Summer Heat Survival Tips

Let the sun shine – let the sun shine … I remember sing this song when I was a young man. I love the sun and so summer time is my most favourite time (duh, glamping season – RIGHT!)  Well as much as we like the sun, summer sun in the BC wilderness can still get HOT!. Therefore we need to be aware and look after a couple of things ?.

Tip #1

The very first items to look after are the tires on both our F-150 tow vehicle and the Airstream. On those hot days the asphalt temperature grows to a paw-burning 62 Celsius (143 Fahrenheit). We’re talking hot enough to cook your breakfast eggs on. Needless to say that is brutal on tires. Our first line of defence is our TST tire monitoring system which keeps us informed if the tire pressure and temperature on Blue Streak, moves out of the acceptable travelling range. We also visually check the tires each time we stop. Red Dragon has it’s own tire monitoring system ?.

Tip #2

Secondly, since we Boondock 99% of the time were not connected 110v power.  So we don’t run our A/C system to keep cool on those super hot 30+ Celsius (that’s over 90 Fahrenheit) days. But we do have two fantastic roof fans + lots of openable windows to keep the breezes blowing through. One of the best thing we pick-up is a Solar Sunblock Shade which we attach to the Blue Streak’s awning. The Solar Sunblock Shade we have is approx 4 metres x 2 metres (12’x6′) and reduces the solar incursion by 70% while still enabling us to see through the filter. This added shade greatly reduces the temperature inside Blue Streak as well as on the “patio” ?.

Tip #3

Third is the major challenge of the propane refrigerator when it’s hot! We are fortunate to have the “old style” roof venting system which provides excellent venting for the refrigerator compartment. When the outside temperature rises the Dometic Absorption Refrigerator has to work much harder to maintain a temperature of 3-4c (37f). So the goal is always “open-get stuff-close” as fast as possible, realising that the refrigerator can’t recover as quick as our refrigerator at home. Most of the time we have found ourselves in partial shade on the refrigerator size of Blue Streak (I love BC trees). When we’re not so lucky, a small 12v fan in the compartment helps to move the air and cool the system down ?.