Overland

There's a good chair thread here. I ended up ordering the Helinox Sunset chairs that I mentioned in that thread, and I do not regret it. My wife loves them too, and with no prompting from me, said that with the Helinox we didn't really need to bring the zero G chairs. They're so incredibly light, yet sturdy. I got their small hard top table to go with them. They all go together super quick. Highly recommended, though I still have feelings for those Kermit chairs.

You can also remove the original stickers with a pressure washer. That’s how the sign shops do it. When installing, doing it on a hot summer day will help since the vinyl will be more flexible. I had good luck starting at the top and then stretching it slightly as I went down. Spraying some water on the surface before applying will give you the flexibility to peel the vinyl back if you start to get a wrinkle. If you do get a wrinkle, a hairdryer will shrink it away if it isn’t too big and you haven’t creased it. Patience is key. Mine, at 24”, feels a little big to me. That may be just the nature of a simple design looking larger, or maybe that extra half inch makes all the difference.

Thanks, I might do that. I read on the Raptor forum where they did the same for someone there. But I'm working on a much slicker solution now - hoped to have it done before my trip next week but couldn't get the parts in time.

Can't say about the Ram, but I've been using Timbrens on my Raptor and they work well. They keep the truck super stable and as you can see by the photo below, very level. My pads are a bit long, so they do change the ride when they're on, but it's just two bolts to take them off. I'd say that when they're installed the truck feels very similar to what a Super Duty feels like. I think my pads could be an inch shorter and the truck would still be level enough.

I’ve tripped a 20 amp breaker running a small space heater in our trailer. The trailer was pulling less than 15 amps but there are a handful of other things on the same circuit, including a 70’s stereo, which I guess is like another small space heater. I’m not sure I ever would have thought about trying to climb through the basement to get inside.

They stopped putting those pop up drains in a few years ago, I think right after a similar question was asked here on the forum. I do think that there was a reason behind them, perhaps at first there was no shutoff valve, then they added the valve but didn't change the drain. Something like that. I'm sure it can be replaced easily. Personally, I prefer them, since the shutoff valve also shuts off the grey tank's access to the plumbing vent. The drawback is that it sticks up a bit, so some of the shower floor covers, like the nice teak ones, have to be made with a cutout for it. I guess if it doesn't drain well, that's also a drawback, though this is the first time I know of that anyone has complained about them. I wonder if there's a blockage in yours or perhaps it's not opening completely.

On the Elite II, that breaker doesn't shut everything off, so there's still a parasitic drain, though not much. Better to detach the battery cable or add a real disconnect switch. Or better still, put a battery tender on it.

To supply a high pressure appliance, you'll have to split the line at the one of the tanks - attach the trailer's regulator to one end and your high pressure line to the other. Then coil up the high pressure line and keep it stowed by the tanks with bungees or something. I have a high pressure stove and used it that way for the first year. Worked fine, but it was a bit of a pain to deal with, plus the splitter and collection of adapters I needed to connect my particular high pressure line didn't inspire confidence.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it, but the only places I can think that wouldn't be covered by the bikes would either be on the rack itself or up above the window. A few of us have the license plates mounted to the side, but I think they'd be no more visible there. The 1up rack on my truck completely covers the license plate when it's folded. You can't even tell I have one. But I've only gotten pulled over once, in Hohenwald. I said I was going to Oliver and he said in that case no problem sir nice truck. Not sure how far outside of Hohenwald that trick works.

Some additional research on these this morning has eased my concerns. It doesn't look like early failure is common, though the expected life should be more like 10 years/50,000 miles vs the warranty period of 5 years/100,000 miles. The bearing is a Timken, made in the US and the same size used on many cars, so it's easily sourced in both Timken and SKF versions. Interestingly, Timken has two different part numbers, and the one that's specified for cars is said to have a less reliable seal. No idea why that would be, though the one for cars is considerably less expensive, $25 vs $60. In a pinch, I guess the $25 model will do the trick. I'll just make sure to do a good inspection before each trip, and perhaps even in the middle of a longer trip if I'm feeling particularly paranoid. And I'll erase "repack bearings" from my yearly maintenance list.

True. Interestingly though, while all the manufacturers seem to add this blanket requirement, I haven't been able to find what exactly defines a WD hitch; i.e., how much weight must it transfer, what testing/certification is involved, etc.

