Favorite Camping Accessories.

[Katjo]

What is that one favorite camping accessory that you don’t really need but prefer not to camp without? 

Mine is our Clam screen room.

It goes up so fast and easy and I enjoy being able to be “outside” without being a human buffet for mosquitos and flys! 

We’ve had our Clam for 2 years and it’s held up great through all types of weather.

[Mike and Carol]

We like our Clam, too.  One of our favorites is our sunshade that slides into our Fiamma awning.

 

[Katjo]

40 minutes ago, Mike and Carol said:

We like our Clam, too.  One of our favorites is out sunshade that slides into our Fiamma awning.

 

@Mike and Carol Ohhhh I love that!!  Is it hard to attach to the awning?
Do you have a link? I have Discoid Lupus so the sun is my enemy, this shade looks so great! Intrigued. 

[John and Debbie]

1 hour ago, Katjo said:

What is that one favorite camping accessory that you don’t really need but prefer not to camp without? 

Mine is our Clam screen room.

It goes up so fast and easy and I enjoy being able to be “outside” without being a human buffet for mosquitos and flys! 

We’ve had our Clam for 2 years and it’s held up great through all types of weather.

What size is your clam?

[Katjo]

9 minutes ago, John Welte said:

What size is your clam?

It’s 11.5 x 11.5. 

[Steve Morris]

Our style of camping is still a little primitive compared to what it will be when our Oliver is ready. 🙂 We too really enjoy the benefits of the CLAM shelter, since we don't really have any indoor space in the trailer. Our biggest complaint is how hot to gets inside due to limited airflow with the fine screen material.  If you ask Deb, she'd probably say the changing room with CleanWaster folding toilet for the middle of the night needs.

One that's really been handy, and probably will still be in the Oliver with its limited storage, is a pair of GCI Pico folding arm chairs. Much more comfortable than cheap bag chairs, and roomier than our Helinox Sunset chairs that are always in the Cruiser. They're sorta like directors chairs, but they fold up the size of a brief case. Pricy, but very convenient (wow! pricier than I thought. They were $89 when we bought ours last March)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N71DDXW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[2008RN]

My klos travel guitar, although we have  been thinking about a screen room.

[Mike and Carol]

3 hours ago, Katjo said:

@Mike and Carol Ohhhh I love that!!  Is it hard to attach to the awning?
Do you have a link? I have Discoid Lupus so the sun is my enemy, this shade looks so great! Intrigued. 

It attaches to the awning’s Keder rail, there are two in our Fiamma manual awning.  It’s two piece, the smaller slides in to the awning then the large panel just zips on to the smaller.  I don’t think it would work on an automatic awning.  On our manual awning we are able to withstand pretty high winds with the sunscreen attached and the support poles tied down.  We got it at a booth at the Quartzsite Big Tent show 4 or 5 years ago.  They have them on Amazon for about the same price we paid back then.  It provides good shade and privacy.  Mike

[Steve Morris]

7 minutes ago, Mike and Carol said:

 I don’t think it would work on an automatic awning.

Probably a silly question; to override the automatic retracting in much more than a mild wind, is there a power switch to disable it? Or simply pull the fuse? I'd prefer a manual awning, but that's no longer an option; both are fully automatic.

[Katjo]

@Steve and Deb I like the looks of those chairs, so compacts. Put them in my likes. Thank you for the link. 

Not sure about overriding the awning retractable sensor.

I wouldn’t override it though, I think it’s a good safety feature to protect the awning. 

[SeaDawg]

3 minutes ago, Katjo said:

wouldn’t override it though, I think it’s a good safety feature to protect the awning

I think they're talking about over riding if a sunshade is attached. No sure. Then, it's necessary. 

Not even sure if a sunshade can be attached to a Girard electric awning. Haven't heard of anyone doing so. Yet.

Your clam is a great bet. Keep it. Anchors well. Still can use the awning.

 

[Katjo]

@2008RN  Sitting by a campfire strumming a guitar…love it!👍🏼

[Katjo]

@SeaDawg I’m quite happy with the Clam. I hadn’t realized their sunshade was on a manual awning.
I’m always looking for shade because of my discoid lupus so that did intrigue me.😍

[Steve Morris]

12 minutes ago, SeaDawg said:

Not even sure if a sunshade can be attached to a Girard electric awning.

