Patwv

Thank you for sharing this. It's very nicely done. Pat

It's nice of you to do this. Here's mine: Ford XLT Expedition 2018 4WD Gas 3.5 Ecoboost 3.73 Max tow/FX4 pkg LE II 387 payload 1600

That's really nice. Thanks for sharing.

Wow. Your cargo carrier looks terrific and your write up is even better. Thank you for posting this. Pat

We have one 100 lb Golden Retriever. He sleeps on the floor between the pantry and drawers under the kitchen counter. He sleeps on the floor at home too, in spite of having a large, comfy bed. Night trips to the bathroom involve being careful not to step on him. We leave a small light on so that we're sure to be able to see him. We spend a lot of time outside the trailer and that's fine with him. He barks at other dogs but we haven't really left him alone much and when we tell him to be quiet he's good about obeying. On our last trip we put him in Ollie and left for a short walk. We could hear him if he barked but he was good and quiet. Being a Golden Retriever, he loves to swim. We were camped right on a river on this last trip. We let him swim early enough so that he dries off before we get into the trailer for the night. I try to brush him each day to cut down on the shedding in the trailer and sweep the floor each morning. So far, we haven't had a problem with clogged vents. I think that we could make it work with 2 dogs but so far our experience is with only 1.

That is very nice. I like the floor in your Oliver too.

That is very nice.

Our toilet brush/holder tipped over on one trip. I used double sided tape on the holder and stuck it to the wall behind the toilet and it hasn't budged since. Our trash container is pretty big and it rides the the space under the dinette table. I stick the microwave table in the cabinet above the microwave. It angles in and rests on the paper napkins that I store there too.

Thanks for the video link. It is eye opening and the guy explains things very clearly. I'm going to make my own spreadsheet and see how it all comes out. I also know that we carry much more stuff than we need when we travel (mostly me--my husband is more of a minimalist) so I can lighten our load if need be.

I have a 2018 Ford Expedition with the 3.5 l turbo charged engine. We have only towed in the east (Appalachian Mountains) so I have no experience with the big mountains out west. The Expedition with max tow is rated at 9000lbs/900 lb tongue weight. We use an Anderson hitch. The Expedition tows quite nicely. Our payload rating is 1600 lbs. We have towed Oliver with a full tank of water and fully loaded with food and clothes, etc and have never had a problem with a lack of power. We have the cargo box on the front of the trailer, but we don't haul much in it. We generally travel with two slightly overweight adults and a 100 lb dog and other stuff in the Expedition. We haul 2 mountain bikes on the roof. Hope this helps.

Hi I'm a side sleeper and I find the KTT mattress to be very comfortable. I like a firm mattress. Hope this helps. Pat

We have the KTT mattresses and like them. But we also have the twin beds and the mattresses are heavy. I can move them around but it's not fun. I don't think that I would want them in the standard floor plan.

Thanks Topgun2. That's the video I used. Pat

Hi Ralph. I just reset our brackets for the Anderson. Our trailer is a 2018 and so is the Anderson. There is an installation video on the Anderson site which I watched before I started. Anderson recommends torquing the brackets at 75-90 ft-lbs. I set ours to 80 ft-lbs. Anderson also recommends that you install the set screw finger tight and then turn it 2 1/2 turns more. Our brackets ride at a slight angle on the frame with the top of the bracket back further than the bottom. We did a short trip this weekend on a winding mountain road in VA and the brackets stayed in place. Pat

Hey Topgun2 I appreciate the suggestions. I'll give them a try. I think our main problem, though, is the tapered plastic sleeve that fits between the ball and the housing. I've been on the Anderson site and watched their video on replacing the sleeve. I've ordered a sleeve and when we get it we're going to replace it and hopefully the whole thing will work better. Oh, and we don't use a sledge hammer--we use a rubber mallet and count to 10 before we hit anything.

Yeah, we're in the sledge hammer phase too. It's a very well done video and I appreciate Oliver taking the time to create it. But my Anderson hitch doesn't work at all the way the bright shiny new one does. It seems that our chains are never slack. The whale tail is never right. We have to whack the collar a bit to get that spring loaded piece to spring out. Hitching and unhitching are not the most fun parts of RV'ing

We have the KTT mattresses. They're very comfortable - on the firm side. I'm a side sleeper and the KTT accommodates that sleep style well. I sit and read, surf and watch tv and I find the mattress to be fine for those activities too.

We just went to our insurance agent and she shopped around for us. The company we have for auto and homeowners doesn't write RV insurance so she searched for the best deal that she could find from another company. We may not have gotten the best deal possible, but we got the coverage we wanted and, as SeaDawg said above, it's kind of a small expense after paying for the new tow vehicle and the Oliver.

Wow, John what a wonderful post. The photos are terrific and the information is very helpful. We're hoping to get out west next year and really want to go to Glacier. I put this in my bookmarks.

We have a 90 lb hound/lab mix. We put his bed in the entry and he stays there out of the way. I don't know how he does it, but he curls himself up into a small ball when he sleeps even when we are at home. During the day we mostly hang out outside anyway so we stay out of each other's way. We've only got one dog so I can't comment on how it would be with two. Ours is a big guy though.

We tow our Oliver Legacy II with a 2018 Ford Expedition XLT with FX4 and heavy duty tow packages. It has a 3.73 rear end which I understand is important in towing. This is our first camper and our first towing experience. The Expedition/Legacy II combo is great. The Expedition has plenty of power to haul the Oliver around. My previous two vehicles were Toyota Highlanders and I was intimidated by the size of the Expedition initially, but it didn't take long to get used to it. It's very comfortable to ride in around town and on long trips. It seats 8 and honestly that third row seat is not bad to ride in. Our towing experience has been limited but it has been a lot easier than I thought it might be. We have the Ford back-up assist and the brake controller and they work wonderfully. The blind spot monitor extends back and covers the trailer when it is hooked up to the truck. I have the Ford safety suite although I haven't used the adaptive Cruise. The FX4 package got us 18 inch wheels and Michelin truck tires (no low profile tires for this truck). The backup camera in the truck is big enough to be useful (the one in the Highlander was way too small). My husband can back the truck up to the trailer and pretty much line the hitch ball up with the trailer tongue just by using the camera. We could easily take the Expedition on dirt/gravel roads. We're not doing Expedition Portal stuff--if we were we would have bought a raised teardrop-rooftop tent type thing and a 4Runner. But I'm confident that we can wander around on forest service roads, etc. One thing that I have not seen mentioned in this thread is vehicle payload. My Expedition is rated at 1600 lbs. When you are deciding which vehicle you want, you might want to consider that figure too. Think about how much stuff you'll travel with and whether your vehicle will be able to haul it. I think that being able to get your vehicle serviced anywhere is important and the Ford F150 is the largest selling vehicle in America. There are plenty of Ford dealers out there and that was important to us. I wanted an SUV for our day-to-day lives. My husband drives a regular cab Ford F150 so we have a truck for truck stuff. There will probably be a day when we're camping and towing when I'll wish I had a truck bed instead of an SUV. Dirty, wet, stinky stuff in the bed of a truck is better than that same stuff in the back of the SUV but so far that hasn't happened to us. Good luck with you choice and happy camping.

That's very nice. Thank you for sharing.

Hi we're newbies too and just picked up our new Oliver last week. We have a Ford Expedition with back up assist and the generator basket on our trailer. The sticker will fit on the Bulldog hitch right in front of the basket in the HORIZONTAL position. Backup assist is very helpful and I'm glad we have it.