dougi

The price I quoted earlier applies only to the labor and does not include the break controller or the hitch itself, nor any supplies, like a 4 to 7 pin adaptor, or any supplies.

Thanks to you folks for posting these tidbits of info about Tennessee and surrounding areas. My wife and I will be traveling northward, up the Naches Trace, to Hohenwald to pick up our new trailer in late September. We will stick around and see the area while we are testing our new Oliver. Any good local eating places, towns, sights, or campgrounds, especially the National Forests and Parks, where we get half price, that you would recommend would be much appreciated. When is the peak for fall colors in and north of Tennessee? Mid to late October? We will also visit my wife's sister in Eastern Tennessee (Athens), and perhaps go on out to the East Coast, where I have never been. How about West Virginia? I've never been and I bet is it pretty in the fall. How about the Amish area of Pennsylvania? The opportunities are limitless, I suppose. We have the time but we have to watch our budget, especially after dipping into our retirement savings for the trailer.

I think I am going to order what I need (a wiring harness, a four to seven pin adapter, and a hitch) from e-trailer and install the hitch and the break controller myself, with a little help from a friend. Thanks for the comments and advice. I appreciate it. Doug

No, I haven't. I do know that I have the factory towing option on my 2007 Toyota RAV4. However, if you have a Toyota dealer do the work they charge even more. I'm not sure why, but I think it has to do with the wiring for some reason. One would think that with the towing option, a lot of the necessary wiring would already be in place, but I'm not at all sure it is.

Does anyone know what a reasonable price would be to install a Prodigy break controller in a Toyota RAV4? I was told by a well known Austin, TX hitch hitch installer that it took an hour and a half to two hours and would cost $140 to $175. That sounds high to me. What do you folks think?

Scubarx, thanks for the info. I did not realize that with the standard twin bed option you loose the street side dinette for two people. That's good to know. I thought that area stayed the same. I don't understand what takes the place of the area underneath the street-side table for two when you opt for the standard twin bed option. Do you get a third extra storage cabinet there as well? Tell me, which table do you end up using the most? The street side table for two, or the curb-side table for two that attaches to the isle side of the extra storage cabinet where you put your canned goods, water, etc.? I was wondering just how convenient that curb-side table was, since someone has to sit on the rear bed to eat off it and since it obstructs access to the storage cabinet to which it is attached. I wonder how life would be for you without that table? It would force you to take up the street side bed every morning and put it back down every evening so you could have access to your only table in the trailer during the day.

Chris, since you are using your trailer for long-term living, I wondered if you chose the twin bed option (with more storage) or the standard double bed (with more dining and sleeping capacity)?

Yep, you're right about the bumper covering the ends of the frame, so that a side mount is not possible. I just saw the picture earlier today that showed that to be the case. Currently, I have a set up like you are talking about on my 5th wheel. It worked just fine. I carried two solar panels, two Honda 2000i generators and eight 6 gallon water containers. There was a little play up and down at each end of the carrier, due to the center mounting of the rack, but not enough to be of concern. I covered it with a flexible black vinyl top zippered case that could have been locked with the zipper pulls. It kept everything dry, clean, and out of sight.

My sincere condolences to your Family for the untimely loss of your son-in-law. If you need more time to build my Oliver, just let me know.

How about using two smaller standard hitch receivers? I think they are 1 1/2 inch square, rather than 2 inches. I think using two 1/8 inch thick aluminum square tubes as receivers would be plenty strong for what we are talking about. Why couldn't these tubes be welded outboard or inboard on either side of the two main aluminum frame members and place the holes for the pins running up and down rather than side to side, so as not to penetrate the frame?

Chris, what are your plans for raising and lowering your panels? I assume it has to be done manually. A step ladder, carried on or in your Jeep, perhaps? Do they tilt from either side or just from one side? Do they tilt fore to aft as well as side to side?

To the best of my knowledge, the Oliver is the only trailer on the market built on an aluminum frame with no aluminum or wood studs. It is not the typical 17 foot trailer. It is about 1,000 pounds lighter than the typical 17 foot trailer, and far more aerodynamic, especially considering it is only 6 1/2 feet wide, as opposed to 8 feet wide. I think we will be just fine towing with any vehicle with a tow rating of 3,500 pounds or more and a 2 inch receiver dead weight hitch. Now, if someone is going to mount two 30 pound propane steel tanks and a 3,000 watt or larger generator on the tongue, that would make a load bearing hitch a likely necessity.

Chris, that really looks nice, and functional. i just may opt for the same thing on mine, and leave off the satellite dome, especially if I can get an XM satellite radio installed.

Here is the battery monitor that I have in my existing RV. I love it. I am asking Robert to put it in my Oliver if he feels it will be compatible with the Oliver (I don't know why it wouldn't be). Check it out here: http://www.amplepower.com/products/batmon/ These people serve the sailing and boating folks, who place their very lives in their battery monitors reliability.

Yes, Herm, I would like to keep the power cord reel AND have a good inverter/charger with a good amp-hour meter to monitor amp-hours consumed and amp-hours restored to the two battery bank. Some of these inverter/chargers are rather large and weigh almost 40 pounds. We will likely have to try to find a smaller and lighter unit, like a Xantrex Pro Sine 2.0, which I already have in my existing trailer. I would have to remove it from my existing trailer and have it installed in the Oliver. You can often get factory reconditioned units, as I did directly from Xantrex, for a good savings compared to buying a new unit. Since I haven't had the opportunity to talk with Robert about my trailer, I don't know if I can have both the inverter/charger and the power cord reel. I bet we can get both, but that remains to be seen. With a good smart charger, we could recharge our battery bank from 50-60% discharged to 85% charged in about an hour of generator run time, or maybe less. Maybe the stock set up is better than I think it is at recharging the batteries quickly. We can ask Robert what he thinks about the stock unit. If it will recharge the batteries quickly from 50-60% discharged to 85% charged with an hour of generator run time, then that is about all we can realistically hope to accomplish. If that is doable with the stock units, then we can get small inexpensive portable inverters to power our satellite receivers, which pull very little AC current, and use 12V coffee makers to brew coffee and use 12V hair curlers for the ladies. That would cause us not to need a hard wired inverter as much. We could run other stuff, like power impact drivers or hair driers directly off our outside portable generators. Not the best set up, but doable.

