One of the things RV events like the Forest River Owners Group (FROG) International Rally does is show you some of the latest and greatest products for us RVers. One of those products was the Lippert Picnic Popup Gazebo (also available on Amazon).
A gadget like this will be familiar to many RVers and I’m sure a bunch of us have something like this. In fact, for some time I wanted a Clam screened tent, which is the same basic idea. So why did I get the Lippert Picnic Popup Gazebo? Several reasons.
The weather is here…
The FROG rally was held in Indiana in August and that meant that the state was going to throw out a sampler platter of weather to see what we thought. Those weather gods brought beautiful sunny days, torrential rains, wind, and more. If you thought you brought the right clothing for the event, you probably might want to bring yet one more thing.
From the moment the vendors were set up at FROG, Lippert had their booth at the ready. One of the things at the booth was one of these gazebo tents.
I walked by it when it was pouring and sat in it when it was sunny and beautiful. No matter what ol’ Ma Nature had up her sleeve, that tent withstood it.
So I bought one. Why wouldn’t I? I’ve been wanting one of these for a while, so now I have one.
While I don’t see specifications for the material the tent is made of, it seems pretty durable and withstood some pretty harsh weather. There are fiberglass poles in each side that pop out to put the tent up. There are also fiberglass poles that you put inside around the door opening to hold that up.
The door and walls are made up of a screen material, so if you’re camping where the bugs want to party with you, they can bug off and stay outside. Another reason I like this—I am a mosquito magnet.
What’s included
With your $299 you get the tent (duh) and stakes. There is also a nifty carrying bag. I found that this fits into my pass-through storage on our Rockwood Mini Lite 2205S even with all the other junk, er, gadgets I have in there, as well as our lithium and solar charging goodies.
Setup
This is easy to do. You open the bag and take out the tent, which folds in half to get into the bag.
Open up the tent and pull on the side panel straps to pop them out.
The next step is to pick up the tent and put it where you want it to be. My wife and I have picked it up and put it over picnic tables easily. It’s pretty light at only 35.5 pounds.
Now you’ll want to stake it down. We do this with lag bolts and washers that we got at the local hardware store. As a lazy person, I use the electric drill to raise and lower my stabilizers, so that’s how I get the lag bolts into and out of the ground. They’re cheap and work well—much more so than tent stakes, in my opinion.
Now go inside the tent and install the fiberglass poles on either side of the zippered entry screen. Lastly, push up the middle and you’re done. It’s really fast and easy as long as you follow these instructions.
By the way, yes, I got it back into the storage bag the first time with no foul language.
I also got the side panels that cover the screened walls of this so we could use it as a proper tent as well, should we choose to. These have their own bag and just stick to the side of the gazebo with hook-and-loop (come on, we all know it’s Velcro) fasteners.
Overall, a purchase I have used quite a bit since I got it and one that I’m pleased with.
##RVT1120
The 32 pound weight is what turned us off. As I am constantly looking to decrease the weight we carry (and failing miserably most of the time), this nice shade unit is just too heavy. Sigh . . .
Looks like the Lippert gazebo has the same shortcoming as my generic gazebo. Mine has add-on mesh walls that tuck under the canopy, but they don’t form a bug proof seal with the canopy. I call it a bad flaw in the design because bugs tend to go up the outside of the walls until they pass under the edge of the canopy and over the wall, and are then trapped inside the gazebo.
When my current gazebo is ready to be replaced, I’ll be looking for one that doesn’t have the bug-trap design.
Where is it made? USA?
China. Have a good night, LB. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
I have a similar canopy made by Gazelle Tents – looks identical. The one problem we have is that it can get too hot inside. Simple to set up, easy to take down – folds up like it is supposed to every time but…
Since the mesh (at least on our Gazelle) is “No-see-em” proof, it just simply doesn’t breath that well. The only air flow you get is if you open the door flaps. On a hot summer day in the sun, it can get well over 100° inside!
To combat this, several brands are now including zippable flaps in the side panels so you can open it up for ventilation if the bugs aren’t that bad. I highly recommend one that breathes better!
Thanks, Tony! Well, you convinced me. I’ll put it on a Christmas list because I do not foresee DW agreeing to fork over our money to buy this. I can hear her pointing out that we should not have spent so much money on a MH if I want a tent too. 😉 Oh well, I do see it being useful to us in our travels even if she can’t without demonstrations. Thanks again! 🙂
I’ve seen those kind in strong winds, they ended up in the garbage. Both times owners were not home. One was a Gazelle, the other might have been a Clam.
I used to want one, now I’m keeping my $300 in my pocket.