Overland

Susan, I'll sell you my old school Cannondale from college - only 23lbs. Actually, no. I'll never part with that bike.

Oliver used to say it was fine to lift the trailer with the jacks; now they don't. On some of the older trailers, the bracket that holds the rear jacks was welded up from aluminum, and they had one or two fail. Now they use steel angle, which is much stronger and not nearly as likely to fail, but still recommend that they be used for stabilization only. Despite Oliver's recommendation, many still use the jacks to level, while many don't. You'll get the full range of opinions on whether you should or shouldn't. For me, I'm comfortable using the jacks for leveling, but with only one side ever off the ground, not both. Of course, there's very few situations where you'd want both sides off the ground, most likely in your driveway while doing maintenance, which isn't too safe - kind of like working under your car while it's on a jack. If I needed to, I could see doing that for the brief moment before placing jack stands under the trailer, but that's all. I did once camp on a site that was steep enough front to back that I had to rest the tongue on the ground to get the trailer level. If it had been any steeper, then I would have needed a ramp for the tires, or I suppose I could have lifted the rear on the jacks. But honestly, I was somewhat concerned about the trailer slipping downhill or rolling over the chocks as it was. I kept the safety chains hooked up to the truck that night. I don't think I'd feel comfortable at all on a slope like that with the wheels sitting on a slippery plastic ramp, nor up on stilts.

Sounds like it turned out well. Any pics?

I'm not familiar enough with lead acid batteries to know how long they can be left without a charge. They'll lose charge on their own over time even without a draw, and how quickly they do so depends on the battery type, temperature, and probably other things as well. But I don't think that the draw from the shunt would be much of a factor. Trojan says that the best practice for their batteries is to not allow them to go below 70% while stored, so I think if you don't have a battery maintainer on them that you'd probably want to check them every few weeks regardless.

That would be a good question for Victron to verify. But their spec sheet says that the shunt draws less than 1 mA, so even if that's continuous even with battery power cut off, that would be less than 9 Ah a year, if my math is correct.

So, what's the answer?

Because most of the better bike racks come with 2" receivers, and customers who buy better trailers tend to also buy better bike racks.

Is that true?

OK, here's the dimensions for the Victron Smart batteries. I knew I hadn't gone crazy. The chart above is for their older "SuperPack" batteries, which are larger. 200Ah = 12.6" x 6.0" x 9.3" tall, $2,101.20 from Inverter Supply 100Ah = 12.6" x 6.0" x 7.75" tall, $1,127.95 from Inverter Supply Weird, yes, but the only difference is apparently an inch and a half in height. So three of the 200Ah batteries should fit in the tray. BTW, Victron says do not install them on end, which shouldn't be an issue unless you want more than 600Ah.

Edited - see post below.

Well you don’t need all that, just the BMS. It’s Bluetooth and uses the same app as the shunt. It will give you what you're asking for - individual cell voltages, temps, etc. as well as keep track of charges, errors, etc. You get Victron quality and support, and a battery small enough that you can fit 600 Ah worth in your battery box with room to spare, and if something happens to the BMS, you don't have to replace the entire battery. For 200Ah, it would cost about $300 more than the lifeblue total, including the BMS. Each additional battery is only $100 more. Well worth it, IMO. For me, I wouldn’t even be thinking about LifeBlue. Battle born, yes, but lifeblue as far as I can tell is a mom and pop business that rebrands Chinese batteries. I don't mean to disparage them - I say good for them for their initiative, and from what I can tell, I think the batteries are fine. But, what happens if there's a problem? A mom and pop is going to have more pressure to deny warranty claims, less time to deal with customers, less expertise for dealing with technical questions or problems, less capacity and financial ability to deal with major problems like a recall, and an uncertain future if something were to happen to one of the owners. I hope they do well; but for most buyers, these batteries will be the most expensive individual component on their trailer by a factor of two, and for that I’d want expert support and a company that I know is going to be around for a while.

