Sleeping in your vehicle

[rayra]

All that on a 4Runner? Seems over the top, no pun intended. I'd go for a shaded rood and some dark / e-tint, before I'd go to a generator / window AC unit solution. 4Runner AC can't be that deficient?
My 4-fan setup will move nearly 200cfm. What's the cubic on a 4Runner, 80? Shaded, with just those fans, your vehicle would be no hotter than ambient. How bad is that, in 'Northern Rockies'?

As for ducting, there's all sorts of ways you could duct a window AC into a back window. But man it's going to be an ugly kludge. Like something out of Bladerunner or Mad Max. Do you really want that?

 

[Malamute]

The onboard AC works fine, but I cant leave it running all the time if I leave the vehicle, Ive been told (by police) its not even legal in some states to leave a vehicle and leave it running. If it were just me, I wouldn't care much, but I have a dog that goes with me everywhere. I used to mainly travel in the winter, I have no choice but to travel intermittently all through the year at this point, so, I'm figuring out how to do it and not cook the dog and not have some goob break my window out to rescue my dog. 4Runner is what I have. 4Runner is what I'll work on to make it inhabitable in summer conditions while travelling. I also tend to sleep in the vehicle when its not cold out, so I may also appreciate it at times.
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Last year when travelling in the summer I was reluctant to even leave the dog in the vehicle to go in a store or get food. I have a thermometer to keep check on the temp in the vehicle, but some heroic type may disregard or be unaware of it sitting in plain sight. It still was getting into the mid 70s or so just getting fast food. I run the AC at 67 while driving. The dog and I both like it that way.
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The nice police officer that told me about not leaving a vehicle running was talking to me because somebody had called in two dogs left in a vehicle (mine), and he was checking on them. He had a hand-help temp sensor that told him the inside temp of the vehicle when he stuck it in the open window (was parked in shade also). He informed me that it could be a felony level charge if an animal was seriously hurt or died from heat when left in a vehicle. This in a tiny town in Montana. Wed stopped to get a quick lunch on the way into the mountains for the day, where the dogs could play in the snow, but in town, it was warm, warm enough to overheat an unattended animal left in a vehicle. Such is life today.
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It gets mid 90s to 100 here off and on over the summer, and I have to travel to the Midwest, and to Az. Not sure what else is going to work. The flex duct will be the ugly part, the rest will be in a box on the rear carrier.
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first pic is random dog in car pic from the net. Second is my dog and vehicle packed for the road.
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[rayra]

Not sure what to advise. I have a GSD and a GSD-Husky mix. I'm in SoCal. If I take my dogs for a ride around town and have to leave them in the vehicle for a few minutes I put all four windows down 8-10" and open my sunroof wide. Anything up to mid-80s. Hotter I leave them home. Moving, I've got front and rear AC. Plenty of busybodies around here, too.
All I can suggest is plan your trips well, make your stops early or late, use a lot of drive-thrus or just plain don't stop around town in the middle of the day. I'd certainly find some combination of above and give some busybodies hell, before I'd contemplate putting a generator and a window AC unit on my roof.

I've tinted everything, put a solid deck on my roof rack as a second roof to block the sun, made shade awnings for my vehicle. There's isn't much more I'm willing or feel is needed to do. My dogs are as comfortable as I am. Summertime they get haircuts. And I don't leave them in a closed up vehicle ever. If anybody ever has a problem with that I've got a problem with them and they're going to have a problem with me. I'm not going to any additional extremes to appease anybody.

 

[southpier]

https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u.../weathertech-side-window-deflectors-3.jpg&f=1

i'm surprised more of you guys don't have these. you can leave your windows down, even in the rain, about 2" without getting wet. doesn't help with bugs, but they do help with ventilation.

 

[Malamute]

... before I'd contemplate putting a generator and a window AC unit on my roof...

The AC and gen are going on the rear hitch carrier, enclosed in a ventilated box. The roof rack is mainly for shade for now.
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Im leery of leaving windows open very far. Not a huge problem here, but on the road I worry about someone getting into my stuff, or stealing or letting my dog out. Shes probably somewhat intimidating to many due to her size, but shes a big baby for the most part, and loves everyone.

Ive put sheets over an older truck when I left it with dogs inside in warmer weather, but the gen/AC is something I can fire up when leaving vehicle and its not very conspicuous. So yes, everyone has their limit or level of what they are willing to do. I'm willing to work out a system to keep me, my dog and vehicle cool when parked. It will remove the weather as a factor in making plans. I have no choice when to travel now, which is the genesis (besides the nice police officer in MT) of figuring out how to keep the vehicle cool under summer conditions.

 

[seekerbeta]

when my wife and I slept in the back of our xterra, we got some coreplast and used it to fill in the back pair of windows, then we hung a "curtain" from the back window to block that light, we could leave the windows down and all that was visible was a small crack, it kept a nice breeze blowing through the truck, but it seemed to keep the bugs out.

 

[Buliwyf]

I just open the door, open the tail gate, and say "Crate". Don't even need to close the door on the crate, dog loves it.

I Crate is bolted and ratchet strapped to the truck. A soon as I'm done shopping I let her out and back into the cab.

If there's too many people, can't fit her in the cab, she has no problem riding in the crate as long as it has a nice floor and a bed. It's not like I keep her in there for more than an hour ever. 3 open sides an nice for air flow/wind.