First Prius Camping Trip complete with Generator and HVAC system.

Hello!

I did some light research and hope I am posting this in the right place. My first day on the forum...

Here is how I made the Prius into a HVAC system, generator and cargo hauler:

I've had my Prius over two years now. I'm an armor officer and live a pretty rough, dirty and active life with the Army. Most of my buddies drive trucks, SUVs and sports cars. If I drive a 72 ton Abrams tank at work, I just don't feel the need to look "manly" in my car. I can't help but chuckle when I'm made fun of... The hatchback, MPG rating, comfort (even for a 6'1" 220 soldier) and ability to pack two Army tough boxes and gear in the back sold me on the car. It has been great.

Since the first few months of ownership I made a few modifications to help the interior survive my Army life. Husky molded floor liners keep the mud out of the carpet and Cover King Neoprene custom seat covers keeps the fabric clean. The windows were tinted to include a UV blocker clear layer on the front window to keep the heat down. That is about it until about two months ago.

My wife and I have recently been stationed in California and never lived there before. Being from the south, we haven't had the chance to visit the West Coast, the Grand Canyon, Sequoia trees, and the list goes on. We decided to take every moment to travel with out twin three year olds and see the sights. We've been traveling often, literally every month but have been using my wife's SUV getting 16 mpg the whole way. No matter how hard I tried, we just couldn't fit everything we needed for camping in my Prius. We realized that spending $500-1200 a month wasn't sustainable. We've decided to shed the hotels, the inefficient car, and go camping instead. The only problems: cargo space, kid boredom, and a comfortable night's sleep in various temperatures.

Here is the list of modifications I made to make traveling easier and fix these problems.

• Installed Reese Towpower Hitch from Amazon for $109 (I installed it myself in about 15 min)
• Purchased 2" to 1 1/4" adapter from Amazon for the cargo basket we already owned for $24
• Purchased 20 feet of sewer hose from Amazon for $13 for a tent HVAC system
• Added Velcro to the Driver Side A/C vent
• Spouse built a custom "adapter" from the A/C vent to the 20' sewer hose from scrap vinyl
• Used scrap vinyl for a window cover
• Installed the adapter, basket and added a tough box and cooler I already owned
• RCA DVD Player $95 on Amazon
• Installed a 400w power inverter to run the kids' soundmaker, chargers and lights at the campsite
• 1500watt Energizer power inverter standing by for emergency use

We will test this setup this weekend. All we are missing in the photos are our three duffels with clothes. Most our food fit under the cargo area floor and the cooler. The green tough box is full of cooking and camping supplies that won't be hurt in the rare chance they got wet.

With a few hundred bucks and some imagination we will have A/C in the tent, electricity at the campsite (many of the ones we have reserved for the summer have zero power), and room to move all our gear. Security isn't a problem. You'll notice the basket and tough box are chained to the car. It isn't going anywhere unless they have special tools.

I'll report on how well the hose vents to the tent. All my experiments at home have proven it works great for cooling a tent. Gas expenditure will be minimal whether using heat or cold, and the 20' hose keeps us plenty far away from dangerous exhaust. I've used the sewer hose idea on my HMMWV in the winter and it works great but you have to run the diesel engine all night to stay warm. Same idea here, but with a fuel efficient system. It is amazing how much air flows out of the hose after closing off all other air vents.

Someone may have done all this before, but I wanted to share. I'll report after our long weekend camping.

Thanks for reading and please post any of your generator, HVAC and cargo carry solutions.

Stephen

 

Yes, I've been hooking the inverter directly to the 12V battery terminals. The A/C runs of the traction battery just like if the car was sitting still.

 

Thanks for the help and I read through pmike's post in detail. Looks like a fairly easy install with positive results. We are leaving for the grand canyon in just a couple hours. I'll report on how the HVAC idea works.

 

I ordered from ebay and Amazon. I bought the back from "Amazon Warehouse" and the front from ebay. These are the "CR Grade" Neoprene (not the "neosupreme") and are waterproof. I jump in my car with Army gear on, after physical training soaking wet in sweat and throw 75lb tough boxes on top of the seat covers every week (I spend 14 days out of 30 in the field here at Fort Irwin). Not a tear or scratch. When my kids get them filthy I just rub them with a wet towel and they are good to go. The photos are the current condition after two years of use and 17,000ish miles a year. I can't really tell any change to how they were brand new.

I paid about $135 on Amazon for a used, but like new rear cover and $160sih on ebay for the front pair. That is less than half the cost new from CoverKing. Both purchases arrived in "like new" condition.

 

Ok, time to report on the weekend.

I got 43.9 mpg on the way to the Grand Canyon. 409 miles one way (almost a full tank of gas). Even with the cargo basket and an estimated 1,100 lbs of cargo! The back end was almost on the bump stops and I think we hit them twice going over big bumps. The trip home got 43.1. Both of these measurements are from fill up to fill up divided by mileage. Not trusting the computer. The 43.1 on the return trip is overall and included about 12 total hours of running the Prius at night, at idle. Negligible difference in my opinion! Especially after going from our 16-18 mpg Pacifica for this family trip. It ended up being 42ish degrees both nights and heat was needed over A/C.

Using the A/C heater hose...

Our tent is too big! It is a 7' tall dome and is 10' by 10' on both sides. Massive! The other problem I haven't considered (this being the first time we used the tent out of the package) is that it is 75% mesh. It is a summer tent that uses a rainfly and about 2" of space to keep the tent ventilated. No way to heat or cool that much space with it being all mesh. What someone would need is a smaller tent (4-6 person) designed for winter, or with the ability to close all vents.

As an alternative this works great: Get everyone in their sleeping bags and cover up with a tarp or large quilt (I have twin 3 year olds remember, so too easy) and put the hose underneath. Plenty of warmth then! We used a sound machine (running water) to cover up the noise from the engine cycling. No complaints from other tent sites (fairly far away) and we were very comfortable. Running heat at full blast caused the car to cycle on about every 10-15 minutes for 2ish minutes in 40ish degrees. I think it was cutting on more to maintain coolant temperature than to keep the battery charged. It doesn't come on near as much with A/C.

No issues whatsoever drawing power off the 400 watt inverter on the 12v battery.