tent camping with air conditioning!!!?

Question

Need advise. We are looking for a large tent to camp in for 2+ weeks. We also want to have air conditioning in the tent.

It will be in July so the weather will be VERY hot.

What is the largest tent availble that will feel more like a vacation home and can have a portable airconditioning system connected??

thanks

thanks to all that have responded...YES I know what real camping is, i have backpacked many sections of the AT and many other weekend trips.

we go camping every year for over a week and white water kayak everyday and return to camp every night to hang out with the other kayakers. THIS year I will be 6 months pregnant when we are camping, I won't be able to paddle most days (unless I am taking newbies down a very easy river), so I will be at camp during the day and prefer NOT to boil the baby in my belly when it is over 90 degrees in North Carolina. i just figured that if they can put an air conditioner on a pop up camper then I should be able to find a very small unit to very a tent cool. The camp site has power and trees for shade.

Answer 1

On hand I enjoy survival camping from time to time where I take the bare minumum and see what I'm made of. At other times it's nice to pamper myself a bit. I doubt that most of the posters here been pregnant. I haven't, but I have supported my wife through two.

My love for camping with modern conveniences started in boyscouts, when my friends and I took a cooler full of pop and candy bars and a boom box to scout camp. We were the envy of all the other boys. In college it was the mattresses off our beds, sheets and all, that we threw in the back of the pickup truck and took up into the mountains. There is nothing like sleeping under the stars in your own bed!

This summer I am taking my pregnant wife (5 mos) camping for a few days. She will have shared access to a trailer with A/C, but I am interested in putting A/C in the tent too, so she will have her own private space.

The best solution I have found is from this website:
http://www.deltablues.net/camping2.html

This guy seems to have the right mentality, cheap, low maintenence, simple, safe, and able to run for an extended period. It might be too expensive for my three day trip, but might be perfect for yours.

The key ingredients:
1. low amp ac unit - no more that 6 or 7 amps (author lists it at about $155)
2. a high amp (15 plus amps) extension cord (I bought 50 feet for about $20, they are more expensive because they can handle more load, important for your safety as the author notes)
3. Duct tape

In case the weblink doesn't work, he has placed the ac unit on bricks at his rear tent door, zipped it up and kept it all together with duct tape. The low amp unit and high amp cord keeps the cord cool and reduces fire risk. The ac unit on its lowest setting is plenty to cool the tent.

I echo the other posters concern about theft. Tents are tough to secure. One idea off the top of my head, if you are worried about someone swiping your ac unit, is to drive a large metal stake (like an electrical grounding stake) a couple of feet into the ground. (You will probably need a small sledge hammer, like an 8 pounder.) Then you could bolt a chain or cable (heavy duty grounding cable might work) to the ac unit and to the stake. You may have to drill holes in the ac unit housing, but I imagine it would have mounting holes in it already. You could use security bolts or locking bolts that tighten easily but are difficult to remove. The materials should cost less than $10 at a hardware store. The stake will be difficult for anyone to remove (including you at the end of your stay, you might want to bring a shovel to dig it out).
If your tent or powersource happens to be hit by lightning your ac unit will be grounded too! Bonus!

Happy camping and best of luck/blessings with your pregancy.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

Air Conditioner For Tent

Answer 4

Portable Air Conditioner For Camping

Answer 5

I stuck a couple of links below if you are serious. There are two problems with air conditioning in tents. The biggest problem is that air conditioning requires that you more or less seal the space. Mos tents breath, making hte air conditioning much less efficient. The next problem is security. As soon as someone hears that you have something iof value inside a tent, someone else is going to try and figure out how they can make it theirs. Tents have lousy security, especially since you can cut through the wall of most tents in about thirty seconds or less. There are also swamp coolers, (they add moisture or even ice to the air, but they are even less efficient and add moisture to the tent. In muggy areas, they are just about useless.

If you want to stay cool, go swimming or take a shower. If that doesn't work, you are back to stying in a cabin or motel.

Answer 6

I have to agree with the rest. Putting an AC system into a tent would be costly, noisy, and sort of odd! :) I have seen the following set up and it cools a tent down nicely.

Large cooler, full of ice, with an occilating electric fan blowing across the open cooler. Granted, it does not remove any humidity but that extremely cool breeze feels great.

Would require a lot of ice for a 2+week camping trip but would end up cheaper than an AC unit.

If your heart is still set on real AC, get one that runs off of 110 volts and just jury rig it at the front door and run the cord to your electric outlet at your site.

Not going to be the prettiest site, or most efficent but it will cool down a tent.

Answer 7

Perhaps you should go somewhere else where it won't be so hot? If it's really so hot that you just can't be outside in the sun with a hat on or under trees or a tarp, I can't imagine you're going to have any fun?

You could set up a tarp above your tent to give it shade. And tarps over your picnic table and cooking area and sitting area, or use a screen tent for day use. I assume you can't afford one of the military air conditioners linked to in the other posts, but there are battery powered tent fans you could purchase or just be sure to leave the windows open or the tent fly off.

But really, are you really going to be spending most of your day inside your tent? Usually people only sleep in their tents during the night and during the day they plan activities in the outdoors such as hiking, fishing, swimming, boating, biking, tours, horseback riding, etc.

Answer 8

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Answer 9

Get a portable air conditioner and a tent. The portable a/c has an exhaust pipe which you can vent to the outside under the tent. Make sure to seal it so the outside air doesn't come inside.



Go to the following site to know what you must know before buying air conditioners:

tinyurl@com/airconknowledge (Replace @com with .com)

For any questions, contact the staff.

Answer 10

try camping at a higher altitude and maybe you wont need air conditioning it has worked for me even on the hottest nights , even if the air is dead if you look at your maps try to find a natural funnel on your topo map and check were the winds are blowing in from set your self up at the tighest section of the funnel it keeps the bugs away too. have fun