My First Oliver

[adelinekn]

Hello everyone!

I'm really considering buying myself an Oliver.

I want to travel alone with my small dog around the country. But I'm not quiet sure which one to get. 

Any recommendations and tips?

[Rivernerd]

8 minutes ago, adelinekn said:

I want to travel alone with my small dog around the country. But I'm not quiet sure which one to get. 

Any recommendations and tips?

If I were traveling alone with just a small dog, the smaller Legacy Elite I would be my choice.

[Mike and Carol]

Welcome, Adeline!  Do you already have a tow vehicle?  The bigger Elite II requires a lot more towing capability than the Elite I.  If you will be traveling alone with just your dog, the Elite I would be easier to tow.  What kind of travel are you interested in?  Mainly campgrounds or also National Parks and camping off the grid?  You’ll get lots of advice and good input here.  Mike

[adelinekn]

4 minutes ago, Rivernerd said:

If I were traveling alone with just a small dog, the smaller Legacy Elite I would be my choice.

Oh, thank you! I'll check that out)

[adelinekn]

5 minutes ago, Mike and Carol said:

Welcome, Adeline!  Do you already have a tow vehicle?  The bigger Elite II requires a lot more towing capability than the Elite I.  If you will be traveling alone with just your dog, the Elite I would be easier to tow.  What kind of travel are you interested in?  Mainly campgrounds or also National Parks and camping off the grid?  You’ll get lots of advice and good input here.  Mike

Yeah, I have a tow vehicle. I just want to escape for a bit from my routine life and visit as many National Parks as I can (actually all of them in the US). But we'll see how it goes😁
Thanks for the info, Mike🙏

[Mike and Carol]

3 minutes ago, adelinekn said:

Yeah, I have a tow vehicle. I just want to escape for a bit from my routine life and visit as many National Parks as I can (actually all of them in the US).

The national parks are amazing, we’ve been to almost all of them.  What kind of tow vehicle do you have?  There is always a lot of discussion on payload capacity, tongue weight and tow weight.  These are all things that should be considered to ensure you stay within the margin of safety while towing.

[adelinekn]

4 minutes ago, Mike and Carol said:

The national parks are amazing, we’ve been to almost all of them.  What kind of tow vehicle do you have?  There is always a lot of discussion on payload capacity, tongue weight and tow weight.  These are all things that should be considered to ensure you stay within the margin of safety while towing.

I'm driving 2020 Land Rover Discovery. Will that work?

[Mike and Carol]

4 minutes ago, adelinekn said:

I'm driving 2020 Land Rover Discovery. Will that work?

That’s a nice vehicle.  I would recommend that you look at the Elite I, your Land Rover would do fine with it.  The larger Elite II could also be towed by your Land Rover but you would be near the safety limits and would not have an enjoyable towing experience, especially in any mountains.  The payload looks pretty good, remember that what you carry in your Land Rover (including you and your dog) + trailer tongue weight should be under your vehicles payload limit.  Check yours, often payload is reduced with certain options.  I’m not a Land Rover expert, but there are some here who should chime in.  MIke

[John E Davies]

All the tow descriptions say “when properly equipped” Does your Disco have the factory tow package? If so, it would be marginal for long trips with the big Ollie. For towing a boat on weekends to the lake, not a big deal. I think that if you have that package it would be a stellar match with the small trailer, for a single person and dog.

Do you have any towing experience? That is the next big concern… 

John Davies

Spokane WA

[Mainiac]

The longer trailer is easier to back up (believe it or not) in a straight line. The smaller unit turns quicker so you have to learn to make smaller and slower turns of the steering wheel. It becomes second nature after a trip or two. The best thing, for you, is that the smaller unit will fit in about any space. At any campground the small sites are usually the last to go. You would be able to get into sites that even some of the newer 'pop-ups' are too big for. Th smaller unit is also easier to find an easy place to pull into at a rest area. Easy to park at a shopping mall or grocery store, and you know you will have to restock the vitals...

[adelinekn]

17 hours ago, John E Davies said:

All the tow descriptions say “when properly equipped” Does your Disco have the factory tow package? If so, it would be marginal for long trips with the big Ollie. For towing a boat on weekends to the lake, not a big deal. I think that if you have that package it would be a stellar match with the small trailer, for a single person and dog.

Do you have any towing experience? That is the next big concern… 

John Davies

Spokane WA

I don't have any experience actually, but I'm gonna practice for sure before going on an actual trip. 

Thank you for the advice regarding the package.🙏 I'll look into it. 

[adelinekn]

16 hours ago, Mainiac said:

The longer trailer is easier to back up (believe it or not) in a straight line. The smaller unit turns quicker so you have to learn to make smaller and slower turns of the steering wheel. It becomes second nature after a trip or two. The best thing, for you, is that the smaller unit will fit in about any space. At any campground the small sites are usually the last to go. You would be able to get into sites that even some of the newer 'pop-ups' are too big for. Th smaller unit is also easier to find an easy place to pull into at a rest area. Easy to park at a shopping mall or grocery store, and you know you will have to restock the vitals...

Oh, okay. Yeah, I think, I'll be fine with the smaller one.

And yeah, I know about restocking the vitals 🙂

[John E Davies]

So does your Disco have the Tow Package? That is very important.

You can rent (U-Haul) or borrow a small single axle utility trailer and drag it all over town for a few days. That will be a good education for you, I do not recommend doing it with an expensive new toy like an LE1. If you damage it through lack of skill you will be really mad at yourself.

John Davies

Spokane WA