Leave Pathy Idling all night long?

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probee773
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Leave Pathy Idling all night long?

Postby probee773 » Thu May 15, 2008 7:52 am

I'm going camping this weekend and will by using my 2006 Pathy as a "tent." With all of the seats down, it easily holds a twin size infatable mattress so it will be perfect. Thing is, I will be camping in Florida where it's quite hot and there are lots of mosquitoes, so I don't want to leave the windows down. I think I'm going to let the car idle all night so that I can use the A/C. Anyone ever done this? How much gas do you think I'll use over 8 hours of idling?


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gonyofam3
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Re: Leave Pathy Idling all night long?

Postby gonyofam3 » Thu May 15, 2008 8:34 am

probee773 wrote:I'm going camping this weekend and will by using my 2006 Pathy as a "tent." With all of the seats down, it easily holds a twin size infatable mattress so it will be perfect. Thing is, I will be camping in Florida where it's quite hot and there are lots of mosquitoes, so I don't want to leave the windows down. I think I'm going to let the car idle all night so that I can use the A/C. Anyone ever done this? How much gas do you think I'll use over 8 hours of idling?
We took our pathy to the Grand Canyon in april and it was cold my daughter and her friend ended up in the Pathy. It will fit a full size air matress w/ no problem. As for the idling all night I can't help you there we let it idle for a while and shut it off it didn't seem to burn that much gas.

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phantom2
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Postby phantom2 » Thu May 15, 2008 9:00 am

Probee...sleeping in a vehicle,with the engine running all night,seems like a recipe for disaster.I would definitely be concerned about carbon monoxide and not waking up at all.Be on the safe side...stay at Holiday Inn

Gray
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Postby Gray » Thu May 15, 2008 9:20 am

Welcome to the forum Probee. :)

We slept in our PF a few times last summer. Rather than idling the truck we installed a couple of screens on the outside of the two rear door side windows and left them open a couple of inches for ventilation. Here's a purpose built product for that but we just used some cloth window screen and tape, and that kept the bugs out;

Image
Click on http://www.tentsontrucks.com/suv_window_screen.htm

This year though I'm going to look for some stretchy netting material, and make a bag which will slip over the top half of each door, rather than fooling with tape all around...maybe some girls thunder thigh size stockings will work.

One issue we had on the first trip was that as soon as the sun was up the interior of the truck heated up really quickly so we put a lightweight ripstop nylon tarp over the the whole rear of the truck from about the rear door and covering the front window, and from the ground on one side to the other and staked it down which gave some added privacy when getting up in the morning.

Another problem was finding a mattress which was the right size for the rear area, didn't take up too much room when stowed and was comfortable; we finally went with two narrow individual air mattresses which worked well.

Aside from wasting gasoline, idling a truck isn't really recommended when parked for extended periods as depending on which way the air is drifting (and that can change at night) your ac fan can pick up exhaust gases and put that back inside the truck.

Happy camping. :)

.
Last edited by Gray on Fri May 16, 2008 2:06 am, edited 4 times in total.

acomiskey
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Postby acomiskey » Thu May 15, 2008 9:47 am


SHAWNATGERBROCK
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Postby SHAWNATGERBROCK » Thu May 15, 2008 10:48 am

Yea, I would be really concerned about that tent and exhaust .....even if it has ventilation ... Carbon monoxide can get trapped in pockets and if you happen to be in one of those pockets ....well you know .... If you could run some sort of hose sealed to the exhaust and running out a ways away .... but remembering the path's exhaust comes out the back , so if it gets near the tent material it could also be a fire hazard !!!

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probee773
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Postby probee773 » Thu May 15, 2008 10:51 am

Thanks for the input guys!

How about not running the engine, but running the A/C fan all night. You think the battery would make it that long?

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NVSteve
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Postby NVSteve » Thu May 15, 2008 10:53 am

I like Greybrick's idea, except that out west you would wake up to a car full of dust and other fine particulates. I personally wouldn't want to use a hatch tent for a few reasons:

1. If I pull in to camp somewhere & need the tent immediately, I would not want to attach it to the PF with the hot exhaust so close.
2. Some amount of work is still required if you want to disconnect. Items would probably be moved from one to the other, etc. If one doesn't camp in the same spot more than 1 night, then it wouldn't be too bad. Regardless, I want to be able to keep the "camp" and the vehicle separate.
3. I don't think I'd trust it in any kind of rain, especially when wind is involved.
4. A regular tent would be far more ideal.

