How many days dry camping for family of 6?

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Tracer88lx

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Elk County, PA
Hello,
I’m a first time RVer planning a 3 week southwest road trip this spring for my family of 6. I would prefer to camp at the national parks but have noticed that not all have electric hookup sites and many have restricted generator hours. We can dry camp, but how many nights in a row can we do this before we will need to camp with electric hookups again? The temp at night will be in the mid-40s so I’m definitely worried about running out of a heat source. I will be renting a 32 foot class C.
 
If you're renting a small motorhome, it's likely to not have a large battery bank, which would be the main limitation for number of nights with no hookups when it's cold out, probably one night, if it makes it through the night. The furnace draws heavily from the batteries.

Since you folks are new to this, you probably aren't used to conserving water and to being very careful with the use of the holding tanks which, on that type of unit are likely to be small, so one night (two at the outside) is likely to be all you can do before hooking up again, as Tom indicates above.
 
Many parks have public block houses with showers and restrooms. If there is one and you make use of that and only use the RV for overnight potty breaks you can probably stretch to 3-4 days before needing to dump.

As Larry says, first timers are not that aware of water conservation. The first time my kid borrowed my RV he and 3 friends filled the grey tank overnight. He called me and thought something was wrong. He knew a little better but his friends took long hot showers...
 
You should be good for a couple of weeks. Compared to a family in a tent, you have almost unlimited resources. Folks used to do it all the time, so can you.
 
Tank capacity will also be an issue, I assume you will be renting a Cruise America C32, if so according to their web site these only have a 40 gallon fresh water tank, a 25 gallon black water tank, and a 22 gallon gray water tank. By comparison my 28 ft class A has 80 fresh, 40 black and 40 gray, so we can somewhat easily go nearly a week with 2 people on board, and only moderate water conservation.

Lets put a 40 gallon fresh water supply into perspective with 6 people on board, the big one here is if the onboard shower is used, if each of 6 people were to take a 1.5 minute shower at 2.5GPM water flow, this alone would half empty your fresh tank, and would almost overflow that little 22 gallon gray tank. (6x2.5x1.5= 22.5 gallons), if we add in toilet flushing say 6 people using a total of 2 gallons to flush twice per day that adds another 12 gallons to the black tank, or roughly half its capacity, and we have not even got to water consumed washing dishes, etc. Even if you ban the use of the shower in the RV, your black tank is still going to fill up fairly quickly, assuming you only allow use of the RV facilities during the night, you may last 2-3 days between trips to the dump station to dump the tanks, and refill the water tanks (most national park campgrounds will have dump stations at the campgrounds, and also have fresh water sill stations a safe distance from the dump station (50 ft or so).

As to battery charging, in cooler weather, a forum search suggests that these Cruise America rentals (at least the 28 ft), come equipped with a single group 29 deep cycle AGM battery. If so expect to need to run your generator for at least a couple of hours each day to recharge it enough to make it through the next night. In my experience most National park campground no generator quiet hours runs from about 10 pm - 8 am, the more restrictive ones will tend to allow generators to run for at least 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening. My advice here is to fill up the gas tank as close as you can to the campground (the generator will consume about half a gallon of fuel per hour), and run the generator while you are doing daytime meal prep, this should give you enough power to run the furnace the following night, though you will probably want to set the thermostat lower than you would at home. Another limitation here will be the size of the propane tank, cruise america only puts a 12 gallon propane tank on their coaches, which might last 2-3 days in very cold weather, or perhaps a week or more with lows in the low 40's and highs in 70's. (assume at full time running the furnace consumes about 1/3 gallon of propane per hour, with 40 degree weather assume it runs about 15 minutes out of every hour) Feel free to do the math from there, note a 12 gallon propane tank, only holds about 9 gallons of propane.

As mentioned most National Park campgrounds have shower and toilet facilities, often this means restrooms in small buildings possibly even pit toilets through out the campground, and a large centralized bath house with showers, toilets, and often laundry facilities at the entrances. Most national park campgrounds are large with hundreds of RV sites, so have large shower areas, etc often near the check in station, which may be half a mile or more from your camp site..
 
You should be good for a couple of weeks. Compared to a family in a tent, you have almost unlimited resources. Folks used to do it all the time, so can you.
Two weeks or did you mean two days. Please explain if you did mean two weeks . Try to break it down.
 
My best guess is that 12v battery power is good for one night at best for a newbie family of 6. Maybe two if everybody is extra careful about using lighting and it's warm enough so that furnace runtime isn't a factor. The good news is that you can recharge the batteries in the morning if generator usage is allowed (but neither you nor your neighbors will enjoy that runtime).

Fresh & waste water capacity will also be a factor and is one of the more difficult conservation habits for newbies too learn. Rental class C's typically have small tanks, maybe 30 gallons each for fresh and waste, so you won't all be showering or washing hair. Even 6 people flushing the toilet will quickly fill up the black waste tank. Use the campground bathhouse facilities as much as possible. And plan on dumping the waste tanks almost daily until everybody develops water conservation habits.
 
Two weeks or did you mean two days. Please explain if you did mean two weeks . Try to break it down.
I grew up in a family of 8 that would camp for weeks at a time in tents and a pop up. Water was carried in jugs, cooking and lighting was done by propane. Hookups? Never heard of them.
 
