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Here are some photos of our trip back to Arizona after Stan (our Tundra) finally got hitched with Ollie. As RV newbies, we had much to learn along our way back home. We picked up our Ollie (Hull #222) over a month ago and have finally been able to post these pics. Looking forward to many more adventures.

This paper booklet comes in the box with the scale, and I think it is one of the best and most complete guides to safe trailer towing that I have encountered. I am confident that even the crusty old farts with 40+ years on the road will learn a few things. Download it, read it, and save it for future reference. http://sherline.com/Wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/lm_book2.pdf When I have tried out my new 1000 pound scale I will post a review in a new thread. I did set it on the ground and I stood on the post. The gauge read 150 and I weigh about 155, so that is a good sign. https://smile.amazon.com/Sherline-LM-1000-Trailer-Tongue/dp/B007REJTGI/ref=sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1499310528&sr=8-2-spell&keywords=Sherline+tongueweight+cale John Davies Spokane WA

This doesn't actually answer the question about space, but I found a small cat box that another RV wrote a very favorable about this one. It's called Purina Tidy Cats BREEZE Litter System Starter Kit. I was thinking I might try it. Here is the link to that review: http://www.trailandhitch.com/kitty-corner-cat-poop

Don't check with Pete..... Check with Bosker, he really runs things in that rig! :-) I have an appointment with Ford on Monday July 10. Trip scheduled for July 22-30. Will be taking the towready , Foil hat, and any damn other thing I can think of. Will report. Thanks guys, Scotty

You might want to check with Pete (Bugeyedriver). I've seen him wearing foil hats from time to time. I don't think it has affected his brakes but I'm told it allows him to receive reruns of 'The Twilight Zone' even when they're not on the air.

I stumbled on this YouTube video ( ) yesterday which shows a "hack" in which with a couple of CD's or DVD's placed around a coax cable coming from your cable TV supplier will allow you to be able to get all channels supplied over that cable without the need for a de-coder box. That got me to thinking - several days prior to my last trip when I had my "trailer disconnect" issues start happening, I placed some foil "duct" tape on the interior of my Oliver to seal around all of the marker lights and to secure the wires from those lights in a better fashion. If what the individual in the video says is true then it just might be possible that current in those wires is being affected by the foil tape I used. This Sunday I will be bringing Twist home to stock, clean and organize prior to my fishing trip out West. One of the first things I will do is remove most of that tape - it can't hurt! Of course, I'll post the results here. Bill

BTW, our local library has a lending program on overland's recommended killawatt. Yours might, too.its a great way to track your useage, one device at a time. We retrofitted a 30 amp plug in our garage wall for the trailer in our old house, but, we had space in the box for it. In the new house, it was part of the plan, along with a sewer clean out by its parking place. Good luck with your research. The Oliver, like many small trailers, is a true tiny house on wheels. You can learn a lot from tiny house blogs, too, though most of them are far less portable, and often more expensive, than an Oliver. Sherry

I agree with others that Justin should check out Technomadia. I particularly recommend their post on Conducting an Energy Audit.

Or you could put it under the dinette in the back against the wall.

I'll second Sherry's advice to take a look at Technomadia's website. The system that we're retrofitting is largely influenced by their recommendations. Computer aside, it sounds like your usage is fairly normal. I would get a watt meter like this one and measure your laptop's consumption over the course of a week or two. Then add that number to the 70-80Ah average and see where that puts you. 200W is 16.7 amps on 12 volts (V x A = W). That seems very high, so its normal draw is probably well below that. Maybe I'm misinterpreting what you said. I have written in my notes that a typical laptop will take ~10Ah to recharge from zero, though I don't remember where I got that info. edit: even that number is high - I just checked and a new 15" MacBook Pro would need 6.3Ah to recharge from zero. AC is out of the question without a generator except for short periods, and even then not that often unless you get some lithium batteries. Lead acid batteries don't like heavy draws like that. You can do it on occasion, but when you do you will get far fewer Ah out of them for that charge cycle, and if you do it often you will shorten the life of the batteries. Like Bill said, if you're planning on borrowing electricity from a friend's house, don't plan on anything more than a 15A circuit. That's 1800W so you will have to keep your usage below that point - probably well below that, since there will surely be things inside the house running off that circuit as well. You would definitely need to buy the soft-start option for your AC unit, and you'd probably be on the verge of tripping their breaker anyway. The ultimate solution to that is to get a hybrid inverter/charger that has a power assist feature, allowing it to draw both from batteries and shore power at the same time. With that, you can limit the amps that the charger is allowed to draw from your shore connection. You'll find a good discussion of that at Technomadia. BTW, to connect at your friend's house, you just use a simple adapter on your trailer outlet that will plug into a standard extension cord. I know that it all seems confusing at first, but there's really nothing that's inherently difficult about it. Over time, you'll learn the lingo and the basic principals, and after that it's all pretty simple.

