Best full-size 4 season composite trailer?

Raspy

Active member
An acquaintance of mine has owned the smaller Oliver single axle unit for a while. He's shared that he has taken it down a fair amount of "old growth" washboard FS/BLM roads and it is holding up well. Of course, those are not "jeep" trails and he is likely tamping down his speed considerably. I guess if a trailer is not designed for it, one can push the limits as long as one goes slow enough. The question then becomes how long does it take to get to the destination and is it worth it?
One of my favorite places is Saline Valley, in Death Valley National Park. The road in is over 50 miles of dirt, roughness and washboard. The suspension on the Oliver is crude leaf springs with useless little shocks, limited travel and metal to metal stops. Even at 10 mph, it takes about 5-6 hours to get in or out. My friends have the same model Oliver and they refused to go in because they had already broken two leaf springs. Mine held up reasonably well, but the microwave kept trying to jump out of its cabinet, the seat cushions were on the floor and the window shades fell off. Cabinets kept opening on other trips until I managed to shim up the catches enough to make them stay shut. I was aired way down and being very careful. The body on an Oliver is an interesting thing. It seems very well built, but has a lot of flex due to the way it is mounted on the frame. Many think the frame is flexing, but it is the body that is flexing and eventually hairline cracks begin to show up. I don't know if they will develop into deep structural cracks or not, but given the amount of flex, I was somewhat concerned. Olivers are not made like other trailers, in that the body has mostly its own integrity, instead of relying on the frame for support and stiffness. Compare it to a boat, sitting on a boat trailer, where the trailer is holding it up and towing it along, but not making it stiff or acting as a foundation. The way it works and the load path are somewhat unnerving. The outer lower tub has stiffeners that are bolted to the frame, the inner lower tub is joined to the outer lower tub at the beltline. All the weight of the inner lower tub is hanging on this beltline connection. The whole interior of the trailer and everything in it, as well as the upper two shells, with the weight of the cabinetry, roof ac and everything. The tanks are sitting in the belly of the lower tub, so they are not part of that load path. The frame is bolted to the outer lower tub, as mentioned, but it is sitting on frame rails that are only about 4' apart. So there is large overhang. All the weight has to be held up by the outer shell that curves under to the frame rails. It seems the flex is in the horizontal part of the lower shell, outboard of the frame and before the vertical side. When someone is walking around in the trailer it feels like the frame is bending, or the tires are flexing, but it is actually the body flexing. This is easy to see if you watch the wheel well clearance change as someone steps in or out of the trailer, or just walks around inside. Lots of body flex. I can't say this is a defect, but it is weird and there is a lot of flex, and there are hairline cracks that develop over a couple of years. A number of us had lengthy discussion about this as we watched the body flexing on different units. Some thought it was frame flexing and wanted to add more stabilizers, so it was fun to make them watch what was really flexing and point out that additional stabilizers would not help. Besides the suspension, another thing that makes it less than suitable for boondocking is the curved roof that is not conducive to mounting much solar, and the battery box that is a pullout drawer on the side. It is not insulated or heated, and is exposed to outside temps. This means lithium batteries are a probelm in the winter without a modified battery box and heating system. Advantages of it are good ground clearance with no exposed piping, good cold weather performance with heat going to the water tanks and piping that sit between the hulls, good geometry that makes it tow beautifully and a durable roof that can withstand hail storms, rain and wind. I dragged mine into just about any place my one ton Ram Cummins go possibly go, but I did it very carefully. Eventually, a number of small annoyances added up to where I wanted a more capable off road trailer that was also more livable inside and had more storage, better batteries and solar. The Oliver is best suited to travelers who are happy to stay in campgrounds with hookups and want to stay on paved roads. It is far superior to a normal sticky, but not really right for my use. I put about 20,000 miles on mine in two years and had good service from it. I liked it a lot but got tired of its shortcomings for my use. I have some good friends with about 80,000 miles on theirs and they still love it. A final note is about windows. New trailers have the European double pane acrylic windows that are great. They cannot leak and they can be cracked open on the rain. Excellent. Oliver windows are sliders that are tilted in at the top. No way can they be open in the rain and mine leaked the entire time I had the trailer from water in the slider tracks that found its way inside.
 

Raspy

Active member
Since you've had one, other than the suspension (which is a big deal), what else about the Oliver makes it "not designed to go off-road"? They seem as well built as anything else out there.
See my response to TGK for a full report. ?
 