I grew up in a family of 8 that would camp for weeks at a time in tents and a pop up. Water was carried in jugs, cooking and lighting was done by propane. Hookups? Never heard of them.
Not picking on you but that is clearly a learned skill over many years of doing it.

The "perception" of newbies in RVs is that they look somewhat like a house or apartment so they can be used like one, which is far from the truth.

Isaac's post is a little long but it sketches out the math for water use pretty well and explains how a family of 6 can drain the tanks over night.

TBH I would suggest that newbies or people "just trying it out" stay in places with full hook ups. I would also recommend that people with kids look to stay in a KOA type place. I stayed in a few and found they were very "kid focused", noisy and crowded. I avoid them like the plague now. Although the kids, being kids, all seemed to be having a great time socializing with the other kids.
 
I grew up in a family of 8 that would camp for weeks at a time in tents and a pop up. Water was carried in jugs, cooking and lighting was done by propane. Hookups? Never heard of them.
yes, and i'm sure you have had many great camping experiences over the years..
this chap says "I’m a first time RVer " clearly he does not have your experience and knowlege.

i am typing this just as Ex-Calif posted and would echo his remarks.
 
Age of the kids plays into this a little bit. Younger kids will probably not be all about marathon showers. When I've taken the young grandkids out it was more about powering a TV than running through water. Not every person needs to shower twice a day every day but if that's what everyone is accustomed to it will be a difficult transition. Generally power isn't as hard to conserve, most loads are small and future power needed can be estimated. Sometimes too failure is an option. You impress conservation and if the lights go dim or the shower goes dry, you learn the boundaries pretty quick. From there it comes down to filling, dumping and charging when the opportunity presents itself and you get what you get. Won't take but a few days to figure out the routine.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
 
. Generally power isn't as hard to conserve, most loads are small and future power needed can be estimated. Sometimes too failure is an option. You impress conservation and if the lights go dim or the shower goes dry, you learn the boundaries pretty quick. From there it comes down to filling, dumping and charging when the opportunity presents itself and you get what you get. Won't take but a few days to figure out the routine.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
Care and feeding of 4 kids is a chore even in a house. With "camping" there is often a skeptical spouse and running out of resources on the first trip is a great way to reinforce, "Never again" scenarios.

You are right that learning those skills is not that hard but there are plenty of ways to make the first outings a lot less hassle and stress free.

I would posit that there is not much fun to be had with 6 people in a 32 foot RV in the first place. It pretty much means the sofa bed and dinette are made up and broken down every day as well unless one gets a two berth unit. 3 days of rain would be a miserable time - LOL...

It's like when I took new people flying. early mornings or late afternoons with little turbulence. Short flight to a nice place with no dramas was a recipe for a good introduction.

My ex-wife said something that I will never forget. "For you it's about the flying. For me it's about the destination." After that I never scheduled a day longer than 4 hours of flying and our "vacation" trips had more "stay days" than "fly days."
 
I will be renting a 32 foot class C.
Making the best use of an RV is a learned skill and if your family of 6 has never traveled by RV before I would think that those who suggest 1 or possibly 2 nights are correct. There are things that you could do to make that stay longer, such as having everyone use the campground toilets and showers. If you have 6 people take a shower as they would when at home you will probably find the gray tank is full before the last person is finished. The average home shower uses between 15 and 20 gallons of water and you will probably have about 30 gallons of waste water capacity and about 50 gallons of fresh water. Experienced RV folks use more like 5 gallons of water for a shower, by turning the water on long enough to get wet, turn it off to wash and then back on to rinse. An RV shower has a valve on the shower head that is there to allow you to turn it on and off without changing the hot/cold water mix.
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The RV toilet is also very different in that you can control the amount of water into the bowl with either a foot pedal or a lever as in the pictures above. For urine it needs little or no water but for solids you want at least a half bowl. Water use is one of the most restrictive things about RV living without connections. Battery will also be a limiting factor and especially so if you use the furnace which burns propane but the blower uses 12V electricity from the battery if you are not connected to RV park power.
 
First time RVers
Camping with 6-people
RENTAL Class C (abused batteries, small tanks)

I think you'll be looking for campgrounds with hookups on the 2nd day in camp. Perhaps looking for a hotel on day four. I'm not trying to be funny or snippy. Just an honest assessment.
 
And watch the kids even doing things like washing their hands and brushing their teeth. They need to learn how to conserve water by wetting the toothbrush, turning off the water, brushing teeth, and then rinsing with a small amount of water from a paper cup. My DIL has her teenagers wash their hands before meals by holding their hands over a bucket while she sprays water on them from a spray bottle!! Bucket is dumped in toilet when done.

And everyone has noted, showers must be done in the campground shower house. With 6 people, you cannot allow showers in your RV because it will fill tanks with one or two showers.

As an experienced RVer, I can take a shower, including washing my hair, in only 5 gallons of water, but it means wetting my hair and washcloth, washing hair and body, and rinsing off quickly. You just cannot leave water running, as you will discover.

I average using about 15 gallons of water per day for dishes, flushing, and a hot shower every night, and I live well and clean, but it takes practice.
 
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