Justin - Looks like you have got a bit of a learning curve thing going on here. The whole deal really isn't that difficult, but, it would be best to try to take it one step at a time and understand just how the various systems in your camper work - separately and together. I'll try taking a stab at answering some of your questions above. 1. the 450 ah batter(ies) that you mention are really four Trojan T-105's. These are lead acid batteries. I mention this just so you don't get confused with either the standard batteries that come with an Oliver or with the "AGM" batteries that have 400ah. 2. I would not place a strong bet on the 640W option but you could always add "portable" solar panels if you needed them. 3. Propane - your fridge, cook stove, water heater and furnace all can run on propane. With the standard two 20 pound propane tanks on my Oliver I can go as long as just about two months running the fridge, cooking meals, and heating water for showers on a single tank. Be a bit careful with this information in that I do run the fridge virtually all the time on propane, BUT, I use very little heating water for showers (I use a sun shower most of the time) and almost never use the furnace. 4. A/C - Simply put - even with the four batteries there is simply not enough power to run your a/c. Of course you could always add more batteries, but where would you store them and batteries are very heavy to be hauling around. The problem really circles back to how much energy do you have and how much energy are you using. An A/C uses way too much energy for typical camper batteries to support. Therefore, you either need what is called "shore" power (regular electricity like you use in your house) or "generated" power using a generator. There are some fairly quiet generators on the market and virtually any generator can be made to plug directly into your camper just like one does with regular "shore" power. 5. Electrical power (shore power) - yes, assuming that there is an available outlet, you can plug directly into your friend's house. The only "problem" here is that most campers use what is called 30 amp service and have a 30 amp service electric cord and plug. Most of the circuits on most homes are wired for 15 to 20 amp connections - therefore, any single line (circuit) from the house will not supply enough power for you to use ALL of the things inside the camper that you might want to use (say, both the a/c and the microwave) and the design of the plug will not match. While you can easily get around the design of the plug (adapters are sold for this purpose), you can not get around the power issue without tripping circuit breakers, blowing fuses, or simply reducing the amount of power you use at any given moment. 6. Wind power is a great idea, but, there are reasons why one does not see more of this in use on campers - noise, lack of wind, size of equipment, weight of equipment, etc. Hope this gives you a start on your camper education road. However, only you can get the information you need regarding how much power you will use. Again, it appears to me that one of the first things you should do is educate yourself on a bit of electrical knowledge - the relationship between amps, watts, volts, etc. Good luck! Bill

Justin - Yes, a litter box should fit in the area you mentioned. I generally keep a closed storage bin there with cleaning, waxing, etc. supplies when I'm on a long trip. If I'm traveling solo I often keep the bathroom door open (while camped) to aid in ventilation while I'm gone for the day out fishing and hiking (the bathroom vent is left open and the MaxAir fan left on automatic. When traveling with my wife or fishing buddy that open door limits easy usage of the dinette seat closest to the bath. Bill

Not a cat person, but I think I would discuss the possibility of a cat litter box compartment under the closet with Oliver. It would shorten the height of your closet, but I think it could be done, with a solid floor closet and a cutout for the box. Otherwise, even if the litter box fit, you'd have to leave the bathroom door open all the time for the cat. Sherry

I'd say you're in the right spot. You could pay to have a suitable outlet installed for your trailer, and not worry too much about the power. It would be a useful exercise to estimate your consumption, so you could reimburse your friend properly. Unless you're in a climate zone where you need ac or electric heat, you won't use much. Especially if you install solar, and use that source first. You will also need a place to dump grey and black water. We do this at home in a sewer clean out. Wind generators can be very noisy. Solar is silent. What's your climate zone? Frankly, kudos on building a minimalist lifestyle. Check out the blog of technomadia. They worked out of an Oliver for several years. Now they travel and work via vintage bus and boat. They're very interesting, smart young people, who have made the minimal lifestyle work for over a decade. Sherry

On the way back from our trip to the east coast we stayed a few days at Lake Ouachita SP just outside of Hot Springs, Arkansas. This is one of the nicest state parks we've stayed at. Most sites in our section had great lake views. Sites had large, level concrete pads and full hook ups (water pedestal was marked "frost resistant"). There was a large picnic table area and another area behind the trailer pad. Good separation between sites. Lots of big mature trees with good shade. We were there the last week in October and the weather was great, 40s to 70s. There was no cell coverage, which could be good or bad depending on how connected you need to be. A 5 minute drive up the hill and our phones got a few bars. $26/night.