How to Cool My Tent While Camping

Part of roughing it is dealing with the local climate, and summers can often be hot and brutal affairs. You don't need to go to the desert or to the jungle to find sweltering and unpleasant conditions that will make sleeping an unpleasant misery. Keeping your tent cool hinges on good site selection so you get plenty of shade and make the most of the breeze.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Bug repellent
Tent fan

Step 1

Pitch the tent in a place where either local trees, a boulder, a hill or a cliff offer shade through the midday and late afternoon.

Step 2

Spray the outside of your mesh windows with bug repellent and leave them open to make the most of your ventilation. Some campers keep their windows zipped up to keep out gnats, which can penetrate most forms of window mesh. Bug repellent will keep them away.

Step 3

Lick you thumb every hour or so through the middle of the day and determine which direction the prevailing wind is blowing. Pull up your tent stakes and reposition your tent so that the wind is blowing through the largest windows. This will maximize your ventilation.

Step 4

Avoid pitching your tents in dense forests, especially if there is plenty of moss and other signs of moisture around. Not only do the trees and underbrush limit breezes, but these places usually have much higher levels of humidity. It will seem at least a few and perhaps several degrees hotter in such locations.

Step 5

Set up a battery-powered tent fan to improve on the tent's ventilation. These need to be set up to draw additional air through the tent's mesh windows for best overall effect. You should set a tent fan to blow directly on you only if you are the sole occupant of the tent.

Article Written By Edwin Thomas

Edwin Thomas has been writing since 1997. His work has appeared in various online publications, including The Black Table, Proboxing-Fans and others. A travel blogger, editor and writer, Thomas has traveled from Argentina to Vietnam in pursuit of stories. He holds a Master of Arts in international affairs from American University.

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