Thule Approach 2 Rooftop Tent Awning - Large - Ashland Gray

Video Transcript for Hands-On with the Thule Approach 2 Rooftop Tent Awning

Hey everyone, I'm Evangeline right here at etrailer, and today we're gonna take a look at the Thule awning for the Thule Approach 2 Rooftop Tent. When you feel like maybe the sun or the rain is just limiting your campsite space, you can throw up this awning and just really expand the fun area for your adventures. Compared to other extensions for other tents that take a while to set up, this is super simple. This zips to the front of your Thule Approach 2 Rooftop Tent. It allows you full access to your tent, even when this is all set up, and it only requires that zipper plus these four poles and the guylines to set into place. And suddenly, you have this huge space around your rooftop tent where you have more shade and more protection from the sun, as well as rain.

Now, if you want, you can add even more where there's optional walls you can add to the setup. For me, personally, I think just having this extra space below the tent is already super useful for setting up camp chairs, setting up my camping table for when it's time to eat, and if I set up my cooking area, right here past this awning, I've got the full setup. Now I really like planning out my own campsite, so it's very important to me to have everything that matches. So this extension is gonna be the same color as our Approach Tent 2 here, which is Ashland Gray. And this matches the Approach 2, so if you do have the Thule Approach original, this won't have the same type of connection points.

So it's very important to make sure you get the right product for the right thing. And if at any point you ever get confused, you can always give us a call or send us a message to make sure that you have the right thing. So this extension specifically is available in size large, which is what we have here set up. But you can also get this in size small/medium. We have a very waterproof fabric here on this tent.

This is designed to hold up to the different elements. And when you look at our awning here, just such attention to detail for stitching and all of that. You also have these little vents here, so they are covered in netting, and that's just to add a little bit more airflow, which you'll see come into play when you have all the walls in place. You're also going to have these little lips too, just so that if rain does come down, the lips will guide the water out and away from the tent so you are not getting rained on. Now everything is very, very reinforced.

So whenever you have points around the tent that may have tension, you will see you have reinforced grommets, reinforced stitching, so that even on maybe your slight rain stormy days, this will hold up. The important thing though, is to make sure that you have everything secured properly. So later on into this video, I'll show you how to get this set up and just take key notes here whenever I talk about the guylines and tension so that you get the best experience. I personally love summer activities, kayaking, fishing, hiking, even when it's super warm, I enjoy the sun Now, not everyone shares that same sentiment. And even I can say that compared to standing out there in the direct sun and then sitting here in the shade, this is a much more relaxing experience right here, and that's gonna be key for your different adventures. You may be going out and hiking the different trails or going out fishing or jet skiing or doing whatever, but being able to come to a base camp to eat, to relax, to socialize with your friends and family, that's key, and that's definitely what this awning provides. It really expands the area. It doesn't just go straight out, but it really provides this really wide coverage around your approach to tent and is a great step towards expanding your campsite. If you're getting the Approach 2 tent, I highly recommend looking into getting this awning and maybe, if needed, you can also get the optional walls to go all around it, and you can find all those things right here at etrailer. Now, if there's any other information that you may want or need, like what exactly this fabric is made of or the exact square footage so you can plan out your adventures more, we have that information here on our website, you can always call it in, and we love talking about all of our different adventures and sharing adventure stories too. But if you're curious about how easy this is to get set up, as well as my personal tips and tricks about it, stick around. Well, this is gonna be the bag that all of our awning things are in. When you arrive at your campsite, you're just gonna go ahead and grab this out of your storage area. So let's start setting it up. I start with just laying it all out on the ground. (metal clanging) I like to just verify that I have all the stuff and all the things needed, for example, all the tent poles, the stakes, the guylines before I set up the fabric. I do not recommend setting this up on a windy day because then you just have more things to catch wind and potentially fly away. So for your tent poles, you're going to want to set them up at a height that is the same as your tent. Now we're not going to fully attach them, just have them set up to the height and just line that up, that there looks good. And then, once you've found the spot you want, just twist to lock. Do this with all tent poles. And when you're ready to set up the canvas part, it's gonna be all one piece. You're going to look for the part that attaches to the top dome of your tent. So there's gonna be a lot to your canvas, and what you are looking for is this spot right here. So see how it has a curve to it that then connects to two different zippers so that's what's gonna go up there. When you're left with this flap on the tent, you'll see where those zippers connect to. So let's just line this up and see how it goes. So we're gonna start with the left one. The left one slides into our zipper, and then that's gonna be step number one and try to zip it up as much as possible. Our canvas is kind of heavy, so it might be a little tricky the first time. Okay, good, that's fitting well, so now we can do number two. Number two has the zipper pull on the right side that needs to be fed into the tent, so kind of the reverse of the first one. So now that you have both of them, looking good and connected, we'll just continue securing it as far as it'll go. This zips all the way down to this point here on both sides and leaves the guyline loop sticking out. Now this might be a little tricky if you have a vehicle that doesn't make it easy to reach so that's just something to think about as you are zipping it up on both sides. Now we're gonna grab those poles and set them up. So on your tent, you're gonna have these grommets. So the end of the pole goes up through the grommet. And while we're here, I'm just gonna go ahead and grab the guyline and then attach the guyline to the end as well. See how your guyline will already have that hoop or that loop We're gonna fit that up and over. And that way as I set the pole up and I stretch it out and I see exactly where's a good spot for it, I can then start planning out where I stake that guyline down. Now, when you're ready to set up your guylines, pull your guylines to get some tension, preferably at an angle away from the pole. At the bottom hoop, you're gonna adjust the hoop size here with this tensioner, and you'll use this later to get the proper tension without having to tie extra knots. So it looks like right here is gonna be a good spot for our stakes. Now, if I had planned ahead, I would bring my own stake mallet, otherwise I can use this large rock to secure. To secure to your stakes and to adjust the tension, the way this tensioner works is you tilt it in like this to slide up and down, and once you get to a good tension, you tilt this back so it bites into the rope. So once your rope has two points of contact, then it's secure. When you wanna adjust, you go back to one point of contact until you've adjusted to where you want it. So go ahead and do this with all the different guylines, making sure they're all tensioned to support the movement of your awning. And with that last pole in place and secured and tensioned, that's gonna be it for setting up your awning with your Thule Approach Tent. Now as you set up your campsite here, if you feel like this ladder is in the way, you can totally just fold this up and tuck it underneath the tent. Do remember, if you're hanging out in the tent, please have this ladder out as your support base. But now you've definitely expanded the area around your approach tent, you've started your whole campsite area, and hopefully this video was helpful for just showing how to get your awning set up, some tips and tricks for how to do it properly and safely and you saw it right here at etrailer.