It looks like it has a bolt rope slot in the bottom, so it should work. (Assuming the G2000 is the current model offered by Oliver.) And looking the wiring, it looks possible to add a toggle to the hot side of the switch to disable. Seems doable if I ever wanted a sunshade. The Clam is great, but it sure gets hot inside!

[Mike and Carol]

52 minutes ago, Steve and Deb said:

Probably a silly question; to override the automatic retracting in much more than a mild wind, is there a power switch to disable it? Or simply pull the fuse? I'd prefer a manual awning, but that's no longer an option; both are fully automatic.

I can’t speak to the automatic retracting.  The Fiamma has support legs that must be used.  If the automatic awning doesn’t have support legs there would be a lot of downward pressure on the awning from the sunscreen.  Mike

[Katjo]

@Steve and Deb I’ve heard other people say their Clam gets hot inside too but we’ve never felt hot in ours. We always get a great breeze through it. In fact, we have a fan we bought for it but we’ve never used it. We’ve not been in super hot temperature though, 90 at the hottest but mostly temperatures in the 80s. 

[Ron and Phyllis]

We love our Clam also, but it's rather new and we've only used it on one trip thus far.  Can anyone tell me about their experience when it rains? I understand the roof panel is just water resistant.  I was considering a tarp placed over the top on those occasions rather instead of taking the Clam down.

[Mike and Carol]

7 hours ago, Ron and Phyllis said:

We love our Clam also, but it's rather new and we've only used it on one trip thus far.  Can anyone tell me about their experience when it rains? I understand the roof panel is just water resistant.  I was considering a tarp placed over the top on those occasions rather instead of taking the Clam down.

The clam won’t keep you dry in a good rain.  We find ours especially useful in cold weather.  We put the panels on and set up the fire pit (propane) and it provides a warm outside room.  Mike

[Steph and Dud B]

16 hours ago, Steve and Deb said:

Our biggest complaint is how hot to gets inside due to limited airflow with the fine screen material.

The Sport model of the Clam has "windows" - one section of screen on each wall can be zipped open and rolled up for more airflow. That helps.

[Steph and Dud B]

14 hours ago, Steve and Deb said:

It looks like it has a bolt rope slot in the bottom, so it should work. (Assuming the G2000 is the current model offered by Oliver.) And looking the wiring, it looks possible to add a toggle to the hot side of the switch to disable.

No way I'd attach a sun shade to our Girard awning. Seems way too flimsy. And I wouldn't disable the automatic retraction, either. But you could. Each awning has a separate power switch on the main control panel.

[Steph and Dud B]

8 hours ago, Ron and Phyllis said:

Can anyone tell me about their experience when it rains?

We were out in our Clam during a protracted downpour last week. There were a few drops leaking from a couple of the seams on the outer edge of the roof, and a few more snuck around our side panels, but we stayed dry in the middle.

[Ron and Phyllis]

Thank you! That is sure good to hear!

[Hokieman]

1 hour ago, Steph and Dud B said:

No way I'd attach a sun shade to our Girard awning. Seems way too flimsy. And I wouldn't disable the automatic retraction, either. But you could. Each awning has a separate power switch on the main control panel.

Here’s a link to a previous  post explaining a good way to support that flimsy self-supporting awning,  and some reasons for doing it.  

Support Poles for Awning  

I’ve got a set of the Carefree poles from a previous trailer, but haven’t used them yet with my automatic Girard.  @Mike & Carol’s sun shade looks like a terrific accessory I’d like to have.

[Katjo]

We do not have the rain tarp that you can purchase for the top of the Clam but we do have the side panels.
We’ve had it in some pretty heavy rain and very little rain got inside except a few drops near the corner seams. 

[John E Davies]

I have not yet used my brand new Clam, but FYI the early versions did not have a rain flap at the top, the new ones do, each one overlaps the side panel by about three inches and is secured by velcro. I do not expect much water leakage, and if there is I doubt ir will affect the usability. Except for the big issue of trying to get out the door with a waterfall pouring off that opening..,😳

I only bought three side panels and my Clam has five plus the door. If I use it much in cold weather I will buy another set of three. Note to self: have a brolly inside the Clam when it is raining.

 

 

John Davies

Spokane WA