Long story, but it's all part of the disk brake fiasco. The axles are in fact 5200's and I have no idea why. I'd prefer to save the weight.

I believe that it's rated for 100 lbs.

Anyone else? My trailer is such a unicorn that this doesn't surprise me, but I did waste some time and money getting grease to repack the bearings before our trip. I don't know why I never noticed this before since it's marked plain as day, but it's just one of those things my mind has never registered. (Documentation on my trailer was scarce at delivery with nothing marked Dexter in sight.) Anyway, I've been looking around for info on service and inspection for these things. The Dexter service manual pretty much just says inspect them once a year for smoothness and play. Also says that a little grease weeping out is normal, but I've no idea how much is a little in their eyes. I do have one bearing with what I'd call a 'little' seeping. I can't find much nice that people have said about these things on the net. But I guess that could be because if they work, no one is going out of their way to let the world know. Does seem like a bit of a time bomb though. I'm thinking that from a repair standpoint, I should buy a spare bearing pack since they probably aren't normally carried in stock. Apparently they require a press to fit them, so it's not anything I'm doing on the side of the road. Thoughts? Advice? Congratulations? Condolences?

Great photos, David. We're headed to Moab, Arches, etc. in two weeks. John, we've reserved a couple of nights along the white rim trail. Not taking the Ollie ;)

Have you tried unhooking the chassis ground from the inverter? If that stops the GFI from popping then it might confirm an internal ground/neutral issue like Steve suggested.

I'm curious what you guys are gaining by knowing the temperature at various spots around the trailer. I originally had temp sensors on my list of things to do eventually, but later dropped it, since it's not like if an alarm goes off at 3am I'm going to jump out of bed and winterize the trailer. If it's cold at night, we just set the furnace at a low temp and try not to worry about it. A few weeks ago I snuck them back on the list thinking that I might do some fiddling around with the heat ducts and thought some sensors would tell me if my fiddling was productive, but other than that I still don't see the benefit. Of course, my wife will stand outside and still pull up the weather on her phone to see if it's cold.

Typical voltage from an unregulated panel is ~17-18 volts. You can run two or more in series to increase that voltage though, but you'd want an MPPT charge controller to take advantage of it. Generally though, it's better to have the controller nearer the battery, since it will be measuring the voltage of that circuit to determine its switching.

This may help. I used these dimensions for my hitch adapter and the holes aligned perfectly. [attachment file=OTT_05092017_EliteII holeplacement.pdf] OTT_05092017_EliteII-holeplacement.pdf

I like the idea of having the port either at the front or the back, so that you don't limit your distance from the trailer if the sun is on the curb side. You might have an easier time running the wiring from the back though.

Unless there's something you absolutely know you want, I wouldn't jump into upgrades until you've lived in it for a bit. We've had ours for about a year and a half now, five trips and 15,000 miles, and we're still making changes and settling in. I agree with Sherry - the best thing you can do is go to the rally, scope out everyone else's trailers and ask tons of questions.

Just looking at those Blackstone griddles - is this the one you got? I really like it. If I had space to carry one more thing, I might be tempted at that price.

I also have the same one as John. It works well enough, but like John, I can't say I'm really crazy about it. I'm considering just using a wired thermometer instead, and then if I want to do remote monitoring of other locations, get one of the Ambient Weather models like recommended above. I like this thermometer from ThermoWorks, since it shows max and min temps at a glance. Not crazy about the price though. This one is more reasonable.

I see. I think though that if you were going to run an unregulated panel to the trailer that you’d want rewire both the panels and trailer to minimize voltage drop. Something like 4 awg and add an appropriate breaker. That was my original plan but the size of the panels and all that cable made the idea less appealing. I agree with John that the Renology seems to be the best value/highest rated. When I was buying, it seemed like they never had any in stock, so I went with the Zamp, which is probably just as good of a panel, but about 30% more expensive so not a great buy. Having said that, I've been seeing reviews of the newer/cheaper polycrystalline panels and if I were buying today, I think I'd look more closely into them.

Mine came with a Zamp port and I had the option to pay more for the Furrion. It goes direct to the battery, so the portable panel will need a charge controller on it (which most if not all do). Of course I’m sure you could rewire it to go through the onboard charge controller easily. Just make sure you don’t overload the controller. I’ve never checked if there’s a fuse on the port but my panels (also Zamp) have a fuse on them. I don’t understand the 8 amp limit John. Can you explain?