You can take your Prius RVing

[bennelson]

I thought for sure that this thread was going to be about how RV sites at camp-grounds have electricity and how a plug-in kit would be able to let you charge up at a camp-ground and then drive around in EV mode!

Come to think of it, I wish more people had their engine off while driving around the camp-ground at night - Or at least didn't DRIVE their car to get to the bathroom that's only 5 camp-sites away!

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by pete c

I would think that a fully charged prius should be able to provide enough power to run an AC overnight.

Am I the only one who thinks "camping" and "AC" is symptomatic of a severe reality disconnect?

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

Am I the only one who thinks "camping" and "AC" is symptomatic of a severe reality disconnect?

Only for those whom "camping" is purely recreational, therefore optional. I'd think someone buying a camper, today, would have sense of long-term and wide-ranging use. An asset, and not a toy.

Guess you've never experienced real heat, have you? Or wondered why US armed forces use A/C in the Middle East (and elsewhere). Suppose we should disconnect you from any source of heat . . after all, heat and related stresses kill far more people in North America than all other weather or climate causes combined.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by slowmover

Guess you've never experienced real heat, have you?

Well, there were the days when I worked construction on the Las Vegas Strip, and would see the time/temperature sign on the Sahara flash 3:00AM/112F, and the mortar I'd spread would get a dry crust before I could get the tile down on it. And then there was the summer spent driving a Cat down around Bakersfield, with the hot air & dust blowing back off the engine. Add a summer spent at FSU in Tallahassee, and part of one in Parris Island, which adds humidity and sand fleas to the heat. So yeah, I'd say I've experienced real heat.

But the point here is not heat per se, it's why you would go camping - the goal of which is to be in a natural environment - and yet be unwilling to experience whatever that natural environment has to offer.

And yes, I do wonder why the armed forces use A/C. In my experience, at least, it makes you far less able to tolerate the heat when you do have to be out in it (and I doubt the jihadists are so considerate as to attack only indoors or in the cool season), and the stress of the transitions from hot outdoors to usually over-cooled indoors is hard on the body.

[samwichse]

Prius battery capacity (3rd gen) 1.3 kwh. With the mild 40% DOD, available is 0.52 kwh.

A moderately-sized RV AC unit draws 1000-1200 watts:
Not allowed to post links... but google shopping search "Low Profile RV Air Conditioner-
9200 Btuh Coleman Polar Cub"

Say 1kw load * .52kwh = 31.2 minutes of air conditioning time.

[samwichse]

Oops, that was my 5th post... here's the link for power draw info:

Low Profile RV Air Conditioner on Sale - PPL Motor Homes

[skyking]

thanks, give this man a samwiche!
I was too lazy to do this

[slowmover]

camping - the goal of which is to be in a natural environment

Who defined this goal in the particular way you are using it?

An army encampment has little to do with jollity, and by no means do all persons using a "camper" have any desire to be in a "natural environment" 24/7/365 any more did you, likely, at the end of the workday (as do any of us in the hotter portions of the US). If they did, then the "camper" wouldn't be required. They could bake, shiver or drown as the seasons allowed. The point to one is to have the choice to be indoors or out as desired; personal mobility.

Another form of adequate shelter.

[larrybuck]

If it sleeps 4, they must be small, or 2 people sleep in the bucket seats.
Do Prius's seats recline?

I have used my 1st Gen. CRX as a motorhome for at least 6-7 vacation trips
so far. I'm 6,4" with long legs.

The key is pulling the pass. seat!

All stock on the outside, nothing weird looking.

[bennelson]

Hmmm. I had a Chevy Spectrum with the passenger seat removed for a while. LOTS of space in there.

A friend of mine has a gen1 Metro with the back seat and passenger seat removed - the thing is as spacious as a pickup truck!

Actually, when it comes to Eco-Car-Camping, I think it's hard to beat this.


Plain cloth tent. One end of rope goes to a tree, other end goes THROUGH the open windows of the car and ties to the roof itself.

The car also had a "powered by Ethanol!" sticker on it.

Come to think of it, this is the type of forum where the owner is probably right here somewhere.....