Screen rooms

[mamaloya]

OK guys, I bought an ozark trail 13x15 hexagonal screen room last year and have never used it. After reading the thread about food on here, I started thinking about how I would set up my camp kitchen. I set it up in my living room. Well, it is a PITB!!! Definitely need 2 people to set it up and I am home alone.

Also, the shape makes it feel very small. No way I could cook and eat in there. I would be lucky if a picnic table fit.

Soooo, I am now in the market for a new one. I know this topic has been discussed here before, but I can't find it.

Carol, are those one ups or 1st ups that you use. Does the fabric stay attached to the frame? How does it work connecting 2 together? Does the rain seep through where they meet?

I am thinking those would be more versatile because I can make one side be solid and others screen. Could I have doors on 3 sides if I wanted?

Anyone wanna buy a never used screen room? LOL

Anyone have any other screen room or canopy that they like? Rog, wasn't the one of yours that collapsed an Ozark Trail? My tent is Ozark Trail and it is great.

Thanks in advance.

 

[mamaloya]

Somebody? Anybody?

 

[CampingBandit]

We like the $99 pop up shelter from Wal-mart, "first Up" it's called - its beige with blackpoles. It has a wall-enclosure you can buy that opens on two sides, but that's extra. There is a separate screening wall you can buy too, we don't have that, it's $29.

This shelter is 10 by 10 and I can put it up myself. Even though the tent material is not 'attached', the tent is very easy to put up. They do sell a quik-up type for $94 with the tent attached but I don't know how good that one is.

Our tent is very large, we used it some of the week to park our golf cart and scooter under.

The picinic tables at the fort ARE very heavy and very big. I think you are probably right about your current unit not being big enough. We used to have a similar one to what you described and they are just too small to cook AND eat in.

I have seen this unit: And I wish I had one of these. Don't know if it's a one-person job though...

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10993393&sourceid=1500000000000003260410&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=10993393

But I like the look of it you can use one end to cook in and one end for dining.

 

[chilipyro]

The nice thing about those hexagonal tent-like screen rooms (or even the square ones) is that they fold up smaller and are lighter. But, I agree that they are enough of a PITB to set up that the EZ-Up style tents are worth the weight and bulk.

A number of screen and panel enclosure add-ons are available for the EZ-Up style canopies. I don't know if you have a Dicks Sporting Goods down where you are, but they carry a brand of canopy named 'Quest'. It is a bit unusual in that it comes in a 12x12 size, with accessory screens and panels. Canopies in a 10x10 size with screen a panel accessories are easier to find. The Quest 12x12 is the one I have, and it has been great. The quality is better (IMHO) than the EZ-Up brand, and the panels and screen attach very easily and hold firm. I have done the setup and take down many times on my own, and it is not hard - even to have it set up over a picnic table, without having to move the picnic table.

I was going to include a link to the page, but for some reason, the Dicks on-line site doesn't include the canopy today (it does sell the screen accessory though). Maybe it is only sold on-line in season - they tend to be seasonal in the store too.

On the Quest model, the screen attaches via hooks and eyelets. It wraps around the poles (and has ties to attach to the poles), and then zips at the end. The bottom has stake loops, to keep it attached to the ground too. The solid panel accessory cover's one whole side and half of the two adjacent sides. With two panels, you can cover all the walls of the canopy (but I have only ever used one panel). We use the panel to block wind, we have never bothered with trying to use this canopy as a barrier to heavy rain. If it is raining that hard, we go inside the camper. We don't leave things outside that can't get wet. So, I can't answer the question about whether there would be leaking through seams.

I stake the four courner poles down with ropes that attach to screw in anchors (the kind you use for your camper awning). I have never had the canopy blow over in strong winds, or get knocked down by heavy rain. It survived two of the most rainy weeks I have ever experienced at Disney this May. It is very solid in this respect - much more so, I think, than a tent style canopy would be.

If you can't get the Quest canopy, Cabela's sells a variety of the EZ-Up style canopies, with different screen and panel options.

 

[BigDaddyRog]

I currently ave a FirstUp as well.....it CAN be done by one person..but definatey easier with 2 people...Ive had half a dozen screenrooms and this is by far the easiest to put up and the most solidly built. I did buy the screen walls to go on mine and have left them attached when breaking it down, but I dont recommend it...it was tough to put back up with it attatched. The screen walls are very simple to attatch so I remove them before packing it up now. Im planning to get the solid walls sometime this season as well.

All of those odd shaped screenrooms are going to be a real PITA to assemble and all of the weird angles eat up actual interior space, and as large as 15x13 SOUNDS, you now know from experience that a simple square or rectangular design will make life easier on the inside!

As far as attatching 4 screen rooms together, Carol will be the expert on this.....but Im pretty sure that unless you were to design some kind of gutter system to guide the rain away, youre going to have seepage in between the tents.

 

[mamaloya]

Thanks guys!!!!

 

[CampingBandit]

Hey Rog, when you get the walls - do not use in high winds, anything over 15-20 mph. The instructions warn you, and we didn't listen, and ours went airborne in a 35-30mph gust and would have injured some at a football game one day were it not for a few alert fellows who helped bring the shelter back to ground in one piece without hitting anybody. it went up like a hotair balloon! LOL Our friend was able to grab one leg before it completely blew away....

 

[f15robyn]

I can also recommend the Quest brand from Dick's Sporting Goods. Although we've never camped at Disney, we camp a lot. I have several of the 12 X 12 ones. They used to sell a tent accessory as well. So we use one as our tent and one as our kitchen.

Also nice about these is the fact that the legs angle away from the roof as they go towards the ground (as opposed to the ones that are exactly perpendicular to the roof/ground).

We've had them hold up well in high winds, but we stake a lot. I'm not sure what they're called, but Walmart has metal tent stakes that are rather thick in diameter. We always use those to stake through the holes in the "feet" of the easy up. Plus stake the guy lines from the corners of the roof. Plus stake all along the screen walls (or solid walls or tent accessory).

I was at an event in October where several other easy ups (with straight up and down legs) went flying. But our two did fine.

We still haven't found a good way to have there not be some leaking between the two if we set them right next to each other (not that we've tried that hard).

Good luck.