Hi there,

We have recently bought ourselves a new 15 foot Pop Top caravan and we want to get an annex for it (see "Barry and the Bullet" in show us your rig)

It has an 11 foot wide (roof material) Dometic roll out awning, it's not huge but enough to create a cosy space protected from the elements.

We've got the van booked in for the annex to be made and fitted in a months time by a local and reputable business. Tonight we went down and selected what we think we want and most importantly we (she) picked the colours for it (like I had any choice in that  ).

Anyway we have a month to decide if what we have chosen (apart from the canvas colour) is what we finally want made, so I thought I would ask those of you out there with sooo much more experience than us if we are on the right track or if we have made any glaring error, or simply if something else would make it better.

I have thrown together an idea of what the details are (see attached).

It will have the standard features, anti flap thingys, curved roof supports, and such. But I would welcome any input on where it could be improved

LOOKS good to me.

Only suggestion is to have roll down clear PVC for bad/windy/rainy weather and to let light in.

We had an annex made a few years ago by our local motor trimmer with the following :

an extra 1 meter added to the side wall drop, giving us  an extra 1 meter floor space very handy

zips to windows positioned inside the annex no need to go outside to open or close zips terrific if it's raining

This has worked very well for us 

Dhutime

I will try to dig up a photo in the meantime, usually most side walls or should I, say the long wall, comes straight down in my case  standing at the front of van, it slopes down and out one meter. The front wall has a triangle piece zipped onto it to pick up the extra meter on the bottom.

Hope this makes sense

I prefer to have the annex doorway on the long side opposite the van's doorway.  Then you can exit annex area with the awning arms attached to the bottom edge of the van.  We have a door at each end of the long wall of the annex.

Maybe the walls don't always hang as well as they should when setting up this way but I prefer the greater strength with the arms still attached to the van & not relying on the pegs into the ground.

Personal choice I guess.

The more mesh windows the better. 

We also have the 'shade cloth' screen for along the awning roller/rafter.  Great for privacy when I don't want to go to the trouble of setting up the annex.  Have another for running as an awning on the other side of the van.  Good to shade the side of the van if on the western side or shade for the tug on large sites.  They don't cost much these days & can be got off the shelf at most van accessory places.

ps. Be sure to always set it up with a good run off (one low end) and a very  tight awning roof  to prevent rain water from pooling in the awning causing it to stretch or even rip.

Friends of ours just bought a brand new van with annexe, and did not ask what exactly they were getting

Their 2 ends have 2 full windows/doors and fold up ONLY from the bottom. Ours has 1 door and 1 window. The window folds down from the TOP  so you have some privacy and not have to have the whole lot all open. Hope this makes sense  Have attached a couple of photo's.   They were disappointed when they first used not realising there were options.  Something that I think should have been pointed out to them.

Our windows also roll up to the top as is I think, the norm.

If I want air/breeze and also privacy, I just unzip them and peg them out at the bottom a meter or so using bungy straps & tent pegs.  

Keeps out most rain white allowing in light & air whilst still giving privacy  & an outside storage area under the 'lean to' formed by the pegged out window cover.

If I want privacy via the doors I just leave them unzipped & hanging rather than rolled up.  Would like to fit those hanging strips of plastic fly screens but SWMBO doesn't like them.

Dropped the van off this morning for the annex to be made.

Thanks guys for your inputs, now to wait and see what the results will be.

Jeff

Ours is camper trailer size with. door each end - vinyl outside and mesh inside ... All zippers work from inside and outside and rolls up with tab fasteners. Front wall has large window zipped outside only and can be rolled up or pegged out .. size about 3/4 wall space.  When we use it we are very happy and we can add an extenda room if we wish ... Which we dont as we are selling And upgrading to a Motorhome.  Just as as aside, we paid about $5000 in total including the full bag awnings for each bedend, we have only used it once although we carry it with us.  i made full annex size walls which fit with Valero to the gable on the awning to effectively give us privacy and protect us from the sun and best of all we can camp where the flies are in plague proportions and they don't get in. We have a little eyelet gadget we use for the lashings and pegs.  I used the Bunnings shade cloth and Velcro but it is awkward trying to sew the self adhesive side... Full cost would have been under $300 including the wall that fits to a sail track on the off side of the van and can be used to shade that side of the van or provide extra outside space. Off cuts were used to make bags to carry things in. As a plus, when we had the annex made, they had to replace the awning as gables were needed so we actually now also have an awning for both sides of the van.  its only a small van, but has potential for use by a larger family and older kids have their own space.

Picked up the pop top tonight with it's brand new annex

Very impressed with the annex, and even more impressed with the service. They took me through putting it up and taking it down for over an hour tonight, and showed me how to tackle the roll out awning properly as well.