Overland

Well maybe by then we will have joined you. My wife was signed up for a Model 3 but got cold feet when they were having production issues. Then after we got the truck she decided that she wanted a Raptor of her own, lol. So maybe we’ll combine the two and get her a Cybertruck. I’m sure that we’ll hear more about towing range over the next year or so. I’ve always assumed that the hit that the model X and 3 take when towing is largely due to the motors being right at their capacity when towing. So I’m assuming that the 3 motor Cybertruck won’t see as much of a hit percentage wise. Perhaps that’s optimistic but we’ll see. But even if the range is halved, 250 miles should be enough for many. Not everyone of course, but many. I think that more importantly, they’ll need to make sure that the truck will give you an accurate estimate of range, whatever it is, since these vehicles do require a bit more trip planning. But as I’ve said before, I think that the eventual answer will be trailers that are either self powered or at least carry extra battery capacity that can be transferred to the truck. A trailer that can not only push its own weight but also connect to the trucks traction control system to improve stability would be my dream. So there’s your challenge, Oliver. 😛

Cool. Should I go ahead and start a signup sheet for test drives at the 2022 rally?

Man, we all expected you to be first in line.

I'm going to amend my statement above. I've been looking at the Tesla supercharger map, and I've about convinced myself that if I could get the same range out of this truck as I can in my Raptor, then I could go pretty much anywhere I wanted. That's around 350 miles, which seems like a reasonable towing estimate for the 500 mile version. The way that we travel, I'd have to assume two stops a day when heading out west - one of which would be a lunch stop, so that just leaves one extra hour to plan into our long travel days. No big deal. For other days, I think I could assume a charging detour every three days or so, even when we're out in nowhere. And everywhere we've been so far, or have planned to go, there seems to be a supercharger within an hour's drive of anywhere we'll be. An Alaska trip wouldn't be possible, but in the continental US, the only place that looks like it might be a problem would be North Dakota, but there are superchargers on the books for I-94. Southeastern New Mexico - Carlsbad/Guadelupe/Cloudcroft - might be difficult. At a few parks like Glacier and Big Bend, I think you'd want to reserve at least a night at a campground with hookups. Some places, like Capitol Reef, you wouldn't want to do a lot of driving around or make many detours. And then there are a few places that you'd likely take a longer route to get to, so that you could top up at a supercharger beforehand. So, from a boondocker perspective, I'd say that while charging looks to be an inconvenience, it's not going to be a dealbreaker for everyone. And if you're not a boondocker, then I don't see any reason you couldn't tow with one of these today. Point being, I don't think that it will be five or six years like I said before we see someone towing an Ollie with one of these. I think two at the most. I'd even say that we might see someone within a few months post that they've ordered one. It looks like Tesla has almost 200,000 orders on the books already.

I moved a handful of posts from another topic into this one. Please try to limit a conversation to a single thread, as it can be confusing.

I’m guessing that your trailer has the optional generator hookup on the front, which is why you have two 30a inputs. The one on the side is correct for hooking up to shore power though I guess that either is fine. The one in front is placed to be convenient for a generator either in the back of the truck or in the optional basket on the tongue. There are two common reasons that your interior sockets might not be working. First is a tripped breaker on the outlet under the dinette. So first try pressing the reset button on it. If that doesn’t work then check your surge protector display to see if it shows an error. It’s possible that the new outlet could have been wired incorrectly causing the protector to shut off. You’re correct that the heat is propane only. The AC is shore power/generator only and the water heater is either.

Just put a 12v fridge freezer in your truck and you’re set. We can keep 3 weeks of food between our truck and trailer. But I think that there may be four of five of us now with 12v fridges in the trailer - they’re great. I’ve never heard of anyone being able to run an absorption fridge with solar. Maybe at 12 noon in July in Arizona. 200w of solar on my truck is sometimes iffy even for my 12v fridge and 125Ah battery.

I made some small modifications to our water system that have proven successful in stretching our water supply to over a week for two people, including daily showers. Simple stuff like low flow faucets. We carry 15 gallons in the truck, and I’ve considered buying a tank that’s sized to fit the floor of the rear of our F150. I believe that 30 gallons seemed to be the most practical size. Maybe someday, but so far water has only been a minor inconvenience on any of our trips. I know of at least one owner who carries a large water bag in the bed of their truck, which holds an enormous amount of water. That seems a bit inconvenient to me, and I like having water split among more than one container in case one leaks, but it’s an idea.

True - if anyone has a truck with glass that won’t break with a 4” steel ball thrown at it, I want to know. The glass looked to be laminated, so worst case it would be a much better deterrent against theft. I saw that they’re going to offer a solar package for the truck. Also the ATV will be an option. To answer my own question about length, I suspect the reason is battery capacity. Since the batteries are in the floor, then the longer the truck, the more they can fit.

There have been quite a few threads here on repurposing the black tank, but to date I don’t think that anyone has actually done anything. I removed mine for extra storage but I don’t think that counts. I suspect the reason no one has followed through on any of the ideas is that at the end of the day it’s a lot of work for little gain. The p tank on the toilet is large enough that diverting it isn’t really worth it and fresh water is more easily stored in the truck than trying to add capacity in the trailer. But if you do come up with something once you get your trailer, then please post about it as there’s been a lot of interest over the years.

Ahatter, like on any other forum you’ll find a lot of experts here who are dying to tell you what not to do with your trailer. As for the rest of us - get out there, do your thing, and report back. Preferably with pictures.

