Here in florida, I use do not use my cab A/C. When driving, I open the small triangular corner side windows and with the overhang from the camper, the heat is tolerable. I also drive secondary highways. The interstate is much hotter. I'd rather save on fuel and get the extra HP When camping, if I can't tolerate the temp after mitigating the heat, I use the onboard jenny. If I where you and wanted to save $, skip the cab A/C. Travel early in the morning or over night. Get an efficient, quiet modern jenny and find a way to install it to work with your ability level. Use it to run your cabin A/C, which you will need to cool the cabin for sleeping. Most places allow Jennie till 10 pm. Do a good job insulating and you will do fine. Out west the night time temp drops and you rarely need A/C after 10 pm.? In the east (florida) night time temp is 80 degrees. I can get my 87 Sunrader down to 68. Then I use small fans. It doesn't reach 80 until almost 4 am. Then I open the windows and it stays cool enough till about 7:30.? I also park in the shade and cook outside. Of you have a solar panel, you can run fans during the day. Adjust windows to create a draft and things are tolerable. During the day, I don't spend much time inside. Take cold water showers. Also, fill the onboard A/C cavity with batteries. If you have enough batteries, you can use an inverter.
The new Itasca came to me with a broken cab AC, but with a brand new Coleman Mach 9 Plus Polar Cub coach AC (9200 BTU, 1550 running watts in the desert, 1748 running watts for a heat strip).
When I spoke to my repair dude, he said an entire new AC system for the cab is about $2000 (the compressor is corroded and rusted shut, and no coolant, too far gone to fix). He suggested instead of replacing the cab AC, just install a new generator and run the coach AC when driving.
Reading online, it seems as if the only "installed" RV gens are by Cummins Onan, and the smallest they offer now, the QG 2800, is a bit too wide for the generator opening -- unless I take out the metal plate separating where the old generator was from the storage for the huge electric connection line.
The camper did come with a used Kohler that the previous owner was going to put in, but never got around to -- no idea if it works, or even how to check it. All the Kohlers I had previously didn't work and couldn't be fixed.
So, what do y'all think?
1. fix the cab AC and get a portable generator to take boondocking? I'm 64 and not as strong as I used to be so can't pick up much over 50#, and maneuvering a portable generator thru the coach door may be daunting.
2. somehow modify or remove the metal plate and electric line storage area so an Onan will fit? or remove the plate and store the line above and on top of the Onan?
3. jury rig a metal platform off the backside to hold non rv generator and use that somehow (my least favorite option, but mentioned by mechanic - sounds ugly, a heavy weight off the end of the rig, and the frame does have some rust I need to abate so I'm not happy about welding to the frame)?
4. Have any of you used the coach to keep the cab cool, and did it work well and not use too much gasoline? or is this a seriously BAD idea?
Thanks Y'all,
Sue Crowe
(wondering if she made a big mistake buying this camper)
(but it's sooo pretty!!!)
(and the Poor Neglected Thing need a Home)
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