Something completely different - a TT!

[wincrasher]

As some of you know, I use a huge fifth wheel travel trailer as my lodging for work on projects in remote locations. It's all fine and good when working in the South, but up North is another story. It's also rather unweildy to pull and almost impossible to keep warm in these cold winters.

So I decided to buy a smaller, high quality and true 4 season travel trailer. So in my research, I found Oliver Travel Trailers. (http://www.olivertraveltrailers.com). They are a small outfit in TN that makes these trailers and other high quality fiberglass parts (like step-in bathtubs). The Owner of the company at one time was a Casita enthusiast and wanted to build a better Casita.

These are the Rolls Royce of fiberglass egg type trailers. I ordered Legacy Elite II (23.5') in a twin bed model with all the options including a 320 watt solar setup, 2500 watt Xantrax inverter, four 6volt AGM batteries, etc. All LED lighting, stainless fittings and a raft of high quality parts. They are built like boats and use alot of marine parts in lieu of RV parts.

We are in production now and I should take delivery in February. I'm very excited about the thing and it should make for more comfortable living on the job.

These trailers are double wall molded fiberglass construction. They normally have reflectix insulation adhered to both inner and outer hulls. We are prototyping adding some thinsulate product in addition to the reflectix. All the tankage, plumbing and equipment is placed between the hulls and is completely accessible from inside the trailer. You can supposedly replace tanks without cutting any fiberglass.

Here are some pics I recieved from the factory in Tennessee:

Lower hull mounted to 7000 lbs aluminum frame:

Inner hull liner showing cabinetry, furniture and bulkhead:

Lower outer hull showing insulation and some wiring harnesses:

[Davydd]

I'm impressed. I'd never seen an Oliver in Minnesota and looking at the distribution map of dealers I can see why. Interesting concept with a shell built in a bottom and top part. Great choice.

[markopolo]

The Legacy Elite II looks ideal. Small details like the placement of the stove shows they are thinking about maximizing the counter space for the purchaser.
Often we see sinks or stoves plopped in the middle of the counter wasting space on all sides.

[wincrasher]

Part of that I think is the entrepanuerial nature of the company. The owner is a rv'r and what he says is how they will do it. No committees or focus groups.


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[booster]

Those are very nice. We had heard of them before our last trip, when we were near there, but were interested in the discontinued small trailer so didn't pursue it. Wish we had, it would have been a good place to visit. The site isn't listing any specs on the smaller trailer yet, any idea how much they weigh? The larger one is heavy, I would guess over 5000# in use mode, 7000# max. It is nice to see the attention to getting the structural strength built in to shell so well, and serving double duty as cabinets, shelves, benches, counters, etc.

[Boxster1971]

Nice Trailer. Data from Sales Brochure:
GVWR 7,000 lbs.
Dry Weight (approximate) 4,600 lbs.
Tongue Weight (approximate) 420 lbs.
Tow Weight (approximate) 4,200 lbs.
Fresh Water Tank Capacity 32.5 gal.
Grey Water Tank Capacity 35.5 gal.
Black Water Tank Capacity 18.5 gal.

[wincrasher]

Shell complete, major appliances in, countertops in, windows in. Happy surprise the high neck faucet.

[wincrasher]

Solar, TV antenna and both awnings!

[markopolo]

That's a nice trailer

How much would that cost fully loaded like yours? I don't mean to pry - maybe just give a ballpark figure or a price range.

[wincrasher]

What?! That's not a gauche, over-the-line question only an a-hole would ask? Kidding! I have no qualms about sharing information. I think it's a good value considering the quality of the components. For comparison, Escape is a similar sized trailer made in Canada that is considered the next best in quality (yet has no inner liner) and they are around $40k with the features of the base Oliver. You can't get the other options from them.

I won't hide the fact that they (Oliver) are pricey for a trailer. The base price is $41,000. I got almost all the options - 320w solar, 2000 watt Xantrax inverter, extra batteries (Four Trojan 6v AGMs), wifi ranger, 4G cell booster, powered Tv antenna, bigger LP tanks, upgraded mattress, granite countertops, extra reading lights, auxiliary generator hookup, arctic insulation package and an additional awning. My final price was $50,262 excluding sales tax. You also get to select all your fabric, flooring, awning and exterior striping colors. You can even provide them your own fabric and they'll make the cushions for you.

The base trailer comes with dual pane windows, air conditioning, stainless appliances, aluminum wheels, automatic leveling system, window shades, LED TV and stereo,microwave, battery slide out tray with one 12v battery, and awning amongst other things. It's pretty well equipped as base for a trailer.

[markopolo]

Wow! I had no idea of what they could cost. It is fully loaded though. Brand name stuff too

It's the type of trailer that will still be quite valuable in 20 years.

[JudiD]

What a great looking trailer! Beautiful.

[booster]

Originally Posted by markopolo

Wow! I had no idea of what they could cost. It is fully loaded though. Brand name stuff too

It's the type of trailer that will still be quite valuable in 20 years.