TGK

Active member
One of my favorite places is Saline Valley, in Death Valley National Park. The road in is over 50 miles of dirt, roughness and washboard. The suspension on the Oliver is crude leaf springs with useless little shocks, limited travel and metal to metal stops. Even at 10 mph, it takes about 5-6 hours to get in or out. My friends have the same model Oliver and they refused to go in because they had already broken two leaf springs. Mine held up reasonably well, but the microwave kept trying to jump out of its cabinet, the seat cushions were on the floor and the window shades fell off. Cabinets kept opening on other trips until I managed to shim up the catches enough to make them stay shut. I was aired way down and being very careful. The body on an Oliver is an interesting thing. It seems very well built, but has a lot of flex due to the way it is mounted on the frame. Many think the frame is flexing, but it is the body that is flexing and eventually hairline cracks begin to show up. I don't know if they will develop into deep structural cracks or not, but given the amount of flex, I was somewhat concerned. Olivers are not made like other trailers, in that the body has mostly its own integrity, instead of relying on the frame for support and stiffness. Compare it to a boat, sitting on a boat trailer, where the trailer is holding it up and towing it along, but not making it stiff or acting as a foundation. The way it works and the load path are somewhat unnerving. The outer lower tub has stiffeners that are bolted to the frame, the inner lower tub is joined to the outer lower tub at the beltline. All the weight of the inner lower tub is hanging on this beltline connection. The whole interior of the trailer and everything in it, as well as the upper two shells, with the weight of the cabinetry, roof ac and everything. The tanks are sitting in the belly of the lower tub, so they are not part of that load path. The frame is bolted to the outer lower tub, as mentioned, but it is sitting on frame rails that are only about 4' apart. So there is large overhang. All the weight has to be held up by the outer shell that curves under to the frame rails. It seems the flex is in the horizontal part of the lower shell, outboard of the frame and before the vertical side. When someone is walking around in the trailer it feels like the frame is bending, or the tires are flexing, but it is actually the body flexing. This is easy to see if you watch the wheel well clearance change as someone steps in or out of the trailer, or just walks around inside. Lots of body flex. I can't say this is a defect, but it is weird and there is a lot of flex, and there are hairline cracks that develop over a couple of years. A number of us had lengthy discussion about this as we watched the body flexing on different units. Some thought it was frame flexing and wanted to add more stabilizers, so it was fun to make them watch what was really flexing and point out that additional stabilizers would not help. Besides the suspension, another thing that makes it less than suitable for boondocking is the curved roof that is not conducive to mounting much solar, and the battery box that is a pullout drawer on the side. It is not insulated or heated, and is exposed to outside temps. This means lithium batteries are a probelm in the winter without a modified battery box and heating system. Advantages of it are good ground clearance with no exposed piping, good cold weather performance with heat going to the water tanks and piping that sit between the hulls, good geometry that makes it tow beautifully and a durable roof that can withstand hail storms, rain and wind. I dragged mine into just about any place my one ton Ram Cummins go possibly go, but I did it very carefully. Eventually, a number of small annoyances added up to where I wanted a more capable off road trailer that was also more livable inside and had more storage, better batteries and solar. The Oliver is best suited to travelers who are happy to stay in campgrounds with hookups and want to stay on paved roads. It is far superior to a normal sticky, but not really right for my use. I put about 20,000 miles on mine in two years and had good service from it. I liked it a lot but got tired of its shortcomings for my use. I have some good friends with about 80,000 miles on theirs and they still love it. A final note is about windows. New trailers have the European double pane acrylic windows that are great. They cannot leak and they can be cracked open on the rain. Excellent. Oliver windows are sliders that are tilted in at the top. No way can they be open in the rain and mine leaked the entire time I had the trailer from water in the slider tracks that found its way inside.
Thanks for the great input Raspy.
 

Raspy

Active member
There’s your 4 season travel trailer. The big ones have two furnaces.
Won’t freeze up even if you’re sitting out on the ice at -30f.
Not sure how the hydraulic suspension works on washboard. Just rip it out and put some torsion axels in.
View attachment 753919
Xplores have torsion axles. The Hydraulic part just raises and lowers them, but doesn't affect the suspension travel or stiffness.
 

HayStax

Member
Have you had a chance to see an X195 in person and check out the build quality? I'm looking forward to doing just that, but haven't yet.
I have not seen any of the units mentioned in person. I may take a look at some if I can find something in the SLC area on my next ski trip.

Thanks everyone for all the replies! I continue to have notifications issues with this forum, I had no idea this blew up to 9 pages!

