Overland

John, maybe I'm misunderstanding the extent of what you're looking to do, but if you just want to organize your PDFs in iBooks you could just create a new collection called "RV" and move them there. Like David, I tend to use dropbox for that stuff.

It works out of the box. Mine is an older version that doesn't connect to the phone - instead, there's a PC/Mac app that you can use to change the settings if you want, but that's entirely optional. I would think that the new version also works with that app, though the phone app looks like it allows you to do much more than the PC app. If you aren't going to use a smartphone, I think you can still buy the older versions on Amazon, and they're a good bit less expensive. They aren't as bright as the new version, but like I say, mine is more than bright enough for around camp.

That's interesting about the Fenix vs Nitecore. I can only guess that they copy one another's designs. Is the Fenix USB rechargeable? That's one of the reasons I was drawn to the Nitecore.

Sherry, I don't use the remote battery. I wear it over my bike helmet normally, so having the battery on the back counterbalances the weight of the light so that it doesn't pull down the front of the helmet. At least that's why they say they designed it that way. Honestly, it's light enough that I don't really notice the weight and haven't really thought about it. I can say though that my wife has a little Snowpeak headlamp for camp that uses 3 AAA batteries and it's cool looking but I don't like wearing it because it feels like I have a weight on my forehead.

I started looking at flashlights for the Ollie and even talked with Jason about giving me a charge port by the door, but at least in the past, I've found that there just aren't any occasions where I find a flashlight more useful than a headlamp. I have a Petzl Nao which I got for bike riding and I think it works really well for camp. The auto adjusting beam works as advertised, which has proved really useful when tent camping, and the brightness and battery life are both more than I need in camp. I'm just going to have a set of hooks and maybe a storage net by the front door where we'll stash the headlamps, keys, etc. I'm sure that the habits we've picked up while tent camping will change once we get the Ollie. So we might find that having the porch lights and maybe some other awning lights means that putting on a headlamp to go to the truck or to investigate some noise will prove more trouble than just grabbing a flashlight. So at the end of the day I still might spring for a couple flashlights, if nothing else just so I know that there's one stashed around in both the truck and trailer. The one I had picked out is the Nitecore MH12, which at the time I was looking at them seemed like good compromise of brightness, throw, battery life, etc. I'll definitely check out the ones mentioned here though. Buzzy, that's quite a headlamp. I'd be worried that I'd burn a hole in the Ollie or light the dog on fire with that thing,

Thanks, I know that was an action that you guys were reluctant to take. But honestly, given the screen name and textbook methods, there were times I suspected that we had become involuntary subjects in some weird psychology experiment.

Personally, I would find it distracting while driving; and yes, you wouldn't want to do that in the southeast in the summer because you'd have to scrape a half inch of bugs off your bike every time you wanted to go for a ride. Plus I think you underestimate the terrain down here. I think most people who put bikes up there aren't going off road. Or they leave the bikes and rack at camp when they do. Generally we don't travel with bikes, but if we did, the best solution to me seems to be the bike rack over the truck bed with a sliding bedcover.

If you do decide to go to the rally, that might be enough to make me drive over, at least for the day. I'd like to see and know more.

Cool. I just bought a 1up myself - all the reviews talk about how well made they are and even though I was expecting it to be nice, I was totally blown away.

I think the limit is more the batteries than the inverter. I mean, if the Atwood can be run on a generator rated at 2000 surge watts then it should be fine on an inverter rated at 3000. Unless of course one of those has been very conservatively/liberally rated. The Trojan T-105's however are rated at ~10 amps and if you're asking 100+ from them they won't be happy. I'm sure this is why Trumpetguy wasn't able to get his AC cranking with batteries before he added the soft start - well, kinda sure, technically they should. But even with a soft start, the running amps even on the Atwood is 100+, and that's probably too much if you want your batteries to last. Probably O.K. in the middle of a sunny day if you're supplementing with tons of solar. But over the long run it can't be good for battery life. An hour or so, as was Trumpetguy's desire, is probably not as harmful, but still a strain. Lot's of probablies. I think if you really want to run the AC off batteries on any regular basis, then you need to consider lithium and then up your solar to 640w and maybe even supplement that with portables. The successful battery operated AC systems like the Wynn's or Technomadia's have over a kilowatt of solar and 400 useable Ah of lithium batteries, and even they'll tell you that their systems are limited to a partial day before recharging with a gen or plugging in. You can do this in an Oliver, if you're willing. IMO, the primary selling point of a soft start is in letting you run an existing Penguin or Coleman AC off of a portable gen like the Honda 2000. Quieter, lighter, easier to store. If you're just getting started though, I think just speccing the Atwood is probably the better choice, though there are reasons you might still prefer the Penguin + a soft start.

Seems that you could. I might still get one to run off batteries, but it's not necessary if you get the Atwood. We're still debating using a Victron charger and that would allow us to run off batteries as well.

