Burning Inside Van

[kirby]

I am coming in a van. That's all I got. I'm not going to learn how to secure shade structures and tents to the ground so I'm not going to have any. I looked at the directions for those things, rebar and everything, and understood that I will not learn them. I know me.
So, my question is, if I leave my cooler of food and drink inside my van, will it all become a boiling cauldron of stew during the hot day-and be useless, 'cause it's not supposed to be hot stew?
I will have blocks of ice in my cooler, but still, I'm thinking it's going to be incredibly hot inside the van. I could leave my cooler outside next to my van-would that help-I know it's hot outside, but not as hot as the interior of a van? Will the food still be there when I come back, or will hungry little burners have foraged for sustenance?
Thank you!

[Savannah]

No one can be sure if someone will forage in your cooler. Probably not, but there are no guarantees. Booze would be the most likely to prance away on its own. Food = less likely to vanish.

If it were me, I'd put the cooler outside of the van (it'll be useless inside, unless you are using a cooling system of some kind) and close to it, back from the street, and would not cool everything I owned at once, keeping a reserve in the van. Maybe a cardboard box around it, card table over it, or a cloth over that, spring-clamped to the legs.

Introduce yourself to neighbors on both sides. If they know you're a camp of one, they're more likely to say "Hey, what's going on there?" if someone rifles through your stuff while you're away.

[kirby]

Thank you, Savannah.
I'll bring a covering for the cooler that won't cause death when the wind blows it away. Maybe I could duct tape one of those foil car windshield sun blockers around the cooler.

[essjay]

Learn how to use dry ice: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3232

[BAS]

Will the cooler fit under the van? It would have extra shade from the van while still allowing the breeze (hurricane force winds) to keep the air circulating. Plus, it would be slightly less obvious. You will also want to refill it with ice fairly often. (When I went in 2006 I took a cooler which was rated for several days for keeping things frozen-- apparently the playa is NOT the environment the manufacturer had in mind!)

[phil]

What kind of van? Louise and I have a white cargo van. We put aluminum foil inside all the windows, and it stays cool in the van all day. (We have windshield, two windows on the front doors, and windows on the back doors, so it's no burden to foil them all.

You might try a space blanket around the cooler to see how that helps. They sell ice at the event, so you'll be able to replenish. Consider buying canned goods that don't need refrigeration.

You'll be fine with just a van. You will want shade outside, though, during the day, so consider bringing some kind of back up shade. Our first year, we slammed the doors on our shade at the top of the van, then staked it down out away from the van. Kind of a lean-to shade structure not requiring rebar. Or you can borrow someone else's shade. Try not to be obnoxious about it, spread yourself around, etc.

[essjay]

What kind of van? Louise and I have a white cargo van. We put aluminum foil inside all the windows, and it stays cool in the van all day. (We have windshield, two windows on the front doors, and windows on the back doors, so it's no burden to foil them all.

You should try putting the tinfoil on the outside of the van - secured with blue painter's tape. We have found that it works much better that way. Helps keep the heat and dust out better. The sun does not have a chance to penetrate the window assembly.

[kirby]

I have a Ford Windstar.
If I secure a shade tarp by closing the van door on one end, how do I stake it down at the other end?
Sounds like I need digging tools and stuff.
Thank you for the advice on covering the windows, I'm going to do that.
Still listening if there's more advice!

[phil]

I have a Ford Windstar.
If I secure a shade tarp by closing the van door on one end, how do I stake it down at the other end?
Sounds like I need digging tools and stuff.

Stakes! No digging tools and stuff. Use a couple of stakes. Stake it down with stakes.

[Savannah]

Coleman 10 inch camping stakes (quite inexpensive) and an ordinary camping mallet or short sledge hammer. I use those stakes for my tent, and they work great. Pound them flush to the ground so nobody trips.

This kit might be sufficient. If you want more than 4 stakes, they sell the stakes alone too and you could add an extra 4-pack to your cart.
http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-830B400T- ... B0009PUQ8M.

If there's a really bad humdinger of a storm and things start flapping, you can take a tarp down and put it up again quickly later.

[bobushka king]

I brought a van last year (and am bringing one this year), here are some tips:

-as mentioned before put tinfoil/those windshield foil protectors/hell even towels over the windows to block the sun as much as possible. While during the day it will never be "cool" inside the van it helps drop the temperature a couple degrees.

-As far as sleeping goes: at night you'll be fine (as it can get down right cold there at night), just open the doors up for a little bit during the evening hours to let some heat out. During the day just leave whichever doors aren't facing the sun open to get some air.

-A cooler is fine inside the van. The way I worked it was I had two coolers. One large one with all the food/BEER/other stuff and another that was JUST ice. The one that was just ice i didn't open until the the ice had melted in the big one. Then I just added as I needed. The ice lasted me from Sunday night to Saturday afternoon like that.

-Spend a little time and money on making a shade structure off the van... trust me it's nice and not that hard to make. (especially if you're not camp with anyone with shade)

here's the shade I made:


Any more questions let me know!!

[Savannah]

Well done, Bobby! I never did actually see your set-up, and I think that's quite clever!

[The Bee]

I brought a van last year (and am bringing one this year)

Hey, nice setup! I'm planning something similar over the side door of my van. Love the painting on the side of your van too!

[westnileraven]

Bobby! You were my first neighbor! I thought your shade was tight, and I still love the paint on your van. We should tell the dude that you also had chairs and a card table for chillin if I recall. You slept in the van and your ride buddy slept in that hiking tent there, right?

Oh and OP? Tent stakes will be fine. if you got stompin boots, stomp them, But you might be able to borrow a hammer for a few seconds.

[kirby]

Very helpful, thank you! I was gonna stake it down with steaks, before you said...stakes.