How to keep cool while (partially) dry camping all summer?

[CanadianW_s]

We will have a huge, beautiful campsite, treed all around and waterfront but with privacy (there's a short, treed path from our trailer site to the sandy beach). We have water hookup but no electrical and no sewer. There is a sani-station on site so the lack of a sewer hookup is not a large problem.

The lack of electricity will be a bit of a challenge... it's certainly do-able which I'm sure you all know, but we have young children and I would like to keep them (and us adults too!) reasonable cool. Here are the options I've thought of so far:

1. We have a simple Jayco 28' bunkhouse model. It comes with only one roof vent in the bathroom (besides the a/c unit). We can open the windows, but I was thinking it would be nice if we can have another one or two roof vents put in just to release the hot air. Has anyone here had this done, or done it themselves?

2. Running our a/c - off a generator which we have, it's noisy, but certainly would be appreciated on those hot days. I don't think we can run a generator at night nor would I want to - so we need a solution at night as keeping the windows open doesn't cool things off in the heat of the summer.

3. Running a small a/c unit off solar power. Unlikely, but I have seen a you tube video of a guy running a smaller a/c unit off solar power (see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml58Zw4wRqg). It's not pretty, but he clearly was able to make it work.

4. Running one of those dehumidifiers (which I believe are called no-vent or stand alone a/c units?) off solar power. I assume these use less energy and may be an option for us.???

Any other possible solutions for us? During the day we will be outside mostly, at the beach on really hot days, so my concern is mostly what to do at night as I find it almost impossible to sleep when it's very hot inside the trailer.

[Fizz]

Our trailer has a well insulated roof except for the slide. I could feel the sun eating up the ceiling in there. Now I tack a length of Reflextic bubble wrap on the outside and that really cut down the heat inside.

[AndyW]

Make sure your RV is parked where it is in shade most of the days, open the windows, and use fans. It's pretty much how everyone lived prior to A/C.

Or, if noise is the only concern about running a generator, you can buy quieter models that will power an A/C unit and barely be audible inside the trailer or outside of your site. Not cheap of course.

[Naio]

I was going to say, 'Camp in or west of the Rockies', but I see there is no choice of location.

Sleeping outside sounds wise.

[mlts22]

I'd check generator hours, buy a quiet generator, and use that for A/C. In more arid climates, a swamp cooler or misters may work. However, in hot, humid areas, you either run the A/C or have enough air moving to rival a wind tunnel.

[navegator]

If the ground is soft and there aren't to many mosquitoes, you and the kids can sleep under the trailer, we used to do that when camping with my parents, we would sleep under the car, ground was cool.

Or buy a new quiet generator and Just run the A/C at the max cool setting during the day to keep the rig as cold as possible and turn it off at night.

navegator

[GordonThree]

If your hot weather is like mine here in Michigan, when it's hot it is also muggy... an uncomfortable combination.

Spend as much time in the water as possible... setup a sprinkler in your campsite to "play" in for a quick cool down, if permitted.

Wear the minimal amount of clothing that is socially acceptable. Drink lots of water so you can sweat a lot, that'll cool you down.

The stand alone / portable AC use more power than a dedicated unit, for the amount of heat they remove. A dehumidifer will only make things worse, as it discharges its hot dried air into the living space.

You'd need a few KW of solar to run even a tiny a/c unit, and it wouldn't help at night. You'd need a truck bed full of expensive batteries to power an A/C unit all night. I have 880 amp-hours of battery capacity and can run my 13.5k AC for about 2 hours before reaching the magic 50% used-capacity number everyone seems to work off of.

Honestly, if the campsite is that good, put up with the heat - otherwise, look for a site that offers electric.

[RoyB]

Fans and shade trees is what we do. Don't touch the Air Conditoner much when camping off the power grid...

Our trailer has the FANTASTIC FAN in the bed room ceiling. You can crack a copy of windows on the other end of the trailer and crank the fan up to high pulling air through the trailer... Works good for us...

Used to live in Phoenix years back using the swamp cooler mounted on the roof. Survived just fine haha...

Roy ken