Oh that's brilliant! I love how the sink's on top of the toilet.

We're pretty attached to the El Dorado, but to be honest I'd rather ptu the money into a new one as opposed to fixing the nightmare structural problems it has. Probelm is we've fixed half the stuff on it, I'm afraid if we bought another used RV we'd be stuck with a bunch of new problems-or worse, the same ones again.

Wiring up solar panels is good practice, though. Nice little side career?

The picture is misleading - the sink is not above the toilet. The sink is straight in the bathroom, the toilet off to the left.

As for solar... I love the wiring up bit, but I'm not to fond of the thought of drilling holes into fiberglass and building structural mounts.

Dood, those look sweet!!

Wonderful :) What's on the itinerary for this trip? :)

Itinarary? What's that? :D


Honestly, aside from Burning Man, we have no specific plans.

Same as always...

Find cool people and places, and then go there. :-)

Nice!

How heavy are those two trailers?

The Oliver's dry weight is 2400 lbs.
The Clamshell Tab is 1520 lbs.
The 17' Casita is 2385 lbs.

Though I do need to figure out what the Oliver's weight with all the options I am considering is.

Do IIIIIITTTTTTT! Indoor plumbing and shower. Sleep space at the same time there is table space. Need I say more?

Oh.. no question that we're upgrading to something. It's a question of the more standardized Casita or the highly customizable Oliver at almost twice the price :)

Be really wary of the weights - with only a single axle (thereby limiting it to a 3500#GVWR) you can find yourself rather limited with weight carrying capacity really quickly. Remember that every option listed on that page reduces your CCR (Cargo carying capacity) pound for pound, and with only a 1100#CCR to begin with you may find yourself "technically" overloaded really quickly.

Theoretically if someone optioned out every single extra feature listed on their website I'd be almost positive that there would be little to no CCR left right off the factory lot. Add (conservatively) 500# of gear and personal belongings (most people allow for 1000#) and you can see where my concern lies - you will quickly overload the ratings of the single axle and tires.

As fulltimers, with solar, a full tank of fresh water, and all the goodies you'd be carrying, you'll be bumping up against the 3500# GVWR really quickly, especially if you optioned a particularly heavy item such as the AC. If you go with a "base" model adding only your solar gear you'd probably be OK (with still a ~1000#'ish CCR left over) but it's very easy to quickly exceed single axle ratings.

You're also going to notice quite a difference in the weight behind your Jeep. With your trucks towing capacity of 5000# (just Googled it) your going to be safely within the limits, but you'll start to feel it back there much more so then the Tab.

Looks great though - an amazing amount of stuff in a little trailer, but keep you eyes open if your looking at upgrading - you may be surprised to find some larger yet models that don't weigh much more, perhaps offering even more space for not much more of a penalty. For example, our trailer from last summer was a 21' Fleetwood Terry which had probably 50% more living space due to a more traditional layout, and only weighed 3400 empty with a GVWR of 4800.

See: http://photos.oshawapilot.ca/images/personal/camping_trailer/img_2971.JPG

A few additional drawbacks to take into consideration in regards to a heavy single axle trailer:

- You may find stability becomes concerning - single axle trailers in that weight and size range are inherently much less stable then tandem axle trailers and can suffer from the phenomenon known as trailer sway - you may want to consider the need for a sway control on your hitch. Careful weight distribution in the trailer can negate the need for it, but it can be a fine line between balance and possible layouts for your gear and supplies.

- You also have only 2 brakes on the trailer instead of 4 - not a huge issue for flatlands, but in the hills you will notice it, especially if you end up at maximum GVWR or over. If you get into mountainous terrain you may find it a bigger issue yet.

Going bigger has many advantages, but some disadvantages as well - keep your options open, and good luck.

Some of those larger trailers are ok.. but they just don't have a look or style that matches 'us' and they feel so.. boxy. We've been looking at >21' trailers all over the US during our travels, and have just found so few that meet all of our desires. The Casita was the first the felt right.. and now the Oliver is giving us the extra tech edge we crave with the advantage of being able to work closely with the design team to have it custom built to spec.

We are working with them to get lower weight options.. such as a 9200 btu A/C that could run off a 2000 watt generator if needed, instead of their standard heavier one.

After our spin out this time last year... believe me, we're well in tune with the safety issues.

Sounds good, both the Casita and the Oliver clearly have aerodynamic advantages, but I've always been someone who looks at things from both sides of the fence - the highly aerodynamic designs do have trade-offs in other areas to accomplish such.

Be sure to question the company that makes the Oliver on the GVWR issue though and make sure you're going to have enough reserve capacity once you option it out the way you want it.

