Commanche Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 We have been lurking on the Airstream forum for about 2 years now, and were searching for a 25' used trailer, but oh, the prices. I happened to see a post where someone mentioned an Escape trailer. Briefly looked at their website when my wife googled fiberglass trailers and found the Oliver web site. Now the search is for all the info we can get on the Oliver trailers and are looking to setup a trip to the factory. All things considered, our switch from future Airstream owners to future Oliver owners is underway. We are both semi retired and camped all our life in tents, in front of a horse trailer and most recent in a slide in pickup camper. Yes, that was too small for a week at a time and was sold last week. I noticed from the pictures on the web site, it appears there is no way to put an anti sway/load leveling hitch on the trailer. Are you running with just the regular hitch on ball? We always run our horse trailers that way, but goes against everything I read on the other forum. Anyway, greetings from Tonganoxie, KS (near Kansas City) Stan and Carol Stan and Carol Blacksburg, VA 2014 Dodge Durango 5.7 Hemi 2014 Legacy Elite II Standard Hull 63 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators mountainborn Posted July 11, 2014 Moderators Share Posted July 11, 2014 Greetings Stan and Carol from Lake Ouachita Arkansas. We are camped out and just came in off of the water, sunburn and all. Betty and I like you, have spent nights in the front of a Horse trailer. No, we have never towed a Oliver with Sway bar or equalizing hitch, though the Oliver factory doesn't discourage it. It has just never been our need to use one. We have members on these forums that have a lot of experience and they are sure to chime in on any questions that you may have. My cell number is 479.243.5450 should you want to chat about molded fiberglass pro's and con's. Welcome to the forums ! harm & bett I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth 08' Oliver Legacy Elite HULL NUMBER 0003(sold) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators SeaDawg Posted July 12, 2014 Moderators Share Posted July 12, 2014 I don't know anyone who uses the swaybar on an Oliver. We've certainly never felt the need in 50k towing with our 17 ft Oliver. The owners of the 22s will probably chime in. The factory tour is worth the trip, in my opinion. A lot of folks who see our trailer for the first time say it looks like a fiberglass Airstream. Nice compliment, but we're really glad we got the Oliver, instead. Sherry 2008 Ram 1500 4 × 4 2008 Oliver Elite, Hull #12 Florida and Western North Carolina, or wherever the truck goes.... 400 watts solar. DC compressor fridge. No inverter. 2 x 105 ah agm batteries . Life is good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator+ ScubaRx Posted July 12, 2014 Moderator+ Share Posted July 12, 2014 We're pulling one of the new 22 footers after having owned a 17 for 5 years. I too would be happy to share my experiences with you. Steve, Tali and our dog Rocky plus our beloved Storm, Lucy, Maggie and Reacher (all waiting at the Rainbow Bridge) 2008 Legacy Elite I - Outlaw Oliver, Hull #026 | 2014 Legacy Elite II - Outlaw Oliver, Hull #050 | 2022 Silverado High Country 3500HD SRW Diesel 4x4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyrod Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 I too tow my Oliver 22 without any sway control or equalizer. I tow with a 2014 Toyota Tacoma that has the tow package. The Oliver is a joy to take down the road. For several years I accumulated Airstream manuals, now I need to save them for some sort of historical value. Maybe. The Oliver is the real deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 We just purchased our new 22 ft. Oliver 3 weeks ago. All of my former trailers were towed with sway control including a 25 ft. Big Foot. I wanted to wait and see if we needed to add the sway after towing our unit back to Ohio. We traveled on 4 lane highways, the majority of the way home, and experienced no problems with loss of control or sway. We averaged around 60 miles per hour with large trucks passing us at a high rate of speed. The Oliver seems to be well balanced and tracks really well behind our 2012 Tundra. I believe its all about weight distribution and how you load your camper. Jerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commanche Posted July 14, 2014 Author Share Posted July 14, 2014 Thanks for all the replies, appreciate it. We are looking at making the trip to the factory next week to see for our self. Seen a complaint on the Airstream forum that the floor plan and the width was the deal breaker for them. Guess we will have to see one in person to see if it works for us. Stan Stan and Carol Blacksburg, VA 2014 Dodge Durango 5.7 Hemi 2014 Legacy Elite II Standard Hull 63 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators SeaDawg Posted July 17, 2014 Moderators Share Posted July 17, 2014 I think you'll enjoy the factory tour. Hohenwald, though a small town, has some really good little restaurants, too. My favorite is the Junkyard Dog. We love the narrower aspect of the Oliver for several reasons. The most important for us is how it tracks directly behind the truck on the narrow mountain roads we frequent. If the truck tires are on the road, so are the trailer's. It also takes up a smaller amount of space in the driveway, so I can still use my parking spot in the garage if the Oliver is in the driveway... The narrower width does come with some interior layout concessions that might bother some folks. We're not only fine with it, we love our little 17. We have everything we need, and then some, in our small interior, including a decent sized bed. Most of the smaller Airstreams we looked at had beds that were too narrow for the two of us, at 48" or so wide. The new, bigger Legacy II has a king size bed, or twins, but it's a little wider than the original Legacy 17, I think. The other thing I didn't care for in the smaller Airstreams we toured, and frankly a lot of other brands, as well, on the smaller size trailers, was the lack of a rear window in a layout with a full or queen sized bed. The Airstream Sport, as I recall, had the amazing big windows in front, but typically, that means you're looking at the tow vehicle, or across the road at a neighbor's tow vehicle during your stay, as back-in camping sites are the norm in state and national parks. I love being able to back the Oliver into a wooded or waterside campsite, and look at nature through the big back window. Even in some of the larger Airstreams, having the bigger bed usually meant the bathroom was moved to the rear, bed in front, and lack of view when indoors. I view the fiberglass interior as a big plus too. Keeping it clean is a matter of a soft cloth and windex. The mostly white interior means I can change up the look and color scheme with a new bedspread, pillows, and placemats. Plus, we were able to choose a fabric for all the cushions that we loved, not just one of a few standard colors. Keep in mind, when we were shopping seven years ago for a trailer, we were looking for a smaller boondocking camper. I've skipped the Airstream exhibits the last few times at the RV Supershow, so layouts may have changed with the Airstreams. Doesn't look like it though, from a glance at their website. Airstream builds a beautiful trailer, no doubt. Just wasn't meant for us. If everybody wanted the same things in a trailer, though, there wouldn't be so many choices out there. Sherry 2008 Ram 1500 4 × 4 2008 Oliver Elite, Hull #12 Florida and Western North Carolina, or wherever the truck goes.... 400 watts solar. DC compressor fridge. No inverter. 2 x 105 ah agm batteries . Life is good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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