Do you mean the 15k btu unit? Atwood claims that their 13.5k btu unit can be started with a Honda 2000, and you had mentioned not having any problem running the Atwood off your 2000i, though not off the inverter.

8 hours? Yes, we definitely need a full report on that, especially if he's able to do that in a larger and less well insulated Airstream. I wonder what his solar and battery capacity are.

A few people have the Easy Start installed, and have said great things about it. I'm considering it, but if I go with the Atwood AC I should be able to run it off a Honda 2000 without one. However, if I'm not mistaken it was Trumpetguy who said that he could run his Atwood off of battery by using the Easy Start. Not for long, of course. After reading about it here, I'm also considering installing an easy start on my home AC. We've got an old house with iffy patchwork electrical that's been changed and added to somewhat, uh, creatively over the last 100 years, and the AC is a definite strain on the system when it cranks up.

Thanks Steve. They actually told me a month ago that they'd be willing to do the brakes, so they may have been looking at yours for pointers on the install, lol. Either way, I'm glad that you showed it to them. Your install looks really nice and clean.

If you haven't seen the recent thread on the Partner stoves, then you might check that out. The grill we've picked is the Charbroil Grill2Go. I've been sold on the infrared ever since we got a Sabre grill for the house, and that's the most reasonable portable version I can find. Otherwise, from the reviews out there I don't think anyone can go wrong with the Weber Q.

Steve, another question for you - can you run two brake lines from the Hydrastar actuator to the calipers or just one? I was thinking that if I did it myself that I would see if I could run two, for safety sake. One line to the front wheels and another to the rear. Are you at all nervous about mounting the lines on the bottom of the frame?

They're doing it all in service after the fact, so it's a retrofit, which is probably the difference. I agree that it should be standard or a standard option off the line - perhaps there's a certification process to go through to offer it as a line option. I believe they're standard on Airstreams now, but I could be wrong. Their price was $375 over what Steve is paying for parts, which includes the over under kit. I could do it myself for less of course, but it's low enough that I don't mind letting them do the work. Certainly if someone didn't do the work themselves, they'd pay as much or more for the work at a shop. Of course, that all depends on what they've priced, so we'll see. If they aren't using a decent actuator and brake kit, then I may end up doing it myself since it doesn't seem like it's difficult - especially now that Steve's been kind enough to give us a shopping list, lol. Above all else, I want quality components. Steve, how did you decide on which finish to get? People seem to have good experience with the dacromet, but I was a little nervous about it since it's a sprayed on finish. With the nasty salts they're putting on the roads these days, I didn't know if I should spring for stainless, or if that's just overkill. I mean, my truck certainly isn't going to come with stainless calipers after all.

Sherry, I was thinking double axles with the 3500lb comment. There was a thread a while back talking about how some Elite II owners ended up with 5200lb axles and that's what I thought you were talking about. I assumed the single axles had always came with 5200lb axles so that's an interesting piece of Oliver history to know.

Awesome. Oliver has agreed to install disk brakes on ours but I haven't heard back on what exactly they've priced. I sent them the links to the Kodiak/Hydrastar stuff but I think they may be trying to source everything from Dexter. I'd rather have the setup that you've installed. Please let us know how it performs.

I'm curious what the advantage of all terrain tires is on a trailer. I know I see them on small offroad trailers all the time but since the wheels aren't driven it seems like the disadvantages of roll resistance, poor highway performance, noise and greater wear would outweigh any offroad advantage they may give. Is it puncture resistance that people are after? On the 5200lb axles, I can see the desire and am usually one to go for overkill, but in the case of unsprung weight I think I'd rather keep it lighter myself.

I think those are the very tires that Oliver uses now. At least the ones in production a year ago had them - they could have changed by now.

I think you guys have hit the nail on the head. What I've seen over the past 3-4 months from Oliver shows all the signs of a company with growing pains. Increasing production is tough. Finding new employees is tough, especially in a small town. Training them is tough. Promoting people into new positions is tough. Do all of these at once, and you end up with short screws and plastic cutouts in the black tank. Though I'm sure it's frustrating and I agree it's not acceptable, at least so far these have all been small problems that are easily remedied.

I was also told in January that the windows had changed, at least partly to address the water leakage issue that could happen if the drains on the windows weren't kept clean. They looked essentially the same to me though, with the only visible difference being the number of slots visible on the exterior. So it could be that they're essentially the same window, but the manufacturer made slight adjustments.

Yvonne, I can't say that I know specifically what adapter you need for your coleman, but it should be a fairly easy thing to do. If you have a liquid fuel coleman, you'll have to buy a conversion kit, which is easy to find on Amazon. Otherwise, it's just a question of finding the specific adapter for whichever propane coleman you have or buy. Someone more knowledgeable can correct me, but I believe that all of the colemans use an external pressure regulator, so all you do is toss that, plug the adapter in where that would have gone, and then plug your propane hose to the adapter. It should work just as well as it does normally.