Tent attachment for AS

[Zmod]

Our kids, ages 8 and 5, want to start bringing friends along on our weekend trips but we have a problem as to where everyone will sleep. At present, my wife and I sleep on the pullout in the living area and each kid has a twin. We don't feel the kids are old enough to sleep by themselves in a tent but have heard of an attachment that fits over the door and makes for an attached room of sorts. Anyone out there ever hear of or use one of these things? How do other parents solve this problem? Any help is appreciated.

[2airishuman]

hi zmod

5 and 8.....what an adventure trailer camping is for kids this age. of course once the teenage years arrive they will not want to be anywhere near the 'uncool' parents.

if you have a zip dee awning on the curbside, zd makes a 'room enclosure' that attaches to the existing awning. this is a big screened area with walls held down by water tubes. once attached, a tent could be erected inside this outdoor room. if the tent were placed on a slab of in/outdoor carpet having the kids roam inside when needed wouldn't be too messy.

depending on where you decide to sleep the tent could be placed near or far from the closest window. if they had their own "camping gear" like a flash light and cooler, that'd be neat too.

their are a variety of tenting enclosures that do attach to trailer walls and truck shell openings. i don't think these would be as nice as using the zip dee product, but imagine a homemade version could also be fabricated that'd be less costly.

cheers
2air

[Anon]

Airstream used to make an "Add-A-Room" with their roll-up awnings.
This was the canvas and it had heavy-duty zippers to attach the front panel to the side panel and the side panel to the back panel. It also had heavy duty zippers to attach it to the manually rolled-out awning. The way the it "clung" to the sides of the trailer were with the use of the awning rails that are used along the top to attach the awnings to the trailer. There were specially bent "tubes" that were attached to the sides of the trailer. These were installed by the factory. The reason I know they were factory-installed is because my Dad took delivery of the trailer, (with the dealership's manager), at the factory in November of 1972.
I am going to have my Mother look for pictures of the trailer with the Add-A-Room attached to the trailer. It looks pretty good.
I used to HATE putting it up and then taking it down! When you are a kid and you are cmaping the last thing you want to do is to mess around with canvas.