Club 80-90 Forums

Hello Peeps ! Summer time is coming...

Any top tips for keeping the passengers cool this summer when sitting in a long French traffic jam in 35 degrees !
(Apart from icecreams.. open all window and vents .... and drinking buckets of ice water ....)

I guess 12v fans (any pointers as to which are the best ??) ...but I am hoping my fellow 80-90's might have a few more ingeniuous ideas!

Thanks !

Try travelling in an evening, there can be far less traffic and it should be cooler. Small children will probably snooze anyway (we used to get our 2 into there pyjamas before setting off). You could also avoid the Peages ... most big jams are at toll stations.

Ian

Ian Hulley wrote:Try travelling in an evening, there can be far less traffic and it should be cooler. Small children will probably snooze anyway (we used to get our 2 into there pyjamas before setting off). You could also avoid the Peages ... most big jams are at toll stations.

Ian

Cheers Ian ! We do some big journeys to the West Coast of France so we spend all day in the van.... 650 miles. Even split over 2 days we always seem to get stuck in big queues and little hot and bothered !

As we are travelling to get to a destination (rather than touring) I find the peages brilliant in France - doing 70mph rather than 50/60 on the non-peages is much better.....

Just trying to think of some easy solutions

shorehambeach wrote:Hello Peeps ! Summer time is coming...

Any top tips for keeping the passengers cool this summer when sitting in a long French traffic jam in 35 degrees !
(Apart from icecreams.. open all window and vents .... and drinking buckets of ice water ....)

I guess 12v fans (any pointers as to which are the best ??) ...but I am hoping my fellow 80-90's might have a few more ingeniuous ideas!

Thanks !

Avoid the week when the French go away en-masse, the journey in France should then be quicker ie; more air flow in Van

In an earlier discussion I suggested doing what we do, based on experience over nearly 30 years. We purposely arrive on a Sunday (this year 28 July) and only travel to just South of Paris, so we sit behind the wave to avoid the traffic madness. The last weekend in July (27/28 this year) is when the masses from the North of France travel South causing traffic jams. Two weekends later there is a similar mass exodus North. Try and avoid this.

Alternatively, take it slower on the D roads as most people will be stuck on the motorways or N roads. That's where a large scale Michelin road atlas (1:200000) is brilliant (the big version not the A4 size). It shows so many alternatives. You can often find D roads relatively empty in comparison. Most importantly take plenty of water with you cooling as much as you can in the fridge (the beer can wait).

If you follow this advice you will miss most of the grief. Enjoy your trip.

Thanks for all the replies Guys. I regularly do 1500 + miles in my beloved T25 through France so am used to driving through the day on the tolls


What about 12v fans in the back ? Any good ? Any recommendations ??

Thanks in advance...

Hello,

I got a big swivelling fan , removable from its base from a well known auction site..

Wouldn’t be without it...

Drowns the engine noise..

You could easily fit one to a rear locker...

Just keep it out of the way of hair and fingers

BTW, last year, here, at this time it was 28 Celcius.. last weekend it snowed..

Cordialement,

Merci Beacoup !

The thing that made the biggest difference for the kids in the back was a opening window at the back. Get a nice through draught now. And it's also pretty nice sleeping with it open

Hey!

We have a 12v fan in the front and one hooked up to the leisure battery - I fitted a 49p switch to it - noisy but chucks the air around.

Not sure if you can get a fan to fit in the skylight and hook it up to the leisure battery?

lloydy wrote:The thing that made the biggest difference for the kids in the back was a opening window at the back. Get a nice through draught now. And it's also pretty nice sleeping with it open

That's the way I do it too!

You got a sliding window for rearmost window too? Supa rare!

Or you could try one of these:

http://www.conrad-uk.com/ce/en/product/ ... view1&rb=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Got to be worth a try at ony £17.99

Palomino wrote:Or you could try one of these:

http://www.conrad-uk.com/ce/en/product/ ... view1&rb=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Got to be worth a try at ony £17.99

Thats the one for me!

Thanks for all the replies guys and gals

I will let you know how my Mini Air Con works !!!

shorehambeach wrote:

Palomino wrote:Or you could try one of these:

http://www.conrad-uk.com/ce/en/product/ ... view1&rb=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Got to be worth a try at ony £17.99

Thats the one for me!
Thanks for all the replies guys and gals
I will let you know how my Mini Air Con works !!!

It got 3 reviews on Amazon. They all said it's no good for a room and one said it might work in a caravan, so you may be lucky.