Whichever way y'all decide to go, having good walls to attach to your awning can make a huge difference in comfort.
The awning struts on my Bundutec Bunduawn 360 reach out almost 8' from the backboard in each direction. With walls attached and angled out, I've tested and documented temp diffs up to 25-30º F in a variety of environments and situations, from the woods of New England to the borderlands of far west Texas. That can make an evening a hell of a lot more comfortable, even without walls all the way around. Close it in completely, and you can bake yourself out of there.
Windstorm in the Chihuahuan Desert, walls to windward only.
Lake camping - walls to windward for the prevailing breeze, though for privacy primarily (summer houses across the lake but none any other direction), while allowing light and sightlines.
Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee a couple Novembers ago when it was colder than a well-digger's ass.
New Hampshire lake camping this past Oct, experimenting with different wall configs.
In these two images, just above and below, I have the vertical walls pulled back on each side along the trailer side as I continued to experiment with different arrangements. The angled walls around the backside are all flared out.
In this configuration I have almost 8' out and 24' long under cover and walled. I'll sit under there for hours and work on gear, cook, work on my laptop, and read, etc.
The night I took these images I was sitting in there after dark reading and saw a shadow out of the corner of my eye. I looked up from my book and watched an adult skunk saunter right past the tips of my boots. Came right in the warm closed-off area investigating, bold as brass.
It's surprising, even not being completely sealed, how much my
propane fire ring will contribute to overall comfort. Pretty damned cozy. You can see I hang the center wall--in back above the chairs--down a bit to let some rising heat out.
I'm making skirts for the trailer that fit either port or starboard side as needed. Put it on the ladder side and I'll have access to the under trailer storage during bad weather while still sealing under trailer drafts.
I love my system and it's multi-purpose adaptability to a variety of layouts and situations.
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Roaddude - Traveling Photographer/Writer/Artist On the Road In North America. Gear, reviews, people, places, and culture.
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