I‘ve pulled mostly gooseneck stock trailers my whole life. Currently own a 24’ Wilson and it is all aluminum, riveted panel construction built on a flat floor with upgraded crossmembers on torsion axles. It is nearly bulletproof in terms of construction technology and materials.

I also own a 25’ PJ gooseneck dual tandem flatbed on springs. It’s a good trailer and intended for hauling heavy loads. 10k axles with oil bath hubs on spring suspension

Point is, I have experience with lots of trailers and machinery of various types. This is why I am completely underwhelmed with almost every commercial offering of RV trailer.

I emailed the guys at OEV in Canada and they mentioned that they had considered another trailer but it didn’t sound promising. Too bad as they have the construction of a composite box nailed.

Current plan is to just buy a big heavy slide-in camper and set on my gooseneck flatbed. It’s a redneck toy hauler and won’t Be pretty but it will work. I’ll haul my CanAm or FJ40 on behind the camper and just base around the trailer for day trips. Probably be fine for hunting too.

I think it’s just too hard for anyone to make a product that is expensive but spartan - the market is too small. Somehow people feel the need to take everything they own, put wheels under it and call it camping. ??‍♂️
 

Buddha.

Finally in expo white.
I thought you folks might like to see what I spotted on the new R pods.
90076EC2-E4CA-44F0-A495-716AAFF79A55.jpeg
 

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Buddha.

Finally in expo white.
Are they walkable roofs yet?
I’ve walked on the roof of every R pod that’s come through my bay and I’m 240lbs. They’re pretty solid, no pops and cracks like some of the cheap trailers.

I still wouldn’t buy one with a slide, they all use the terrible schwintek slide. Unfortunately a lot of trailers use that slide, even the expensive ones.
 

calicamper

Expedition Leader
I’ve walked on the roof of every R pod that’s come through my bay and I’m 240lbs. They’re pretty solid, no pops and cracks like some of the cheap trailers.

I still wouldn’t buy one with a slide, they all use the terrible schwintek slide. Unfortunately a lot of trailers use that slide, even the expensive ones.
Yeah the slide craze is pretty entertaining. Last couple of state park trips there was at least one RV with a jammed slide. Talk about SOL… I bet all those people ditched the slide RV.
 

Buddha.

Finally in expo white.
Yeah the slide craze is pretty entertaining. Last couple of state park trips there was at least one RV with a jammed slide. Talk about SOL… I bet all those people ditched the slide RV.
I did a house call for a guy for his slide. He took a week off of work to take the fam on a vacation. Hadn’t even used his trailer yet and the thing was stuck in his driveway. Slide components jammed, unfixable. Had to wait for parts.
 

TGK

Active member
I thought you folks might like to see what I spotted on the new R pods.
View attachment 760339
I see that No Boundaries is now also offering this “Beast Mode“ suspension. NoBo is also a Forest River offering. of course, while this new suspension option is likely a good step forward, I’m still wary of the build quality of the rest of the trailer. In addition, no slide models are limited.
 

calicamper

Expedition Leader
I did a house call for a guy for his slide. He took a week off of work to take the fam on a vacation. Hadn’t even used his trailer yet and the thing was stuck in his driveway. Slide components jammed, unfixable. Had to wait for parts.
Yep. The RV industry needs a huge reality check. If you can’t build it to function after traveling on its own axles and getting parked on uneven ground “don’t build it!”. Sure you can sell just about anything to people when money costs nothing. But those people don’t forget long planned vacations and trips ruined by junk equipment. Even worse expensive junk that can’t even be moved because its now wider than road legal and stuck that way?
I watched one guy try for two days to get his broken slide in. He gave up and went at it with a sawzaw then used big load straps all the way around the trailer to hold the garbage from sliding out, hooked up and left. I bet that trailer was found stripped and dumped somewhere later.
 
Last edited:

DFNDER

Active member
All this talk of stuck slides makes me wonder how reliable that new Tribe, er conquer/falcon/alibaba trailer’s roof lift system will be out in the field. Would be an extreme bummer to arrive at campsite and that thing is stuck down.
 

Obsessed2findARuggedHybid

Well-known member
All this talk of stuck slides makes me wonder how reliable that new Tribe, er conquer/falcon/alibaba trailer’s roof lift system will be out in the field. Would be an extreme bummer to arrive at campsite and that thing is stuck down.

That's a good question. I wonder if there are any EP type forums in Shandong, China that we could find some reviews about how the Tribe rebrand EX500 are holding up. There are likely thousands that have been sold.
 

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