OBI Dweller Review and Discussion

[Dweller Feller]

We've had our dweller13 for 3 weeks now, 8 nights in it (only 1 site with hookup, the rest we're all boondocking). And we only had water for 2 nights on our first trip testing it out in TX before our long road trip. Our current trip has freezng temps so we winterized before leaving, and we've driven over 1,500 miles so far (got another 1800 to go)... The camper I really wanted was a Kimberly or bruder but the wife said no f'in way are we spending 100k+ on a camper. She set the budget and said no more than 40k for a camper. I spent 2 years researching brands, looking at comparable models, etc etc before we pulled the trigger and getting a dweller. One popped up close to us and we went to the dealership JUST TO LOOK cause I was still on the fence about it after reading all the forums and stuff but they gave us such a good price we said okay and got it. We have a 2022 tacoma trd pro and a few big selling points on the 13 for me were 1. The weight (it's still pushing the max for our taco but is less weight than other brands we looked at) 2. Indoor wet bath (we have a Joolca hot water heater for tent camping that we use for showering but the wife wanted an indoor shower with hot water). 3. It's an off road camper that seems to be built well 4. One of the most important things for me was the length and having the hard sided pop out. A lot of places we go have a limit of length of camper so we can actually still travel to places we want and having the hard sided pop out let's us camp in bear country. 5. we got ours for 25k all in so that gives me a lot of wiggle room to make adjustments. 6. The king size bed layout!!! We needed a king bed for us and our massive dogs (just 1 now since our old lady recently passed away but we'll be getting another 90lb dog soon). I love the north/south layout so we're not climbing over each other or the dogs to get out of the bed.
We dealt with some crap when we got our camper (mostly cause the rv place we got it from sucked and didn't do a good inspection and we didn't know what we were looking out for but we had an rv tech who knows about Australian campers come out and do an inspection and fix stuff for us...the rv place we got it from covered the cost). We're going to upgrade the shocks and battery system and some other small mods (we're still dealing with an E1 power issue on our fridge and some other stuff we need to figure out) but so far I would totally buy this camper again in a heart beat (lets see if i feel the same way in a year). Mainly cause of the price. I can do the mods and stay within our budget. Ours is a 2022 model. I'm wishing we waited for the supposedly upgraded 2023 models but oh well. Hindsight is 20/20.
One thing that sucks is no manual!!! We've rented all sorts of campers and rvs before and they have very detailed manuals. I'm working on compiling all the information from this forum and other forms in a Google doc and am going to share it with the group (it'll probably be in feb/March).
We don't have a sway bar/wdh and she BOUNCES. we call her the dancing queen. She doesn't sway as much as bounce all over. We hit some pretty potholed crappy highways and at 60mph she was dancing all over. We had to slow down to 50-55mph which was scary when the speed limit was 75. There are good posts on here about wdh and sway bars. We bought a equalizer and the rv tech who worked on our dweller wouldn't install it for us because he didn't like how the do35 worked with it and said he wont do work that he does not believe isnt safe. We got a Kurt (curt?) sway bar instead and since he had to do modifications for that also he wouldn't install it. We're looking at getting an Australian brand sway bar that works with the do35 (ours has a do35 and not mchitch). Off road the camper is awesome!!! No problem there. We will be looking into rebalancing the wheels, etc etc that other people talked about on the forum. With a smooth highway we cruise easily at 60-65mph.
One thing to add.. I've been backpack camping and car camping for the past 20+ years and now being 40 we wanted to upgrade to a camper. On our first trip out it was nice taking only 5 minutes to set up camp!!!

I agree with you on the manual. There is no reason for there not to be one when you purchase their trailer. Our Dweller never came with a manual for the awning. Maybe the manuals are getting lost in transit. Who knows. Try calling Obi and ask for one. Good luck with that one !!!
My experience with Obi's customer service has been less than stellar.

 

[Dweller Feller]

Not sure if anyone responded to this but there's a posy from a while back of someone saying that the material the wet room is made of doesn't like caulk. They used a 3m waterproof type tape instead.

I don't think there is a good fix for that one. I have tried numerous types of caulking and nothing has worked. One of the other posters used some type of 3m tape, I think they may have had some luck.

 

[LaBlaze]

I agree with you on the manual. There is no reason for there not to be one when you purchase their trailer. Our Dweller never came with a manual for the awning. Maybe the manuals are getting lost in transit. Who knows. Try calling Obi and ask for one. Good luck with that one !!!
My experience with Obi's customer service has been less than stellar.

If you go on the obi site there's a 1 page manual for the dweller lol. It includes info on the awning. Ours didn't come with a manual for the awning either but had manuals for everything else.

 

[LaBlaze]

Here you go. It's mostly to let friends and family know where we are and what we're doing so if we disappear while boondocking they can rescue our dogs.🙂 The most recent posts were all about the building of our prototype trailer from Kingdom Camping.