I have to say, from a designer's standpoint, this is a far better attempt at what an electric truck might look like than the generic offerings from Bollinger or Rivian, the designs of which are just 'make it look like a truck'. Those two vehicles remind me of the early automobile designs, which all looked suspiciously like horse drawn carriages. It's definitely a departure from the aerodynamic bodywork that you expect from a 'green' vehicle, but I suspect that's the entire point. The faceted design is very much in keeping with what you see from offroad customizers, who work largely with plasma cut aluminum and steel; and of course it also has a very military vibe. It's a design language that is perhaps polarizing, but will immediately resonate with the under-40 crowd. For others, I suspect that this looks weird today; but a year from now it won't. I would definitely say to watch the videos, because it looks much different there than in photos. Also, to me it looks a lot like an early Lotus Esprit on steroids, which is pretty funny if you know Elon Musk's history with that car. Like Musk, I've always been a fan of the Italian wedge cars from the late 70's myself, so I can dig it. I didn't watch the reveal, so they may have answered my main question, which is why they made it so long. From what I've seen this morning, it has gobs of room inside, plus a 6.5' bed. I would have thought that a short bed, extended cab model would be a better fit for the initial market. But then, obviously they wanted to make a 'real' truck, so I guess that a full size long bed is where they wanted to go. But that breakover angle looks ridiculous. The exoskeleton structure is the most interesting aspect to me. Range is what you'd expect. Towing capacity is just a number at this point - I don't think it will really matter until they can double the range, and even before then, towing figures need to be indexed back to range to be meaningful. I do like the variable suspension. Overall - pretty cool. I'm really eager to see where this leads. I suspect that in five or six years, we'll see new owners asking serious questions about towing with an electric truck.

I don’t know anything about the maxxfan’s reliability relative to any other fan. In terms of features it does seem to be the best available. I wonder if a better strategy to having an entire fan as a backup might be to just have a spare control board handy.

And I wouldn't pay over $80k for a vehicle that's three generations behind anything else available. Which is why no one buys them and why Toyota is considering pulling them from the market. And sure, buy a four year old vehicle for... reliability. Regardless, the point remains unchanged. A full sized truck is a poor choice.

Don, if I were hauling that trailer, going the places you want to go, I’d get a new Defender without giving it a second thought. There’s no advantage to taking a giant pickup off road unless you need the extra towing or load capacity. The Defender has ample of each for you’re doing, and will be a lot more capable off road, a lot safer on one, and a lot more comfortable on both.

The most obvious pro is cost (provided you consider your tow vehicle as a daily driver that you'd purchase anyway). Second is the ability to leave the trailer behind and travel around parks and cities in a reasonably sized vehicle. Third would be the ability to go places without having to break camp and set back up at the end of the day. Most places we visit, we stay three or four days, sometimes more. While it's not too terrible to set up camp with an Ollie, it would still get old. But for me, the main advantage is longevity. If taken care of, I think an Ollie can last you 50+ years. An RV will start to feel old and outdated after 10. And you can't just buy a new truck and swap out some cushions to make it feel new again.

Welcome to the club. You might send @hardrocka PM. I’m sure he’d have no problem putting you to work!

I couldn’t say if the individual Victron components are any better or worse than any other equipment. It certainly seems top notch and of course it’s highly regarded in the marine world. To me, the Victron advantage is in the networking among the different components. Victron seems to be the only company that concentrates on the electrical system as a whole. So their solar charge controllers and chargers are much more powerful together than independently, and the more components you add, the more powerful they become. To see a real benefit from Victron gear, should you go that route, I’d say that in addition to the charge controller you should go ahead and get their battery monitor and color control display, like you have on your boat. Fortunately, neither of those are too expensive, nor difficult to install, especially for you guys. As you know, those components together will give you all of the monitoring and remote capabilities of their network. After you’ve installed that, then I can talk you into getting a MultiPlus. 😛 The other thing I’d add is that ultimately I’d like to have a separate charge controller dedicated to portable panels. I’d wire the portables as 24 volts so that I could use longer and smaller cables. So that might be something to consider yourself.

I think that the only major thing that I've bought specifically to keep as a spare is a water pump. But apart from that, I've collected enough bits from modifications that I think I could fix or find a workaround for most anything minor - some wiring, wiring connectors; a length of PEX tubing and various elbows, tees, etc.; misc. screws, bolts and cotter pins; things like that. I also carry some repair items like silicone tape, butyl tape, gorilla tape, a screen repair kit, zip ties, wire, velcro strips, etc.

Is the fridge on 12 volt? Unless the inverter is on, that’s all I can think that would draw that much power.

That certainly may be the case. The Nortons introduced me to Duragloss when I was picking up our trailer.

Yep, their website was a valuable resource for me when we were deciding on a trailer and especially later when planning out modifications.

I think that the most recommended polish here is Duragloss, which I can personally attest to, but also many owners have had good success with other products like 3M marine wax, Maguires, etc. Some people really like Rejex, but I personally didn't care for it. Some searching will probably provide you with a handful of threads on the topic. Many of us use a mixture of 4 parts Duragloss 923 and 1 part Duragloss 952 in a spray bottle for cleaning the interior and as a touch up spray on the exterior, cleaning off bugs and such. I don't know who first came up with that mixture, but it really makes the interior shine. On the exterior, I think waxing twice a year is the typical recommendation, adjusting for use, climate and storage conditions. I don't know if I remember a discussion here on which type of pads to use.

Is that a replacement top for the twin bed nightstand?

IMO, the clear 3M film is the best bet if you get it put on before you have any dings. Seems to look great and work well. If you go the truck liner route, which I’m sort of warming up to, then you might as well enjoy the trailer as is until you get enough dings to make you want to do something about it. I don’t think most people get to that point since they aren’t off on gravel roads. Mine isn’t anywhere near that point either, despite a little abuse. I’ve spoken to Oliver about doing a round of touch up at some point. They said it’s possible but the problem is getting the color right, as it tends to change a bit over time.