How large is this cargo van?
Vehicles without some sort of treatment start becoming solar ovens shortly after the sun rises each day. If you need to sleep/rest inside beyond 8:00am, or have the cargo van as a refuge for yourself during the day, then you'll need to do something.
Your choices are limited by cost, your abilities and time to pull it off, and to install it on the playa. These include:
- Shading your van (with an air space between the shade structure and the van).
Better is a large shade structure that shades your van down to the ground, so it also blocks radiated heat (like a large monkey-hut).
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- Build a small shade structure to retreat to when the van gets too hot.
A monkey hut is great as its sides go to the ground to also protect from radiated heat.
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- Treat the van like an RV, with Reflectix heat-reflecting sheets taped over the outside of windows (and their frames) with red Stucco tape.
You can custom cut the Reflectix to match glass size & shape, or just cut off a rectangle that covers the glass & frame.
Large windows (windscreen) may need to be covered in two or three sections, so there's enough tape to hold it down in the wind.
Essential to cover glass on the South, East & West sides. Also on the North, as heat radiates in even though the sun doesn't; but North windows can be covered on the inside (and you can cut a one inch square in the middle to let light in).
As the van likely doesn't have any insulation in the walls and roof, you can do what some have done and cover the entire South-side of the van with reflectix; if you can do it safely, cover the roof too.
This also keeps heat in on cool or cold nights (sometimes near freezing)
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- CHEAT: build a DIY swamp cooler: flip a switch and it will take fresh hot dry dusty playa air, cool it and blow the cooled (and moist & dust free) air into your van.
This replaces the hot dry air inside the van, which needs to have an exhaust vent (preferably higher up in the structure so it's exhausting the hottest air first) to allow it to exhaust.
Needs a container, pad, fan, pump, some tubing & power source. Some designs need some ducting. Very low power usage (a single deep-cycle battery will last most people the week on a single charge). It will need potable water. You only need to run it when you're inside and need cooling; no point in cooling the inside when you're not there.
Head over to Figjam's swamp-cooler thread viewtopic.php?f=280&t=33842&start=3720 and find the latest summary of the designs. If you get on it, there's time to get the parts shipped in and assembled. Given the time left, I'd go with a ready-made container, be it the bucket design or a rectangular garbage pail for a box design.
Great if you can shade from the sun and heat so it doesn't get to the van in the first place, but the hot air still will. #1 and #2 will reduce the heat. As cooling is a necessity for you, shade with #4 is better idea.
#3 on the glass will be the easiest - and
essential for glass in the sun. More effective if you can do the van's entire South side easily, and the roof. This will give you more time in the morning and reasonable temperatures during the day, except on very hot days.
#4 is the ace in the hole: flip a switch and you have instant cooling comfort.
As cooling is a necessity for you, I would strongly suggest:
- Do #3, tape Reflectix covers over the glass & frames, with #4 swamp-cooler for on-demand instant cooling comfort.
- Do not try to invent or modify a solution, nor substitute alternate materials. Go with playa-tested solutions that several people have found effective in the heat of the playa. If you need to modify/substitute something, then ask in the appropriate thread - many things have been tried on-playa and people can let you know if it will, won't or might work.
p.s.
Playa dust can be hard on electrical things on the playa. If your personal mister uses an electric fan/pump, it may fail. Make sure you have a few hand-held spray bottles as backup. They are great to walk around with: just spray a mist into the air and walk through it; share with others. Keep your hat moist and cool too.
Worst case:
For cooling your playa sleeping structure, look at what happens with the old tried and true method of cooling with a hand-held spray bottle (better ones from pro cleaning stores). Spray the mist, instant cooling; the dry hot (often dusty) air evaporates the mist, cooling. There's heat coming into the structure from outside and the people inside it are providing heat too. Over time with mist application, the inside becomes hot & humid. The mist no longer cools. The mist on you no longer cools. But if you open up the door and let dry hot (dusty) air replace the hot humid air inside (happens faster if there's a breeze), then you're back to your starting point (hot dry air in your structure) and you can mist again and experience some cool.