LifeBlue says that they’ll honor their full warranty for batteries purchased through Oliver.

I’ve used all of the above. I’ve also used a good deal of marine adhesive. There’s a use for everything - it’s just a question of the application, how strong it needs to hold, and how permanent you want it to be. I haven’t tried pop rivets, but I’ve had a handful of Oliver’s rivets on the pantry, closet, basement, and microwave door fail. Five in total - some snapped in two and some pulled through. No idea if the issue was an over aggressive riveter or the rivets themselves. I haven't had tremendous success with suction cups either, maybe because I'm using Ikea brand. I think the best, strongest solution would be rivnuts with a wide flange. That, and I’m slowly getting to trust VHB as much as people say I should. Some examples - Photos, things you may want to change or remove - command strips, heavy duty velcro Small permanent items - VHB tape if the item allows, stainless screws (with a little adhesive caulk on the threads to hold them) Heavy permanent items - bolts with washers if you have access (fender washers if there's space), screws, adhesive caulk (where you can't or don't want to screw into the fiberglass), possibly VHB tape or rivnuts Wiring and plumbing tie downs - Zip ties (either the cable tie kind with eyelets for screws, or regular installed on a screw-down saddle Always stainless screws and bolts, always nylock nuts. For things inside the hull, I usually try to glue a piece of PVC to the hull with adhesive caulk, and then screw to that.

John, if I were buying today, I’d skip the all in one batteries and go with Victron batteries and their separate BMS. They’re still more expensive than Battleborn or LifeBlue, but not as much as when I bought. And the more experience I have with Victron the more I trust them. Not that I’m unhappy with Battleborn - but as a long term purchase, I think the additional reporting, support, and general peace of mind that you get with the Victrons is worth the extra.

What I’d love to see Oliver do is glue in a 1x2 strip of PVC all the way down both sides of the trailer and then attach everything to that - plumbing, electrical, and HVAC.

I’m pretty sure that those bus bars come with covers. My guess is that it was lost in production. Andrews wiring is so much nicer than mine. They’ve definitely improved. One thing that I don’t like though is all those wire clips screwed into the hull. I’ve discovered more than a few of mine that went all the way through. Take out the screws and you see daylight. Good thing Oliver doesn’t build boats.

I'd be interested to know about the current state as well.

The boondocking port also doesn't have a check valve on it, and it's a straight shot from there to where it turns up to the pump, so water should drain out of it easily.

Beautiful stuff, Foy. BTW, an excellent alternative for marine vinyl is Morbern Prodigy. Under $20/yd.

I'm pretty sure that Oliver was using a local carpenter for their wood accents. Personally, I prefer the wood, finish, etc. of what Foy does to what Oliver used to offer. That, or something like the teak Lagun table upgrades out there. Maybe some sweet talk would get Foy to make a full upgrade package in Mahogany or Teak.

Does Oliver not offer the Dakota Black counters any more? That would be strange, since it seems like one of the most popular colors. They just sent me a bath vanity top in that color. Oliver used to do wood for the microwave door if you had that option, and wood for the small countertops at the fridge and panty used to be an option. I've also seen photos of one Ollie with a wooden dinette table. I've never seen one with the kitchen countertop in wood, but there may be one out there - certainly it's possible. At least one of the earliest Ollies had wooden doors on the cabinets and even the bath and closet!

You can fit 10 if you own a jigsaw. The life blue batteries are 19" x 6.5" x 9.5". It would be physically impossible to fit them in the existing battery box, much less the tray.

The best solution that I've found is a set of comfortable noise cancelling headphones. Mine are comfortable enough to sleep with and they eliminate the AC noise almost entirely. The batteries will easily last the night.

I think if you have a composting toilet, that trick won't work. The vent for the toilet connects into the vent stack with a flexible tube, in a spot that would almost certainly get water into it if you were to back flush the vent. So either the tube would get forced off by the water and you'd have to get into the vanity to reconnect it, or it could just send water into the toilet fan and kill it.