Window awnings help a lot. For a motorhome get a sunscreen for that big front window. Park so your refrigerator is on the shady side. Use the Fantastic ceiling fan. Close all windows except a couple on the shady side. It really cools down at night with the Fantastic fan and uses very little power.
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Full-timed for 16 Years . . .
Traveled 8 yr in a 2004 Newmar Dutch Star 40' Diesel
& 8 yr in a 33' Travel Supreme 5th wheel
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Just recalled something we did when we went to Death Valley in April. Not real hot, like 85-90 ish. I cut our the foil backed bubble wrap type insulation the size of all the offending windows and velcro'd them to the outside. This makes a dramatic difference off the heat coming in. Understand though, this is a survival plan. There is no sitting in the coach enjoying the view this way. We were in Needles one day @ 116 degrees and this helped a lot. Even had the A/C running with the window insulation in place.
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V465
2015 Creek Side 20fq, 450 Watts of Samlex Solar,
2013 GMC Denali, Duramax, Retired in 2021
Just recalled something we did when we went to Death Valley in April. Not real hot, like 85-90 ish. I cut our the foil backed bubble wrap type insulation the size of all the offending windows and velcro'd them to the outside. This makes a dramatic difference off the heat coming in. Understand though, this is a survival plan. There is no sitting in the coach enjoying the view this way. We were in Needles one day @ 116 degrees and this helped a lot. Even had the A/C running with the window insulation in place.
We always carry along foil backed bubble wrap for all of our RV's windows - just in case we find ourselves in hot weather.
I read a lot about just moving to a higher alttitude with your RV to stay cool. To me that's not what self contained RV'ing is about. We like to have our RV be ready so that we have the flexibility to stop for awhile or camp - anytime and anywhere.
We once had to run the built-in generator almost all night in order to sleep in a southern state in the summer when not on hookups. Another time in August we had to run both the rooftop and cab air conditioners in order to comfortably eat a quick lunch in the Texas Panhandle.
Sometimes it's nice to boondock in pristine hot places because you usually find that you have them to yourself. This can get you way out in nature away from summer crowds.
I park the RV so that the sun is hitting the opposite side from the coach door and awning side while at the same time having a great view out under the awning.
I set up a lounge chair under the awning with a table and cold drink on it, put a portable fan on the table aimed right at me ... then lay back and take a nap, read a book, listen to music, or watch a movie on the laptop.
We carry along a large size light colored umbrella in the RV for walking in the hot sun.
It doesn't get any better than that ... if you're able to manage camping in hot locations.
We live in southern Arizona so keeping cool is a big issue for us and we do that by restricting where and when we camp.
In the winter we camp in southern Arizona, southern New Mexico, Southern Texas, on the California coast or in Colorado.
In the summer we camp at relatively high altitudes - central Arizona mountains (5000-6000 feet), northern Arizona (7500 feet), Southern Utah (7500 feet), northern New Mexico (6000 feet) or the California coast.
We also try to carry those insulated window protectors but rarely find we need them given how and where and when we camp.
If we somehow find ourselves in a hot area we always try to camp with hookups so we can run the AC. I can't sleep with the generator running so electric is a necessity if it is hot outside. We tried once to stay in Las Vegas during the summer and found that it was just too hot for us to sleep and we got up and on the road at 3 in the morning with the dash AC blasting away.
I use a swamp cooler I bought from lowes. They call it an evaporative cooler. Works great in the south west. Humidity below 60 percent. Cost $ 170, runs perfect off a pure sine wave inverter. 100 watts. Keep the MH livable in 90 degrees.
But very damp. It works by blowing very damp air into the house to absorb t he heat.
I lived in Utah for a while and used one there instead of refrigeration AC. It worked wonderfully but I always felt like I was almost swimming because of the high humidity.
I park the RV so that the sun is hitting the opposite side from the coach door and awning side while at the same time having a great view out under the awning.
We have found that our compressor fridges does not work as well when the sun is heating up the outside of the RV where the fridge lives, so when there is a lot of direct sunlight we always put the awning out to protect that side from the sun. Even if it is cool outside we get a lot of radiant heat from the direct sun.
We do as Two Gypsies and spend summer at high elevations.
John Holley suggests mesh sun shade sails. We have been using Aluminet mesh for several years as we have posted earlier. This is 70% reflective and outer surface of fifth wheel is just about ambient.
We spend days outdoors and turn A/C on at dusk for half an hour to an hour which uses 1500 to 2500 kW-hr. This is done off 9 kW-hr battery suite. We use fans at night as Bobby F and Nwicd suggest. We use both 12 V and 120 V fans. 120 V are far more effective but require leaving inverter on since we run over battery suite and inverter has about an 80 W parasitic drain. Inverter is 4.5 kW PSWI.
Leave awning up if right side will be in sun and we try to site fifth wheel so it will be shade by mid afternoon when battery suite should be charged. We can “harvest” 8 kW-hrs on sunny mid/summer days
We ended up purchasing a small portable AC with a semi permanent installation. It allows us to remove the AC for winter camping. The previous owner of the RV removed the 3-way refrigerator. The AC is a little noisy when you trying to sleep but, 8000 BTU cools off this little RV quickly.
For use while boondocking we use a small generator. The Cat generator we purchased is phenomenally quiet.
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