Cargo bed cooling suggestions?

[Douglas Boyd]

Does anyone out there have any suggestions for keeping the cargo bed cooler when the tonneau cover is on it? I thought about drilling a few air holes in the back of it near the rear window area as an idea. Thanks.

 

[Frank Marano]

what would be the point of keeping it cool? Drilling holes will let in water.

 

[Fred]

Welcome Doug! What FMarano said, + dirt.

 

[George C]

Doug,

I wouldn't drill the holes but even if you did it wouldn't help much. Between the cover being black and the closed area the sun will definitely heat it up. Unless you had some type of fan the air wouldn't move anyway.

George

 

[TRACket Paul]

Welcome aboard!

You can plug a 12v fan into the outlet on the inside of the bed.

It's too bad your first post is met with a challenge.

 

[Tom Schindler]

TRACet Paul, If the cover is closed, how will a fan keep it cool? A fan doesn't cool air, it moves air. It only feels cooler because it speeds up the evaporation of sweat and you cool down. A fan in the closed bed will not cool it down any.



Doug,



Welcome. I thought about your question. I can not understand why you want a cooler bed. Do you keep something in there tha gets to hot? There really is no way to cool it down. You drill holes, you will get water in the bed. Plus the holes would not be very effective. Air needs a path the flow. If you drilled some holes in your tailgate too, then it <B>might</B> stay cooler.





Tom

 

[Bill V]

Doug--



I'm sure it will be cooler with the tonneau if you were to leave the tailgate open.



Seriously, it might help us come up with better/more practical options if you could share the reason you're wanting to keep that area cooler. How cool do you need it to be? Also, are you needing it cooler only when the vehicle is moving (thus allowing our suggestions to take advantage of the resulting air movement), or only when it is parked, or both? Only when the engine is running, or when it's shut down as well?



--Bill

 

[Chad Merry]

Is this question a joke?

 

[TRACket Paul]

The bed has drain holes already, the tailgate and cover do not make the bed airtight.



An RV a/c unit could be installed on the cover. Priced from about $80 and up.



I have have no idea why he wants to cool the bed, it doesn't matter. I simply offered a positive reply.



Caymen, your response to his question for help, definitely challenges his intent:

what would be the point of keeping it cool?

Drilling holes will let in water.

That would be determined by the actual placement, wouldn't it?



TRACket Paul

 

[Frank Marano]

I dont think it would matter where you put the holes, they will get water in them. Especailly when moving down the highway in the rain.



If you drilled holes, they would have to be pretty sizeable holes too. I mean if you drilled some 1/4 inch holes, they really wouldnt do much in the way of removing heat. You would need like 2 inch, 3 inch holes, like the size of a golf ball.....



and WHY would you want to mark your ST like THAT, lol

 

[Todd Z]

Maybe he wants to put his pets or kids in the back under the cover???

Todd Z

 

[Frank Marano]

Maybe he wants to put his pets or kids in the back under the cover???

for the sake of suffocation, I hope not, lol:blink:

 

[TRACket Paul]

:huh:

Maybe medical supplies, plants, midget cadavers...?

 

[Douglas Boyd]

I appreciate everyone's responses and suggestions. I have no mysterious reasons for wanting to keep the area cooler. Sometimes when I place golf clubs or luggage in the area, especially when traveling to Florida, I get concerned how excessively hot it is in there. I'm more concerned when the vehicle is parked rather than moving. Thanks. Doug

 

[Eric Pennal]

I can think of a reason for wanting the bed cooler with the cover down:



Groceries.

 

[Darrel Chaney01]

Welcome Doug. I had the same problem to figure out when I put a cooler in the back. I have a Coleman cooler that you plug into ac or dc, so you can not us ice. It cools to 20 degrees lower than the surounding air tempeture. So the longer you drove the warmer things got in the cooler. I solved this by using the "Blue Ice" packs. I froze them, then placed 2 or 3 in the cooler and plugging it in the back. Every thing stayed cold and when I got where I was going I plugged the cooler into a wall plug, leaving the blue ice in. If I was lucky the blue ice would last till I got home. Since the "Blue Ice" is not water there is no water to get into the cooler.

 

[Wes Davis]

Hello Doug, check out some boat supply web sites. They have solar powered fans that mite be possible to mount in the tonneau cover. They use the fans to vent interior cabins. Some fans come with louveres to keep weather out and some fans have a cover that points down to keep rain from getting in. Just some thoughts towards your situation. Keep us posted on what you find. I live in Florida and my turnpike sunpass just fell off the window leaving gooey strings of nastiness all over the place from the extreme interior heat.

 

[Gavin Allan]

Paint the top of the cover white.

 

[Gerald Pierce]

An RV a/c unit could be installed on the cover. Priced from about $80 and up.

Every RV AC I have ever seen ran off 115vac @ 20A.... that would take one helluva invertor to run. Might be able to find a smaller one, but it will still draw 13-15 amps when starting.

 

[Travis Munday]

You could make some air intake scoops or louvers on the front half of the bed cover, with some heat extraction vents on the back side of the cover. Depending on the size of the vents, you'd get a good amount of airflow, and change the air fairly quickly. The only problem is that you may not be able to get sufficent airflow over the top of the bed cover due to the aerodynamics of the ST, and of course, it's only work while the truck is in motion.