I speak from having experienced the result of this once before; A friend of mine bought a tent trailer with similar empty and GVWR numbers a few years ago and he didn't discover until after he took delivery that his list of options (A/C, leveling jacks, an upgraded furnace, a few extra interior niceties, the second-tank propane option, and a bicycle rack on the roof) he was actually within 100# of the trailers GVWR before he put anything else in the trailer. When he filled his fresh water tank, he was officially overweight, and anything beyond that (food, clothing, etc) put him even further over.

Wow - that is criminal. Selling a trailer that can't legally drive with the tanks filled?!? Egads!

I've checked the Oliver forums, and It looks as if Oliver's 2400 lbs "empty weight" is for the Elite model, which has most of the options pre-installed. There should still be plenty of headroom - certainly way more than we had with Tab.

A fiberglass trailer on an aluminum frame has some pretty major weight advantages. The aerodynamics and low frontal area will help with towing a fuel economy a lot too.

I'm just not sure a bigger boxier trailer is in the same league...

Ahh, I failed to notice that the Elite empty weight was including all options - sounds like no issue whatsoever, then.

You are quite correct on the frontal area issues - the larger and boxier trailers do have much more drag then anything your looking at, and that is a big consideration that you are very wise to be considering.

I know when we towed the 21' with our Montana minivan the drag was very noticeable at anything above 55MPH, but the boxier layout did offer us the advantage of sleeping up to 6 people - something that is irrelevant to you.

I'm sure that something like a Tab or the Oliver would have been barely noticeable at the same speed, so it's a good thing to consider if you don't need what the boxier trailers have to offer in regards to sleeping accommodations.

I don't think you failed to notice - they just aren't particularly clear about it. Most RV's only seem to publish the "no options" weight, so I think you were making a safe assumption that they were doing so too.

Another plus to fiberglass is that it should prove to be more durable and leak resistant over time.

Fun stuff!

Nice choices! Has the increase in gas prices affected your plans at all?


What is that three wheeled item on the top of your truck?

Yes.. the increased gas costs are making it so that we either :

- Have to get rid of my house to get rid of the mortgage
- Find enough mobile work to afford both the diesel costs and mortgage.


We're working on both :)

Those wheels are the optional Jeep roll-over protection system. Very handy for a high center-of-gravity vehicle. ;-)

(Actually - it is a kite buggy that I use as landing gear for my paramotor...)

Well.. I know that Tab served you well, but wasn't that originally intended for one person?

Yes.. he bought the Tab originally for just him. Then he found a girl to add. We did quite fine for our 2007 adventuring which was fueled by a lot of newness all around... but.. :D

And a lovely girl too.. ;) I well remember his state of mind the evening before your meeting.

That was sort of my vote on the new house.. the parameters of adventuring have changed. I was intrigued by the discussion on the axel weight above and all the incidentals of life full timers are going to need to bring - weight is NOT your friend - and is something that I hadn't realized would need to be as thoroughly thought about then us weekenders do. ;)

Dayum! You haven't bought one yet? *Very Big Grin*

That is so awesome. I want one! (and I don't even nomad..... yet?)

I can always count on you to find cool new stuff! We sold our 26 ft 1972 Holiday Rambler, and are ready to get something we might actually use while traveling or to take up to our property on weekends. Casita is at the top of our list, but I'll take a look at the Oliver now too. Have you actually seen one of these in person? For someone who just wants a recreational trailer for 1-3 week get-a-ways, is it worth twice the price?

Thanks again, and best of luck with your upgrade and future travels. Hope to see you on your way through.

For someone who just wants a recreational trailer for 1-3 week get-a-ways, is it worth twice the price?

And here we are questioning if it's worth twice the price for people looking to full time in it :D We've not seen an Oliver in person yet.. we're considering hoping in the Prius up to TN to visit the factory next week tho..

I think you should upgrade. It's stunning, plus they are willing to do the work for you.

oooh, very cool!

HB can retire from the AF in just a few years. We've been giving SERIOUS thought to the idea of me starting to work as a travel nurse at that time...which for us means selling a house (if we own one at that time), selling/giving away most of our possessions, storing the things we can't part with (mostly old family stuff and a few antique pieces) and living in a camper! We dream about seeing each of the national parks, using my time off between assignments to hike the Appalachian, Pacific Rim Trails, etc.

We'd always thought of buying a larger camper, and towing a vehicle behind, but since learning of your adventures...a smaller one could be the way to go! We'd have to figure out the logistics of towing though...my old Cherokee could probably do it alright but I'm not sure about the long run as she already has over 150k miles on her!

So many options...but also some years to research and plan!