DanielBoondock

Update. We got the Sierra EV last August, and picked up the Oliver at the factory in March. You can read a trip report here of our 6k mile trip https://www.fiberglassrv.com/threads/meet-sparky-the-electric-oliver.2190937/ There were some sharp opinions here about EV's, you can read the details over there that it far exceeded my expectations. Zero problems. We drove for hours through wilderness with no infrastructure and boondocked - not an issue (somebody here had some weird theory about that). Even I had trouble believing how well it worked in these conditions, in fact it liked the (slower speed) backcountry better than, say I40 in a windstorm. It's the regen you see, but surprisingly it regenerated (captured) more energy than I'm used too - all that trailer energy too, backcountry across the Sierras, it just gained so much energy on the way down from the peaks. It just drove, and drove and drove ... not to mention, while the 'generator symphony' would start up in some campgrounds, we silently topped off from the truck. I've towed plenty with ICE, and between Supercruise, the torque, the power, the spare campground power, the silence, I'll say EV towing is now better than ICE towing. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it, but to each his own. But enough of the drive train - who really cares? Pick your poison. The trouble was all with the Ollie. Us getting used to it that is. The composting toilet took getting the hang of (you can read the details over there). The Xantrex was a bit of a learning curve, because there's so many generations. The present generation can't be reset if you put a bad setting in. But the tech support at Xantrex was great, it was easily fixed by simply plugging into shore power. Oliver owners are indeed very friendly in person, but Steve if you're out there, sorry we couldn't chat but ya gotta appreciate, it was getting dark and the we just got the thing and needed to set up! 😅 Mark and Sandy - enjoyed talking to you, hope you're making good use of the carrier. Finally, of interest to this group; I have precise information about the Oliver aerodynamics. It isn't marketing fluff! In good conditions (no wind etc) I get a 35% towing loss @60 mph, this is phenomenal. And reminder; towing loss has NOTHING to do with the drive train. It's exactly the same for EV versus ICE. So you piston pounders are also getting this same loss. Otherwise, we love our Ollie. Even my skeptical family. Sure bigger would be great, but that's a slippery slope.

Actually jd I never insulted you. FYI I’m a retiring engineer in the automotive industry, I’ve designed test equipment for SDV’s for 30 years, so knowing real world how vehicles perform in the real world is literally my business. And also why I don’t have the heart for a food fight on this versus that, too much like work. I’ll just suggest that your information is out of date and leave it there. But thanks for the kind note at the end.

Jd you’re very passionate about cutting down EV’s - I get that - though apparently you’ve never driven one, or have researched them much? I’m only calling you out directly because you keep calling out my name with an assertion that it’s somehow impossible to boondock with an EV. Just one thing I’ll point out which is you’re clearly not aware of the GM EV’s - Silverado, Sierra and Hummer, which have double stack 800V 225 kWh packs? Point being that the truck will charge 100 miles in 10 minutes (verified in the real world), and done with a full charge before you’ve had lunch. One noontime charge in a full day of driving, people are doing this now, getting 250+ miles on a single charge including buffers at either end (10%-80%). You like diesel with a big tank, so only fill up every couple days - that’s fine. I’d rather not deal with the noise, DEF, exhaust, torque, HP, maintenance, transmission/engine and break pad heat concerns. But that’s your gig, I’m not criticizing, maybe you can return the courtesy and kindly let other people have their choices without making a stink about it? Just a thought, anyhow I had hoped this forum would be mature enough to be cool with EV’s, I thought we were past that generally but my mistake, I make one small mention here and people are jumping all over me. Forget it was brought up and peace - Dan

