Carefree 14'-15' Vacation'r Screen Room

The screen room has really exceeded our expectations. It seems very durable, it's relatively easy to install and it does well in breezy conditions. So far, so good. We have young children and when they watch TV inside it allows us a second place to view movies in the winter. With a Big Buddy heater and the room, it's cozy warm even into the 30's. It's a little pricey, but judging by the quality it's been worth it. I would guess it should last three to five years with regular use.

We previously had a tent trailer with a screen room and loved it. It was fairly heavy and a little cumbersome to put up. When we upgraded to a trailer, we wanted another screen room. This one attaches to the awning and hangs down. It is lightweight, and you need a step ladder to attach and zip it in place. It is easy to attach a couple of connecting points to the trailer, and the top zipper attachment is left in place. Once I zipped the walls together, I was able to take the entire unit down as one piece and fold/roll it up to fit back in the bag. I was going to cut the skirt for the trailer to match the length of the screen room, but found it was best to leave it intact. I use it without the screen room when the room is not needed, and it covers the tires and area below the trailer.

My other screen room had poles at the room corners, since the tent trailer's awning was held up that way. Since this room hangs from the awning and held in place at the bottom by stakes, I wondered how I would secure it when the camp site was asphalt. I just bought some aluminum adjustable poles for painting at Lowe's. They were $12 each, and adjust from 6-12'. I also bought some cheap paint rollers that screw onto the plastic ends of the poles, and plan on modifying them to "cradle" the awning. This will hold the corners of the screen room straight and in place, while giving extra support to the awning. Also, my electric awning doesn't have the rain adjust feature to put one of the corners in a lower position....so I bought an additional aluminum painting pole to "prop" under one end of the awning material so any rain will run off.

Although the room seems strong enough to handle stormy conditions, I don't believe most awnings would survive strong winds with this room attached (hence the awning instructions to retract during strong winds). The only complaint I might have is that the bottom of the windows are a little high off the ground. When seated inside the room, I can't easily look outside. Other than that, the price from Dyers was the best I found and it shipped extremely fast. I'm glad I made the purchase.

It is a great additon for our travel trailer. I do not like that door zips up from bottom. The picture of the door is not very clear. I thought it was an actual door. (i have atent with an actual door that latches and zips) . Also the screen window roll ups are on the outside. It would be better if you could roll up or let down the screen closures from the inside.

Zippers and stitching seem to be top quality. However, do not purchase this screen room expecting a quick initial setup and a bug free enclosure. There are numerous issues with the design of this screen room. Large gaps of about 1 x 2 inches are at the top of each panel's connections on the front wall with no provisions from the manufacture to seal. I made "flaps" using black duct tape which work fine. In an effort to fasten side panels to wall without mechanical fasteners, Carefree designers have developed a Velcro "belt" which fastens on the gutter at the top end and is secured with a stake at the bottom. This design is not very secure and will gap from the RV with any wind velocity. I used additional Velcro strips in areas at the top and bottom of the strap to help secure the end panels to this belt. This is a new design for 2012 but not an improvement. The directions shipped with my screen room were for the pre-2012 model and I downloaded the proper instructions from the Carefree website. Not a major issue but annoying. One of the end panels was shipped with an incorrectly installed grommet. I am contacting Carefree about a replacement for this issue. The skirting panel which runs along the bottom of the RV is now one piece instead of small overlapping panels. This is an improvement in design but when cutting the flap for the steps area, no provisions are supplied to hold the flap in place and prevent gaping under the stairs. I solved this problem with additional Velcro strips to hold the flap in place.

In summary, do not purchase this screen room if you are not handy with customizing the design. With a little work and tweaking, it will perform as expected.

I recently ordered this for my camper and set up was pretty simple. If you are not the tallest of people, a step ladder will come in handy. The material is a little thin, but it should last as long as it is taken care of. It also comes with a skirt for the bottom of the trailer, which I haven't set up yet. That involves some fitting and cutting, and there are several metal clips that have 3M tape on the back of them, that you stick on to the camper. There are also screw holes in the clips if the tape doesn't work, but the screws aren't provided. The screen room does not come with a floor mat, but any camping mat should do the trick. Dyer's had the best price for these rooms that I could find, and it was shipped right away. So far I'm happy with this screen room. It was only set up in the back yard so far, hopefully it does the job keeping out the bugs while I'm camping.

I don't cook in our 25' Outback, use the outdoor stove. Before heading for the Oregon Coast for a month, decided we needed an add-a-room if I was going to cook in rainy weather for a month. Easy set-up but not a custom fit, sizes cover a 2' spread for awning widths. Decent addition, though and Dyers had great price and terrific delivery time.