In a couple of days I’ll be leaving for a 4-day music festival (Werchter!!:)) during which I’ll be sleeping in a tent. I’ve slept in tents before and know the inside can be quite a bit warmer than the outside temperatures. Normally this isn’t much of a problem because the temparuteres here (Netherlands) aren’t that high, but for this weekend the forecasts are showing temperatures of 30+C (around 90F) and I can already see myself being cooked to a slow and painful death:(.
So does anybody have any tips for keeping my tent from becoming an oven? Please keep in mind it’s a makeshift campsite that is only used once a year for the festival, so there are no poweroutlets etc. I’ve seen some pictures of the site and it seems like there is no great abundance of trees to camp under. Any help will be appreciated…
in Australian festivals people usually camp next to their cars and rig up elaborate “heat shields” with reflective tarpaulins with one side attached to the car and the other side to nearby trees or tent poles…
more difficult if no cars in the camping area but still possible with enough tent poles and rope (and a reflective tarp).
Honestly - I camped Pennsic on the Serengheti on a seriously hot muggy summer. I actually had a 8x16 cabin tent, but I set up one of those instant one car garages that is 10x20 over it, and it dropped the temp amazingly. I also left the window covers rolled up day and night, since I sleep clothed and wanted to remain cool =)
Another thing you can do is get a couple of those battery fans this one doubles as a tent light as well.
I think there are also some that mist water so you can stay cooler.
I’ll be roasting right alongside you! Erecting a gazebo or tarpaulin over the tent will provide some shade, if you’re able to do that. An alternative strategy is to only put the tent up when you need to use it. Our dome tent is easy to do this with as it only has two central poles that can be taken out when we get up, and put back in when we want to sleep in there - so there’s no build up of heat inside the tent during the day.
Other than that, you could leave the ‘doors’ open and let some air through the tent as long as you can be sure there aren’t any roaming thieves around.
I don’t know if this will work with a tent, but back when I kept chinchillas, and before I installed aircon, a recomended method to keep their cages cool which worked well was to cover them with damp towels - as the water evaporated in the heat the cages below cooled down.
Does your tent open at both ends? If so, make sure you’re on a slight slope, aligned with the prevailing wind. Then, when the wind blows, it will blow straight through, and when the wind isn’t blowing, the hot air will leave the tent at the upper end, creating a slight draft.
And don’t camp under a tree: you’re in danger of both falling branches and lightning strikes.
I’ve never heard of using chinchillas covered with damp towels being used to cool things down. Those green people come up with the damnest things
Find a place were you have these two things.
Shade in the evening. Preferably from a somewhat distant tall tree or building. But you do NOT want to be under trees or have a tarp/whatever over/above you once it gets dark. If the sky is clear, those trees over you (or your tarp) significantly reduce the ability of things to cool down by radiating heat into space.
So, rig up something that will give you shade during the day/late afternoon, but remove it once it gets dark, with your spot hopefully “seeing” as much open sky as possible.
Another thing, most tents have an extra “cover” that goes on top, not touching in most places, with an inch or so between the cover and the rest of the tent. If you dont expect rain or have serious problems with morning dew. Remove that as soon as it gets dark as well. Thats just one more thing that keeps the tent from cooling down and trapping your body heat in. Keep it handy in case rain starts back up.
Ahhhh…natures little heat pumps…cool you in the summer, warm you in the winter…
Oh, back to the OP. I know some people seem to flip out at this very notion, but if you dont have problems with bugs around there, sleep outside (again, preferably with as much open sky above you) on good ground cloth OUTSIDE of a tent.
Pilots of small planes use an air cooler that works with ice if you have $475 to spare. You could probably make one for $50 dollars. DO NOT USE DRY ICE as the carbon dioxide it produces is heavier than air.
Dude, you’re going to a festival. You’ll be so exhausted by the end of the day, sleep will come regardless of the temperature.
If you can’t leave your tent unzipped during the day, plan on unzipping it as soon as you get back in the evening, and sit outside for 30 minutes or so, drinking water and chilling out.
Grab a cold shower if you can, if not, wet your t-shirt and put it over your head whilst you sit outside your tent. If you’re female, you might want to use a second t-shirt, but then it’s the Netherlands, so perhaps not.
Make sure you drink a lot of water throughout the festival to stay dehydrated. Keep a full bottle by your sleeping bag so if you get hot in the night you can have a drink. It won’t matter if it’s not cold.
Unzip your sleeping bag and just use it as a blanket over the top. Stick your feet out, and lay them on a cold wet towel.
This is probably the most realistic course of action. I’ll have the doors opened and will hoping for a nice breeze. A tarpoulin will probably be difficult on a cramped field, but we are with 4/5 tents and will have a partytent (which is pretty much the same as a gazebo) in the center, just have to fight of my friends for the side that is in the shade during the morning ;).
I’ve been trying to get one of those, but none of the ‘outdoor’ stores around here seems to carry them; and since I’m customarily late with this whole thing - am leaving in about 22 hours - internet ordering and like are unlikely to work.
This is advice I’ll give to some of my mates, unfortunately I have a pop-up tent which is easy to set up, but it is not possible to take any of the poles out. Maybe i can use this as an excuse to get the shadowy part of the gazebo :dubious:.
Interesting idea, might give a try.
Again the partytent provides opportunity! I’ll defeniatly roll out of my tent onto the canvas under the partytent if I truly can’t stand it anymore…down side is the waking up at 5 am because of sun/early bird campers etc.
well, I’d like some collnesss but if that’s the price I’ll suck it up:). As for making it myself, I’m not sure how handy it would be to travel with ice and besides I’wouldn’t know where to get any ice for after the first day…also it sounds like work and I’m already in pre-festival chill out mode:D.
Off course I totally agree with your first point, it’s more the getting cooked out of you tent at 7/8 in the morning - after, let’s face it, only a couple of hours sleep - that I’m worried about.
I’ll definately won’t sleep in my sleepingbag, luckily I can open mine up entirely and will probably be using it more as a matress.
Thanks again you all, let the sun/music/beer/bad food fest commence!!
If you have an airline-issue eye mask that might help, also take some ear plugs as they will dull the noise of people talking/moving about when you’re trying to sleep.
I’ll be at the same festival, I am hoping for a great weekend chilling out and watching some excellent bands, the only way I’ll sleep is through exhaustion and/or beer!
