Keeping Hawk cool in summer

[FiremanWanderer]

Good afternoon! We have a four wheel hawk and we are pretty active in the summer with hiking and biking etc. we are curious how some of you keep your campers cool in the hot summer? After long sweaty hikes thinking of sitting in a cool camper sounds great. What do you all do? We’d love some advice!

 

[Jon R]

I’m finding our Grandby stays relatively cool even when parked in full sun simply by running the roof vent fan and opening the windows on the shaded side. If it’s over 90, though, just being in the shade with air movement is still pretty warm. Luckily most places we go cool off in the evening. If I could find a little portable 12 volt air conditioner my power system could support I’d buy it, but I don’t think such a thing exists other than a swamp cooler.

 

[KK7OQ]

I haven’t tried one of these, but they get some good reviews.

http://www.swampy.net/

Should work well in the dry western states.

Evaporative coolers are what everyone had in their houses when I grew up in Sacramento in the 50’s.

 

[Wallowa]

I haven’t tried one of these, but they get some good reviews.

http://www.swampy.net/

Should work well in the dry western states.

Evaporative coolers are what everyone had in their houses when I grew up in Sacramento in the 50’s.

Ha! Small world, I grew up in Yuba City North of Sacto in late 40's early 50's and 100 degrees at midnight with 70% humidity made our swamp cooler more of a shower....agree in low humidity evaporative cooling works, but relative humidity must be low...also introducing moisture inside a FWC can turn out badly; why we opted not to have an indoor shower in our Hawk...

Best option in summer, pick a spot with shade [tough on solar, but compromises must be made] and a breeze, if you can.......plus our two roof vents and sliding front window help...another hint, position the icebox on the opposite side of the camper from the sun, big difference in power draw...like stated, cooling off at night is a requisite, so stay above 8K....

June 4th in route to Reno for my Li install, spent the night outside town, outside 106 / inside 104....wind finally arrived, it was hot and a dust storm...so bottom line is no free lunch...FWC in summer should be viewed like you would a tent; in winter, you have a heater...

 

[Wallowa]

I saw this 12 VDC Cruise N Comfort air conditioner in a video recently.

Good idea if you have the room to mount and can supply this level of amperage:

High Blower Speed: 38 nominal amps @ 12.8 Volts DC **
Medium Blower Speed: 32 nominal amps @ 12.8 Volts DC **
Low Blower Speed (Whisper Mode): 29 nominal amps @ 12.8 Volts DC **

 

[Beach]

Shade and a breeze, good swim hole, or 110v and 5,000 BTUs. We try to enjoy the higher elevations during the summer.

 

[Vic Harder]

Good idea if you have the room to mount and can supply this level of amperage:

High Blower Speed: 38 nominal amps @ 12.8 Volts DC **
Medium Blower Speed: 32 nominal amps @ 12.8 Volts DC **
Low Blower Speed (Whisper Mode): 29 nominal amps @ 12.8 Volts DC **

To put some perspective on that, the 75AH battery that comes with a FWC from the factory could run that unit for about one hour. Even the 200AH Lithium setup I have could only keep it going for 6 hours, assuming I am not running anything else.

Best have deep pockets for lots of battery/charging capacity!

 

[DarinH]

If you have a reversible roof fan, set it to blow air out of the camper at high speed, and put a pile of ice in the truck bed just next to the rear tie-down access doors on both sides, and prop the access doors open an inch or so. The fan will pull air in from around the piles of ice. Walla, cheap air conditioner.

As the ice melts it will just drip out the truck bed. Also helpful to put just a hair out of level so water will drain toward the tailgate opening.

 

[Wallowa]

If you have a reversible roof fan, set it to blow air out of the camper at high speed, and put a pile of ice in the truck bed just next to the rear tie-down access doors on both sides, and prop the access doors open an inch or so. The fan will pull air in from around the piles of ice. Walla, cheap air conditioner.

As the ice melts it will just drip out the truck bed. Also helpful to put just a hair out of level so water will drain toward the tailgate opening.

Wow! Inventive! Now to find a source of that much ice...but really a good example of thinking outside the norm...again, with my two vent fans, watch the number of amps drawn, on 'high' those suckers use a lot of amps....and I store gear outside the tie-down doors, but of course that gear is "weather proof".

Still, a great thought!

Forgot to mention, that the Thermalpak [FWC inside fabric thermal blank material] keeps heat in and out, for awhile.

 

[JaSAn]

https://www.jimindenver.com runs a 5000 BTU window air conditioner off of solar. He has 1185W of solar and a 675AH AGM battery bank to accomplish it.

You can also run a 5000 BTU a/c with a soft start capacitor off of a 1000W inverter/generator but your neighbors will hate you.

If it is not too humid, running a couple of 12V fans is sufficient to keep me comfortable in all but oppressive heat.

 

[Wallowa]

https://www.jimindenver.com runs a 5000 BTU window air conditioner off of solar. He has 1185W of solar and a 675AH AGM battery bank to accomplish it.

You can also run a 5000 BTU a/c with a soft start capacitor off of a 1000W inverter/generator but your neighbors will hate you.

If it is not too humid, running a couple of 12V fans is sufficient to keep me comfortable in all but oppressive heat.

Jim's solar is on a trailer right? Not a FWC? Generator is always an option.....

