From Uhaul Swamp Cooler to Fantastic Fan

Camping in the south means heat and humidity. So I had to laugh when we brought the little fiberglass camper home and I discovered it had a swamp cooler installed. If there's one thing I don't need in Georgia, it's a swamp cooler. (I'm assuming that a large portion of the U-haul camper rental fleet was aimed at the western states.) So we used just the fan part of it but I didn't like the bulk on the roof. And the fan wasn't that great.

Due to a summer trip and lack of time, I opted to have a shop rip the old swamp cooler off and install a fantastic fan. They were able to use the existing 12v wiring. We're really happy with it and it adds some natural light in the camper and has much better airflow. 

Out with the old

In with the new

So why not go with a rooftop air conditioner? Well first there's the expense. I didn't feel like dropping that kind of money since we'd just had to get a newer car (GMC Acadia). Second, I've read, and can understand from looking at the camper design, that the weight of one of those units could be too much for the top without adding some reinforcement inside. So I took the easier route. The other options are a window unit on the rear sliding window with probably some fabricated mount that connects down to the bumper for some support or cutting out the front lower storage bin near the door and adding external venting and installing one there. Both of those require more work than I was willing to put into it at that time. We'll see in the future if I decide to do one of those. There are pro's and cons to both.