Really newbie question about a small TT

Welcome to the Forum:

Propane will not power your air....they are completely different systems.
A couple of deep cycle batteries will power your lights and your furnace for a night or maybe two...then will need to be recharged.

Frig will run on propane as long as your batteries have a decent charge.

JasonPinSC wrote:
If I use say a Walmart parking lot to boomdock for a night and I can’t crank up a generator or have a power source. Would my propane keep the air running and would my batteries give enough power to run minor things over night.

A/C doesn't run on propane but requires 120 vac.

Propane doesn’t power AC or recharge batteries. Depending on your battery, it should be able to supply enough power for lights, water pump, fridge etc. for one night.

Also, check with the local Walmart and the local city ordinances; not all allow overnight parking at Walmart. The overnight camping at Walmart is a myth in many areas.

A small travel trailer will not come with a generator. Actually, a large travel trailer does not come with generators either. If you bring a generator, it will have to be a stand-alone one and you definately don't want that sitting outside your trailer in a WallMart parking lot, or it will disappear in a heart beat.

Powering your air conditioner requires you to be plugged into an electric outlet.

As stated above, furnace runs on propane, but needs the 12 volt battery to run the circuit board. A furnace will run down a batter quickly, within hours.

Your idea to use a camper for your kids activities is really a great one. But I'm sure, you and your kids, and anyone else along with you, would find it much nicer staying in a campground or a state park campground near their activities. And, you'd be safer, less stressed, and have the use of your entire camper. Plus, it would make a great get-away for some one-on-one time with the kids exploring the various campgrounds, state parks, and local events as well.

Review the Dutchman’s fourth paragraph carefully. Wise advice.

We did the Baseball USA and select ball thing for about five years.
I have to ask would your son benefit socially and team building wise by being isolated from the team in a parking lot or hanging with his baseball buddies at the hotel pool or the pizza parlor? Our son enjoyed the off-field activities more than the on-field activities. We wouldn't take that away from him trying to save a few bucks.

What do THEY want to do?

Most of the places we traveled to didn't have campgrounds close by so that would have been a logistical issue in itself. If you do overnight in a parking lot where will you park it during the day? Most baseball parks will not have the space. Some will. Buying a small Class B would work better but cost more.

I suspect this is a penny wise/pound foolish endeavor if it's primarily to save on hotels.

Let's say there are 5 trips at an average of 100miles away.
- $75/night for 2 nights at a hotel, $750/yr
- Assuming a 30 mpg car, $100 in gas
- Eating out at $50/day, $500
- Annual total $1350

Buy an inexpensive camper...lets say $5,000 (used)
Do you have a truck that can pull it? Upgrade could be another $5,000 (used)

- Walmart camping: Free but really...
- Assume 9mpg, $300
- Meals: He's still going to want to go out with the team, figure maybe $400 as you can eat breakfast in.

If we assume you have a tow vehicle already, that's $700 per year plus $5000 to buy...that's going to take about 7-8yrs to break even. Do you realistically expect him to still be doing travel sports for that long?

Now if you want to just go camping and already have the unit, it starts to make sense but a whole lot easier to stay at a park with power and facilities for $20-40 per night. Depending...you might even take it to the sports field and do lunch for the team as you have a fridge and kitchen facilities.

Sorry, I am also in the “that ain’t gonna work” camp. I would be very surprised if you saved any expense at all and would probably end up in the red.
Now, if you want to use the camper for vacations also, that would make more sense (but not cents). Owning an RV is about like owning a boat. You know, throwing money into a hole in the water.
For us, it’s worth every penny.

If by air you mean the heat, then yes you should be able to run the furnace and other 12v items overnight off of the batteries depending on their condition. You should be fine with a decent battery. Depending on how far you travel the next day, the batteries will recharge as you drive. If by air you mean the AC, you will need to have a power source in order to use this or other 120v items.

I'm not sure if you have a generator that you can run, but we often run ours when we overnight in parking lots. Sometimes we use the generator in the winter to run electric heaters or the fireplace. During the warmer months we use it for the AC. It comes in handy if you have one. We keep ours in the bed of the truck and we've never had one disappear.

One last thing. If you're looking for something less busy than Walmart then hardware, warehouse, and sporting good stores are great alternatives. These places typically close early and experience very little traffic passing through their parking lots overnight. Since Walmarts are typically 24 hours, sometimes you have to deal with noisy vehicles driving by or car doors slamming all night.