keeping van cool

without going to the expense of having a proper air con system fitted, has anyone come up with any ideas how to keep a van cool whilst traveling/sleeping, i.e fans, etc

Travelling, never been over successful keeping the van cool, I have two of these car fans (that work from the 12 volt ciggy plug) on the dashboard this together with the van fan on full blast and the driver / passenger windows open is normally sufficient.  If you find the fans have suckers and don't attach well the dashboard try taping an old CD box to the dash the suckers will happily attach to this.

On site etc I have my fan heater on blower and no heat.  I also have a 12 volt fan on the sink area and place one of these blue cool packs in front of the fan (have 3, 2 in freezer whilst third in use).

  Finally when hot like now I find it is a dry heat so old school method I place a cup/bowl of water on the worksurface.  You could also place this in front of the fan.

The other method if on site is plenty of beer,

Hi there,

With no AC in "Petal" we try and make sure that we park her in a place that is shaded from about noon onwards.  This is because most of the heat builds from about one o'clock onwards and it also ensures that we have a clear view to the south so that we can get satellite TV reception.

In addition to this:

o  We sit outside under the awning when the inside gets too hot.

o  We drink plenty of water, beer or tonic .

o  We use a fine-spray bottle filled with a mixture of French cologne and water.  This is incredibly cooling and we use it as a "boost" as and when required.

o  Finally, we try to enjoy every minute of it because we know that winter will arrive sometime soon!

Hope this helps. 

Best regards,

We were at Kendal at the weekend and parked in a shady spot, even so we had all the windows open, the Heki open as far as it would go, the back door up and the sliding door open.  Kept the van cool and comfortable and just closed the doors at night. Andy bought me one of those spray cans that supposedly cool you but I think the home made one with Cologne would be just as effective.
Otherwise we enjoy it while it lasts.