AC for Enclosed Trailer?

A while back I asked about cool suits because I baked at Buttonwillow. After some thought I realized it wasn't the in car portion of the day that was melting me but the hanging around in the paddock part.

My Camper Van really isn't big enough to hang out in, the coach AC is to small to cool it off anytime it's over 80 degrees and I can't run the van AC all day. The van didn't come with a generator and my 2000 watt portable won't run a bigger AC; even if I did upgrade we still have the issue of the van be small.

My thought is maybe install some kind of cooling on the trailer; I could install a large generator on the front of the trailer to power a 15000 BTU or similar unit.

Anyone ever try this?

I have AC in mine, the install was fairly straightforward.  Ideally you want the generator inside the trailer in an enclosed box with an exterior door on a set of sliding rails so you can pull it out when you want to use it, but put it away out of sight and rain when not using it.  Put in a breaker box and run some conduit up to the roof, cut a square hole for the AC, set it on top, and bolt the control unit on the bottom.  The hardest part is getting the AC unit up onto the roof of the trailer, they're pretty heavy.

You'll want a PVC curtain for the side door (like on a meat locker).  Some people put big ones at the rear door too, but I usually just close it.

I have a 13,500 unit, but my trailer isn't insulated.  It can't cool the trailer down if it's already 100 degrees in there, so I need to start it in the morning when it's cooler and keep it running during the day.  It'll usually maintain 15-20 degrees below ambient.

I've thought a mini split with the exterior unit mounted on the tongue would work well. I see them in the wild, but I wonder if the better play is the camper style roof unit. 

I put an AC unit into my trailer. It was easy.  Georgia summer laughed at it and said "nice try dude."  The heat coming through the ceiling and walls completely overpowered it. IMO if you're not going to insulate and seal all of your walls, it's pretty much a pointless exercise. 

Even with insulation you're going to struggle to get much more than 20* below ambient unless the system is wildly oversized. Not saying not to do it, just manage your expectations and/or plan accordingly. We learned this the hard way at solo nats last year with the modern-ish RV we had at the time. The temperature gradient away from the unit was significant, like "move over a seat on the couch and it's noticeably warmer".

In reply to ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) :

Yeah I am dealing with a similar deal here in the desert.

I have a 14000 BTU portable at that I could vent out the roof hatch.My trailer is only 8x16 so it might do the job.

The trailer really needs extra roof spars to support the weight of the ac. Those aren't that easy to add if they weren't factory installed.

I have a couple of buddies that added cheapo minisplits to their trailers,  and they seem to work great. Probably not designed to survive the vibration they'll see on a trailer, but have been runing fit 2-3 years now. 

Even 20 below ambient is huge -- 85 in the trailer when it's 105 outside feels heavenly.  I will admit that I position my chair directly under the vent, though. :)