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Tue Oct 07, 2008 6:13 am

I scored a Reimo Tour Action off this site. It has the floor and spare sleeping cabin.
The only problem with these is you'll have to have someone from the UK ship it to you as the company does not sell to the US. Maybe Nigel would be willing .?
It's very stable and roomy. The instructions suggest to set it up once before your journey- good advice!!

The only thing I don't like about it is it only has one screen window on the side

Tue Oct 07, 2008 6:24 am

I don't know why those last two didn't load. Here they are.

Tue Oct 07, 2008 6:22 pm

That's a very schmick tent. 8) How is it attached to the bus?

Tue Oct 07, 2008 6:31 pm

Wow I was thinking of getting rid of my original tent and getting one of the new "modern" ones.

But from the looks of it, none of them are as "user friendly" as the original. The original seems to fit better AND have just the right amount of room. 8)

Tue Oct 07, 2008 8:26 pm

^^

agreed.

the new tent designs are not very attractive. practical maybe, but the looks...that last reimo one looks good design and construction-wise. but the colours of all the new ones are awful.

this is our vintage german tent. not a westfalia tent, but a german one made by strohmeyer. it fits the 70's camper perfectly.

Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:32 am

Hi
I came across this post and was wondering what the make and model this awning is? You don't seem to say. It is the best looking small awning I've seen.

Regards

Paul

Mon Feb 09, 2009 7:01 pm

If you're asking about mine, it is a Reimo Tour Action. It is plenty roomy for me. It packs small enough and weighs around 62 pounds. Someone asked how it attaches. It has a metal pole that goes through a loop and attaches to the drip rail with clamps. It is self supporting.
The UK does not ship to the US so you have to get someone over there to get it and ship it for you.

Sat Nov 21, 2009 8:13 am

For those interested in getting a Reimo side tent....

As far as I've been able to find after some research, there is only a single official Reimo dealer/importer in the US: SKL Enterprises / EuroCampers.com

The EuroCampers.com site advertises only a single Reimo tent among their stock: the Tour Compact 2: http://secure.mycart.net/catalogs/catalog.asp?prodid=5124792&showprevnext=1

HOWEVER, they assure me that they can order just about ANY Reimo tent, as long as you're willing to wait a while (a few weeks, maybe a month). As a result, my fiancee and I are thinking about one of these instead of the Tour Compact 2:

Easy: http://reimonew.ms-visucom.de/en/93653-bus_annex_tent_easy/

Adria 3: http://reimonew.ms-visucom.de/en/900881-bus_annex_tent_adria_3/

Tour Action 3 with floor: http://reimonew.ms-visucom.de/en/900274-reimo_bus_annex_tent_tour_action_3_with_floor/

We're leaning towards the Tour Action 3 because it seems to be the ONLY Reimo side tent which comes with a floor. Downside is that it has the fewest windows. The Easy is sure simple, and the price is right, but it has no awning. The Adria 3 is the most expensive, but also the most versatile. Choices choices.....

Sat Sep 04, 2010 8:08 pm

I have 3 different styles of tents for my Westy.
Two original canvas Westy tents, one Koln tent, and the early Spacemaker.
I set them all up today, mainly to air them out and, check out ease of set up, and to see which seemed the more functional.

It was a bit windy, and the Koln was a bitch to set up, but once I stopped reading the included instructions it was not too bad, and I liked that it had a built in floor, and screens.

The Spacemaker went up easily enough, but I have no instructions, so I was figuring it out as I went. What I don't like is not having a floor....I don't have a tarp floor for it. Also do not like that the doors do not have screens.

Since I will travel with dogs, both of these tents will not work for over nights, as the dogs can get out under the bus below the sliding door.

The original Westy tents, went up easily. Though they are heavy, I like that they have an enclosed floor, screens on the doors, and best of all the area that goes around the slider is completely enclosed. There is no way for the dogs to get out.

