Crockpot and other logistic ?s for tent camping

[MotherRunner]

Hi all!

We have tent camped a ton but only 2 nights at a time. I have some logistic questions:

1. I have seen posts about using crockpots at the fort. How would this work if you are tent camping? How would you keep animals from toppling it over?

2. If you have a fridge do you buggee the door closed to keep animals out? Any issues with that?

3. What kind of string lights and timers do you prefer to light up your campsite for your return from the park?

4. What's the closest place to restock my food and ice supply?

TIA

 

[snowmedic]

1. We just leave our crockpot on the picnic table cooking while we go to the parks. Never had any issues with animals.
2. Haven't bought a fridge to the Fort yet, but we have two coolers, one for drinks and other for food. We leave them right outside without any type of secure for the animals to stay out of. We have totes in our tent with all our non-perishable food in, bread, cakes and other sweet things and never had any problems.
3. We just by regular string lights. We hang white ones inside our tent and around our ez-up, and blue ones around the canopy of our tent. When we know we will be back after dark, we just plug in our blue lights on the tent. Oh, we also have a Mickey lamp for in front of the campsite that gives off a nice green glow.
When we get back we just plug the other sets of lights in, no timers.
4. We go to Publix in Windermere of Walmart both about a 15 minute drive. For ice, I just get that at the comfort station, 2.00 bag.

 

[FortForever]

We have a crock pot like this, the lid snaps shut so it can't be knocked off. Never had any problem at the Fort. We just leave on picnic table, not even under a screen tent.

State park raccoons are an entirely other issue - they know how to open the clamps, even though they are very tight. At state parks, we actually use it on a small table inside our tent. Of course, we don't take that tent wilderness camping, where bear could be present.

 

[MotherRunner]

Thanks Yall. Great info! We never had issues with animals in Texas with our food in tubs, but the darn squirrels in Virginia are a nuissance!

How does one use an AC inside a tent? We typically just use personal fans...we are going at the end of September/begging of October.

We have plastic stakes and metal stakes for the tent. Which work better?

I'm pretty sure my husband won't be able to miss an Alabama game...what do I need to get the game at my site? TV and what kind of cable? Can I use rabbit ears? Or is the wifi strong enough to stream it on the tablet?

Thanks again!

 

[amcc]

Hi,
We bungee our fridge overnight and have never had a problem. A bear got into our kitchen supplies at a state park last week but didn't touch the fridge. Raccoons have messed with bungees holding our food boxes shut. Squirrels will get into any accessible food so we keep all the non-perishables in our car. As for restocking, we go to Publix or Walmart. Lately, we've been buying ice at the Fort camp stores - it seems more frozen and lasts longer. We buy it at the comfort station if we don't want to bike over.

If you google AC in a tent there are alot of pictures. We saw two types last week - wall units in a hole in the tent wall usually supported on the outside by a small table or crate and the hole sealed with tape (or even a bungee), and portable units with the exhaust hose outside. We use several fans in our ez-up tent but I can't sleep without AC. End of September will be pretty hot but there were people in tents last week without AC and they seemed to be holding up. It was so hot last week that I wanted to bring my pillow into the freezer cold bus and spend the night (and our popup AC is pretty good).

 

[snowmedic]

We used a portable a/c last Oct. that a good friend lent to us. We have two doors on our tent, we set the a/c in front of one of the doors and ran the house out the bottom of the door and zip tied the door around the exhaust hose. Kept the tent nice a cool, especially at night.



We use the metal stakes, they look like 8 inch long spikes, .99 at WalMart in camping supplies. The plastic stakes, in my opinion don't work well, especially if you have a big tent and it hangs off the pad. I lost on spike last Oct. and another in March staking my tent down and hitting tree roots.

 

[FortForever]

When we first moved to FL, we needed A/C and so will link you to some info. Now, after almost a decade here, we are acclimated and more likely to need a heater at night. In fact, we have not even installed an A/C port in our newest tent.

Although you are going at a warm time of year, air mattresses will make sleep cooler. They tend to rob you of your body heat, which is a good thing in Florida summers.

To just use a standard window unit A/C there are a few ways to go about it.

1) You can just buy a tent with a pre-installed A/C port, which can be found even in Walmart's inexpensive models such as this one.

2) You can purchase a professional kit to install a port in your current tent, which can be found here. (expensive, IMHO)

3) You can use this redneck video to make your own A/C port inexpensively - my personal choice.

4) Regardless which of the above you choose, this grill can be used as a stool for the A/C unit. It's very heavy, much sturdier than appears in the photo. It can be found in stock in most Walmart stores, in the camping section. I prefer this over a stool as it allows air circulation and no condensation will collect under the unit.

ETA: It may be this grill that we use as a stool. Best to get it in person at Walmart to make sure it is the one that is sturdy enough. Until looking at Walmart's website, I didn't realize there were several models. Ours is like cast iron type material and easily supports A/C.

 

[Family of Disney Addicts]

I'm loving the suggestions on here! Thank you for sharing!

 

[mtnminnie]

I've wondered if anyone has actually made the homemade ac unit and how it works.

 

[Flametamr]

I didn't read all the replies so if I repeat something over look it. First the only real animal problem is Tiggerdad's Squirrel posse. They will haul off anything small and especially snacks. They will be into any garbage let out. Use plastic totes or something you can secure for food storage. About which stakes to use. If your placing your tent on the sand pad. It is actually crushed rock. It doesn't stay packed down well so use the widest and longest stakes you can get. About the crock pot I recommend getting the plastic liners for cooking. When you're done you just trow away the mess and your pot is mostly clean. Saves a lot of scrubbing later.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Great tips here, thanks!!

 

[FortForever]

I've wondered if anyone has actually made the homemade ac unit and how it works.

I sure have. I have used that exact video to install homemade A/C boots in two different tents. It works beautifully. You don't even need any sewing skills to do it.

Our current tent is so cold that I will probably never need one. It has a fly that sits up about a foot off the top of the tent, and is reflective on the underside. It's made for warm climates and does a bit too good of a job keep the tent cool. It's freezing and I often need to use a heater at night, even in the summer.

One of the things I do love about this tent is that is never has that muggy feeling. Never. Every other tent I've owned has a muggy feeling when you wake up in the morning, even in cooler weather. This tent has successfully done away with that, I believe due to the raised rain fly.

 

[mtnminnie]

hmmm....interesting. I will have to take a closer look for sure.

 

[MotherRunner]

How long do extensions cords need to be?

We have a screened section on the front of our tent. Anyone try using this before?: (it's artificial grass. Way cheaper than a rug. We normally use a small mat at the door.

 

[amcc]

How long do extensions cords need to be?

We have a screened section on the front of our tent. Anyone try using this before?: (it's artificial grass. Way cheaper than a rug. We normally use a small mat at the door but the coquina shells sound messy.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LK2MIFC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

We have used that and once it gets wet, it is a soggy mess. Heaven forbid you have to put it away when it's wet and heavy and full of sand. We found these rugs:

Reversible Mats 116093 Blue/Light Green 6'x9' RV Garden Mat - search on amazon for this (I can't put in the url without it opening up with my account, I think, even if I log out)

and now we have 3. They are very big and they cover almost the whole site. They don't soak up water so on the day we are leaving, we drape them over the picnic table, hose them down, give them a few minutes to drip and dry off and fold them up into their neat squares.