Camping in the Heat: How to Stay Comfortable and Safe
Dave SolbergDescription
No matter the season, it’s important to take proper precautions to handle whatever weather you might face when camping in your RV. In the cooler months, that means ensuring your RV furnace is in maximal working condition and you’ve brought enough supplies should your heating source give out. Warmer times call for a separate set of safety and comfort requirements. In this free tutorial, RV repair expert Dave Solberg teaches you simple tips for making camping in the heat a safer and more enjoyable experience.
Tips for Camping in the Heat
Included on your summer camping checklist are a number of simple steps that will guarantee a positive experience. Dave walks you through his helpful tips of do’s and don’ts for camping in the heat, such as finding shade whenever possible to avoid direct sunlight. Among other objects, you should utilize tents, awnings and fans to cool your camping space and keep fresh air coming through your site. As for personal safety on the hottest days, Dave has several recommendations for optimal hydration, smart clothing choices, and activity planning.
It’s also highly important that you understand and learn to recognize the signs and symptoms of heat stroke. Keep in mind what it looks like when heat exhaustion strikes, and remember the best ways to cool down and calm your body if you feel any such symptoms. Don’t forget: proper prior planning…leads to a great time camping in the heat! Have fun, and be safe.
Before you head out to your campsite, it's very important that you prepare for days when it's going to be really hot. It doesn't even have to be the dog days of summer. We're into early summer, late spring and we've already hit 93 degrees with humidity that top of the charts, and it's really hot. So, the things you want to be prepared for first of all is find a spot you can get in the shade like this. I can drop about 20 degrees temperature just by finding a shady spot to be able to put my RV.
If you can't find shade, maybe you want to use a pop-up tent or some type of a cover, awnings, anything like that to produce shade anywhere you can in, over your RV or in places you're going to be at find a place that has some ventilation. You know, don't put yourself into a small little cove area where you're not going to get any wind because it's going to become very hot and you'll have bugs and that type of stuff as well. I like to find a place near water. Anytime I get near a water source. It's, it's a little cooler.
If you take pets especially you want to be able to bring a small little pool with you that you can fill with water, pop top canopy just to make sure it's nice and cool. Drink lots of water. You know, if you start to feel thirsty you've already become dehydrated. So you, you should drink. They say on an average of a gallon of water a day.
So, when it gets into really hot temperatures you want to make sure you bring plenty of water. One of the things I always do, is I take bottled water and gallons of water and I freeze them before I go. So, when I bring them back, I'm not relying on that refrigerator to make them really cold and keep them cold all the time. I just bring them out, put them in a cooler and as they start to melt, then I've got a really cold bottle of water and, and the ice in the jug as well. The other thing you want to do is wear light colored clothing that breathes the darker, the clothing the hotter it gets, the less breathing the less air flow you get.
And it's just very uncomfortable. Schedule your activities for the early morning or late evenings when it's going to be a lot cooler. You know, if you can do any hiking, that type of stuff in in the morning, it's gonna be a lot easier to do. You're going to be a lot more comfortable. The other thing then I look at is I want to make sure everybody that I'm with and people out there are familiar with what heat stroke does and is heat.
Heat Stroke is when your body temperature gets above 104 degrees, and you're going to start to feel nauseated. You'll have clammy skin that is not, you're not sweating. Other symptoms are headaches, vomiting, racing, heart muscle cramps, that type of stuff. You know, so if you, if you do have heat stroke, or it seems like you have it, first thing you want to do is sit down try cool off call 9-1-1. Don't do a lot of activity.
You might be able to put some ice packs on forehead or even just a a towel on your forehead, armpits in various areas just to kind of cool you down until the MTS can get there. You want definitely want to make sure you remove any heavy clothing. And if you can mist yourself with a little bit of water or a fan while you're waiting. Now that brings up another point in the heat. One of the things that I see a lot of campers do as well is it put a little misters around the awnings, in fact, a medic and ANE make a fan that goes into their power awning with a mister And it's just a small little spray of water that comes out and it helps cool areas down.
You see it in a lot of restaurants down, down South. One other tip too is get a bandana or a light piece of fabric. Soak it in some really cold water. Put it around your neck. If you're going to be outside walking around and get a big hat and some sunscreen but you can enjoy the heat as long as you're prepared for it and understand precautions that you need to take.
Greg Cramblit is right. In fact, almost all plastic bottles, frozen or hot (over 118 degrees), are unhealthy. Also, don't presume that you are okay drinking from plastic bottles any time. They are shipped in non-climate controlled trucks and sit in non-climate controlled warehouses. The main problem is leaching of petrochemicals. I wonder if there has been any testing of plastic freshwater tanks for leaching? The right setup is to have a point of use filter on your RV sink that will filter contaminants including petrochemicals and store in a PBA-free non-leaching container or a thermos that is glass-lined. Counter-intuitively, it is also better to drink warm water on a hot day than cold water to try to avoid heat-related sickness. As far as beverage consumption, always opt for cans or glass bottles instead of plastic bottles if you can.
You mention NOT SWEATING in the Heat. A VERY SERIOUS CONDITION that many older people can experience. If you have stopped sweating you are on the verge of a Heat Stroke and should seek medical attention immediately.
You should carry ONE if not TWO Electric Fans with you. We have a small Lithium battery Fan, adjustable speed and One Larger Standup Fan. Because our Bedroom A/C Cools very well, we use the Larger Standup Fan to Blow the Cold Air from the Bedroom down the Hallway to the Larger Living Room and Kitchen areas. The Smaller Rechargeable Lithium Fan we use in the Living Room Area to help keep the Cooler Air Circulating. Works great. So, instead of trying to let your A/C's do all the work, try a couple of FANS to help move the cooler air around in your RV.
Drinking water that has been frozen in a plastic bottle is very unhealthy!