On our most recent feature shoot for Rollin’ On TV we took out a pair of very different No Boundaries, or NoBo, trailers by Forest River. The smaller of the two, the 10.5, is like a teardrop on steroids as opposed to a fully self-contained RV, and the larger, the 19.5, is a conventional RV.

The entire NoBo line is designed for those with outdoor sports and hobbies in mind so each trailer has its features and options aimed at that RV lifestyle.

Our destination for this jaunt was Belknap Hot Springs Resort in the Oregon Cascade mountains. It’s one of our favorite locations for this type of feature story shoot. While not exactly a boondocking spot – the hot-springs-heated pool was a short walk across a parking lot – its natural beauty makes it a much-desired spot.

The 10.5 was fitted with a Batwing awning from Rhino Rack. Rhino Rack is a company that builds a wide variety of roof racks and related accessories for recreational and commercial use. It’s one of those solid companies that’s been around a long time and when you choose one of its products you know it’s going to be a good investment.

This awning setup is very different than the usual awning with two extending arms and a roll-out awning. The Batwing is a manually deployed awning that opens to provide roughly 270 degrees of coverage on the vehicle. Its hinge point is at the aft end of the awning and each rib has its own leg for support. The ribs fan out with the triangular fabric panels attached to the ribs and ropes and stakes secure the ribs and poles in place. Setup and breakdown are best as two-person operations.

We experienced quite a bit of rain during our feature shoot and the awning developed some pools of water we had to drain as needed. A further reading of the instructions revealed we could use the supplied additional ropes and stakes to fasten down the middle of each fabric section to allow rainwater runoff. We’ll be more diligent about those instructions next time.

The Batwing worked well for our feature story trailer. You can see more about it when we broadcast the NoBo segment early next year. – Jeff Johnston