If I were the OP, I would just buy a tent. That way, you can have maximum ventilation and bug protection. Besides, I usually bring other things with me when I camp, and all of that stuff has to go somewhere when the bed is made up in the back. May as well just have a roomy tent to sleep in & keep the rest of the gear locked up in the PF. Last time I was at my dealer, they had a closeout special on those hatch tents. Just under $200.

In the heat, there's no way I'd want to sleep in the PF. Been there, done that. Even with the sunroof open & all windows down, as soon as the sun rises it becomes an oven.

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probee773
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Postby probee773 » Thu May 15, 2008 12:20 pm

I like Greybrick's idea too. Just ran to Home Depot and bought some screen ($6) and some tape ($2). Went to Advance auto and bought a $10 cigarette lighter fan. Should be all set!

Gray
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Postby Gray » Fri May 16, 2008 1:43 am

probee773 wrote:I like Greybrick's idea too. Just ran to Home Depot and bought some screen ($6) and some tape ($2). Went to Advance auto and bought a $10 cigarette lighter fan. Should be all set!
Kewl, safe camping and have fun. :)

.

G35TR
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Postby G35TR » Sat May 17, 2008 6:49 pm

How was your trip? Where in FL did you camp? My wife and I camp out of our Path also here in Florida, so I went and bought the Napier SUV tent. Check it out here:

http://napierenterprises.com/site/index ... &Itemid=32

Matter of fact, we're planning on using it again next weekend. The factory Nissan tent just seems too small. We liked that add on tent section because the SUV connector section can be removed, and the tent can be used as a stand-alone too. Plus, it gave us extra room to store our expensive SCUBA gear, or house friends if needed. [/img]

LittleStevie
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Postby LittleStevie » Sun May 18, 2008 11:12 am

I'm not really seeing a point to the tents that connect to the rear hatch of an SUV. As I've never used one, am I missing some advantages?

I prefer to have a standalone tent and store gear in the back of the truck. If you have the tent there, you can't get to stuff in the truck without going through the tent. What feature does having it connected offer?

It also seems like I would rather have the truck available for driving, leaving my tent closed at the campsite and not having to disconnect and reconnect at night. There are also a lot of cases where campsite configuration requires that you park a little ways away from your tent site.

Again, I'm not knocking it, I'm just not really seeing any practical advantages to doing it this way.

G35TR
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Postby G35TR » Sun May 18, 2008 12:26 pm

First time your camping down here and get one of our infamous Florida thunderstorms, and you'd understand. Times like that and it's nice to have a solid roof over your head.

Whether your sleeping in the tent, and storing stuff in the back, or VV, it's nice to be able to grab stuff without having to leave the tent and get into the truck. As far as getting gear out of the truck when connected to the tent, whats wrong with the back doors? If I have to grab something in the back, and don't want to go through the tent, thats what I do.

Like I mentioned, we sleep in the back of the truck, and keep $$$ SCUBA gear in the tent, so I perfer to have it under the same roof for security, rather then left alone in my vehicle somewhere overnight. Plus, if were not diving, and friends want to come along, there will always be plenty of room.

And as far as being able to still use the truck. It disconnects from the tent in about 2 min., so that's never been an issue.

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probee773
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Postby probee773 » Mon May 19, 2008 5:55 am

Just got back from my trip. We went to Ginnie Springs which is near Gainesville, FL (Go Gators!). What a beautiful area. I've included a link so you can see why:

http://www.floridaadventuring.com/ginnie-springs.html

We had a great time and sleeping in the back of the Pathy worked out perfectly! The screened windows and 12v fan I bought kept us cool and bug free all night, thanks Greybrick.

I love my new Pathy!

G35TR
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Postby G35TR » Mon May 19, 2008 9:11 am

Ginnie is pretty nice. That's where we do our camping/diving trips. That may also be where we go next weekend. Being so close to UF, it can get pretty crowded and roudy though. Kinda one of the reasons we may not go there next weekend (Memorial weekend :( ).

You guys float the river?


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