We are thinking about downsizing from a 33 foot 5th wheel to a tent trailer. A big concern is temperature control as we often find ourself in places much warmer than we tolerate. My son suggested a portable room air conditioner. Has anyone found a good solution to cooling off when it is 100 degrees, etc out?

There is a thriving 'teardrop' trailer industry right now with all these people looking for tiny homes and whatnot.I forget the brand but there is one that comes with an optional room AC in the front wall. Others have the traditional rooftop AC like RVs have. Than they have a trap door in the back to open up onto a kitchen. All sorts of tiny things inside these things these days. Including forced air electrical heaters if you'll be RV Park camping, or propane if not and you plan on some cold weather camping.So maybe search for teardrop trailers?

So the key is “tent,” correct? Can’t cool (or warm) a tent trailer anywhere near a 5er. Downsizing is okay but why not a hard sided unit?

The house room AC units are not really made for bouncing down the road and nobody make such a unit yet for the RV market. Roof AC units are specifically made more rugged to take the jostling. Columbia Northwest recently switched to a roof type AC on their new Ascape TT since they were experiencing too many failures with the house type units.However my 2011 StarCraft AR-One has a house type AC unit and so far so good, but keeping my fingers crossed.

You could downsize without going to a pop up. Have you had one before? There are a ton of compromises to consider - setup/put-down time, needing to dry wet canvas, opening to pack/unpack on either end of a trip, shorter season with weather issues, security, small tanks, etc. Just be sure to think about the downsides. I'd downsize to a smaller TT rather than going to a pop up, having owned one for several years.

I have an Aliner and I have gone through 2 air conditioners (5,000 and 6,000 btu) in 5 years (the last one only lasted 2 weeks and died 2,000 miles from home). The design used pop rivets and caulk to hold the a/c in the side of the wall of the camper - not a quick fix to replace. The constant jarring over thousands of miles without any shock absorption seems to do them in. I plan to get a portable air conditioner and vent it to the outside through the same space where the a/c is now. I can figure out a way to cushion it in the camper. This small size a/c works fine for cooling the Aliner.

Air conditioning | Good Sam Community

wowens79
Explorer III
Dec 18, 2017
We had a 13.5k btu rooftop ac on out popup. It did a pretty good job. It would keep it comfortable in the sun at the beach when it was over 95. I think the PopUp gizmos would be a huge help, but I never got around to buying any.

Also the bunk end fans really helped move the cool air around.
patperry2766
Explorer II
Dec 20, 2017
NanciL wrote:
Our experience:
We have an older pop up with a roof top AC/heating unit.

At 80 to 85 degrees it is great.

At 100 degrees like it was here in the Florida Keys after Irma went through it was not good except at night after sun down.

Jack L

If nothing else, get some PUGS...will work wonders. If you plan on keeping it, spend the money and get some Reflextix for the bunk windows.
Jeff10236
Explorer
Dec 28, 2017
I have a popup with the roof AC and it is comfortable well into the 90s (never had it out over 100) with MD and VA summer humidity. Now, the key word is comfortable, it won't freeze you out midday at the height of the summer heat, but it will give you a nice respite from the summer heat. I usually have to turn it down quite a bit at night. That said, I've found that the AC (and heat in cold weather) tends to want to stay in the box and not really get into the bunks (especially if you use the privacy curtains), so a fan (I like the little bunk end fans) is a necessity to spread the AC into your bunk area.

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