Summer is the season for RV camping! But with that nice weather, you also tend to find yourself faced with some unbearable heat. When the sun’s out and you’re parked directly under it in the middle of the afternoon, your trailer will warm up pretty quickly. Because of the compact area in these vehicles, it’s a little tricky to get the hot air out, which means that even an air conditioner can’t always keep you cool. Instead, you’ll have to learn a few alternative methods for blocking heat and circulating refreshing air through your recreational vehicle. With these tips from Airstream of Montana, you can make your next summer vacation much more comfortable. Everything from parking your trailer properly to meal preparation strategies are important methods for beating the heat.
We’ll cover all of these topics here, but if you have any other questions, or want to check out our International Serenity, Sport, or Basecamp models, come visit us in Missoula, MT.
Park to Avoid the Sun
You can drastically decrease the heat levels in your RV from the moment you pull into the campsite. Since windows allow sunlight to filter into your travel trailer, you’ll want to orient the vehicle so that the side with the most windows faces away from the afternoon sun. That way, the day’s harshest rays won’t affect your living area quite as much. Even better, if you can find a spot that provides shade during the afternoon, park there. Blocking the sun from hitting your trailer at all makes a huge difference.
Improve Your RV’s Ventilation
Whether or not you have air conditioning, it’s important to push as much of the warmth out of your trailer as possible. If you set up your trailer to allow some cool air to come in too, well, that’s always a plus. One way to achieve both is to leave the windows facing away from the sun open, and shut the ones facing the sun. If you were lucky enough to find a spot in the shade, you can leave all the windows open, which will at least keep the indoor temperature slightly cooler than the outdoor. To improve air circulation, we also recommend getting a few fans. You should point them toward the open windows in the middle of the afternoon, to push the hot air out. Then, when it cools down, put the fans next to the open windows and direct them inside, so they’ll allow the refreshing air to move in more quickly.
Keep the Windows Covered
In some campsites, there’s no way to avoid parking in the sun. When this happens, sunlight will come in through the windows, even when the blinds are closed. Thankfully, reflective bubble insulation is an easy and affordable way to fix this problem! You can place this material inside your window with the reflective side facing outside, and it will completely block any sunlight from getting into your RV, which will significantly decrease the heat levels.
Try to Avoid Cooking
The last behavior that you might have to modify is how you choose to cook. Overall, we recommend that you don’t use the stove or oven at all when RVing on a hot day. They generate lots of extra heat and moisture, which can make the compact interior of your trailer extremely uncomfortable. But this doesn’t mean that you can’t still prepare food. The campfire is still a great place to cook a meal, and if you have an outdoor grill, there’s no reason not to use that! As a last resort, making a cold lunch, like a sandwich or salad, is always a safe bet when you want to prepare an easy meal in the middle of a hot afternoon.
While RVs can get extremely hot when you’re camping in the summer, these tricks can keep it a lot cooler inside, and none of them are difficult to implement. At Airstream of Montana, we know how uncomfortable the heat can be, so we’re always here to answer your questions if you’re still not sure how to keep your RV cool. For those of you who are still in the market for a recreational vehicle, we also sell models from International Serenity, Sport, and Basecamp, and we serve the areas of Bozeman and Kalispell, MT, as well as Billings and Whitefish, MT.
