We have a 2015 Triton 430GT and at the moment have an air awning ....... Love it, but since fracturing one vertebrae I'm finding it difficult to handle and my wife can't manage it on her own ........ Probably have to end up selling it.

Meantime been having a look at Residence Rooms and in particular the Thule Residence G2

Any advice on this type of awning would be greatly appreciated.

Jim

Jim it may help if you share which part of the air awning you are having difficulty with, I,m no expert but I think the residence rooms are substantial bits of kit and by that l mean not light weight, although I did see something in a lighter material.

The problems we are having ( purely due to my back trouble) is that you have to hold virtually the whole awning up in order to get it through the awning rail. It's very easy to take down but too much bending for me to get all the air out and folded up.
With regards to the residence room, the components are separate which makes things easier.
Thanks for your reply

Jim

We have a Fiamma wind out awning on our VW T5 camper and we looked at getting the Fiamma safari room sides/front to go on it and were not convinced. We've looked at other peoples and I wouldn't like to rely on them in really bad weather. I have also watched people put them on and it doesn't look that easy. You have to fix bars to each side, each with awning channels and then slide each section on whilst having to stand at an awkward angle, with lots of little bits to attach before and after. Then you still have the same problem with wind outs, water pooling on the roof, necessitating the dropping of one leg when its raining or forecast - which you then have to push up again when you want to be able to use it. I have met quite a lot of people who have bought them and hardly ever used them, and they aren't cheap when one considers you spend a fortune on the actual wind out thing in the first place. Also, the bags that all the bits come in are quite big, considering the roof is already attached to you your van! so you have to have space.

The biggest thing for me is that the literature that comes with the wind out repeatedly calls it a sun canopy and states that it is not suitable for anything other than very light rain. Fiamma call the sides/front addition a 'privacy room'. I worry that this use of language means that if the thing is damaged in bad weather, they'll say its not designed for use as an all weather awning - otherwise they'd call it an awning wouldn't they?. We had our canopy only wrecked in a heavy rain storm in Slovenia, when the weight of the water pushed it to one side, busting the winding arms. We've met other people who have had the same thing happen. Having gone to the trouble of putting it all up, you wouldn't want to be faced with taking it down again just because it's going to rain.

When we bought an awning for our new Triton, ease of erection (giggle) was the most important thing, along with being able to cope with bad weather without guy ropes everywhere to trip over. The awning we bought comes in 3 sections, the roof, sides and the front, which means you can put as much of it up as you need, depending on the weather - we used the front only once in 4 months away this summer. You slide only the roof section, which is very light, into the awning channel and zip on one long arc pole at the outside edge. It's then holding its own weight whilst you add all the other poles and the sides and front then just zip in. However, I do understand the convenience of a windout, as we still have one (now replaced) on the T5, so we can have instant shade without putting the awning up.

Many thanks for your input and would be interested to know what awning you settled for.
We were recently at the motorhome show in Lincoln, had a look at both the Fiamma and the Thule rooms. Thule have various residence rooms but the G2 appears to be very stable ( had a good shake of the poles when we were there) where as to us, the Fiamma seemed much less stable. In the Thule brochure it says that the G2 model is suitable for long stay, no mention of that for any of the others. Having been American RV'rs for twenty years we are aware that if very heavy rain you have to let one corner down slightly but that only takes a few minutes.
We are still undecided but should we go for one I guess only time will tell.
Thanks again
Jim

We went for a Unico, the Verona. Below is a pic from last weekends meet courtesy of Magpie

This with the roof and sides on.

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Naaaah!
Unico Bologna for ever!

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Thanks. Have to say it does make a very smart looking outfit.

Tony, you have the bigger awning, you have the dinette....my little Triton is never gonna cut the mustard!

I am sure I can beat you on emissions!!

With computer help?
Or is it a bodily function challenge?

Blueyonder just a quick question, how do you deal with security of stuff when you don't have all the sides and front on? We tend to use the awning for storing stuff we are not using e.g bikes, chairs, table, do you just take a chance or do something to secure things etc?

Thanks,
Brian

We have never had anything stolen at a site but we are more cautious on some sites, e.g. those close to city centres where people only stay for one or two nights and everyone is out all day sightseeing, or those with no proper entry barrier. Our bikes are D locked together all the time we aren't using them, with a fence/sign post or similar in between if possible and we can easily bung things like the outside cooker in the side locker, as its empty when we are on site. I recall once putting the table and chairs in the caravan on an iffy site but its so long ago I cant remember where it was!

Thanks👍