With that said, I am torn as to which I will travel with, but I am keeping them all for different scenarios. I pull a small trailer behind, so I am not worried about space inside the bus.

Sat Sep 04, 2010 9:44 pm

This just sparked my tent curiosity as I'm getting ready to take myself and
my crew to some of my favorite busing events/camping spots.

The newer version of the busdepot add-a-room tent/awning thing
supposedly has a partition for below the slider door, as stated on their site:

"Now Includes a floor and wind break for below vehicle door (previously
optional)."

If anyone has bought the newer tent and would like to post pictures I would
very much appreciate it. Also, and opinions on the newer version vs
anything else on the market.

I'm a tent guy, and having a floor under my feet is a must, also having
completely enclosed is a must in my mind; bugs think I'm a tasty morsel.

Tue Nov 02, 2010 2:48 pm

Anyone purchased the new Bus Depot Add A Room or do you know of anyone who has? I'm curious as to how it is being received. Too bad it came out so late in the summer.

Tue Jan 04, 2011 10:20 am

Bump :D Im going to purchase the spacemaker soon and was also wondering about the space under the sliding door. I usually camp with my dog and my girl brings hers too. Would be nice if that area was blocked off. Does anyone have and pics? Thanks.

Mon Feb 28, 2011 5:05 am

bump.

Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:48 pm

Hey Busdepot step up with pics of the slider step area, many dog campers here and it may help justify A 400.00 purchase /cough /cough tent for 400.00? Jeez I must be crazy!

Tue Mar 01, 2011 6:43 am

I don't believe I have any pics of the wind break under the sliding door, although I've used it many times when camping. I'll be happy to take some pics next time I use it, but given that it's 38 degrees outside right now and there's still snow on the ground, that's not going to be anytime soon.

The wind break does not create a perfect seal, but it will basically fill the gap under the door to keep critters and wind out. It would be difficult if not impossible to create a tent with a perfect seal unless all VW Buses and Vans were the same height. We did spend a lot of time working on a seal that was as tight as possible but still allowed the flexibility to work on VW Buses and Vans of varying ride heights. According to a review posted to the Texas Coalition of Buses mailing list, "The Bus Depot tent makes an impressively snug fit against the bus and has a bottom curtain so wind, bugs and varmints don't just wander in underneath. The canvas is thin but stronger than your average tent. The poles are built like a tank. These tents are built to last."

Regarding your specific question about a dog, the door to the Bus zips up entirely. You can zip and unzip it in seconds. If the door were zipped up your dog would be in a fully enclosed area, and I can't think of any way he could get out short of somehow mangling the entire structure. So why not just do that? At that point the windbreak would be on the outside of the zipped door and a non-issue.

As for whether a dog could get out if you left the door unzipped and relied only on the windbreak and vestibule walls to contain him, I think it would depend on the dog. Guinness, my dog, would be fine in there. But if a dog were diligent enough and pushed against the right spots, could he somehow manage to create enough of a gap to squeeze out? I don't know, maybe, depending on his size and his tenacity. How manic does your dog get when he's in an enclosed space? You sometimes hear about dogs that manage to escape enclosed kennels or tall fences that were actually built specifically to contain a dog.

Tue Mar 01, 2011 6:52 am

thanks bd, i will be adding one to an order i am making at the end of the month.... i might pay your 'light bill' in one order. :)

Tue Mar 01, 2011 8:36 am

Ok all I just came back from a week long camping trip with my new add a room from busdepot. Here is my report.. Its Awesome! And its very sturdy. The first day there i was alone with my dog. I was camping on lake murray at a state park and just so happened that we had 35 mph winds with gusts up to 50 so putting it up alone did suck. However once i had it up and tied down, thoroughly I might add, it resisted the wind fairly well. As for the area under the bus I had the tent on pavement and the bus on the ground (easier access to shore power) so couldnt use the little short poles to stake into the ground to hold what i believe to be the tarp that blocks up the under bus area so i used coolers, spare wood, kerosene container ect... to fill the gap. I kept my basset hound in but not the damn raccoons out. Was a great trip and all in all i dont feel bad about buying it. It could stand to be a little bit cheaper (i think it was around 460 shipped) but i just look at it as an investment for quite a few years of camping. I would recommend it to a friend and cant wait to use it at paddys wagons in a few weeks!! Peace!