No. Haha right back at ya No, Tesla sucks IMO. I’ve been driving GM EV’s for seven, eight years. Full stop. I’ll put it out there - I’m done trying to discuss EV’s with people who haven’t driven them, don’t know anything about them, and refuse to entertain them, but just want to reinforce their beliefs. I don’t know where you are on this - not trying to paint you one way or another - but FYI I’ll answer any reasonable questions but that’s it On this one? I think you’re responding here to another thread? If there’s anything here about EV’s I must have missed it. There’s another thread where it came up but I haven’t been following that one, life is short … I’m wondering how you can believe that it’s not possible to charge across the country, with the tens of thousands of DCFC that are going in? It’s clear you’re not aware of the Ionna consortium which is going to have more charging than Tesla in a few years, they’re blasting them in at a furious rate as we speak. Or every single Pilot/Flying-J will have them with another GM effort - how many are there of those? You ever gassed up at a Flying-J? Not to mention the existing Tesla, EA, EVgo and others. Maybe you’re not aware that wherever people go, there is electricity? Everything you said there is incorrect, people are making real world trips of 200+ miles before needing a charge, towing, today, with the latest GM EV’s. You can use V2V to charge in extremis, or just a generator or portable DCFC. And nobody ever is in that situation, charging is ubiquitous. Actually it was a mistake for me to ever mention EV’s on this forum, sorry folks my fault, I changed my sig, please ignore …

Thanks for the kind words of encouragement! Just what I needed … I’m at that stage of ‘having trouble’ shall we say, with doing the last few years. Fact is my theoretical date is early next year, which would be 59.5 same as my Dad and brother, why not … but I’m tacking on a few years to earn guilt free extra dollars to pay for this rig and this and that. Oliver jacked up the price like crazy last few years and EV trucks aren’t cheap yet as they’re just releasing. Meanwhile there’s various factors I’m waiting to settle out - interest rates, production start for MY2026 on both the truck and the trailer, anyhow now that I finally settled it’s a bit of being impatient. Good news is, maybe I can pull this all together this year and be camping in the new year. That should make the final couple years fly by as I’ll practically be retired, just with that pesky day job to attend to still 😅 Dan

tl/dr, the physics is galvanic corrosion, which are ‘phantom’ currents caused by having two connected dissimilar metals. It’s the valance electrons - just the electrons in the outer shell, which leads to a potential difference, so they’ll flow back and forth from high potential to low potential, and eating away at the metal in the process. I believe accelerated when in a high ionic environment like salt water (ocean water, or salted roads). As SeaDawg mentioned you have a less noble metal which sacrifices itself … I suppose because it’s at a lower potential so ‘pulls’ the currents it’s way. In this application though I’d expect little to no corrosion for most people which is why they use such small zincs. Makes me wonder why Oliver has a galvanized axel subframe, maybe just Dexter recommendation, but they’d still have the issue anyhow with the steel axels. The other type of corrosion you’ll get is filiform on the aluminum frame.

Unnecessary with the Anderson as the Ball & Ball-pin rotates together in turns, as intended with the anti-sway friction provided by the pin sleeve. Anderson expressly says not to grease the ball, and since there’s no movement except vertical it’s hardly necessary anyhow. As for me my truck has rear steer with built in anti-sway; the rear of the truck wiggles if the trailer waggels. So don’t really need hitch provided in anti sway but OK.

Just for fun and my own sake, tl/dr all the positives Tongue Weight: Lowest in class, Bigfoot is as high as 1k, I have tongue and payload limits I’m working with GVWR: A touch on the heavy side for it’s size but well within my limits Size: True 25’ like the Escape 23’, but the Ollie is a 7’ compared to the 8’ of the Escape. The Bigfoot with front storage is a 28’ Fiberglass: Best in class with the custom honeycomb and mat patches in strategic locations Lighting: Best in class, tri-level interior and bi-level exterior Options: Best in class. Escape famously is configurable but mostly with low level ones (who needs a second exterior shower?), you can’t option out the stuff you’d want control over like batteries/solar. Bigfoot likewise has no power options and only options things like skylights (which are a bad solution to a dark interior) Build Quality: Best in class, I mentioned fiberglass above but the frame is equally boss Decor: Subjective but best in class IMO. Bigfoot is old school, Escape is, sorry just cheap looking. Ollie is classic will never go out of style Fixtures: Best in class marine quality Outside presentation: Best in class. Frames are ugly, only the Oliver hides it, and with fiberglass body no less Usability: Four season, Escape is three, Bigfoot is four Towing: Probably best of the three by a small margin, aero, lack of external gubbins. Bigfoot has a good front, good bottom but poor top and back, the Escape has a poor shape and bottom Water carry: Don’t know about the others (but probably average), but the Oliver is expressly designed for fresh water carry. Important for Boondocking and I want to bring water with me just in case the campground water is having issues Repair: As far as I can tell the Oliver is the most well designed for repair. As mentioned above, even in the unlikely event of a tank issue you can even swap those without too much trouble …

