AC In Our Hawk

[Dphillip]

A majority of our camping is at RV parks where we can plug into electricity and water. Every summer we have three camping trips we never miss, canoeing in the Ozark’s, Sturgis during the rally and Jeeping in Moab over Labor Day weekend. Air Conditioning is really necessary during these trips especially when trying to sleep at night. I can usually tolerate the unpleasantness but I feel bad for my wife. I drag her to all these events and she’s really a good sport but I want things as comfortable as possible. I called the 4 Wheel Camper factory about fitting a window AC unit to the back window of our Hawk. The labor to remove all the rear siding and reinforce the under frame wasn’t fiscally responsible. With our upcoming trip to Sturgis, I purchased a portable room AC unit off Amazon made by Black and Decker. It’s a 10,000 BTU unit shipped for $343.00, with a weight of 71 pounds. Adapting the unit to the Hawk was simple and inexpensive.

During transport the unit fits behind the side dinette seat.


I used a piece of 1/8 inch poster board to make a mount for the exhaust hose. The poster board attaches to the side window frame with Velcro so it’s easy on and off. I purchased the poster board at Lowe’s for 6 bucks it’s black on one side and white on the other which was perfect. The window is cranked open to vent the hose.




I fold down the side dinette seat, remove the cushion and place the unit on top with an rubber door mat underneath so not to scratch the wood.



Results:
In Sturgis, if the temp was 95 outside and about 95 in the camper the AC would bring the temp down to around 82 inside and remove all the humidity which really made a difference.
The unit has no drain hose but has a water collection tray you only drain at the end of the season.
It’s not a perfect system but it make summer time sleeping in the camper much more pleasant..

 

[MarkBC]

Cool!

 

[JWL]

Thanks! I’m still trying to figure out what to do eventually about adding AC to our Hawk.

So the real question is.. what did your wife think?

 

[Dphillip]

Thanks! I’m still trying to figure out what to do eventually about adding AC to our Hawk.

So the real question is.. what did your wife think?

She was very pleased but truth be told by 8 or 9 PM in Rapid City where we stayed the outside temps dropped considerably so we didn’t need to run the unit at night. We’ll be in Moab in three weeks and that will be the real test. I’m thinking with the absence of humidity in Moab the unit might run more efficient and the inside camper temps might come down even more.

 

[Beach]

I have a 5k BTU a/c in the ex rear window of my Hawk. It was installed by the previous owner and works well. Doesn't appear to have any extra bracing installed except 2 right angle shelf brackets(through bolted) on the outside. The only problem so far was a small water leak during heavy rain which I rectified by recalking.
We use it without the thermal pack and on a recent trip with daytime temps in the mid 90s it kept the inside to mid 70s. At night mid-upper 60s. I would not get a a/c of less than 5k capacity, 6 - 8k would not be to much, if you can find one compact enough with a low amp draw it would be even better. I had a canvas cover made to keep road grime and rain out when its not being used and highly recommend it. We dry camp a lot and don't worry about a/c if we are in a low humidity area and night temps get down in the low 70s, we just run a small 12v fan.

 

[Adventurebound]

We had the same setup in our sailboat. We found these units in small spaces just don't work. If you notice they only have an exhaust hose....so where does all that air it's exhausting coming from? What we found is its pulled through small opening in the (sailboat) camper...also pulling in the hot surrounded air. Its essentially a big air circulator. The units that "hang" outside pull air and exhaust all external of the "cool" space.

 

[smlobx]

There is a member here (Advmoto) from NC that found a unit that he sets on a table outside his Hawk and with two dryer hoses he made the connection to his camper. Seemed to work well..maybe he’ll see this post and chime in.

 

[Dphillip]

AC performance update:
Just spent a week in Moab where the temps were over 100 degrees everyday. The AC unit consistently maintained the inside camper temperature 12 to 15 degrees lower than the outside temps. Those numbers don’t seem impressive but going from outside temps of 100 degrees to inside temps of 85 was remarkable. Bedtime is when the unit really shined. It was usually still 85 degrees outside but the inside camper temp was 75 to 78 degrees which felt almost chilly. A nice feature of the unit is the thermostat that shuts off the AC compressor and runs the fan only so there is no interruption in white noise.
I was very pleased with the AC unit it really made the camper comfortable especially at bedtime.

 

[Campernature]

I have a 5k BTU a/c in the ex rear window of my Hawk. It was installed by the previous owner and works well. Doesn't appear to have any extra bracing installed except 2 right angle shelf brackets(through bolted) on the outside. The only problem so far was a small water leak during heavy rain which I rectified by recalking.
We use it without the thermal pack and on a recent trip with daytime temps in the mid 90s it kept the inside to mid 70s. At night mid-upper 60s. I would not get a a/c of less than 5k capacity, 6 - 8k would not be to much, if you can find one compact enough with a low amp draw it would be even better. I had a canvas cover made to keep road grime and rain out when its not being used and highly recommend it. We dry camp a lot and don't worry about a/c if we are in a low humidity area and night temps get down in the low 70s, we just run a small 12v fan.

Hey what model is your AC unit? Been looking for one small enough to fit into the rear window of a Hawk.

Do any of you guys know if it would be possible to fit an AC unit through the window pictured below? Also, there's a rear wall step next to the window, not sure if it would get in the way.

 

[Dan W]

We just picked up our hawk shell model same color as yours campernature. When we were at 4-wheel camper getting our camper mounted I went into the showroom and saw an AC mounted in a raven model. We've been thinking about putting one in our hawk but haven't made a decision or pulled the trigger yet. Four-wheel camper wanted close to $1,300 to mount $170 AC unit so I held off. They do a professional job and it looks good you also get a cover that looks like it's made out of the same material for the pop-up and a screen that goes over the back condenser unit. The unit was a Frigidaire ffra051wa11. I have an idea of putting one on a slide so while in transit it's inside the camper and then when you set up camp it slides out. Honestly I don't know if it's possible but I'm going to look into it.

 

[EYEMLOST]

Interesting idea.

 

[Dan W]

See if this works.