New van is built should be delivered tomorrow, I wanted to have an annex made of just shade cloth to keep the fly's out and the sun as required.
Hubby wants to take in the view unrestricted ,and is concerned it will be too hot and stop the cool breeze.
We are heading out around the block for an known time frame.
I believe we will use the annex even if in parts as side shade protection and then flys as needed.
Please help us with some experienced advice.
We have been told fly screen only is not solid enough.
Do not want to get divorced before we head out. We got through picking the fabric and other such big decisions but this one has us too undecided.

Macbeth

Hi Macbeth,
Don't panic.
Work it out as you go along.
Have a look at what others are doing as you travel.
It's not had to pick up shade cloth/annex/mesh on the road.
What suits some may not suit others.
We have a shade cloth long wall, and one end wall.
Not fly screen
Does us at the moment.
Thinking about annex walls, but will wait and see.
Had a screen/mesh type annex about two vans ago, and we did not like it.
Happy and safe travels to you both.

That summons thee to heaven or to hell."
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 2.1

Hi MacBeth. We do not have a full annex, there is just the two of us so don't need that as an extra room. We have shade cloth, as posted above, for extra shade protection from very hot sun or breeze.

If you sit in a full annex, passers by consider that your personal space and more than likely, will not intrude, whereas, if you are relaxing under an open awning, you will get friendly comments from passers by.

Happy and safe travelling.

Colin.

Many thanks for your advice, it will be taken on board.
We have decided to disagree for now but I would still like to know if many travelers use there annexes.

warm regards
Macbeth

Usually just use the awning but have shadecloth walls for shade from sun and/or protection from wind. We don't need an extra room and we like sitting under the awning.

Definitely don't make any rash decisions. As others have said, picking up either shadecloth or vinyl walls is easy. Ask around other travellers you meet and see what their preferences are and why. This may help to inform your own decision.

We have full annex walls for when we stay on sites for over a week, and a shade cloth screen for shorter periods, we have experienced times when the weather has been really bad and it's great to have extra protection at the entrance to the van, and to stop wind blowing rain over the out side chairs / tables and toys ect, we still have lots of people call in for a chat, and it seems to give that extra security of not having things knocked off from the light fingered brigade when walking past.

Cheers

That sums up our position. There are two of us and we generally just have the awning. Stayed at Maroochydore for a week recently and only used the awning. However, sometimes we will errect one side of the annex for wind protection/privacy. As others have said, don't sweat it, you'll both come to a solution eventually.
Cheeers

I take it that your van will have a solid, pull out awning and that you are debating whether or not the walls should be full or shade cloth.
IMO go for the solid walls and side. We opted for shade walls and found them all but useless. We have just discarded them and bought a full annexe with zipp-on walls and extra fly. If you are constantly travelling, you will find that most of the time you will only use the roof awning but there are many times, including weather events, that the simple addition of a side or end wall will be a godsend. If you are staying in the one spot for more than a few days and the weather is suspect then the full annexe is best.
Jock

in our other van we had a heavy shade cloth type of annexe that could be unzipped so only one side was up ,we could see through it but others couldnt see in
but we found it good if we went off for the day as we could leave things like tables etc out and they couldnt be seen when we have rezipped it alltogether
we still had breezes come through ,just gave us a bit of extra privacy so we liked it

our new van hasnt got one as yet but later on we may do the same again