Last year we spent around four months of tropical rainy season in the Amazon delta and jungle. Looking back, we have to admit that we weren’t perhaps quite as well prepared for the climate as we could have been. Recently we’ve been preparing a camper for tropical climate.
We had planned for driving in the extreme conditions: deep water, mud and prepared Cuthbert with snorkel, sand-ladders, winch etc. To a certain extent we had thought about our own comfort too. We have a well-designed, solid-sided, properly insulated and water-proofed living cabin. It has no pop-ups, no fabric parts and no weak-points for cold or leakage. But even all that doesn’t help us in the heat and humidity. We survived of course… but it’s damned hot and humid out there! And the rains… Man! It rains in a way rarely experienced by anyone more accustomed to a temperate European climate!
This year we’re approaching the imminent rains of the Central American tropical rainy season and we’re better prepared than last year. So what needed changing and what have we done?
Ain’t No Sunshine
It may not surprise you to read that in most ‘rainy seasons’ there isn’t much sun. Not the end of the world, clearly… but we need sun to shine on our solar panels and give us electricity. With so little sunlight, we were struggling to charge our leisure battery to full each day. Add to this, the heat was: a) causing us to run the roof-fan all day, and b) causing the fridge to work over-time keeping the beer cold (now do you understand how serious the situation was?). Both of these were drawing down the limited battery power more quickly than usual.
On the few days there was sunshine it was very hot. We wanted to park in the shade, but couldn’t as we need to maximise the solar charge. Parking in the sun made the truck hotter, the fridge drew more power, and… you get the idea.
Another problem was our roof fan. It had been great in hot/dry climates, but it had a rain sensor which closed it off when the rain came. This makes sense if you don’t want to get wet inside, but doesn’t make sense when you need air circulation (with or without rain falling). When the rain came, it was torrential… so heavy that we had to fully close all the windows and doors. With the roof fan also closed, it was stifling heat and humidity inside the truck.
Bring on the rain – preparing a camper for tropical climate
Lithium Leisure Battery Upgrade.
New super-shiny lithium
This year we have installed a fancy new upgrade to the battery system. Marcus has just put in a new bank of lithium leisure batteries which will be marvellous in this year’s rains! Geeks can click here to read the full story of the installation, why it’s such a better system than the old AGM battery, and how it all works.
New roof fan
New super-shiny roof vent
The very latest in roof-fan fashions (is there such a thing?). This one now has, amongst other fancy features, a special rain-hood! The rain doesn’t come in, and it no longer shuts down when it gets wet. Installation turned out to be not quite as straightforward as we had hoped, but it’s great now that its done. It just keeps on going… shuffling that air around the room keeping us nice and cool, come rain or shine 🙂 And we have so much battery power that we no longer care that the fan is running all the time. Fabulous. Click here for the roof-fan installation story.
Awning
Another piece of critical rainy-season equipment that we value highly (although is not new) is our awning. We had this from the start, but initially thought that it was merely a good idea for shade and sun-protection. Well it is good for that, but it actually gets almost as much use in the rain as it does in the sun. When the tropical rains come, sitting out with a coffee or a cold beer under the awning, is one of the rainy-season’s few little pleasures.
So now we’re armed and ready for whatever this year’s Central American rainy season throws at us…. just got to stay out the way of those hurricanes!