Weight rating? The hitch will handle a lot, question is the bumper itself. The stock one is rated at 100 lbs which won’t work for me as my Kuat Piston Pro is 63 lbs by itself and I have heavy eBikes. Ultiumately not a problem, I’ll keep the bikes in the truck bed and swap the bike rack for the rear shelf storage. Wouldn’t hurt to have the option though.

North of San Francisco. No worries actually, speaking of research this has been an obsession for about five years as I’m rounding into retirement, I’ve run through everything and there’s no other choice, seeing one won’t change my mind to be honest. We don’t need to see one actually, too much bother 😅 I mean we all know this is a balancing of compromises, so you have to pick your poison. Listing out my unmet wants just for my own sake .. Want: Bigger twins Downside: Would be a bigger trailer, but I like the narrowbody 25 actual foot size for towing and campsite availability Solution: If it really bothers - probably won’t - but if it does we can rig it into a queen size Want: Bigger dinette Downside: Same issue Solution: Make more use of the beds and outside Want: More storage so the trailer can always be ready to go Downside: Same issue, also I like the exterior beauty of the Oliver with only a few doors Solution: Outside front/rear 3rd party storage, that rear bumper with the dual rails that can be configured bike hitch or storage tray is brilliant Want: Bigger fridge Downside: Could have been done - the Bigfoot fridge is awesome - but it would rob that upper cabinet Solution: Just get an electric cooler Want: More thermal insulation, not just radiant Downside: I’m overthinking this one 😅 Solution: Kick back and have a beer That’s it. Everything else is pretty much exactly as I would do it myself. There’s a hundred other positives I haven’t mentioned like offroadbility, boondocking, composting as a standard option … Did I mention I’m a ambient light freak? Oliver even did three level lightning which is optimal. Upper, midlevel and down pointing floor level. Nobody does that, they usually just do the awful overhead interrogation light style 😅 Oh and if that’s not enough, they did bi-level lightning outside, the uppers and the lowers, it’s just too much.

Asking if I've done my research is like asking the Pope if he knows what a Catholic is 😅 Yes I'm fully aware of the range loss towing for both EV, ICE and any other vehicle you care to mention (steam anybody? Jay Leno has a couple). Range loss is a function of aero not power train. The truck I'm buying has 500+ miles range which is equivalent to the ICE version. Except the truck is vastly more efficient while driving, real world results is that a single day noontime lunch charge is all I'll need. Not an issue. At any rate, as everybody here knows the Ollie should be a good towing companion. The shape has some nice shoulder rounding, the big propane helps prevent the low pressure suckout that occurs between the two, the underbody is flat and clear of obstacles, and the roof should be relatively decent with some mods. One tweak I asked the factory about is if they could lift the rear of the solar to match the height of the AC so as to act as a smooth ramp for the laminar flow. They aren't able to do it as their solar bracket supplier doesn't have ones tall enough, so that'll be a mod I'll do at some point. I have access to a machine shop so can custom something up. Otherwise the two awnings should act as rails to prevent mixing of the side and top flows, this is a trick GM uses in the Silverado/Sierra on the bottom. Anyhow now that I've made my decision I'm getting impatient to make this happen, but there are various factors that make the timing for an order later in Summer.

Yeah this concerns me. I said above my first house was a 1900’s we restored. The back wall leaked, this was an older part of town and the drainage system was non existent, so managing water and moisture was a major problem. It gave me nightmares for years to tell you the truth, water/moisture will destroy a house or a trailer in no time, grow mould, musty and give you halitosis. If I saw drips it could practically ruin a trip - that’s just how I am about it now. There’s a video on the Oliver channel about caulking your windows, and I believe more recent models they use both butyl tape and silicone, while earlier they just used silicone. Maybe check the seals? And on the scuppers I believe newer models have wire inserts to prevent unwanted guests, so they seem to think it’s not a problem. But otherwise I’m not clear on why the windows would be clear of condensation but you get it on the window inner frame like that.

