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Is Having A/c A Must?

L

LittleVintageTrailer

Newbie
Hi All,

Newbie here and the have been researching teardrops and the Camp-Inn is one on my list. I've heard great things about the quality.

One question I have is do most of you have A/C in your Camp-Inn's? If not, do you find the fantastic fan is enough when it's 90+ outside? For us, there will be some trips to more humid climates like Florida and I'm wondering if we'll roast inside of the teardrop without A/C.

Thanks!
 
The fantastic fan moves a lot of air. There are times a heater would be much higher on my list than A/C. But, you need some input from CI owners down south who camp in the heat on a regular basis.
 
It all depends on your travel plans. We have a trailer (560) currently being g built. Our short term plans are to take weekend trips and 1-2 week long excursions. Long term plans are to travel with the trailer for a coupe of years. I went through the same process and decided to get both A/C and heat just for the comfort and piece of mind. Until now have beer avid tent campers and backcountry campers so the luxury was welcome. The campinn hold their value and so in the event we were ever to sell it just and additional selling g point and figure I would recoup the cost..guess we are at the point in our lives that pampering is fine...
 
Hi and welcome to the forum.
It depends on your tolerance for hot, humid nights. What are you accustomed to?
My husband grew up in Norfolk, Virginia without air conditioning. He'd be just fine w/out it. I grew up in Newport News the most part of my life, and I've always had AC. The humidity around here can be pretty high sometimes. At night, it's difficult to breathe when it's really muggy. Not fun! Personally, I want AC on nights like that; I don't care how fast the air is moving across me. Again, my husband would be just fine. So....we ordered our Camp Inn 550 Ultra with AC and a furnace. For me, it's better to have it and not use it, than to wish I had it. Of course, you have to have electricity to run the AC. Florida can be a lot hotter and more humid than the tidewater area of Virginia. Best wishes in your decision.
 
We too thought long and hard about the ac and heat options when ordering our 560. I do not tolerate high heat so the ac was tops on my list. My husband was born in the south and doesn't seem bothered by heat or humidity. Doesn't even like a fan blowing on him when it is hot. To make me happy, he agreed to the ac. Now, he does not like the cold. Since we want to camp anytime, we ordered the furnace too. We lost some storage space in the front compartment with the furnace but seems like ther is still plenty of storage space.

We had more discussion about the roof rack addition or not (decided not) than anything else for the build.

What others have also said about resale is also true. I really don't think you can go wrong with whatever you decide because there is always someone out there who will buy your trailer if you don't want it anymore.

I say get what you want and can afford and then enjoy. Just look at Jean. She likes Camp Inn trailers so much, she's on her third!!

Gina
 
Hi and welcome we have a 550 and when we bought it I thought "A/C how crazy" because we had been tent campers. Then for 3 years never thought about A/C however last year we found ourselves in Wanachtee, WA at 92 degrees and thought it would have been nice. Then we found ourselves in WY on the way home and it was 102 degrees - so we went to a motel. So were I buying now I would get the A/C as we would not use it often but hate to interupt our vacation by giving into a motel.
 
While we have only had our trailer since Oct. and not been through a summer with it, I can't really comment on the AC unit yet. However, my suffers from migraine headaches brought on by heat so AC was a must on our list.

I would rather give up cabinet space for AC than needing it and not having it.
 
I have one without ac, I did not fell like I needed one when I went camping, but if I had the money at the time I would probably go with it. It all depends where you plan to camp most of the time.
 
Hi and welcome!! We pick up our 550 Special on April 1 and did not get the AC or the furnace. With all of the tent camping we have done we have the gear for cold and tolerate heat well. But we will see once we hit the road!! Have heard the fan helps on those hot days. Good luck!
 
I commented early - but tend to be more a spring/fall camper (less crowded those seasons in the north), hence the having the furnace would have been nice. Use a small ceramic heater currently.

If I was looking at a getting a new CI, I still think I would lean more toward the furnace than the A/C.
 
Are a furnace and A/C a must? Well, no there are alternatives.
The only must have is a fantastic fan!

A/C: first teardrop did not have A/C, I sold that one to buy #2 with A/C. Only used the A/C once this past summer, so extremely thankful. Teardrop #3 has A/C. There was no question in my mind about having A/C.

Furnace: I have found that the lights produce a good amount of heat along with using a 12volt car blanket to warm the bed when using sites with no electricity. If I have electricity I use a small ceramic heater. There are a few times that a central heat system would be nice, but have no regrets about not ordering the furnace. If I find that I need a furnace in the future, most likely would invest in a generator to run the ceramic heater.

Jean
 
We ordered our 560 with air because of our experience of camping in the heat and humidity. Even though we have been camping in a pop-up, we added air to the pop-up eventually and found we slept so much better when cool. When camping in the fall and winter we have found an electric blanket or our 0 degree sleeping bag worked great for keeping warm at night.
 
I was born and raised in the south. We do most of our camping in the winter. We purchased the AC but did not get the furnace. We camped on Mt Magazine in 27 degrees. I had to turn off the ceramic heater. I then plugged in a heating blanket. Had to turn that off to. That little camper stays toasty. The humidity gets bad here, so I am thinking that the AC is a very good thing.
 
it all depends on where you will be camping. Admittedly, a camper from the west/southwest would have a different experience than someone elsewhere in the U.S.

We have not needed AC or heat, yet, but we are in California and even winter camping is comfortable unless you go up in altitude. And when it's hot, we simply stay away from the really hot areas (and it almost always cools down at night here, on hot days)

-Al
 
Must have? no. Great to have? Yes. We have both and use both. When we ordered our trailer we didn't know where all we might camp (still don't) but it is nice to know we can go anywhere and be comfortable. I'll admit it doesn't take much to warm up the cabin,I have a ceramic heater too, but we use the furnace for short blasts in the evening before bed and in the am before we get up. It is great for taking out the dampness in the blankets/bedding. Depending on the ambient temp. the AC does the same thing for dampness even though the Fantastic Fan has taken care of most of our cooling needs so far.
 
Just to reinforce what others have said, the A/C only works when you are camped with shore power; it will not run on the battery. You could use a generator, if the camp rules allow it.
 
I'm a bit late to the discussion, but we have both a/c and heat. We haven't used the a/c that many times, the Fantastic Fan does a great job. Just crack the windows and you get a nice breeze. But the few times we've used it, we were very grateful we'd bought it, super happy. The furnace is a must have for me and it has gotten good usage. I don't want to be limited by the weather.
 
Looks like it's pretty much covered in these posts...but I can't resist adding my bit. We don't have AC and carry a small ceramic heater just in case. The fan works perfectly and solves the heat problems except for one time camping in Death Valley in the off season (off as in all the camp hosts and staff have left because it's too darn hot). Could have used some AC then, but there was no power. We survived under the feathery shade of a Palo Verde and pretty much had the place to ourselves. But that was a dry heat, humid would be worse.

Your choice. You may only use it a few odd times, but it would be handy.

Camp on,

Sue
 
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