RVino Blog

Thanks!!! We looked at kingdom camping also at the ATS one but the price range was a little too high for us. We also looked at Colorado trailers for the base unit and then we're going to do all the work ourselves to build it out but the model we were looking at was like 18k and well getting the dweller at 25k was a no brainer.. saved us all the time of building it out ourselves with our busy schedules.
I can't wait to see your finished product!!

 

[Obsessed2findARuggedHybid]

It's finished and an incredible trailer!!

 

[DesertMarmot]

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays ! 😊 My wife and I pulled the trigger on a Dweller 13 a little over a week ago. I have gotten a lot of information from this forum and want to Thank everyone for their help. We are TOTAL camper newbies as we have never owned a camper. Like everyone else I wish that we had a decent owners manual… but it is what it is. I am a little confused on the electrical system on this camper. It says that the camper‘s electrical system is rated for 50 amps. Does this mean you can plug this camper into a 50 amp circuit at the campground or is 50 amps to much for the inverter to handle ? Is 30 amps - 2000 watts / 120 volts the most the camper inverter can handle ?

My F 150 has Pro Power on board in the truck bed and it has a 30 amp - 2 channel - 120 volts per channel - dedicated 240 volt 4 channel plug. I contacted OBI and they said not to plug into the 240V outlet on the truck as ppl have already blown the inverter on their camper doing this. I’m guessing that the 2000 watt camper inverter couldn’t handle the 7200 watts from the 240V on the truck. In addition to the 240v outlet the truck also has two separate 15 amp 120 volt outlets.

Are there any electricians on this forum that could help me out and provide some options for connecting to this camper ? 😊

 

[LaBlaze]

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays ! 😊 My wife and I pulled the trigger on a Dweller 13 a little over a week ago. I have gotten a lot of information from this forum and want to Thank everyone for their help. We are TOTAL camper newbies as we have never owned a camper. Like everyone else I wish that we had a decent owners manual… but it is what it is. I am a little confused on the electrical system on this camper. It says that the camper‘s electrical system is rated for 50 amps. Does this mean you can plug this camper into a 50 amp circuit at the campground or is 50 amps to much for the inverter to handle ? Is 30 amps - 2000 watts / 120 volts the most the camper inverter can handle ?

My F 150 has Pro Power on board in the truck bed and it has a 30 amp - 2 channel - 120 volts per channel - dedicated 240 volt 4 channel plug. I contacted OBI and they said not to plug into the 240V outlet on the truck as ppl have already blown the inverter on their camper doing this. I’m guessing that the 2000 watt camper inverter couldn’t handle the 7200 watts from the 240V on the truck. In addition to the 240v outlet the truck also has two separate 15 amp 120 volt outlets.

Are there any electricians on this forum that could help me out and provide some options for connecting to this camper ? 😊

Merry Christmas and congrats!!
I can't answer the question about your truck but we plugged into a 50amp campground with no problem and everything was working fine. We also have a converter for our regular 120v outlets and plugged it into the house with the converter with no problem (the ac won't run off the converter for the house tho). Don't forget to get a surge protector!!
We also bought a 30 to 50 amp converter for campgrounds that have 30amps but haven't tried that yet.
Are you located in TX by any chance?

 

[DesertMarmot]

Merry Christmas and congrats!!
I can't answer the question about your truck but we plugged into a 50amp campground with no problem and everything was working fine. We also have a converter for our regular 120v outlets and plugged it into the house with the converter with no problem (the ac won't run off the converter for the house tho). Don't forget to get a surge protector!!
We also bought a 30 to 50 amp converter for campgrounds that have 30amps but haven't tried that yet.
Are you located in TX by any chance?

Thanks LaBlaze for the info. 😊 We are located in AZ. 🌵

 

[Dweller Feller]

If you go on the obi site there's a 1 page manual for the dweller lol. It includes info on the awning. Ours didn't come with a manual for the awning either but had manuals for everything else.

I guess i am a little old fashioned. Lol

 

[MarkH5432!]

Dust Control Project Update - Sealing up the Dweller

View attachment 777126

It will be some time before I have a chance to check the results, but I am finished with Stage 1 of this project. There are two components to this stage:

Step 1) Sealing up the Dweller. Identifying and remediating items that are contributing to the dust intrusion
Step 2) Designing and installing an active positive pressure system that will pump in filtered air while traveling over gravel roads.

This post covers Step 1, what I did to try to seal up my Dweller so that a pressurization system can have a chance to be effective.

