Compressor fridges and full timing

[cptdondo]

Anyone full time in their Oliver?  I'm thinking about it, but I'm concerned about the fridge space as I do a lot of boondocking.  Right now I have an Isotherm 190; a 4.3 CF fridge and 2.6 CF freezer.  I've been looking at ways to fit those two into an Oliver but I'm coming up short.  I'd appreciate any ideas on food storage for those who full time and spend a lot of time out in the boonies far from grocery stores.

[Overland]

I had a wild idea to one day run a countertop across the dinette and build cabinets underneath, with space in the middle for a bigger fridge. It think it would work, but not without difficulty and you'd have to put a ton of thought into it to make it look good.

 

But a much more practical solution is to get a separate fridge/freezer for your truck.  We have a National Luna 60 liter with separate fridge and freezer compartments and between that and the trailer fridge, we can keep three weeks of food safely.  The fridge fits well in the cab of our F150 - I installed a mounting plate to keep it secure, which is hard to notice with the seat down.  Installing the fridge is just flipping up the seat and sliding in the fridge.  Access is easy.  If you're full timing it, then I'd recommend one of their larger double door models, and I'd recommend getting a topper for your truck and installing it in the back.

 

You'll need a house battery for the truck, of course, and preferably solar to help recharge.  I have a 200w panel I can attach to a rack over the bed and that does a good job except in the summer when it needs some drive time to keep up.  Of course, if you have a generator for the trailer, you can use that on the house battery as well.

 

 

[cptdondo]

Yeah.  That is something I thought about too.  Put a cap on the truck, put a couple of batteries under it.  Charge the batteries off the engine alternator.  Run a high-power connection from truck house to trailer house batteries so you can charge them at 70A or whatever rate the cables will take so you have a combined battery bank when camped.

 

Skip the generator; add an inverter and a second alternator if you're so inclined, but unless you're running the AC while boondocking you don't need that.

 

Now put a small fridge/freezer in the truck, maybe a heater of some sort (I'm leaning towards a woodburning stove) and storage for gear and a bunk and you have a comfy base camp and a mountain goat to take you to the trailhead.

 

Thoughts thoughts thoughts...  :D

 

 

[John E Davies]

I'm not a full timer by a long shot, but I strap down a 63 quart ARB Fridge behind the driver seat for long trips, to keep extra frozen items. I made a 10 AWG adaptor cable that I run out the rear hatch and plug into the solar port on the side of the trailer when stopped for the night. It works pretty well. Though it is wise to not drive away from the trailer with the cable connected. The fridge draws 3 amps DC with about a 50% duty cycle in the summer depending on the temp inside the truck. If I insulated the unit it would run less.

 

I really want to ditch the Ollie's propane systems, especially the fridge, but I don't know if that will ever happen.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA