Leaderboard

The story on the black tank is that it provides structure for the bathroom floor. They could remove it, but would need to put something back to keep the floor from flexing. Possibly, that something could be a fresh water tank, but I was told that making alterations to the tanks, or adding a separate tank, was an expensive endeavor because the tanks are made in a mould and getting a new mould made is like getting one made for the tub. They don't look moulded to me, but what do I know. I thought they were cut and glued together. I also thought that the black tank in the photos I've seen doesn't exactly look wedged in there, so I'm not sure exactly how structural it is, but anyway, that's the what I was told. It was very clear to me that they do not want to remove any of that stuff. I don't get it, but there it is. The axle kit is being looked into. I'm pushing hard on that one for a number of reasons. First, I'm very worried about the lack of suspension travel and damaging the trailer frame on bigger bumps. Secondly, there's really no good way to prevent water intrusion if you have to ford anything more than a foot or so. I'm looking into some options for that as well - the weeps are the biggest, fixable issue. After that, the furnace is the next to see water and unfortunately there isn't much to do about that. Any further up, and then water is coming in the door and the seal on that didn't look like it will keep out much water. If you're interested, I did some measuring around the wheel wells to see if the tire size could be upped any. It's pretty tight - and you couldn't do a thing without flipping the axles since the tires look like they'd rub the fender flare at full compression as it is. Maybe without the fender flare you could do something, but it was obviously designed for smaller tires than what they're using now. Jason said no problem leaving the flares off. If you did the axle flip, the space between the tires would be the limiting dimension - roughly 4" now, so if you tried going to 32"s, you'd end up with an inch or less between the tires. They're looking into dust intrusion for me as well - I'm going with a 12V fridge so hopefully we won't need any vents by the door, which is the main problem. Even if I have to keep one, it could be the top one and there should be enough space to rig a filter. As it is, there's nothing at all keeping dust out of either of those vents. Nor bugs. Nor smallish bears. The bath vent seems to seal pretty well. The weeps are the other entry point. I'll probably have to do some work on some of the hatch seals to eliminate gaps. By the way, the windows are a new manufacturer - didn't get the brand. But they looked like they sealed up pretty well and Jason said that there shouldn't be any need for the gutter strips like on the old ones. Maybe I'm imagining it, but they seemed a bit sleeker looking from the outside. Spare tire cover is being looked at. Heather told me they'd changed it and the spare was full sized, but Jason said no. No time frame given, but it would have to be soon because I'm not going to carry anything but a full size. Carpet kit and stone guard are going to have to be an after market add if you want them. I talked to them about solar. They'll do 3 panels for 480W no problem at all, so long as you don't need all the sat antennas and stuff. They have done one trailer with 4 panels @ 640W, but as I suspected, that means eliminating the AC. I asked about mini splits or the Dometic Cool Cat in place of the rooftop, but the response wasn't positive. What they will do is provide exterior ports for portable panels, so if nothing else we'll do that. I asked them about SunPower panels, and they'll look to see if they can get them. They have one client going with a Victron setup like the Technomadia folk, but Oliver won't do it themselves. That person is getting AM Solar to do it aftermarket, which I'm sure isn't cheap. Oliver isn't even running the cables. They're talking to a company that does a full lithium setup that is one self-contained unit with all the batteries and controllers, etc. that would bolt underneath the trailer. I believe the price was going to be something like $15k, which I just laughed at - not on my trailer for sure. I'm going to push for the Victron on ours even if we don't do lithium right now, since I just want it all to be ready when the inevitable swap happens. Plus the Victron kit is just nice and it shouldn't cost much more than what they use already. They're nervous about it since that stuff is really outside their expertise. But, you know, it's the future and they'll have to bite the bullet at some point. Oh, I also asked about disk brakes and electric over hydraulic. I was not told no. ; ) By the way, the new sink in the kitchen is nice - wider and deeper - though you lose a drawer as a result. New faucet as well, with a high neck and sprayer. The new bath faucet is an RVIA thing, but they'll install it and then swap it for the old one after the fact if you want. The frosted upper cabinet doors are sweet. Really nice. They're doing compression latches on those for us, which you might want to specify as well. They're also offering an UltraLeather type material now for the cushions which looks great, should wear well and be a cinch to keep clean. It has a flat leather-texture finish, very similar to what you'd see in a high end car. We were going to have the upholstery done locally, but after seeing the new stuff, I have no problems letting Oliver do it. I don't know if the quality is the same as Ultra or Nauga, but it looks like it will hold up. There's other stuff I might post up later - I was there long enough to overstay my welcome. Jason was glad to see me leave, no doubt.

We're pushing for the circulation pump for ours, too - talking to Jason, it sounded like there's enough interest for them to try to make it work. One thing I asked about was insulating the PEX lines along the circulation path, so he's looking into that as well. PEX is a good heat conductor, though I don't know if it's really worth the effort for such a small run - still, worth looking into. On a related note, I said something about them having a heat duct in the hull space, and I was told that they don't really do that. What they actually do is use 'special heat-conducting ductwork' between the hulls; i.e., uninsulated. LOL.

I saw the ladder that Randy has. Saw him operate and store it. Was so impressed that we ordered one. It collapses so small that it fits in the back of the closet. They do offer a foam cap for the top and a bag to store it in, but we elected not to get. A shirt over he top will work if we need it. One caution: watch how you collapse it. It will pinch, but my guess only once. Like they say in here, "don't ask me how I know that".

I have been asked several times about the configuration of the mast that the Golight is mounted on so so here's the skinny on it. The one you saw on the other trailer was a duplicate of the one on The Outlaw Oliver. It was made at Oliver from 1/2" aluminum plate. I originally bought and installed an adjustable mount that was made for the Golight. It proved to be flimsy and I figured it would eventually break so I ditched it and designed my own. I made the mast at a swept-forward angle simply because I thought it looked better than being placed in a straight up vertical position. The one that was copied was placed vertically. The wings are there as attachment points for two antennas that send data to an on board GPS tracking/locating system. [attachment file=DSC_0911.JPG] [attachment file=DSC_0050.JPG]