Ideas to stay cool in the summer

I have a truck shell camper and it gets really hot in the summer. I would love cold air. I was going to put a dometic ac on top of my shell and run it with a generator but that would make too much noise. I have a dometic fan on top of my shell but its just humid air that would come in. Ive been seeing these, what you think? Suggestions? thx

 

That is a neat idea, but as far as sufficiently cooling that much space with it? Abandon all hope. You are fighting a constant heat soak that only a 6,000-8,000Btu window air conditioner would even have half a chanced of keeping up with, much less get ahead of. The Dometic roof-top units are nice, but their capacity is for a much bigger space. Mis-match the A/C capacity to the space being cooled (usually an over-capacity issue in trucks) and it won't cool right, compressor with cycle on and off constantly, leading you to even more frustration. Besides, roof-top units are LOUD, especially the low-profile models, much louder than a window unit powered by a generator put out in the distance. (Many complaints on the net about the noise of the low-profile units.)

If you MUST be out there in the heat, then resign yourself to getting a window A/C and a

$1,099 Honda EU2200 ITAN 2200-Watt 120-Volt Super Quiet Portable Inverter Generator with CO-Minder - 49-State

Honda EU2200 inverter generator to power it. I have two, and you literally can stand between them and have a normal conversation. Put one out there at the end of a 10-12gauge extension cord, say 20-50 feet away and you can hardly even hear it. Put a cheap enclosure around it and you won't hear hardly anything. Even a cardboard box with one side cut out (the far side) will surprise you how it absorbs what little sound there is. The 2200watt EU2200 (2200 surge/2000 run) run on Eco-mode (super quiet mode) will run a 6,000Btu window A/C. Jump up to an 8,000Btu window A/C and you won't be able to run the generator on Eco-Mode. (Unless it is an older unit that is well broke-in, meaning loose tolerances in the moving parts. I have successfully run the 12,000Btu window A/C pictured below with an EU2000, but that A/C is WELL broke-in.) An EU2200 is still very quiet at full song, but not as quiet as when run in Eco-Mode. So, you hear white noise from the window A/C unit which covers up the distant hum of the generator. No biggie. Otherwise, you have three seasons in which to camp in cool comfort. Go camping then and knock out honey-do's during the hot months.

Forty+ year's experience trying to get a cool night's sleep out there: cabover campers, Class C and Class A motorhomes, the my buddy's under-A/C'd travel trailer or two, trying to solve that for them, replaced three roof-top A/C's of my own over the years. I know a thing or two about air conditioning while camping: #1 is...don't go camping when it is HOT.

 

Agreed I always go somewhere cooler on trip when it’s hot. Love that setup with the tent