Tue Mar 01, 2011 10:07 am

Thanks for the positive review, sofakingcool! Yes, you are right that the windbreak under the sliding door is meant to be staked in, so if you were camping on pavement you couldn't use it (unless you rigged up something with a few bungee cords, perhaps). But of course you could zip the door up when you turn in, which would still seal everything and keep the critters out.

As for price, yes I know $399 is a lot of money, but believe me, it's going to product quality, not profit. We only make about 20% net markup on these. I had an original German side tent that my family and I have beaten the heck out of for nearly 20 years and still worked perfectly. It cost me the equivalent of $700 at the time and was worth every penny. In the last two decades I have had many other side tents, but none that made me want to give up that one. Others did this or that better, but ultimately just weren't as solidly built or as easy to use as my favorite German side tent. This is what led me to take the design in-house, instead of settling for what was already on the market. I wanted a full-featured Add-A-Room, not a tent. Something with awnings, roll up sides, an attachable floor, a wind break, etc., I also wanted the frame design to be simplified enough to cut the assembly time roughly in half. But most importantly it also had to be built to the quality standards of an original German tent, unlike most of what's on the market today. My "bottom line" goal was that this had to be so good, both in functionality and in quality, that it would make me want to finally replace my old German standby. To this end I reviewed sample after sample of every pole, every fabric, etc. I compared prototypes side by side with the original German tents. Then I took them camping in heavy wind and rain to see how they fared in the "real world," and made more changes. The process literally took a couple of years before production began. Is it perfect? Of course not. Already I can think of one or two little nitpicky things I'll improve on in some future generation. But overall I'm very pleased with the result. As for price, yes I could have made it cheaper - but not without compromising quality. The final product is only as good as its weakest component. Bulletproof poles are meaningless if the canvas doesn't last. Quality canvas is meaningless if the zippers are crap. And so on. I was not willing to compromise quality to the extent that would have been necessary in order to drop it below $399. I wanted this thing to last me another 20 years, just as my original German side tent did.

As for that German side tent? After camping with the new Add-A-Room all summer, I sold it to a Samba member last fall. After 20 years and a dozen contenders, I've finally found a worthy successor.

Wed Mar 02, 2011 8:23 pm

Indeed.. its great. I love it. And no.. i dont work for bus depot lol.. Like i said the wind was wicked strong and i was a lil worried. I just got in the bus and was like screw it. its now or never, guess ill just see how it does. And it did really well. No rips or tears. No problems with the zippers after a weeks worth of camping with a bunch of drunk people. Im very satisfied. Anyone in SC or NC coming to paddys wagons is welcome to come check it out.

Thu Mar 03, 2011 1:10 am

I have had a version of the Reimo for the last six years. Compared to the frame thing I had before it goes up reasonably quickly, weighs a reasonable amount and is generally reasonable, by which I mean I haven't regretted buying it but neither has it set my pants on fire.

What it isn't though, is any good in wind. Twice I've been hit by busters coming up from nowhere, twice my awning has ended up in a ball underneath the fridge. Oh, and it tears too easily, a pain in the bum when you open the sliding door in the morning and hear "rrrr----iiiiipp."

At the moment when I require more room I'm taking a normal tent along and a sun-awning thing, which goes away if there's any sign of wind.

I have seen these and heard really good things about them. 2 things I don't like are the price and the size of the packed up tent, but going up in under a minute and being good in a wind sounds good to me.

http://au.oztent.com/

(I know it's a bit of a tangent, but does anyone have any mods keeping their pop tops up in with anything over a freshening breeze?)