Air Conditoned Tent for those hot months

Step 6 Testing

Well i'm leaving for the Florida Keys tomorrow for 5 nights and last few times I was tent camping there over the summer it was hell at night sweating and waking up multiple times because of the humidity and the heat. So I will add pictures and info on how the tent held up.

Update, Back from Bahia Honda State park and it worked really great, ended up not using the tunnel like previously intended but the tunnel was more of a weather shroud which kept water out and cold air in. Condensation which drips out of the unit needs to be taken in account ours just dripped off the side which was next to the tent, it never got anything important wet. The A/C really made sleeping comfortable, it got pretty cold and turned the temp down a lot of the time, and it kept us in bed longer than we wanted to since it was so nice in there. But once the sun was directly on the tent in the afternoon it was impossible to cool down, so if you want to use it during the day I suggest getting a tarp over the tent which I saw a lot of others around us do. There were many other people who had Air Conditioners in their tent with duct tape. They used wood stands for their units like 2x4's and plywood any of those would seem fitting as long as the weight is not too far to one side.

I'm looking forward to tent camping in the summer again now, and I hope that this is helpful to some of you even though the summer is winding down already.

Comments

[Redstormx1]

Does the air con ever get down to temp ? Does it get a rest like it would in a normal house .
Im assuming the tent which is highly uninsulated get hot again as soon as you turn it of.
Running the air con all the time would shorten its life . A portable unit with a hose would be an easier install.

[calleman]

use a homemade a/c unit that doesnt require power or use a battery with a cheap fan and ice chest.

[bsmith-7]

that would be a nice idea for places without a power hook up ,but it still takes power to make ice and power too store the ice till you buy it so not much savings there .

[Frankie Pintado]

Solar power won't work at night. You need a power source.

[kensue49]

Why not pickup some MPI Survival Blankets(the brand I used, there are others) that are reflective on one side and different color on the other side. This would help reduce the solar heat gain when the sun hits the tent. In the summer turn the foil face up and during the cooler fall turn it foil side down to reflect any heat into the tent. It works well for pop-up campers.

[mitchellhuth]

I wouldn't install it before you went to bed, it may get stolen and you would be left with no A/C  and a hole in your tent:(

[imbabalu]

I'm curious, How did you power your a/c unit ?

[zmatt]

Most camp sites in Florida and around the country have power hook ups standard, if your crazy enough I guess you could bring a power generator to power it.

[imbabalu]

Oh, I hadn't been to a real campsite before and didn't know.
I wondered about the size and noise from a power generator.
or if you had figured out a battery / inverter system that fit the bill. 

[MT-LB]

Generators are very loud and i don't think you can run them after a certain time. An inverter wouldn't be a smart choice, since batteries are super heavy and an A/C would drain them quickly. So look for a campsite with shore power.

[felixh]

most campground tend to have a noise ban after 10pm if your in a state park you would have power hook-ups but most national parks i've been to don't have power that redaly avaiable