Shade tarp for rv

[R. V. Tripp]

I built a frame with 3/4" pvc and tied a shade tarp to it with zip ties. Last summer a deracho storm and 3 follow on storms over the next 10 days, knocked power out here for 2 weeks. The daily temperature during the power outage was 100 degrees! It was very miserable and life literally became a daily battle to keep me and my cat from becoming heat casualties.
This frame is built with pvc no longer than 5' and not glued, so that I can break it down and store in rv storage area for travel. This has been a mild, rainy summer, with no 100 degree days and very few low 90s days, so its hard to ascertain its effectiveness in that extreme. But I've tested it by going w/o AC on hottest days and it seems to help have a cooling effect. I'll keep following up as I test it further in the future.

 

[R. V. Tripp]

Hmmm the pic is not showing. Not sure why...

 

[R. V. Tripp]

 

[akrvbob]

Very, very nice. It gives you good shade and still allows free air movement. I'm sure it really helps.
Bob

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

What we REALLY need are tarps made from the same material as those heavy space blankets - something that would not only shade what it's over, but actually REFLECT the heat away.

I've never understood why the company that makes space blankets doesn't offer something like that.

Regards
John

 

[Zil]

There are available reflective tarps. And also grommet install kits.

 

[highdesertranger]

very nice. back in the days before ac a lot of desert dwellers put a shade roof over their dwellings. so their house was always in the shade, works quite well. highdesertranger

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

There are available reflective tarps. And also grommet install kits.

Zil,

I've never seen them for sale in any camping store or catalog. But now I've run a google search and found a few specialty sites that have them. Much obliged.

Regards
John

 

[Patrick46]

Great set-up John!! I like the peak for run-off!

I also like the idea of a reflective tarp. I'd be inclined to get a huge one though, and extend it from over the roof framework (like your did)...but then take it all the way down the sunny side and stake it into the ground, so the sunny side is shaded from the sun as well. (much like a regular RV awning does.)

 

[Zil]

I see them on shelf at Harbor Freight. Not space blanket, but silvered tarps. They sell grommet tools also, you could grommet your own blanket. Shade is an excellent way to stay cool in dry climates.

 

[R. V. Tripp]

[/b]Yep did that on the SW facing side. Just now took a pic

 

[Patrick46]

Perfect!!

 

[akrvbob]

In Quartzsite and on Amazon you can buy white tarps. I think white tarps may be just as good, I'm not sure.

I've actually come to prefer the mesh tarps that are like a very heavy bug netting. They give a lot of shade but they also allow the breeze through. I winter in the desert and there is almost always a wind and keeping a cross-wind in the rig is very important. Not only that but the mesh tarp can stay out in the wind when a tarp has to come down. This wouldn't apply if you weren't in a windy area.

I pretty much stopped using my white tarp and now just use my tan mesh tarp on the south side of the trailer. Doesn't do much good in the rain though!!
Bob

 

[caseyc]

I always had the idea a large RV rig would keep cooler in the heat of sun versus a smaller vehicle. I'm sure I have the wrong idea.

Nice shade, by the way!

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I always had the idea a large RV rig would keep cooler in the heat of sun versus a smaller vehicle. I'm sure I have the wrong idea.

Nice shade, by the way!

There has to be a relationship between the surface are being irradiated vs the internal volume in cubic feet. But in the real world, it gets complicated by the amount of insulation, the amount of thermal mass to retain heat, the amount of ventilation to speed heat transfer, and so on.

Putting thin insulation on a pipe is counterproductive - the surface area increases faster than the insulation value can compensate for. Which seems counterintuitive at first glance.

Bottom line - it's complicated, and I don't know.

Regards
John

 

[caseyc]

For a moment, you were sounding smart and edumacated with your scientific mumble jumbo, haha!

 

[Zil]

caseyc. Shade is better.