OBI Dweller Review and Discussion

C

calicamper

Expedition Leader
jd1zzle said:
So I’ve been eyeing a D13, as my wife and I currently town a Geo Pro 15tb and I do not like the height of the trailer when towing. I pull it with a 2018 Nissan frontier and while it does have plenty of power to pull it, I just hate the height especially when windy. Does anyone here tow with a midsize and have any opinions on the height of the OBI D13?


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Click to expand...
The height of the Geo in road mode is one of my major negatives. The only Geo that would make sense for me would be the 19FBTH tho which in some ways probably wouldn’t make sense having say a 3 foot pop top style roof like a Dweller. However!! I’d bet that the small toy rigs like that are primarily Ebike, small boats type gear vs large / tall machine haulers.
Which case the pop up could definitely improve road mode experience especially in windy. However I think it would be interesting for someone with wind tunnel testing to compare the typical US box trailer Rv vs say Dweller, to say Aliner in drag and stability factors regarding road mode ie towing.
This definitely is already becoming discussion with EV owners.

I also think that Geo Pro could incorporate the Dweller style rear hard side pop out bed into their smaller designs that would really change the small foot print family options.

If Geo Pro went to a non wood floor structure I would consider them some of the best Indiana built typical US RVs.

Its one thing to build a RV for the “typical” use of say 100 miles a year where trailering dynamics can be somewhat ignored given tolerating a crappy towing trailer for 100 miles a year is probably ok. But for those of us that aren’t the typical 1-4 times a yr local ish trip types towing dynamics really do matter.

I have had a really great towing trailer and really crappy towing trailers. The great one I have no issues dragging everywhere and on long trips. The crappy towing trailer I absolutely hated and had zero interest dragging more than local short trips. Hell you look at fuel cost, time, effort to get it packed etc, finding a place to stay with it. I find my self eyeing really cool Air bnb’s with hot tubs in the same area as a definite alternative lol especially if the damn trailer cost $30,000-$50,000-$100,000.. I can book allot of great places right in the area I want to be for less than what the trailer is going to cost me. Yeah its not exactly the same but its give and take right? I’m still going to jump in the truck or on the bike and go hit trail heads of interest. At least the Airbnb won’t get hauled off by a crack head while were out hiking ??.

Definitely lots of factors come into play when these trailers are quite expensive and are not overly enjoyable to tow.
 
gendlert

gendlert

Well-known member
Just Dwellin'.
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2022 OBI Dweller
2020 RAM 1500 Rebel
 
E

EPO

Active member
OBI Dweller 13 is reported to be 7'7" high on website when collapsed/down but when I actually measure it, it was a bit over 8' tall when including antenna, fan, AC, etc. or whatever it was up there (been a while). Can anyone confirm this?
 
gendlert

gendlert

Well-known member
EPO said:
OBI Dweller 13 is reported to be 7'7" high on website when collapsed/down but when I actually measure it, it was a bit over 8' tall when including antenna, fan, AC, etc. or whatever it was up there (been a while). Can anyone confirm this?
Click to expand...

It's 8'2" tall closed to the top of the vents. I don't have a TV antenna. depending on the model that might add height.

The numbers on the website are just wrong. It's also close to 10' when expanded.
 
G

glennsmith15

New member
Live in central OR and planning to do some winter camping and a road trip down the eastern side of the sierras (to get to LA for wedding) in next month. I know the dweller is considered a 3 season trailer so this may be a dumb question- what steps can be taken to winterize while keeping ability to store water? I was going to use pipe insulation on any exposed water lines underneath trailer. Thinking of of somehow crafting foam for the 2 tanks as well. Any suggestions? prepping for low of about 10-15 at night.
 
D

DFNDER

Active member
Just putting pipe insulation on exterior water lines will only help for so long before the cold gets through. You’ll need some kind of heat source or enclose and condition the space where the pipes run. Heat tape, heat mats for tanks are the main options. Or just keep a cooler full of water in the conditioned space and don’t worry about it.
 
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