Keeping cool while boondocking

[Jesshopes]

We leave for a 2 week trip on Friday. Our first night we are boondocking in a Cabela's parking lot. The problem is that it's going to be warm...and there are 13 of us in a TT. I keep thinking that there has to be a reasonable way to run a couple of fans for one night...anybody have an great ideas? We do not have a generator and I don't want to buy/take one for this one night.

[crosscheck]

We have his/hers 12v fans in the bedroom plugged into cigarette lighter plugs. A bit noisy but so is truck/car traffic if close to major roads. This will cool you down but will not replace A/C.

We have travelled in the tropics with our young kids and stayed in 4 walls and a light bulb places with only a ceiling fan. You do sweat, and the moving air cools you down so you can sleep.

We have camped in high humidity, high heat, no fan or A/C where at 12 midnight, you lay on the bed with no covers and sweat. This is a long time ago with a TC. The 12v fans we have now are 100% better than that situation. It is all relative.

Dave

[GordonThree]

Install a 2in receiver on the front of the van, a cargo tray and a big predator generator. Then crank up the AC.

Running a bunch of fans on non rechargable batteries is no solution, in my opinion. Those costs will quickly add up.

[time2roll]

jarata1 wrote:
How would you like to camp next to 13 people

Three families in a trailer would probably get on my nerves. A single family would be wonderful.

[BCSnob]

The behavior of the people is the issue not the number of people.

[jarata1]

How would you like to camp next to 13 people

[time2roll]

jaycocreek wrote:

These table fans just circulate the hot air. You need a quality vent fan to move some hot air out of the trailer and pull in the cool evening/night air.

Sat by an open window these fans do just that..Sucks in the cool air and distributes it through the trailer...Certainly not a replacement for a roof mounted one,but these are portable to be put where-ever you want them.

I agree if you have a nice window to have the fan move air in and the fan is easily propped up there. My home has lots of wide window options. My RV has more like small narrow vents that open that would not work well with a indoor fan. However with the Fantastic Fan pushing air out the ceiling all these small 'vents' perform quite well. Not disagreeing with you as much as relating my experience.

My bias too is that I can't stand a fan running next to me while I sleep. The roof vent fan on low is just fine.

[BCSnob]

Since I live in a house without central ac (built before electrical service or indoor plumbing and built with a sleeping porch) I am fully aware of how well fans can cool a house. I am also aware how little fans will help you feel cool when night time temps stay warm (like 80) and our structural brick house has heated in the sun all day.

As far as wind blowing on a hot day cooling your sweat, it depends on the dew point (humidity); we don’t often get a “dry heat” on this side of the Mississippi.

[jaycocreek]

Fans inside a trailer will not cool the trailer below the air temperature outside.

Your right,they won't but they will make it more tolerable with the air flow just as it's more tolerable when the wind blows outside in hot weather..Cools your sweat..(laughing).

At night when it cools down the fans set by a window draw in the outside air and cool it down..Many a home is only cooled by window fans.

There is no substitute for AC in hot weather but there are ways to make it more tolerable..Been there done that.

[BCSnob]

Fans inside a trailer will not cool the trailer below the air temperature outside. The air temperature above a sun baked parking lot will stay hot long after sunset. Find a location that has been shaded all day and ideally not paved; or figure out how to run the AC.

[jaycocreek]

These table fans just circulate the hot air. You need a quality vent fan to move some hot air out of the trailer and pull in the cool evening/night air.

Sat by an open window these fans do just that..Sucks in the cool air and distributes it through the trailer...Certainly not a replacement for a roof mounted one,but these are portable to be put where-ever you want them.

There is always the extremes or the redneck way,put a frozen jug in front of the fan...Hey,it works...

Without AC there are few to know ways to cool an RV,flowing/moving air like the wind, makes it more tolerable.

[routeforty]

Don't know which way you are traveling, but if you are headed east from Indiana on I70 and planning on staying at Cabellas in Wheeling WV, I would give Barkcamp STate park a hard look. $25 a night for an electric site, about 25 miles from Cabelas. Just looked and there are still several sites available for Fri. night. If headed in another direction I would look for state parks or city parks, or check on freecampsites.net for a free or very cheap CG with electric. I've done the boondocking in hot weather before-not the most pleasant thing to do-but it's still better than staying at home :B

[toedtoes]

I am also with the get a campsite with electrical if you are concerned with heat and leave the overnighting in parking lots for cooler nights. You don't want everyone to be miserable.

If you are just looking at a way to move the air around so it doesn't stifles, then the fans will be work fine - might be good to make sure all the kids can sleep with all that fan noise running. The fans can be used in the future as needed, so it's not a one-time purchase.

But if you need to actually cool down the trailer to make it bearable, those fans aren't going to do it. Even if you find a parking lot with an outlet and you can plug into it, you can't run the AC off it and electric fans aren't going to cool it down enough either. In that case, a campground with electric is going to pay for itself in sleeping comfort.

[time2roll]

These table fans just circulate the hot air. You need a quality vent fan to move some hot air out of the trailer and pull in the cool evening/night air.

I swapped in a Fantastic brand and it is wonderful. Any of these should work well for you: https://www.rvupgradestore.com/Powered-RV-Vent-Fans

Took me less than two hours for self install into the bathroom vent where the original fan was just a miserable noise maker.

[jaycocreek]

The O2 fans do a great job and the larger one can run off your trailer battery instead of D size.The little ones are more for personal use..



We have six kids...

[Tvov]

RoyB wrote:
......

Never been to a Cabelas. I always figured they would be too high dollar for us...
......
Roy Ken

I always kind of thought Bass Pro and Cabela's were essentially the same thing with similar prices, possibly with Cabela's leaning just a little more towards hunting. But - I've never been in a Bass Pro.

Also, Bass Pro now owns Cabela's!