 

[OutbacKamper]

My low tech solution, that works both in the camper and also outside:

Makita 18v fan.
I also use a Makita 18v LED work light for most of my interior and exterior lighting needs. My chainsaw runs on 2 18v batteries. I have a single 12 volt house battery in the camper and no fixed solar panels. Instead of upgrading house batteries and adding fixed solar panels I have a Jackery 500 portable lithium battery pack and a Jackery 100 watt portable solar panel. I'm happy with this system so far.

 

[DarinH]

Wow! Inventive! Now to find a source of that much ice...but really a good example of thinking outside the norm...again, with my two vent fans, watch the number of amps drawn, on 'high' those suckers use a lot of amps....and I store gear outside the tie-down doors, but of course that gear is "weather proof".

Still, a great thought!

Forgot to mention, that the Thermalpak [FWC inside fabric thermal blank material] keeps heat in and out, for awhile.

I keep the 10 lb bags of ice in the bags, and place the bags tight to the truck side of tie-down hatch opening. I poke some holes on the bottoms of the bags so water will drain, and some holes on the sides of the bags so air will move through the ice, and prop the hatch doors open an inch or so. It's not like running a actual a/c unit but it does draw in some cooled air. I have 2 reversible roof fans, so I can pull a good bit of air in through the ice. I only have 160 W of solar, so I don't run the fans too long unless I bring my generator. Crude and simple, but it works.

 

[Karlton]

I got one of these and it worked pretty well to keep the camper cooler in the hot southern Idaho summer. We put ice in it to start and it produced cool air as it melted. We did okay running it off battery with the solar panel, but running any of these ancillary things, it might be better plugged into shorepower.


https://www.etsy.com/listing/589364418/12v-portable-air-conditioner-cooler-30?ref=shop_home_active_1&frs=1&crt=1

 

[JWL]

We have stayed in our Hawk in pretty hot temps and high humidity that was rated as “oppressive”. The key was VENTILATION! We have the small drivers side window as well as the large passenger side window and two powered roof fans, one blowing and one sucking (we are still in a debate as to if the one over the bed should do the blowing or the sucking but we think blowing is better while sleeping) The Arctic Pack or whatever they call the insulation layer is great. Yes we have to wipe out the condensation in between but in those conditions there would be condensation anyway and we didn’t have it up against our bedding or rub up agains a sweaty wall.
One thing I haven’t tried yet is opening the small access doors on the bottom, I’m wanting to rig up some bug screen with Velcro first. That might let some cooler air in, but I do have that area pretty crammed with “stuff”
The only other options other that the 5000btu AC with a generator, which has already been discussed and I don’t want to be that guy (yet) is to not go in those conditions if you can’t handle it. But we have found that as long as the air is moving it really isn’t that bad.

 

[DavidGraves]

I just finished making some screens for the door.....Velcro is too thick...keeps door from closing.

Simple solution is just fasten you screen panel with Blue tape.....leave it in place ...remove to access the turnbuckle spaces and then tape it back.

If we lived east a better solution might be warranted.....but we don't.

David Graves

 

[DanoT]

I haven’t tried one of these, but they get some good reviews.

http://www.swampy.net/

Should work well in the dry western states.

Evaporative coolers are what everyone had in their houses when I grew up in Sacramento in the 50’s.

I have a Mighty Kool and it worked well keeping me cool in my non ac apartment during a 38*C/100*F heat wave. Air coming out of the unit was 5-7*C cooler than the ambient room temp. I don't have a 12v plug in my apt., so I powered it with a 300w Jackery Power Station.
The only negative with the Mighty Kool is that the fan is mighty noisy, but it can be dialed back to slow speed/low noise.

 

[Wallowa]

I just finished making some screens for the door.....Velcro is too thick...keeps door from closing.

Simple solution is just fasten you screen panel with Blue tape.....leave it in place ...remove to access the turnbuckle spaces and then tape it back.

If we lived east a better solution might be warranted.....but we don't.

David Graves

David,

Try putting the Velcro on the outside [of the floor box]...doors will close and still easy to peel off it need be...

Phil

 

[Sagebrusher]

A little late, but just ran across this thread. After the really hot days this past summer I realized a major problem is that when the windows on the sunny side are open for cross ventilation, the sun bakes us inside. I repurposed some old tent poles and made an upper awning. Takes a few minutes to set up but with tiny d-rings and little custom metal tent pole clips attached via the existing edging screws, it is pretty fast to set up and take down. Just have to remember to attach the awning top to the d-rings on top BEFORE raising the roof. With the thermal pack, two fans and shaded ventilation we can take a comfortable afternoon siesta into the 90s.

 

[Hoopy]

My low tech solution, that works both in the camper and also outside:

Makita 18v fan.
I also use a Makita 18v LED work light for most of my interior and exterior lighting needs. My chainsaw runs on 2 18v batteries. I have a single 12 volt house battery in the camper and no fixed solar panels. Instead of upgrading house batteries and adding fixed solar panels I have a Jackery 500 portable lithium battery pack and a Jackery 100 watt portable solar panel. I'm happy with this system so far.

I like that for moving air might have to try it,,,, We use the double USB ported device that fits on the Batt.s to charge devices in the camper, My 15 year old can't move about w/o a phone in his hand, How do you like the chainsaw?