SE Utah in March?

Dead horse park is a well known secret, lovely place to use as a headquarters in the Moab area. Remember you are in an area with a low population, so drive times may be similar to drive times in a heavily populated area with lots of stop and go. If you stay at Dead Horse, it has no sewer or WATER. It does have a dump station. Hike the Dead Horse, drive to the Arches and nearby Canyon Land and travel along the Colorado River north and south. We need to go back because we missed it to the shutdown in October.

Ravialdo wrote:
I've spent the morning looking at commercial RV parks in the area and they just don't appeal to me.

I didn't think they would.

A commercial campground is just a home base for your trip - an expensive, cramped motel room.

I would think your goal is to introduce the family to camping/ RV camping. Maybe a stay in a commercial CG for a couple days would show them the trade off of a little less comfort vs a greater experience.

But you know your family - what they will and won't accept - better than any of us.

Ravialdo wrote:

Road Less Traveled mentioned ceramic heaters. Those obviously have an electric draw but am I correct to assume they wouldn't drain my batteries they way the furnace blower would?

No, the ceramic heaters are ~1000-1500W at 120V, quick mental figuring at 1000w = 8 amps at 120v or 80amps at 12V, add in the loss for the inverter if boondocking and your batteries will be completely dead in a couple of hours. Furnace blower takes a couple of amps of 12v. Resistance heating and boondocking don't play well together.

If plugged in it's a moot point of course, but then you're in a situation much like a commercial campground.

Wow, thanks everyone for the responses. Its really helpful.

Its funny. I love sleeping in the cold. Its one of the reasons I take a yearly trip to SE Utah to camp. I remember one night canoeing the Green River in Canyonlands where my water bottle froze in my tent. But my wife has very thin blood, as does my middle daughter. Having said that, the RV aspect of this trip is actually my WIFE's idea; initially I planned to use hotels for accommodations.

Looking at Dead Horse State Park and it looks like they have partial hookups. Its a little bit of a haul from there to Arches from a convenience stand point, but it might be worth it. I've spent the morning looking at commercial RV parks in the area and they just don't appeal to me.

Road Less Traveled mentioned ceramic heaters. Those obviously have an electric draw but am I correct to assume they wouldn't drain my batteries they way the furnace blower would?

Also, in appears that Cruise America advertises solar panels on their Standard RV rental. Will have to get more info on that.

Thanks again everyone.

We stayed in Moab in a popup in mid-March for a week. We plugged into electricity and used a small ceramic heater to heat the popup. It was plenty adequate.

A larger RV might require two ceramic heaters. They're just $12.95 at Home Depot, so not a huge cost...

It is really tough to predict the weather in SE Utah that time of year (we prefer late April and early May). I say give it a try and if it turns out too cold, head to a RV park (yuck) or boondock somewhere no-one will be bothered by your generator.

Steve

1) An RV furnace will keep an RV quite warm down to the mid-20s without any problem. Especially a smaller unit with four or five people in it. A couple electric blankets or those small throws with electric heat might be very useful.

2) However, you must have electricity to use the furnace all night. A furnace blower will drain the batteries flat in a few hours. NPS campgrounds are out if the temps are near freezing.

3) You will find no rental RVs with solar power sufficient for the type of NPS campgrounds you want to use during that time of year. Solar takes a certain level of understanding to work well - and folks renting RVs don't want to spend dozens of hours learning how to make solar work best in an RV. It is also an expense the rental companies won't see a return upon.

Just a suggestion - if the wife and kids have never spent time in moderately high altitudes and the high desert night-time low temps - try to stay in commercial RV parks - if you can find some open.

The worst thing that can happen in my opinion, is for your family to be cold, damp and miserable on the trip. It can turn them off to camping permanently, or for a long time.

Make this trip as comfortable as possible - then branch out into some more adventurous camping on the next trip.

Let them be awed by the majesty of nature and the beauty - not shivering. Hook them on the good aspects of camping - then later teach them the minor inconveniences of less utility dependent camping necessary to see even greater sights/ areas.

I usually pop over to the Moab or Blanding area several times in March/April/May every year. By March the weather has changed to "Variable" to say the least. We've encountered snow/rain and sunny low 60s all in the same day.

(1)Lows are usually in the 32-39ºF range and both the motor home and truck camper stay tosty warm with just the on-board furnace. Having a warm comforter allows you to drop the cabin temperature a bit to save on the furnace running the battery/batteries down.

(2) No generator at night, not allowed in campgrounds and a good way to get a knock on the door late at night from annoyed neighbors when boondocking.

(3) Solar panels are great for keeping battery banks charged without using a generator but I've never seen a solar array/battery bank large enough to run electric heat (very high current draw) at night.

Sorry no experience with rentals.

Welcome to our corner of the world, you'll love it.
Dave

1) According to what you do.....are you going to be plugged into electricity? Do you have a catalytic heater or a furnace or both? We have both. Catalytic takes a long time to heat our rig....furnace works fast .... I timed it one time. Took 1 hr by furnace to heat the house the same as it took the catalytic heater 4 1/2 hrs to heat the rig. Is your rig insulated well?????

2) We have lots of battery......so we don't use the generator at night...and most EVERY park says do not run generator all night. If you're going to park where there is electricity, take along a small standalone space heater.

3) I don't know about rentals having solar panels...I doubt they do. Have never rented a rig. But on this trip, we noticed a lot of "CruiseAmerica" rentals out there.

Have a great time!