How do you keep your camper cool in summer?

[Travel Bug]

Hi All,
Well sometimes living in North Queensland & camping with kids in summer can be pure torture to say the least! 
Just wondering what ideas, tricks, mods people use to stay a little cooler in the heat of the day?
I've been seeing those tropical roofs around a bit lately, do they work? or do you get the same result for a silver tarp?
All feedback welcome 

[D4D]

I actually just posted about this myself. We have a tropical roof and breezeway fitted in our Customline. It was hot yesterday however inside the camper was approx. 10 degrees cooler, it was noticeable walking in. My son was able to have a sleep in the heat of the day in the camper and wasn't hot. Only downside is the incessant noise as it moves around in the wind. Can't comment on the blankets but doubt they would be as effective due to not having an air gap between the tent roof and blanket.

[Nay-DMAX]

Welcome to the forum Travelbug.  I have not used the silver tropical roof but have seen one and some of them are thicker than a tarp and perhaps provide better protection from heat and cold.  There is only the 2 of us in the camper and we use one of the Ryobi one plus fans which we sit on the drifta bed table so it points right on you in bed.  Recent trip in hot weather I put a wet washer in the engel during day and took that too bed.  Do you free camp or caravan parks?

[Patr80l]

We just bought one of these;
http://www.omegaaltise.com.au/product/product_details/Cooling/Portable_Air_Conditioner_OAPC10
OK if you have mains power.

[gronk]

I put it in the shade....heaps cooler..

No matter what you do to the roof, it can't beat shade !!

[Travel Bug]

Thanks All,
We free camp quite a bit, but do a lot of caravan parks too as its good to have a pool for the kids.

We just bought one of these;
http://www.omegaaltise.com.au/product/product_details/Cooling/Portable_Air_Conditioner_OAPC10
OK if you have mains power.

You will have to let me know how this goes Patr80l, I actually thought of one of these on a sweltering night in the camper but I wasn't sure how hot the pipe that runs outside gets with the canvas around it?

Defiantly pull up in the shade when we can

[Patr80l]

I've only used it a couple of times and it doesn't turn the Hawk into a fridge but it does drop the temperature quite nicely.   You do need to deal with the hot air it generates.   It comes with a corrugated tube which needs to vent outside.   
Plan A was to  direct the exhaust to the louvered vent at the bottom of the door.   This restricted the flow too much and interfered with opening the door so Plan B has the tube straighter and venting between the canvas wall and the upper half of the door.   The unit sits on the bench top above the fridge, next to the door.   
You can get 12V evaporative coolers (there was a thread on here) but these will be less efficient in humid North Queensland.

[swanny]

Solar blanket mate, windows open, plenty of breeze=great sleeping, day or night  .

Also keeps CT in darkness  long after the sun pops up, great for a sleep in, but even better if ya have yard apes that like to be up at sparrow fart.

Swanny 

[gclan]

Silver tarp, 12v fan and a couple of water spray bottles…even better when they've been in the fridge 

[Matto]

We just bought one of these;
http://www.omegaaltise.com.au/product/product_details/Cooling/Portable_Air_Conditioner_OAPC10
OK if you have mains power.

Last time we were camped in a caravan park, it was stinkin' hot. The people next to us disappeared on the second morning, and returned with one of these 2hrs later. They set it up in their camper, and within an hour all the kids were in there, fast asleep.

Ourselves, we make do with a 12v fan and trying to ensure the camper is in the midday/afternoon shade. If needs be, we resort to throwing the little one in the car with the AC. I'd love a tropical roof though, and have already got a price from Trackabout to retro-fit one. The only downside I've heard was the noise in windy conditions, which D4D's story seems to confirm.

My el-cheapo plan is to get a big silver tarp to go right across camper + annex. It'll have it's own ridge pole, so I can hopefully get it far enough from the canvas to minimise slapping in wind. Friends that we camp with do a similar thing over their KK, and it works really well. Need to sort something out by Easter time, I reckon.

Good luck,
Matto

[Alan Loy]

The trick with a tarp is to keep it above the roof so you have an air gap.  a ridge pole will do it but you can just use a rope between 2 high poles.  Make sure the tarp throws shade over the walls like a veranda.

To stop the flapping and to keep the tarp secure when its windy you need to have a couple of ropes that go over the tarp and tie it down.  This works whether you use a ridge pole or rope.  Handy to use springs or occy straps to keep them taught.