I’ve got advance degrees in Physics so should have guessed 😅 Actually I did suspect Venturi, however I’d think you’d need a path for the airflow. Perhaps it goes in some and out the others - or something. Can’t help asking; whats the basis for this, direct observation, measurement or? Thanks! Yeah sounds great, I’m not worried about it Great tip thanks! I was wondering about a central location that would get both sides, that ‘attic’ would be one with that vent installation you did. So humidity is only a cold weather issue, not a hot weather one in a humid climate? This is really the only issue that bothers me. We restored a century old house and I learned much about building construction; moisture is the bane of any dwelling and must be avoided, even in a no/low wood design like the Oliver Thanks! I’ll check those out - Dan

Yeah I mentioned the scuppers in the post, but not sure what you mean about 'drawing the water out' when you drive? Seems like they should just act like drain holes is all, unless there's something I'm missing I don't see how there's an airflow mechanism other than this passive system with low free air space (scuppers with mesh covering don't support much passive airflow) On interior condensation, I see in some of the factory tours they talk around this as if condensation won't happen but that simply can't be true. It's a highly unusual design which creates new problems, there's three climate zones, so now you have to worry about condensation in the in between hulls. I'm not bothered about cabin condensation as that can be detected and managed, but I'm curious about real world experience with inner hull condensation, how prevalent is it? Dan

If interesting, some more points in my thinking behind Ollie vis-a-vis Bigfoot/Escape/Airstream External ports All the sewer water connections flapping in the breeze under a trailer is pretty ugly, I've long thought. I love the bumper waste drain solution. Topping that, they moved the fresh water inlets to the rear bumper too, with now I believe only the black water rinse and optional propane near the front. Design is about obsessively refining small details, which I've done for my life, so appreciate the energy put into this. All the others including Airstream have them flapping in the wind Lower skirt Trailer frames are pretty unattractive - one of the great looking design features of Airstream is that they hide the frame behind the belly skirt, except for the fork of course. Ollie beautifully skirts this in fiberglass. And going aluminum, while it introduces new issues like galvanic currents (which they fix by having some zincs), is a better choice. I hate to see dinged and rusty trailer frames. Repairability The Ollie is eminently repairable - even the tanks can be pulled out without having to gut the trailer. Even with the double hull everything appears to be accessible Efficiency Speaking of towing here. We're electric so appreciate good aerodynamics. Two things, first is that the front space is filled with that propane bay. Towing a trailer creates a low pressure suckout between them which introduces drag, so filling that with something helps. The Bigfoot also has this. Two is the general shape, while there's plenty of roof gubbins which rob efficiency, it appears to be not too bad. Durability Hands down Oliver. Airstreams are beautiful but absolutely ridiculous. You know why they used Aluminum? I believe it's because all that post war scrap coming back, the early Airstream aluminum probably fought over Europe. It was cheap, and part of the mid century design language. Gorgeous, and like much mid century, impractical. And on the Bigfoot I was disappointed with the fiberglass build quality. To be sure it's more than adequate for the job, but there's something to being overbuilt. From the online factory tours it's obvious the Oliver is overbuilt in this department, with the beautiful honeycomb solution they use - strong and light. Now about that double hull ... To be honest initially (many years ago) this turned me off. Thinking of building engineering it's actually a bad design, as it creates three climate zones. Inside, between hulls, and outside. This results in the likely hood of condensation in between hulls, which they have to mitigate by having breaters. A house, for example, has a single vapor barrier, the Ollie has two which is the wrong way to go about it. With your house there's little possibility of condensation forming as there's just that one barrier. But does it really matter? I'm curious to find out if owners have seen this as an issue, and at any rate if I'm in a humid climate a small dehumidifier could be placed in between. Inelegant solution but sometimes you have to do that. Anyhow, one benefit is that the three zones should help with keeping the trailer cool/warm as there's a buffering zone between the two. So on physical design, size, design language, features, practicality, aerodynamics it wins hands down. Now about that price ...😅