc during the day, but the price was a bit prohibitive. In the end we thought a try out with a gazebo might show if it'd work so bought a gazebo from ebay with sides that clip on. |Same effect but for seventy quid a bargain. We've used it twice - a bit of a faff Maybe a cheap idea for you to see if you use it?

 

Ours stands up behind the passenger seat held still with bungie cords when we're on the move and not heavy at all.

[Matrix Meanderer]

Andy. I would think twice about a drive away awning. The concept is good but we used our Vango Kela 3 a couple of times and then gave up trying to align the motorhome exactly onto the awning, it's not simple to get it exact. Maybe it works OK for PVCs but for larger vans it was not for us. They are also just as bulky and heavy as the air beam full awnings.

 

Although more expensive we've stuck with our Thule Panorama Room which is lighter and much more robust than some other types. It uses the existing roll out awning and is very well made.

 

Have a look - you might find a second hand one.

[andy mccord]

Trouble is I have an fiamma awning fitted, is it compatible with it do you know?

 

Andy

[Matrix Meanderer]

Andy. No sorry I don't think that the Thule rooms are compatible with the Fiamma wind out awnings.

You can obviously use the air beam ones with the necessary connector or direct to the wind out front panel.

[Derek Uzzell]

andy mccord - 2021-04-21 1:26 PM

 

Trouble is I have an fiamma awning fitted, is it compatible with it do you know?

 

Andy

As your motorhome already has a Fiamma F45S awning, if you decide to have a privacy room the logical approach would be to choose a Fiamma product designed to be fitted to that awning. Details of suitable Fiamma offerings are on the Fiamma website and there are several YouTube videos describing how the ‘room’ is attached to a F45 awning. (It seems plain from the photos/videos that your Chausson’s right-hand-side rear garage door would be significantly obstructed when the left-end panel of the room is in place and that some disconnection of that panel would be necessary for the garage door to be opened.)

 

As your original posting suggests that you’ve not had an awning before (and forum-members comments about privacy rooms are so far pretty lukewarm) you might be better seeing how you get on with the awning alone first of all and - once you had done that - you’d have a much better idea whether or not a privacy room would be worth having.