Here's a quote from an email I sent another poster:
"I purchased a cheap A/C from Wal-mart. I think it's one up from the lowest they sell. About a 5000 to 5500 BTU. It was on sale when I bought it for around $125 - $140, I don't remember exactly.
My tent is about 10 X 12 (or 14). It can be divided into 3 rooms or used as 1 or 2 rooms. One room is about 10 X 6. The other 10 X 6 room can be divided into two rooms. Our doors are on the ends of the tent. There is one large door with screen that leads into the open room and two side by side doors without screens that lead into the room that has the ability to be divided. There are 2 large screened windows on each side of the tent.
When we use the A/C, we put it in one of the side by side doors. I usually put a short 4x4 on the outside of the tent and one on the inside. That keeps the A/C elevated over the flap at the bottom of the door and prevents water from running inside. We zip the door closed as much as possible (be sure to keep the vents cleared of tent fabric) and duct tape the rest of it closed.
Our screen house is about the same size as our tent, only a little taller I think. It has zippered doors on both sides. We turn it across the end of our tent (imagine a T) so it covers the A/C and protects it from the weather. Our screen house roof isn't as watertight as our tent so we always put a tarp over the frame before we put the screen on. We usually put up some sheets to insure privacy (see the stripped material) and use it like an additional room to our tent. We put a table over the A/C and use it to hold our camping microwave, refrigerator, toaster, and other stuff. We usually have some food around but we put that in a plastic covered box and slide it under the table (not blocking the A/C vents.
We enter through the screen house and use the first room as our living space with tables & chairs, tv, ect. I have a cot (I hate getting up and down from the floor.) and my son uses an inflatable double mattress. We have plenty of room for us and have used it for up to 4 people although we loose our living room when we have 4."
It worked great. We always came back to a cool tent. The only thing missing was housekeeping and indoor plumbing! We were able to stay two weeks in August and still afford to return for a week in January.
Let me know if you need any further info.
Carolyn
Tact - A keen sense of what to do or say in order to maintain good relations with others or avoid offense. Webster's Dictionary