[knoath]

 
 

[dazzler]

I wonder if you got two silver tarps and stitched all the way around 3 sides, filled it with thin insulation like batts and then stitched the last side together you could make a thickish blanket to put over the top. Would need some stitching across or something to stop them coming adrift inside.

Our hard side camper has 50mm of batt insulation and the thermal protection is amazing.


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[Patr80l]

I wonder if you got two silver tarps and stitched all the way around 3 sides, filled it with thin insulation like batts and then stitched the last side together you could make a thickish blanket to put over the top. Would need some stitching across or something to stop them coming adrift inside.

Our hard side camper has 50mm of batt insulation and the thermal protection is amazing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

How would you fold it?

[Footy Shorts Shane]

Definately a silver tarp supported up above the canvas.

Shane.

[Footy Shorts Shane]

How would you fold it?

Onto the back of a truck ?

[whitedg]

We setup a silver tarp over the main camper tent, with the fully enclosed annex left exposed.
When we were away in Jan, on the hot days (when we couldn't go to the beach as my daughter had just broken her arm), it was too hot to do anything in the annex, but in comparison the main tent felt like we had an air conditioner on. Cool enough for most of the fam to get a good afternoon siesta in 

We bought extra poles and spreader bars to make up a frame, and replaced the sprigots on the poles between the annex and main tent with 150mm ones. I then cut a thread onto the end of these, put on a coupling bolt and a lock nut, and added about another 150mm of threaded rod to the top of each pole. The silver tarp was then screwed on the top of that (with wing nuts and washers). In all, the silver taps sits approx 200mm off the main canvas. Had some wild wind whilst we were away, and just threw an extra rope over the middle of the taps to help secure it, but in reality is was not really needed. Added a bit of noise as the tarp blew around, but it actually wasn't all that bad.

Looking to get the biggest spreader bars (7m??) and a bigger tarp to cover both the camper and the annex in the future, as we reckon it really helps out. Keeps it darker in the morning as well for those well deserved sleep ins too.

Cheers
whitedg

[GraemeL]

We have a blanket that I ordered with the camper, as yet we haven't had a need to use it.
We will be away in a couple of weeks and it will get used.

[sablesoft]

Solar blanket mate, windows open, plenty of breeze=great sleeping, day or night.

X2

[dazzler]

How would you fold it?

Fold it or roll it.  Like a bedroll.  You would only use it in summer so even if it took up some room it wouldnt matter.

The point is the more insulation you have the better.  You would only need it to cover the main area and move it around to follow the sun.

[allan.kidd]

Stay at home and only go away in the cooler months

[Beachman]

If we camp in the cooler months I don’t mind setting up in full sun. But when it comes to the QLD summer, I always make sure we set up around some sort of shade. That means it rules out certain beaches in summer.

Even then the sides of the tent sill gets full sun so it doesn’t take long to heat up the canvas.

When the kids were younger and still needed daytime sleeps I use to put a tarp above the camper.  But glad those days are over as the tarp was a heavy duty one which meant it was bulky to pack, heavy to carry, pain in the arse to put up and still gave the tarp flapping sound in the breeze even though it had a million ropes attached. 

[kiwi_camper]

We spent 2 weeks in Ballina over Christmas and it was hot! In preparation for the trip we bought at tropical roof (which had been retro fitted at the time we bought the CT) and 2 x Sirocco 12 volt fans. In the 3 years we have had the CT, it was the first time we could be inside at the hottest times of the day. In fact, it was cooler inside the CT than outside under the awning. Best money we have spent on the CT so far. Now we don't think twice about camping in the hottest months because we know we will be cool. The Sirocco fans are expensive but they are quiet and really do provide cold air, not just push the hot air around.

[stephwoodall]

Tropical roof is the way to go.  Keeps things much cooler.  Even on a pretty warm day the temp in the tent is about 10 deg cooler.  On the plus side when it is cold outside it gives some insulation too as you don't have cold air and condensation sitting on the roof.

Being from Melbourne this is a plus as we camp in temps ranging from 0 to plus 40.

Cheers

steph

Cheers

[Mallory Black]

Ditto the silver tarp. got one that overlaps the entire CT andhas it's own alloy poles & ropes for support so it touches on the ridge but has an air gap elsewhere.
Take the trouble to get a heavy duty that's 100% shade and has reinforced eyelets not those useless D rings. Ours is coming up 13-14 years old and still in good nick.
We use it for any stay that's 2 nights plus... worth the extra effort by far