Baby it's hot out there!

[Five Wood]

I’m in the Texas Hill Country and it registered 108 degrees in the shade today.  And I’m really proud of my old RV.  I keep my AC set at 77 during the day and anything under 100 degrees and my AC will cycle off and on during the day.  But the last few days have really been a test.  This is my fifth summer in the same spot here.  The RV is in the direct sun all day until just about 5PM.  Today she didn’t cycle off.  The best I could maintain was 82 degrees in the direct sun.  But she maintained a reduction of 26 degrees under direct sun with just one 15K Colman AC. 

Now my RV is smaller than most at 34 feet.  I also have just two slides and being an older RV the interior height of the slides is less than modern RV’s.  But still, I think it’s impressive.  I have slide toppers which greatly help keep things cool.  I also have window awnings all the way around which also help and led lighting inside.

For those of us in Southwest this week. . . how is your RV doing in the heat? 

[GlennWest]

We in South Louisana. We staying cool inside. Mini spits really works good. I suffer at work though. DW cool. 

 

[noteven]

What if we could equip our rigs with a shade cloth that deployed outboard like 2 awnings set lengthwise down the middle? They would extend past the side walls a ways to shade the walls...

 

[rpsinc]

Like Glenn, I work in construction and outside where this week we're having record level heat.  Yesterday was supposed to be hottest of the week at 106.  Try welding with all your gear on with temps like that.  Hard to STAY hydrated.  Glad that customer lets us work early so that when hottest part of the day comes, we can be heading home on our 2 hour return travel.  Good that truck AC works well.

With the info being shared about mini splits, I am considering this as part of my remodeling plan for my Newmar KA.   

[scouserl41]

Come up to Sault Saint Marie it's 63 for a high today!!

BnB

[ToddF]

We don't bite up here. Consider spending part of the summer up here in MN. We do get some heat and humidity, but nothing like you Southwesterners.

[Kirk W]

Rather chilly here this morning!

[NDBirdman]

We've hit 66 here this morning.  Going to be a good day to work on the yard.

 

[RV_]

We are getting ready for an extended trip in our 19' Scamp 5Th wheel. They only have a fiberglass "egg" shell, bubble wrap, then a fuzzy headliner material inside all over. But it has a full size RV A/C, and a Fantastic fan. We were doing some inside work on customizing the flooring and TV antenna. It's on our RV pad with full hookups and stayed cool inside until noon. however when it was 104 the oversized A/C and effectiveness of this strange "Egg" insulation astounded us. At these temps our first and second rigs 36 feet, A HitchHiker and Challenger, could barely keep it 20° cooler and never cycled off.

The tiny Scamp cools down in 20 minutes and we set thermostat to cut off on low cool after the initial cool down on high cool. The Scamp sits in direct sunlight with no shade, and it has no awning! There are some of deluxe floor plans that could be full time rigs for singles with simple needs. We used the couch in bunk bed configuration and put all the cushions in front of the bed which gave us a king size bed of the foam cushions all 5" thick. So we bought a king size 3" Cooling gel mattress topper . And it fit to sleep lengthwise instead of sideways and me almost touching head and foot. The only thing we lose is the sofa use. but it also opens up a huge space we are going to use for storage.

All to explain that despite the insulation design, it works! We could have let it cool down to 60 degrees if we chose and keep it there cycling on and off like our super insulated 2X6 wall construction house with dual pane windows and ventilated attic. The Scamp does not have dual pane windows or ducted vents, just one ceiling unit.

So the smallest fiver driver can say it keeps up, and can be as cool as we want.

[sandsys]

38 minutes ago, RV_ said:

We are getting ready for an extended trip in our 19' Scamp 5Th wheel...The tiny Scamp cools down in 20 minutes and we set thermostat to cut off on low cool after the initial cool down on high cool. The Scamp sits in direct sunlight with no shade, and it has no awning!

That is excellent information to know. Since Scamp is locally built for us I sometimes think about getting one for short trips.

Linda

[RV_]

I bought used. If I had it to do new, I'd have selected a different custom layout. For just us two for trips up to a month or even two, this is fine. The picture below shows the now king size bed. If both folks are shorter than 5'10" you can sleep with the sofa down. The three layers of the now king size bed you see are from the bottom layer:

1. The bottom is the back of the sofa flipped up on its hinge.

2. the seat of the sofa.

3. The 3" Gel memory foam topper is the white top layer.

Click For Full-Size Image

I would never have dreamed we would have a king bed in the smallest of fivers. If we want to we can take the topper off, drop the back of the sofa back down, put the sofa cushion in place. and it is again capable of sleeping four adults as the dinette turns into a queen size bed. But for the two of us we will leave the dinette bed board home, as well as the extra cushions. I'll do a review later with pics. Here is what we did to the floor which was an ugly vinyl the glue came up through discoloring it pink! We found a floating flooring in a zebra-wood pattern that actually matched our wood interior perfectly.

Click For Full-Size Image.

We are just getting started with mods. We have a cushion for the dog that fits under the table without losing floor space for our feet.

You need go have a look see at the factory. We might make it a side trip and if so will contact you to see if you want to meet there. I am trying to figure out if I want to put the King antenna on the roof and do the drilling etc. as they made a cable outside connector with a wall plate to hook the TV to on the other side. So I have to buy an outside antenna and hook it up to the outside connector when we stop, and make it stowed on the road and flip up when parked or go with the through the roof one they do as stock. I can install it myself, just a PITA. I surely would not pay someone else to do it. If you get confused we have a standard floor plan with almost all the deluxe options including wood interior, Fantastic fan, water heater, furnace, black and grey tanks, and some options beyond both.

But we won't need a bigger A/C! <wink>

[phillyg]

To any of you reporting 70 degrees or less, may the bird of paradise fly up your collective noses.😋  If it hits 93 in my area of FL as predicted on Thursday, it will be the hottest day this summer, which is not really bad.

[JRP]

Here in Colorado its all about altitude. Denver and the eastern Co plains had a very hot summer, several days well over 100.  But up here at 8500 ft in the Rockies its been very comfortable. Since the summer monsoon rains arrived a few weeks ago, its actually been somewhat cool, 70 days and 40 overnight.  

phillyg,  I head to Fl in mid Oct to get my sailboat ready for another winter in the Bahamas. Its the Fl humidity that kills me. I can only put in a half days work on the boat before I'm drowning in sweat.

[jkoenig24]

My first RV was a 2010 Casita 17' Spirit Deluxe Travel Trailer. It too is a fiberglass "egg". When I picked it up at the TX factory in August 2010, it was 112ºF! I drove from TX to northwest NV to go to Burning Man (Black Rock Desert; day temps 110º+, nite temps 40ºs or less). That little egg was a CHAMP! Boil some water for coffee when I woke up and the trailer warmed right up. The AC kept it cool during the worst heat of the day. Those fiberglass "eggs"  (Casita, Scamp, Oliver, Bigfoot etc) are a GREAT way to try RVing while keeping starting costs manageable (as long as you can accept the limited space).