Portable Air Conditioner For Tenting?
My wife and I have a six month old daughter. We haven't been camping since she was born. We are tentatively scheduling a camping trip for May in Ft. Myers Florida. We're both concerned that it may get too hot in the tent for the little one. While I'm all for roughing it... the thought of the baby being fussy and crying through the night because it's too hot has us concerned. Anyone have any recommendations on how to keep the tent cool? We will be in a campground with electric outlets available. I've looked at some portable air conditioners but they are all $400 or more. I read some scathing reviews on a product called KoolerAir which most people found useless. Any ideas?
Answer:
your not trapping hot air under it and warming the tent. Use small Quiet portable table top fan(s) on low. If it is still hot, take a 16/20# bag of ice and stand upright in small plastic container (to hold melting water) and put the fan behind the bag of ice and blow some cool air toward you and your baby. How hot does it get in MAY in southern Florida? Its funny how people perceive air conditioning as a necessity nowadays. When I was six months old and in Florida too six decades ago, there was no ac and we did fine. There was electricity and fans and ice. I still dont feel the need for a/c and have never had it in the house. Fans make a big difference as keeping the blinds closed and the windows closed during the day. Just avoid heating up your tent in the day. Junior Doughty is a cultural anthropologist based in Tullos, Louisiana. He travels the Mississippi Delta, camping out of his $400.00 1983 Chrysler 5th Avenue and spending his nights doing research in Juke Joints. Junior has developed a neat and frugal way of air conditioning his tent during those hot Delta nights. http://www.deltablues.net/camping2.html