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Accessories:

1) Dometic/A&E “add-a-room” screen and vinyl enclosure.

When I bought the van in 2010, it came with a heavy box full of an awning accessory: full screen and panel enclosure.  The awning is considered rare today, and from my research, the factory enclosure is even rarer than the awning itself.

This enclosure has a one-piece screen; the front section slides into the accessory track and all three sides zip to the nylon roof/rainfly.  The vinyl panels then zip to the screen; they have tiebacks to hold them in place after rolling them up. There is also a canvas-like floor that Velcro's to the perimeter of the the enclosure, as well as a side skirt that is supposed to Velcro onto the rocker panel.  The latter Velcro strips were riveted into the van and have long since lost their “Velcroness”.  Ergo, the Velcro has now been replaced with snaps.

This enclosure is worth its heavy weight when winter camping!  It totally blocks cold wind and heats up right quick with a propane-powered heater.  The entire enclosure weighs approx. 30 pounds and is quite bulky.  Therefore, this enclosure only comes out of the box once a year: at Buses By The Bridge every January at Lake Havasu, AZ.

2) Bus Depot EZY-Awn Enclosure

Two side panels and one front panel, bought from BusDepot.com.  These panels are for Bus Depot’s EZY Awning (the smaller, 8’ version), but I’ve adapted it to fit the Trans-Awn: I didn't like the way the sides attached to the front, so I added zippers at the two corners. I also added welting along the top of the front panel to slide into the accessory track. The sides are bit long for the 8' awning, but it's not a big deal (sides are simply clipped onto the awning fabric). Still need to work on making a nylon side skirt for the van, but overall this will be a good lightweight enclosure for warm-weather trips.

Anyway, if any other TA2000 owners are wanting a screen enclosure, the Bus Depot EZY-Awning panels are an option.

          

Upgrades:

“Yardbug” on TheSamba posted in March 2011 that he bought a TA2000 awning at a junkyard that had blue fabric.  He had a brown van with a “new” blue awning; I had a blue van with a brown/tan awning.  I offered to do a fabric swap, so we did!

           

Modifications:

Because the case opens down and the brackets are 45° angle versions, the awning tray interferes with the sliding door.  In order to keep it held up while the awning is deployed, two cam straps are used, one at each end.  I’ll be changing this to integrated chains or wire in the future.  Update: Small metal chain now being used, as seen at right; much easier to use and does a more effective job.  Chain hooks into small hole (already there from previous owner) and into the accessory track on the back of the case.  I also removed the tension springs; this reduced the weight of the awning and makes it a lot easier to roll up.  The downside is that the awning is a tad more annoying to deploy by myself.

         

TransAwn 2000 Awning

Fiamma 45S Awning