Any hot weather bondocking advice, hints, tips?

[Aaron Coffee]

Anybody have an advice for bondocking in hot weather (80-100 degrees with high humidity)? Any kind of blanket or mattress topper help keep a person cooler, or at least not cause them to soak a beadspread in sweat? I have started taking my nephew soap box racing and most track will allow overnight camping but don't provide electricity, and we usually take the teardrop rather than stay in a motel(saves money that way). Did buy a coleman tent fan and that did at least get air moving some. Would putting a canopy up over the teardrop help? I can see it both ways, as a canopy (ez-up type) would shade the tear but would possibly block wind for the roof vent.
Thanks
Aaron

[coop74]

park in the shade. If possible cover the external skin with something that will provide additional shade. Good vent on top to vent the hot air and bring air into the trailer from the side that has been in the shade the longest and as low on the trailer as possible.

There are lots of fabrics that have good thermal properties but it is hard to beat old fashion muslin sheet. The weave is very loose and does not trap much heat. If you can cold shower or dip in the lake/pool/creek so you are cold from the water.

Drink plenty of fluids.

[Gage]

Or find a camp site with a water fall. Or should I say find a water fall with a camp site.

P.S. Take a big fan. They even work outside (I live in the high desert, I should know).

[48Rob]

Find shade
EZ up type cover if no shade
Park on grass, not pavement
Cool shower before bed
Pick up a deep cycle battery to run Several fans
Ice water to drink
Screen fabric to put over door opening/leave door(s) open
Get a neck cooler (keep several in a cooler)

[GPW]

Those mesh covered cots and recliners are pretty comfortable in warm weather .... allowing much air circulation over the “thermal mass” ...

[jstrubberg]

Just my personal opinion, but 20 bucks for a campsite with electricity to get a good nights sleep is well worth it to me. Still a heck of a lot cheaper than a hotel/motel.

[Kharn]

If your tear doesn't have one already, retrofit a Fantastic Fan to the roof. An EZUp overtop to keep the sun off would definitely help, if it is really bad, a wall panel could also be hung on the sunward side. I have one EZUp with a multi-layer roof, it lets hot air escape out the top vs just trapping it as the solid-roof models do. I got it from Home Depot, but it is at least twice the weight (double layer heavy duty fabric, sturdier metal, etc) and significantly more bulky (say 10"x10"x40" vs 6"x6"x40") when packed than my cheapo that I prefer to use, it was marketed as a commercial unit.

[S. Heisley]

Keeping your ice chest inside the cabin (bed area) can lower the temperature of your cabin a good 5 to 10 degrees by nightfall. (I found this out by accident....It was a cold night! ) I'm guessing that you could get a couple inexpensive coolers (non-leaking) and fill them with a little ice; then, just leave them inside for the day. If you have the room, you can leave the cooler in there overnight, for an extended effect.

[Aaron Coffee]

Thanks guys. Will definitely use some of these ideas, ez-up, shade, cooler, won't have time to retrofit a fan for this weekend. Forgot my screens last weekend. This weekend temps are only supposed to be in the mid 80's, YIPEE! Like to stay at the track so we don't have to get up as early and don't have to fight traffic in unknown locations.
thanks
Aaron

[S. Heisley]

Take a look at these suggestions, too (dated July 2, 3013):

http://avintagerollingstone.blogspot.com/

[bdosborn]

Get an Endless Breeze box fan,


Made by Fantastic Fan..

Bruce

[len19070]

My Dad used to do this old "Hi Sibley" trick in a tent and I adapted it to my Teardrop.

Mr. Sibley's original idea was to hang a Leakey bucket from a tree, let it get a towel wet that was placed over a box that held food.

Get a 5 gallon Drywall bucket and an old blanket.

Drill 4 small holes in the bucket so if filled with water it will drip out slowly.

Cover the roof of the tear with the Blanket, fill the Bucket with water and place it on the roof.

As the water drips out it will wet the Blanket and if theirs any breeze at all will cool the roof off.

If you get the holes in the bucket right there won't be any water on the ground the net morning. It will all be evaporated, and cooled through the Blanket.

Happy Trails

Len

[working on it]

My Dad used to do this old "Hi Sibley" trick in a tent and I adapted it to my Teardrop.

Mr. Sibley's original idea was to hang a Leakey bucket from a tree, let it get a towel wet that was placed over a box that held food.

Get a 5 gallon Drywall bucket and an old blanket.

Drill 4 small holes in the bucket so if filled with water it will drip out slowly.

Cover the roof of the tear with the Blanket, fill the Bucket with water and place it on the roof.

As the water drips out it will wet the Blanket and if theirs any breeze at all will cool the roof off.

If you get the holes in the bucket right there won't be any water on the ground the net morning. It will all be evaporated through the Blanket.

Happy Trails

Len

That's a good trick, using evaporative cooling on the roof. I've used a modification of your method before, back in the mid '70s. I was at a little lakehouse during the summer, swimming, skiing, BBQing, with my friends. At night, the outside temperature was always around 90, so the A/C was cranked way down. The unit went out one night, so we opened up the windows, put a beach towel hanging down over the crank-out window, facing the prevailing southerly breeze (a hot breeze). We ran a garden hose up onto the roof, opened the tap a trickle, and the beach towel became a makeshift evaporative cooler. the breeze was cooled down a bit, really felt good, and enabled us to sleep thru the night. We went to town and got another A/C the next morning (we all pitched in to purchase).Since most of us had lived in homes that had evaporative coolers, at one time or the other, in the 50's, we came up with this idea in a flash (lotsa beers helped!).

[Bogo]

If you can't park under shade, then erect shade over your TD.

Evaporative cooling needs a bit of a breeze, but is does work, fan... There is even a refrigerator that uses the principal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pot-in-pot_refrigerator Make a double wall terracotta TD...

[jstrubberg]

My Dad used to do this old "Hi Sibley" trick in a tent and I adapted it to my Teardrop.

Mr. Sibley's original idea was to hang a Leakey bucket from a tree, let it get a towel wet that was placed over a box that held food.

Get a 5 gallon Drywall bucket and an old blanket.

Drill 4 small holes in the bucket so if filled with water it will drip out slowly.

Cover the roof of the tear with the Blanket, fill the Bucket with water and place it on the roof.

As the water drips out it will wet the Blanket and if theirs any breeze at all will cool the roof off.

If you get the holes in the bucket right there won't be any water on the ground the net morning. It will all be evaporated through the Blanket.

Happy Trails

Len

That's a good trick, using evaporative cooling on the roof. I've used a modification of your method before, back in the mid '70s. I was at a little lakehouse during the summer, swimming, skiing, BBQing, with my friends. At night, the outside temperature was always around 90, so the A/C was cranked way down. The unit went out one night, so we opened up the windows, put a beach towel hanging down over the crank-out window, facing the prevailing southerly breeze (a hot breeze). We ran a garden hose up onto the roof, opened the tap a trickle, and the beach towel became a makeshift evaporative cooler. the breeze was cooled down a bit, really felt good, and enabled us to sleep thru the night. We went to town and got another A/C the next morning (we all pitched in to purchase).Since most of us had lived in homes that had evaporative coolers, at one time or the other, in the 50's, we came up with this idea in a flash (lotsa beers helped!).

Evaporative cooling doesn't work at all in high humidity areas. Boy, I wish it did!