Adding AC??

[azpopup17]

Hello, I have been a tent camper until now.  I have a couple of questions.  I bought a '99 Coleman Mesa a couple of weeks ago.  Love the storage and and seating.   It has everything but AC.  The dealer here wants $1000 bucks for it installed.  My concern is can an older roof handle the 100lbs or so for the AC or could I introduce some uneeded stress.  My roof is in perfect condition.  Has anyone installed AC on an older pop up with success?  

The other item is with plasic repair.  I found a crack in the front storage section between the trunk door (hinge side) and pop up front.  I am guessing some silicone will work to seal it or a fiberglass repair kit.  Does anyone have any other ideas?  I just want to prevent water getting to the wood box section should it rain.  I though about replacing the top cover since it just looks like it is screwed into the wooden box secion, but I am guessing it is pricey and it is not that bad.

Thanks for any feedback.

[wernstriumph]

Hello, I have a 99 Sun Valley with the ABS roof, and I installed AC on it a few years ago. No leaks, no sagging, no complaints. Do you have a 14" roof vent? If so, remove the vent, and that's where the AC gets mounted. Mine did not have the roof vent, but there were 4 little white plugs in the ceiling marking where the vent would be. I removed them and cut a hole using the plug holes as a guide. I used 2" 3M gasket tape around the hole on the outside and mounted the AC unit on top. The ceiling assembly goes on from underneath and the bolts hold the rooftop unit in place. I ran the power cord down to the 20 amp outlet (on the Sun Valley it's by the dinette). Sprayed the roof with the garden hose to check for leaks and that was it. It took me about 3 hours from start to finish. Hope this helped.

[azpopup17]

Thanks for the info.  Mine has the 4 plugs in the ceiling to mark the location of the vent/AC and the 20amp outlet next to the dinette.  I might consider installing one myself, but would hate to skew up the roof.  What did you use to cut the hole in the roof?

[wernstriumph]

First I drilled holes at each of the corners and then lowered the roof. I climbed up on the roof and drew guidelines and I used a Rotozip ( the blade on my jigsaw was not long enough). The hole doesn't have to be perfect as you do not see any of it.Good luck.

[campnagle]

First I drilled holes at each of the corners and then lowered the roof. I climbed up on the roof and drew guidelines and I used a Rotozip ( the blade on my jigsaw was not long enough). The hole doesn't have to be perfect as you do not see any of it.Good luck.

I would NOT ADD A/C. I put a/c on my Utah when I bought her new and it was the biggest waste of money I ever spent. Maybe back east where you have to deal with humidity but here in AZ it wont work. At best it will drop your inside temp 7-10 degrees from outside temp. Your best option is a fan-tastic fan. Trust me on this you will spend thousands on a/c and generator, and all you will see out of your rearview will be that big white elephant sitting on your roof.
If you think you can camp at say Roosevelt lake in the summer and be cool in your pup you are dead wrong. Also a good option for your crack on trunk is to have sprayed-in bed liner applied to front of coach. I did this on my Utah and am very happy with it. you can see pics at. http://community.webshots.com/user/campnagle

[wernstriumph]

Actually, with the solar bunk end covers, in 100 deg. HUMID weather, I've had the inside temp down to about 68 deg. Quite comfortable relatively speaking. At night it was even cooler, had to turn the AC down. Before I got the bunk end covers, it was a bit warmer inside but still better than outside.

[AustinBoston]

I would NOT ADD A/C. I put a/c on my Utah when I bought her new and it was the biggest waste of money I ever spent. Maybe back east where you have to deal with humidity but here in AZ it wont work. At best it will drop your inside temp 7-10 degrees from outside temp. Your best option is a fan-tastic fan. Trust me on this you will spend thousands on a/c and generator, and all you will see out of your rearview will be that big white elephant sitting on your roof.
If you think you can camp at say Roosevelt lake in the summer and be cool in your pup you are dead wrong. Also a good option for your crack on trunk is to have sprayed-in bed liner applied to front of coach. I did this on my Utah and am very happy with it. you can see pics at. http://community.webshots.com/user/campnagle

You should try the pop-up-gizmo's bunk end covers.  Combined with A/C, one person reported reaching 30 degrees below ambient temperature while camping in El Paso in August.

Austin

[wavery]

Our A/C will cool the PU down pretty fast.

We have the Gizmos and I also duct tape the gaps around the door and put small shop towels in the gaps at the corners of the bunks.

However, I must admit that I don't think the A/C is worth the investment FOR US. I think that we have used our A/C about 3 times in the 18 months that we've had our PU. That would be about $250 each time that we've used the A/C (not counting the $1,000 generator). I think it looks kinda cool on top of the PU though. Kinda like having a swimming pool in your yard that you use twice a year .

[tknick]

I had cracks on both rear corners of my pu and the front right corner of my pu.  the crack on the front caused some damage to the structural wood of the storage compartment.  I purchased the ABS repair kit which some have spoke of here on the site.  It was relatively inexpensive (about $5.00 + shipping) and arrived quickly.  However, the repair cracked right down the same line as the original crack a day after the repair.  I ended up using some ABS glue I had left over from a plumbing project purchased at Lowe's Home Improvement.  That seems to have done the job.  It's not pretty, but it stopped the water.  A little side note, before sealing the cracks with anything, drill out a small hole at the end of the crack to stop the cracks from getting any larger.

As for the A/C, I live on the east coast so A/C is a must in the summer.  On the west coast, I would imagine the humidity isn't that bad.  As others have said, adding the solar covers will reduce the interior temperature dramatically.  We immediately noticed the difference the first time we put ours on.  We also bought some the foil covered sunshades from Wal-Mart and trimmed them to fit inbetween the screens and the shades on the three sides of each bunk end.  That not only helps with heat gain/loss, but also acts as a great darkener for the shades.  If you add bunkend covers at the least and the sunshades too, there is no reason why an A/C unit could not keep up with the heat gain even in AZ and keep you nice and cool.

travis