How long is the "egg" on the Oliver 17 foot trailer? How much space is between the interior and exterior fiberglass shells of the "egg?"

Thanks Scubarx, I will keep the power cord reel. I just did not want to have to unroll all 40 feet of cord every time I hooked up to shore power. Often electrical reels have to be totally unrolled in order to avoid the excess heat of the current. My wife and I are also wanting to know more about the twin bed option, primarily to gain the extra storage it affords. I haven't gotten the opportunity to talk to Robert yet and Michelle Sisco is new to Oliver and not that familiar with the trailer yet. Can you give us some idea of how much extra storage can be gained with this option, and how accessible and convenient is that extra storage. I understand you give up the large table and the sleeping capacity is reduced from 3 to 2 with the option. It also appears that you gain some food preparation space just to the right of the stove with this option. Please tell us more about the twin bed option. Anything you can tell us that would help us make an informed decision would be much appreciated.

Questions about using the Satellite Dome on the Oliver: I have been using a portable satellite dish with my current RV. It takes time to set up as we all know. However, it can be placed well away from the RV so that a signal can be found that would be unavailable with the satellite dome on the RV, due to obstruction from trees. I'm wondering if you folks who have the satellite dome still carry a portable dish so you can get reception when you are parked under trees? Does the dome work well when you have no trees blocking your signal? Would you opt for the dome again if you had to make the decision again? We both enjoy watching TV (sports and news mostly) but this is an expensive piece of equipment and I have no idea how much weight it adds to the trailer.

Chris, thanks for posting all your pictures and all the information. I'm sure it is helpful for all of us who are interested in these trailers. Do you know how many trailers Oliver can have in production simultaneously? In your conversations with Robert did you find out if you have to unroll the entire shore power cord in order to use it, or just the length you need to reach your outlet? I know you are opting out of the power cord reel, and so may I, if it ALL has to be unrolled before using it.

Mountainborn, I would bet that your charge wizard is not normally in the "light on all the time" mode, indicating that you are not discharging your batteries to below 50% capacity. For your usage, what you have is working great. If you got a hard wired 1,000 amp or larger inverter and used it to power heavier AC loads, you would need an upgraded charger I think. Your RV lifestyle does not demand any changes in what you now have. Happy camping.

Mountainborn, from the information you posted, your batteries are working well because you never discharge them very much. The inverter you are using is used only to power the satellite receiver, which as you said pulls only a small amount of power. The rest of the power you consume is all 12V power, lights and the TV I would assume. Since the TV is an LED screen, it too pulls very little power, as compared to an older type box TV. If that is all the power you are using while off grid, and you have two batteries, you should always be in good shape. However, if you had a larger inverter and used it to power your microwave, hair curlers, toasters, coffee makers, etc, you would likely run your battery down and they would take many hours to recharge to near full capacity. Battery voltage readings are useful for determining remaining power only if the battery bank has not been charged or discharged for 48 hours or more, which makes most voltage readings useless, because they are almost always taken while the battery bank is being discharged or being charged, or has recently been discharged or charged. A voltage reading of 12.2 volts, if taken after the batteries have rested for 48 hours, tells us that the battery bank is about 75% discharged. A 12.2 voltage reading, taken while the lights and the TV are on, tells us nothing about the state of charge of the battery bank, although things are probably just fine with that kind of voltage reading while the batteries are under load.

All my e-mails (about options and mods) to Michelle Sisco have been turned over to Robert, but we have not talked or communicated just yet. Robert has been ill and apparently just returned to work. I'm sure he must be swamped with questions only he can answer.

Herm, I understand the Solar option includes a controller and a monitor of some kind. I would sure let them install the solar controller while they are doing the wiring. It should be cheaper that way. If the monitor is a good one, I'd let them put that in as well while they are doing the wiring. Ask Robert, as the sales reps may be newbies and don't know the details.

Herm, I think the propane quick connect would be great for a propane fired generator and that in itself would justify the option. However, I doubt you will use if much for a BBQ grill, due to the limitations of where you can put your grill (within range of your hose). You will want to put that grill on a camp site picnic table and your hose will likely not reach. Make sure your grill will run off the propane pressure that will be at your quick connect outlet. Good luck. I think we will like our new trailers.

Absolutely Herm, If you want to use your RV off grid, then the most important piece of equipment is: A smart charger, and A battery monitor that keeps up with amp-hours used and amp-hours restored by your charger. If you don't have those you are in the dark and you can't recharge your batteries quickly with your generator. Without a smart charger it would take many hours of gen run time to recharge your battery bank. You would be replacing amps at a rate of less than 5 per hour. With a smart charger, you can replace amps at a rate of 25% of your rated battery bank amp-hours, up to the point where your batteries are about 80% fully recharged. From there to 100% it will be slow going with ANY charger. The actual usable capacity of your battery bank is between 50% discharged to 80% charged. If you have two batteries with a combined amp-hour rating of 220 amps, then your practical usable battery capacity is 30% (80% less 50%) of 220 amps, or 66 amp hours per recharge cycle. That should be adequate if you are conservative, and your batteries will last for years and years.