# Safari rooms ...



## Gixer-Mark (Nov 6, 2007)

Hi All

Just a quickie ideas please :

With our deal on our new Motorhome we bargained in a full size Fiamma safari room ( + alarm & fiamma bike rack ) however .... now time has passed & the collection date looms over us at the beginning of March ... we are in two minds if we will really ever use the room!

Let me digress ... as ex caravanners, we obviously had a large awning & whilst we were a dab hand at erecting it / taking it down ... it took ages pegging out etc. The caravan obviously never moved with the awning on as we had our Kia Sorento.

The whole reason for the change to a Motrohome is to be more flexible ... so by putting this room up, not only will it be time wasted ( most of the time the weather is far to cold to sit in it & if it's hot, the sides are open mostly !! ) but it would have to be taken down every time we wanted to use the motorhome .....so our dilema is, it's the best part of £800 that can be put to better use on something else we intended to pay cash for & is being fitted to the home!

Should we go ahead & keep the room, with the knowledge it's 'there' but will probably never use / rarely use or use the money wisely elsewhere ?

Really appreciate feedback on this. 

Oh! yeah ... we don't venture abroad yet ( we DID with the caravan ! ) so hot weather is not a problem as we shall stay in the Uk... still in our late thirties / early forties so time on hols is split between package & short weekends, bank hols etc in the motorhome ... Oh! and work !!! LOL!

Thanks all
Mark


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## JohnsCrossMotorHomes (Jul 21, 2007)

Speedyone said:


> Hi All
> 
> Just a quickie ideas please :
> 
> ...


Hi Mark,

The F iamma awning and Privacy room is a total different set up to a caravan, keep it, easy to set up and it will be added value when you eventually want to change the MH OR SELL IT.

Regards


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## artona (Jan 19, 2006)

Hi

We have a full safari room, although it is a omnister, not that, that matters.

It takes two minutes to roll out the awning (roof) and that can be used on its own as a sun shade. The sides take about five minutes and have four/five pegs each. In this set up you have a sun shade and a wind break. The front takes about another five minutes and gives a very useuable space, especially if you have children.

£800 is a lot of money and you have to decide how often you will use it. When we have have tried to part ex our MH with a dealer they have always said that accessories do not enhance the value just make it easier to sell. 


stew


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## autostratus (May 9, 2005)

JohnsCrossMotorHomes said:


> ..........keep it,...... and it will be added value when you eventually want to change the MH OR SELL IT.
> 
> Regards


Ok in theory but I would be interested to know whether this is in fact the case.

What are the experiences of members when they come to sell their MH.
Does the safari room count for anything.
I suspect not but hope I am wrong as we have one unused and still in its box unopened and stored in a bedroom.
Perhaps we would be better off selling seperately.


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## Suenliam (Mar 22, 2006)

Hi Mark - we had a safari room with our last MH. After a couple of times practice it took about 10 mins to put up and 7 to take down, so not too much to ask of so much extra space. 

You say you will not use the MH abroad - are you sure :lol: :lol: :lol: . You may find that you take to the lifestyle so much you will resent hols. taken any other way! I am not sure where you live, but if it is anywhere near a Channel port, I don't think I would take bets on you staying in this country all the time.

What ever you decide, make sure you enjoy it.

Sue


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

Hi Mark

Other side of the coin here. We had one with our previous motorhome, which we had for over a year, and camped in most weathers. We never used it once. We used the wind-out awning a lot, which brings shade when it's hot, and when it would be too hot to stay in a safari room. When it's cold, we stayed inside or walked / cycled somewhere - it would be too cold to sit in a safari room.

The only time we opened the (previously unopened) bags - despite it being in the hands of the previous owner for 6 years - was to check what we had when we were selling it.

So no, I would never buy or bargain a safari room. Wind-out awning yes, every time.

Gerald


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## Gixer-Mark (Nov 6, 2007)

Oohh ! dear .... you lot have left me in a right 2 & 8 over this decision !:roll: 

Can see the benefits of keeping the room may well outway not keeping it ...
will see if anyone else has any different angles on this then make a final decision over what to do!  

Thanks for the input so far anyway . :lol:


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## Fatalhud (Mar 3, 2006)

Hi Mark
We have a safari room and the only time it gets used is when I go to the Moto GP bike race at Donnington and we are on site for 5 days
all the other time we tour usually moving on every day or at most stopping 2 nights In which case its not worth putting up we simple use the roll out awning
So I think part of your decision may be how you are going to use your van

Alan H


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## EJB (Aug 25, 2007)

Ex very long term caravanner used to a medium sized porch awning for all eventualities.
The wind out Fiamma is really useful although I don't understand why it has to be such a weighty product.
The Safari Room, which weighs about 45Kg....will probably never get used! 
It's still new and unused even though my MH is 5 years old and we are the third owners.

Now, 20 and 25Kg sacks I can manage easily....but not 45Kg bags.


