Black out tent

[danibanani]

I've got a Springbar tent that I'd like to make as dark as possible so I can sleep later. Is it worthwhile to put up some blackout curtains on the outside of the tent? I'm a little worried that it would just trap more heat and cook me inside. I'll have a mesh shade cloth above the tent and also a swamp cooler made from a 5-gallon bucket.

[Token]

It is unlikely to hurt, probably will provide extra nap time, but it may not be as effective as you think.

In order to get maximum benefit you need to shade the tent 100%. As in every last square inch of the thing from the morning sun.

Even if you cover 90% of the Sun facing side of the tent, it won’t buy much time.

Our glorious Star bathes us with ~ 1.3KW of energy per square meter. That’s a boatload of energy. A sleeping you produces ~ 90W.

The Springar is a dandy tent and also a swell solar collector, especially in the morning.

Setting the tent up next to a tall vehicle then shading the tall bits is probably the best option with the least amount of hassle. Even then we are talking about an hour of extra time.

The other proven option is a small cot in the shade of the tent so you can stumble out and continue the nap.

Good luck.

[BBadger]

As Token said, you will want to dial-in your shade situation, and once you have everything shaded, you can put curtains up or whatnot to reduce the amount of light entering your tent. The shade should permit airflow to vent out the hot air.

You could even make the shade opaque, which could help you reduce the amount of ambient light you see in the first place, and then work on reducing what is left with blackout curtains and such.

In the interior of your tent, you could also set up a sleep curtain zone to make the area that needs to be blacked out smaller.

[some seeing eye]

Have you considered an eyemask? In the day, under shade it is cooler to sleep outside. I would put a silver tarp over today's Costco Carport for maximum shade. Their latest innovation of windows on carports are no doubt a cost reduction measure and not useful on the playa.

[Wigwam]

I concur. My springbar tent, while I wonderful invention is the perfect EZ bake oven. Crash in the shade, bring a mister to cool yourself as you do.