You can pay about that for Safari Condo Alto that is fully loaded, too, at least that is what we found. The Alto would not be as well appointed, but would be a lot lighter.

[wincrasher]

Weight is not a consideration. I selected this for 4 season performance and durability at my work location. I have my van for fair weather vacationing and adventuring.


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[GuyGene]

Dagnabbit win, just when I'm wanting to sell my 25' Aerolite trailer and get a Class B, ye come along and show me this! Now, that's the kind of RV I like! Right now, my trailer has a water leak due to freezing up, and I drained it good...right. I thought! Been draining travel trailers for over 30 years, but time before last, oh well, I missed something. Rascal leaked when I connected water in St. Pete site, had to use public facilities whole time.

Oh me, well I reckon I'll be researching the kind of trailer you got now. Man, I like that!! All this so called winterizing mess ain't for me! I like to winterize mine by using it no matter how cold!

I bookmarked that Oliver site. Double paned windows - yes!! About time. Looking at the floor, seems to me it would be easy to install those pipes for heated floors too. Maybe even solar heated or some such. Wha' a great idea! I noticed an owner near me has one that I can see by contacting Oliver. I'm going to do that. Decisions, decisions. Dead set on a Class B, then, WHAM, I get hit with wha' a REAL travel trailer should be like! None of this mess all hanging down underneath waiting to freeze, get knocked off, etc. I say again - to my way of thinking, all this "winterizing" mess is not for me. And I live in the south. But it still gets to 10º or less sometimes even in Mississippi and Georgia. Last January, we had a day of 0º. That'd be 0º F too.

[wincrasher]

Gene, Glad you like it. I figured a few on here may find it interesting even though it's not a B. It is in the same ballpark, size-wise, as an extended body Sprinter. Also, if you add in the cost of a van chassis, you are also in the ballpark $-wise of a lower end B like a Winnebago ERA, yet infinitely higher build quality, robustness, and higher quality systems (mainly the solar, inverter and battery setups).

Another thing I think you'd like about it is the ease of towing. There is no need for a weight distributing hitch or sway control setup. It's truly simple as in connect it to the ball, connect the wiring and go.

These trailers are built to order. They aren't found on dealer lots because there are no dealers (a plus in my book!). You can do some light customizing that they will accommodate, but they have a fairly long list of desirable options that have been sorted. Some things people want to customize become standard features - like the high rise faucet in the first pic below. What I like about that is that some of their tech is tried and true stuff, yet some is fairly state-of-the-art.

I'm not one to really do any changes to the layout or want to customize any furnishings,etc, so my build process was fairly relaxed compared to others reporting on here for custom B vans. My major decisions were the color choices. Everything else was just picked off a list.

We are getting down to the wire. Here are the latest pics:







Monday we set a delivery date. Probably either next week or the following. I'm very excited to go get it.

[GuyGene]

Wow win, that thing just oozes quality! Wha'?!? No weight distributing hitch nor sway bar needed! Man, the more I learn about Ollies, the better it's getting! Even my light weight Aeorolite needs a weight distributing hitch.

Oliver has a place on their site where you can make an appointment to see one if an owner is nearby. Guess wha'? One is less than an hour from me, in Tupelo! So, I'm going to try to run up to see it. As much as I was wanting a Class B, oh me, now that I'm seeing wha' a trailer should be built like, I canno' get a Class B until I check these Ollies out! All pipe, tanks inside, the way God intended so they won't freeze! Did y'all see old Mike Wendland's video of taking his Roadtrek into a dealer for winterizing? Dagnabbit, no thanks. I'm wanting to USE mine in ice cold weather and be snug inside with my water pipes.

[wincrasher]

Well, I don't see that one should have to go to a dealer to winterize - it's a fairly simple task.

As far as the Ollie goes, there are provisions to winterize the water system. It has a bypass for the water heater and you can pump the pink stuff into the pipes.

I've been told that, although it can't be recommended by the manufacturer, that some people will pull the trailer with the furnace running on low to keep the inside warm. It takes very little heat to keep the area between the hulls above freezing, even in near zero conditions.

I'm not so comfortable doing that. When I travel back from Tennessee with it, I may run my 200 watt ceramic heater (stuffed down between the hulls) off the inverter and see if maintains temp. With 320 watts of solar, it should be able to keep up without getting too deep into my batteries.

[GuyGene]

Right win, don't need dealer to do it, but old Mike was just making a video with dealer doing it as a teaching aid. Never thought of using heat while towing. Reckon that'd be coldest time though. Your idea with ceramic heat and solar should work. Greer eh? I'm from Augusta, so not far. In Mississippi now though, keep me place in GA for retirement, which looms...

[wincrasher]

I picked up my new trailer on Saturday. If you are interested in looking at it, I posted a rather lengthy walk-thru on my blog. More than 80 pictures.

http://wincrasher.blogspot.com/2015/...-elite-ii.html

Check it out and let me know what you think.