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.

[2oldman]

Probably time to close this monster.

[BizmarksMom]

Holy mackarel! They are spending one night without air conditioning. When I was a kid, we spent weeks in a tent - where it got into the 90s. Yes, there was some complaining, but we all survived. Nobody got dehydrated. Nobody got heat stroke. We have all gone on to camp in our adult lives.

Some of you are talking like this will be the worst experience ever for the kids.

[2oldman]

Jesshopes wrote:

2oldman wrote:

Jesshopes wrote:
FWIW it's not going to be 100 degrees...it's going to be low to mid 70s.

That's quite a bit different from what you've led everyone to believe in the previous 9 pages of this.

Actually, it's not. I said "it's going to be warm". Those were my exact words.

And several people said "hot" and you made no attempt to clarify that. I think this thread is a phony.

Jay Coe wrote:
The best lesson of forum etiquette the OP can glean from this novel is to ALWAYS include AS MUCH DETAIL as possible in your original question. That would have prevented about 7 pages of garbage.

x2.

[2012Coleman]

valhalla360 wrote:

2012Coleman wrote:

Jesshopes wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:

Jesshopes wrote:
Gosh, thanks for judging my priorities but I actually never said why we were boondocking. It's an assumption that we are doing it to save $.

So what is the purpose of punishing the wife and kids?

I'm the wife. I'm not being punished...neither are the kids. Avoiding a campground is just quicker. It's a short overnight stay on the first night of a 16 day trip. We leave after my husband gets off of work so we only get about 6 hours in the first evening. Boondocking is quicker because most campgrounds are further off of the main route. We've done it plenty of times before. It works well for us.

How's that crow tasting?

What crow? I still think it's punishing the kids for no good reason.

So everyone should live their lives based on what YOU think? Get over yourself and stop driving new people away with your trolling bloviating.

[Jay_Coe]

The best lesson of forum etiquette the OP can glean from this novel is to ALWAYS include AS MUCH DETAIL as possible in your original question. That would have prevented about 7 pages of garbage.

[Jesshopes]

2oldman wrote:

Jesshopes wrote:
FWIW it's not going to be 100 degrees...it's going to be low to mid 70s.

That's quite a bit different from what you've led everyone to believe in the previous 9 pages of this. Reminds me of Rosanne Rosannadanna: "Never mind."

Actually, it's not. I said "it's going to be warm". Those were my exact words. I think mid 70's is safely "warm". It's not hot..it's not cool. In a camper with no air circulating that temperature can raise or just feel warmer because it's stuffy. I was looking for ways to make it more comfortable.

[time2roll]

Jesshopes wrote:
...it's going to be low to mid 70s. It will be well past dark when we arrive...not baking sun.

That bathroom fan replacement is all you need and avoid the more clutter of multiple fans.

[2oldman]

Jesshopes wrote:
FWIW it's not going to be 100 degrees...it's going to be low to mid 70s.

That's quite a bit different from what you've led everyone to believe in the previous 9 pages of this. Reminds me of Rosanne Rosannadanna: "Never mind."

[Community Alumni]

2oldman wrote:
This particular situation is a bit different from simply being in a tent. Would you care to be in a trailer with 13 people in a hot parking lot with fans? Dehydration is not a joke.

It ain't all that different than having 7 people in a tent on a rainy Texas summer night. You can't use all of your venting because of the rain. Done it plenty of times growing up. None of us kids died or thought we were being punished by our parents back then. I still see decent sized families doing this in campgrounds these days. Yeah it was warm, you may sweat a little, but we all had a good time and none of us died of dehydration.

You would think that this lady is thinking about locking her kids in a hot car. People, it's a travel trailer with plenty of windows and vents somewhere in Indiana, not Death Valley. Overnight highs are maybe in the high 70's. Depending on their tolerance, it may or may not be comfortable, but individuals aren't going to die because they don't have AC.

[Jesshopes]

Good grief! What a lot of judgement and bad assumptions. FWIW it's not going to be 100 degrees...it's going to be low to mid 70s. It will be well past dark when we arrive...not baking sun. We will carry plenty of water. I know how to find a campground. I checked to make sure we could park in the lot WELL before I posted this post. My kids are well mannered and well behaved and we are actually quite delightful to camp beside. I know how many sites I have to book at every campground we camp at.

To those of you who posted considerate, helpful responses. THANK YOU! I am sincerely grateful for your insight. 🙂

I thought that is what a forum like this was for. I had no idea it was a place where people would insert their opinions on my family size and whether-or-not they would want to camp by us (having not a single clue about who we are or how we act).

Also...don't assume because someone posts on an RV forum that they are a man.

[BCSnob]

mike-s wrote:
So in summary, no better than an RV with vent fans.

BTW, your sarcasm detector is borken.

Don’t know about your RV but mine does not have 12’ ceilings.
Sarcasm doesn’t always come through on forums.
”borken”?
🙂

[mike-s]

2oldman wrote:
Dehydration is not a joke.

Now they're not carrying any water? When did that happen?

[2oldman]

proxim2020 wrote:
It's hilarious that live in a time where people consider you to be punishing your family if you're not putting them in a air conditioned environment.

This particular situation is a bit different from simply being in a tent. Would you care to be in a trailer with 13 people in a hot parking lot with fans? Dehydration is not a joke.

[Community Alumni]

It's hilarious that live in a time where people consider you to be punishing your family if you're not putting them in a air conditioned environment. We should call CPS/DFS on all of those tent camping families.:B

[Community Alumni]

toedtoes wrote:

He's got a 37ft trailer so it's likely he has 2 ACs. And we don't know what other draws he needs at night, or what the business may draw from that outlet/circuit at night. So, it's not a given that he will be able to run his AC even if he can get an outlet in a parking lot.

Again, if it's a matter of just moving air, he can make it work in a parking lot. If it's a matter of cooling the trailer down, then there's no guarantee outside of a campground with electric. Having 13 family members cranky from the heat and lack of sleep is not something I would enjoy dealing with, so I'd play it safe with a campground.

That's a big assumption. Just because the OP has a 37ft trailer doesn't mean that it's likely that they have a 2nd AC. When we were looking a few years ago, there were a shocking number of trailers in that range that didn't even have a 2nd AC option available. Even if it's offered to the model, it doesn't mean that the trailer came factory equipped with the option or that a 2nd AC is installed in the location. The used market was also full of single unit, 30 amp trailers.

A single 15k in our 36ft worked just fine initially camping here in Texas heat. We started visiting more exposed desert like environments which necessitated a second AC. The OP is in IN, which is much cooler than it is down here. A single AC might be fine for them.

But even if the trailer had a second AC, they would only need to run one of them overnight anyway. Even on 85° nights, I only run one unit and it cycles on and off while maintaining 72°. Also I doubt the OP has any other great overnight draw needs since they were originally planning on overnighting in the parking lot without a hookup at all.

With a typical draw of 10-15 amps, if they can locate a 20 amp circuit then running a single AC overnight should be a non issue.