mr.j

Will be having permanently mounted HAM radio (trailer as the base station) mobile HAM in vehicle and on person, and mobile CB in vehicle for when useful. Will be relying on the HAM gear, primarily. GPS features, family groups with text/picture/location and guidance features, trailer base station as cross channel repeat (trailer as a mini repeater to extend range/horizon), digital modes, and APRS tracking make it too good to pass up for me.

I was looking at something like that @SeaDawg but didn't know it was commercially available. Sometimes it seems everything has already been invented, 🙂 I was originally thinking either telescoping base or scissor lift, with a way to move the table around when it's in the dinette position (like some other trailers have). Another option was repurposing the small dinette table and setting that space up as a bench/couch full-time. All rough ideas for now, but the telescoping Springfield could work! Thanks for the tip!

Having had personal experience with Honda Ridgeline and Pilot, I can say that they are TOUGH overbuilt vehicles, with fantastic AWD systems. I personally do not feel that they have the power needed to cross mountainous regions of the US with anything more than 3-4k lbs of additional weight, combined trailer + payload. The V6 is low on low-end torque, and the Pilot has a low payload rating when put into towing duties. Same with the Ridgeline, but between the two, the Ridgeline is the better tow vehicle. We upgraded to an Audi Q7 which is one option for you, also Dodge Durango, and Tahoe. I think those are some of the best options close to the Pilot after very recently being in the same position as you.

Hi everyone, Mr.J here and happy to be so! I'm one of the few, the proud, the future Oliver owners. It's probably a bit early to do an introduction, but better now since I'm starting to be active searching through the forums and following interesting (to me) folks and conversations. My family is probably a little younger than most, we're in our low thirties, but I've been drawn to RV adventures for a long time. Growing up in urban California, having an RV was not something that was possible, and I was never exposed to it. Let's just say that watching several of my Utah neighbors over the last years pull up their travel trailers load up from their house, and take off for fun and adventures really cemented my journey, which should begin here (anticipated delivery January 2022) in a few months. I spent a year searching and browsing, looking for the right choice for us, but learned along the way of the generally horrible build quality and resale value. I noticed that several popular RV enthusiasts were swapping trailers/rvs every 3/2 and sometimes every year. They would say new features enticed them, new layouts seemed better, but putting it all together, I saw a confirmation that most were good for 3 years max before needing major repair/investment. So a few years ago, my search stopped. Fast forward, and now we have on the market several African/Australian style options, and a huge surge in popularity of teardrop/overland style trailers and travel. Add the Wuhan flu. Then add, traveling out to explore in 1/2 day trips around Utah and in the middle of the disastrous pandemic I saw hundreds of families out and about, living their best possible life, living a normal kind of life. Camping, biking, exploring, and all with their own little piece of privacy and convenience. Expedition style trailers seemed to make the same kind of compromises on quality (at least the American market options) and for the price of a nice teardrop, I don't see the added value of the small usable space, I don't own a rock crawler. And they are pricey too! I don't know how exactly I found Oliver, it wasn't that long ago, but it was definitely around 2 AM on the internet, so safe to say it was a blur. I'm hopeful that all will be well, that my small family, mom/dad/baby will enjoy our new travel home, and that it will enhance our lives to the fullest, and provide us with some amazing opportunities. We have on order an Elite 2, standard floor plan. Planning on sharing the king(-ish) bed with the little one, which is perfectly fine for us, and one day maybe adding a nice 4 season tent to our arsenal for when the extra sleeping space becomes important. I am working on a design for a custom dinette table that will simplify the process of transforming from bed to dinette, and some strategies and custom work to simplify making up the bed in the morning. If I stumble across anything great, I'll be happy to share along the way. Special thanks to Jason (at) Oliver and @DavidSfor doing a walk through with us. David, you'll know us from our matching tow vehicles! Best to all! Mr.J