# Tent Camping in Extreme Heat



## bruiseviolet (Jul 13, 2011)

Most of you are also facing this- the extreme heat and humidity we are going to have this week. Aside from spending lots of time in the water and the shade- how are you or have you kept cool in a tent in 80+ degree weather (even at night)?

We are heading out tomorrow- and was curious of some others suggestions. We plan on spending lots of time at the beach/in the pool- and we also are bringing two fans to put inside out tent to help with air circulation at night. Any other suggestions?


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## Cathi Koenig (Jul 20, 2011)

Hi, I'm a newbie here, but not to tent camping. I have been researching battery operated fans and will try a few. Don't know if I am allowed to mention brands.
Another thing that is new to me are the neck band coolers that have crystals in them--available online. The other thing I do is move slow! We have 95 degrees in Minnesota today with a dew point of 80; have never seen anything like this!

Cheers,
Cathi


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## Judy Ann (Mar 3, 2011)

I have an O2Cool fan (10") that has made summer camping a lot more enjoyable. I keep a sportbrella in my car just in case there aren't any trees to provide shade at the campsite and I tend to plan some type of trip in the car if it gets too hot to cool off in the AC...ice ream run! Don't forget to drink plenty of water!

Cathi I feel your pain! I have lived in the Carolinas for a couple of decades and I have yet to get used to the heat and humidity. Unless I'm camping near water, I don't plan to do much.


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## larr-bear (Oct 2, 2011)

*fan*

We dress lite and bring a small osolating fan. The sites we stay at have eletricity.


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## luckylynn (Sep 11, 2011)

All of these are very good ideas and we have used almost all of them at one time or another. 
We always carry fans (the plug up type) for outside use and early in the season we will use one inside toh we just move the outside one in when we go to bed. Now we have an air conditioner for the tent. It is a regular window unit that we did a mod on our tent to place it in one of the tent windows.On top (under the rain fly) we place one of those brown tarps with silver stuff on one side(put silver stuff toward the sun) One thing for sure the AC sure makes for a good nights sleep after a long day of outside fun.


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## artmart (Sep 21, 2010)

That's pretty extreme and accomodating and should work very well, but we make sure to keep plenty of water close by. We have a 10 gallon jug and 2 gallon jugs for water and ice. There are other size water jugs and you can also add ice to keep the water cooler longer. But you'll find that any insulated water container will provide cool enough water to quench your thirst if you can keep it in the shade and away from direct sunlight.

We don't do this for cost and hassle reasons, but you can also by cases of water to help stay hydrated. We find that with kids or most who don't think about it, they'll drink part of a bottle then leave it out to go to waste. This doesn't help keep cost down. Keeping these out of the sun is even more critical because of what the bottles are made of and you don't want these chemicals to leach into the water.

Maybe one should get an extra tent just to keep water stored and protected.

I find that drinking anything else is nice and fun, but this all makes me thirsty for water.


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## dogbone (Sep 22, 2009)

Luckylynn, I have seen that done, with the AC. The people move a picnic table by the tent and placed the AC on that. They did the same mod's you did to the tent. Put a tarp over the tent and AC to keep the rain out. 
I felt sorry for some of the tenter's. Ocean City MD. gets boiling in the summer and most of the sites are right in the sun.The campground does have a huge water park and another pool. Good thing.


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## luckylynn (Sep 11, 2011)

dogbone said:


> Luckylynn, I have seen that done, with the AC. The people move a picnic table by the tent and placed the AC on that. They did the same mod's you did to the tent. Put a tarp over the tent and AC to keep the rain out.
> I felt sorry for some of the tenter's. Ocean City MD. gets boiling in the summer and most of the sites are right in the sun.The campground does have a huge water park and another pool. Good thing.


I will have to post a picture of our tent with the AC in it. The AC is in the tent window ( somewhat like in a house window) We use a milk crate to set it on.The tarp is used as insulation on the outside of the tent with the rain fly of the tent to hold it in place. All power cords are inside the tent and just like at home we do not do anything to protect the AC from rain or sun. I hope this helps a little bit better to explain. 

Here is the sight that we found out about how to do this..... Tent camping with air conditioning?

Here is another one, this is not our tent,but this is how ours is done......Air Conditoned Tent for those hot months We did not make our chute this long,we made it only 6 inches ,so ours sets much closer to the tent.

The tent we have now is the second one we altered for Ac so we had learned some things to do different.

If you have an old tent you should try it before you buy a new tent then you would know if it would be for you. My DH is great at doing stuff like this and our DD sews like a charm so between the two of them they made some great improvements from the 2 sights I showed you and just from things they learned from doing the first one.

So good Luck if anyone decides to give it a try......Happy Camping, luckylynn


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## dogbone (Sep 22, 2009)

I like the tent boot. The people we saw just stuck it the window. They had to cover it to keep the rain and bugs out. Kind of like you tarp a house when putting on a new roof.
My tenting days are over now. Tent, pop up to a 5 th wheel. My son, however wants me to tow the boat to MD. this summer. He has a tent site. I might be one of the people I felt sorry for.:rotflmao1:


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## jason (Sep 15, 2011)

Set your _tent_ in as much natural shade as you can for the as much of the day as possible, especially the hottest part of the day.


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## FamilyCamper (Apr 6, 2012)

When I tent camp I use a Wildwood cabin tent, the canvas stays a lot cooler than the nylon versions.


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## edwinjd (Sep 8, 2011)

I usually take a portable air cooler with me. It's got a container that I fill with ice and helps cool the air more.


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## Gordie (Apr 12, 2011)

Besides the usual, water and shade, I don't have any solutions for beating the heat while camping. If it is going to extreme heat, I will stay at home with the AC. I don't like the heat. :no:


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## SteveR (Nov 2, 2015)

Wet towel on head?


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