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## artona (Jan 19, 2006)

Hi

One query Mark. When you say £800 is that including the awning and the safari room.

If its just the safari room then I would definately not buy it new. We paid £250 for our immaculate, as new Omnister one. The awning was already on the van


stew


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## cavaqueen (Mar 27, 2006)

Hi there, 

We had a safari room for a couple of years, and used it quite a few times, it is easy to put up and take down, however, I didn't like the fact that in very bad weather I used to worry that the safari room was putting a lot of strain on the awning and my imagination used to run riot visualising the wind getting underneath and causing the awning to be ripped off the van, so I used to pack the safari room away and roll in the awning. 

Having had to do this a few times I decided to sell the safari room and bought a "cooking tent" (that's what I call it), it is not attached to the van, and is quite cheap at around £70, I use it to store my outside bits and bobs and also for cooking inside when it's too windy or wet to cook outside. I find this the best thing for me, and I can sleep better at night, if the weather gets really bad I am not worrying about the van getting damaged, all I have to do is wind in the awning, which only takes a minute. 

The other thing you can think about is the stand alone awnings (I think that is what they are called), they are not attached to the van, so you can drive off whenever you want to. I have no experience of these, but no doubt someone on here has. 

I hope this helps 

Cavaqueen


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## Sonesta (May 10, 2005)

Hi Mark,

We bought an Omnistor Safari room to use with our last motorhome and to be honest we only used it a few times. However, that said, when we did use it, it did provide an excellent and spacious extra room and if you have a family or like to attend rallies/meets etc where you may stay onsite for several days then I can see how one could prove invaluable. 

We have bought one of those drive away awnings for our new motorhome but the quality is poor in comparison to the Omnistor Safari room we had for our previous motorhome, plus the drive away awning is a lot of clat to put up too, whereas the Omnistor Safari room, once we had put it up a couple of times and knew exactly what went where etc, was dead easy to both erect and dismantle.  

For us personally, we found that because we like to move from place to place and also like to wildcamp where applicable, we did not have much use for our Safari room and it was a lot of expense for the limited amount of use we got out of it but if I could pick up a second hand one, in good condition at a bargain price then I would be tempted to buy one for our latest motorhome in order to have one for those occasions where one would prove to be useful. 

On our last motorhome we had to have our Omnistor wind out canopy/awning fitted as an extra as it did not come as standard with that particular motorhome but with our new motorhome a recessed wind out Omnistor awning came fitted as standard and to be honest a wind out awning is something I would reccomend to any motorhome owner. A wind out awning is great for protecting you from the sun or rain and with a ground sheet, a couple of large windbreaks and your awning wound out you have a little private enclosure where if you want to sit outside in privacy, protected from the elements you can and the beauty of that is you can pack up and wind all that away in a matter of minutes giving you the freedom to come and go as you please. 

To sum it all up for you Mark, from our experience, I would say if you can afford the Safari room you will undoubtedbly find it useful on occasions but you will probably find that the vast majority of the time you only use the wind out awning and if you are looking for total flexibility and true freedom then a Safari room will just be an incumbrance and it will only get a limited amount of use! If this turns out to be the case then maybe you might regret spending £800 on something you only use now and then! But like I say if you can afford it, then I am sure you will find that when you do use it, it makes an excellent extra room and is so simple and easy to put up.

Hope I have not confused you even more!  

Happy Motorhoming

Sue


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## C7KEN (May 27, 2005)

We have the Fiamma sides but not the front. We have only ever used these when there for a weekend or more at a race meeting. Never during normal trips away. We do have a windbreak and erect this all the time to do exactly as its name says. It also adds some privacy. One thing we find a good idea is to have the Fiamma end rafters as using them and the centre rafter keeps the material tighter and cuts out flapping sides dramatically. They can be bought separately from fiamma (or I guess John Cross Fiamma care)


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

We had a safari room with the first van we bought. We never took it out of the packaging and it is still up in the garage loft.

It was heavy and bulky to carry in the van, would have limited us to staying in one place long enough to make use of it and we did not like the idea of worrying about it in windy weather.

We would not be without the wind-out awning and I have made a very lightweight side panel for that. It is made of ripstop nylon ( bought from Croft Mill on the internet ), with shower curtain clips to hang it from the windout awning roof support and tent-type rubber bands to peg down if it is windy. Th whole thing cost under £10, weighs practically nothing, and folds up into a package about the size of a hardback book.

Photos on my album ( see button below)

G


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## Gixer-Mark (Nov 6, 2007)

Thanks all .... we have made our decision !

Not buying it now .... long term we think it will be used so little that it will be a waste of money plus added weight to carry !

Have decided to go with Sue's suggestion ( plus some others mentioned this as well ) & get some good quality wind breaks .... already have 2 full size top quality ground sheets from caravanning so think this will be the best option.

Many thanks for all your help & input

Regards 

Mark


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