Anyone have a Tropic Room awning by ZipDee?

[2poodles]

All-
We are debating getting a new pop-up screen room or enclosing our awning with the Tropic Room addition by ZipDee. Anyone with any experience with the Tropic Room? Too small? Hard to install? Difficult to use?
Thanks!

[Protagonist]

My awning isn't a Zip Dee, and the screen room I used wasn't a Tropic Room. But in my opinion, the most important consideration is this: When bad weather pops up, will you have time to take down the Tropic Room in order to put away the awning?

At Farmington NM back in 2015, a windstorm/sandstorm popped up out of nowhere while my Fiamma awning was out and my Fiamma Privacy Room was attached. The windstorm destroyed the Privacy Room before I could even get back to my Airstream. On the plus side, the weight of the Privacy Room, even in tatters, was enough to keep the awning from being destroyed. But I chose to write off the Privacy Room as a bad investment and not to replace it.

Now, when I need screening, I take along a hexagonal freestanding Clam Corp. screen room that I can set up over the campground's picnic table, and that cost less than 20% of the price of my original Fiamma Privacy Room. The hexagonal shape makes the roof like an umbrella and allows it to stand up very well to wind (if staked down properly) and rain, and at the very least it's not attached to my Airstream and it doesn't interfere with putting away my awning when I need to.

[xrvr]

Listen to the voice of experience.

[2poodles]

Thanks! Sounds like another free standing screen room is in our future

[weber.roger]

I have had the clam two years now. Used for 10 weeks solid each summer. Awesome product

[JohnGough]

FWIW...we have the zip dee tropic room on our 19' flying cloud.

I put it up by myself in 5-10 minutes, not hard at all. I also can take it down in that same amount of time. Many I time I have tilted the awning down for rain to pass/etc with the tropic room attached. I like the notion of sitting under our awning.

Used it last year on a trip to Yukon/NWT and worked wonderfully for the bugs. This year we had it on a trip to northern Ontario and it was also great for the mosquitoes. Down side is it was not great for a bear that decided it wanted to check out our trailer. His claws and head went through the mesh like butter. Good news...the folks at Zip Dee repaired it and shipped it back to me for a very reasonable cost and in under two weeks.

Picture attached of it the day of the bear visit.

Cheers,
John

[jimstream]

The wife and I have a 1968 Safari with the ORIGINAL awning to which we ad the screen room whenever we camp for more than a few days. It provides us with an additional room, bigger than a slide out for our little ( 22 ft) trailer. We secure the awning with hold down straps from the outside corners, and stake down the bottom of the screen room. Spent the whole summer like that in a shore side campground in Bar Harbor experienceing thunder storms, and 30mph winds with no ill effects . Maybe they made them better back in 1968.

[sallye]

I wish Clam corp made a pop-up screen room with two doors. That way I could set it up with one door up against the trailer. I could leave the trailer door open, and exit the screen room from the second door. Now THAT would be like having a screen room. I could leave the door open and let my pups run in and out. (They are not the type that challenge barriers, so it would work. Not all pups are so cooperative!)

Of course I'd have to hang something between the trailer and the ground, but that wouldn't be difficult.

[369goose]

Ditto --- the Clam. For ease of use and should we ever need to replace it the cost is minimal. We prefer to set it up a few feet from the Airstream over a picnic table so that it provides usable dry/shaded seating if we have guest campers. I'd say we use it more as an umbrella or for shade than a bug free zone (Thermacel for that). It is also a nice swimsuit changing room with the attachable privacy panels which I think are intended to provide shelter from chill or winds (?).

We looked into the Tropic too but since we often leave the AS for many hours or even overnight we don't like to leave the Zip Dee awning out in case weather changes while we are not at home. The Clam works nicely for us.

Happy Camping ⛺️

[sallye]

I wish the Clam made a model with two doors. That way we could push one side up against the trailer door and use the other door to exit the clam.

[tmwinn1]

I purchased the solar shade and found it very practical and easy to install. The Tropic Room is intriguing, but looks as though it would be most useful on campsites with 5 days or longer. The set up time looks involved, also the water bags might be problematic, don't know. Anyone have a cost from ZipDee?

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by tmwinn1

also the water bags might be problematic, don't know.

I tried Zip Dee water bags on my Fiamma Privacy Room, since that seemed the only way to use it on pavement— driving stakes through concrete just isn't happening!

My assessment was that the water bags don't hold enough water to provide enough weight to keep the screen walls from flapping in the wind. Maybe if they were a larger diameter so they held more water, and maybe if they had a different filling system so you didn't lose half the water trying to seal the fill ports… They may be adequate to supplement stakes, but they can't really substitute for stakes.