First check the gaskets. The gaskets on the major compartments appeared to all be working well. These are:

• The entry door
• The rear pop-out hatch.
• Galley door
• Refrigerator compartment door
• The two driver’s side compartment doors. Note: The upper driver’s side compartment is isolated. The lower driver’s side compartment is vented to the refrigerator compartment and the refrigerator compartment is vented to the main cabin.

Even though all these door gaskets appear to be working, I took the time to re-adjust the latches and make sure they were all sealing tightly.

It appears that the main sources of dust intrusion on my Dweller were:

1. The “Aussie propane vent” on the bottom of the entry door. Even with the upholstery cover, I was getting a significant amount of dust coming in through this vent.
   Solution: I sealed off the vent with duct tape. There is no need for this vent since we are required to have the propane alarm in the U.S.
   View attachment 777133View attachment 777132
2. The external shower access door. There is no seal on this door. Dust was coming in through this door and getting into the cabin through the shower hose opening behind the closet.
   Solution: I sealed this door with weather stripping.
   View attachment 777134View attachment 777129
3. The “city water” + rear tank fill access door. There is no seal on this door. Dust was coming in through this door and then around the rear tank fill hose and into the cabin behind the closet.
   Solution: I sealed the access door with weather stripping and I caulked around the rear tank fill hose.
   View attachment 777135
4. The vent louver on the refrigerator access door. This vent has a filter, but it was not effective.
   Solution: I replaced the filter material with something that I think will be much more effective. I am also thinking that when pressurized, air will escape the cabin out this vent.
   View attachment 777131
   
   View attachment 777127

For dirty air to get sucked into the Dweller, there has to be places where the cabin air is being sucked out to cause the negative pressure. One of these areas might be the rear pop-out hatch. It is hard to determine where “clean air” is getting sucked out. Common sense tells me that the rear of the trailer is going to be a low pressure area when traveling at speed. Cabin air may be leaking around the pop-out hatch gasket.
Solution: I’m not sure if this is an issue. If it is an issue, I’m not sure what can be done about it. I am hoping that the pressurization system can "over power" any leakage that is happening here.

Another place where air is certainly escaping is out the bathroom vent lid. If you look at the lid on this vent, you will see that it is designed to have flow-through ventilation even when tightly closed. The lid is a 2-piece design. There are vent holes on both sides of the gasket. It is designed so that you can use the exhaust fan even with the lid completely closed. This lid is obviously on the roof-top slip-stream. Air has to be getting drawn out of this hatch via the venturi effect while driving down the road.
Solution: Seal up one set of vent holes. I disassembled the hatch and sealed the outer holes using “as seen on TV” Flex Tape sealant. It actually seems to be some good stuff. After installing the tape, I drilled a couple of small weep holes to allow any condensation that tries to collect there to drain.
View attachment 777130
View attachment 777128

In the next day or so, I will post an update on the pressurization portion of the project.

New Dweller 13 owner here. Opened up the AC compartment to get the AC controller and found one of the AC ducts was not connected. Reconnected the duct and used the Red-Green method to seal and connect (Duct Tape). Took out the draws on the closet side and found light coming from the wheel well area. Sealed this with Duct tape also. This could also be a major dust issue.

From Ft. Worth Texas

 

[marmotguy]

I just picked up my Dweller 13 last weekend from ROA (Utah) and so far I think it's fantastic. I haven't camped in it yet because it's rained all week here in southern California and now we are in the midst of the holidays. I'm hoping to get out in January for its inaugural adventure. I ordered mine with a few upgrades including lithium batteries, interior sink, stove and fridge, and StarLink wall plug. ROA did a really great job in prepping mine. I've been going through with a fine tooth comb and have found very few issues with it. All electrical components are working and plumbing is holding steady (no leaks). I did see that the caulking around the Thetford toilet has separated from the toilet but not the walls as what some of you have reported here. I'll contact them after the holiday to find out if they have a solution. The sealant tape that some have discussed might be a good option. I did find that the speaker wiring was screwy. I wonder how many of you with Dwellers noticed the same. Mine was wired such that the front and rear right stereo signal was wired to the inside speakers and the front and rear left stereo signal was wired to the outside speakers. Therefore the only way to isolate the sound to the interior was if you adjusted the stereo unit to right signal only. Anyway, I rewired it so that I could use the fade adjustment to isolate the sound to interior/exterior/or both and that both interior and exterior speakers had left and right signals.

I was wondering if some of you could give me some ideas how they organize that cavernous interior storage space between the bathroom and side door (i.e. the one behind the sliding doors). I'm probably going to use it to store kitchen supplies / food etc, but it's too big to just put items in there to bounce around on their own. Are there any storage containers or baskets that you have found that fit perfectly and help keep things organized?

View attachment IMG_0065.jpeg

 

[USR103]

I just picked up my Dweller 13 last weekend from ROA (Utah) and so far I think it's fantastic. I haven't camped in it yet because it's rained all week here in southern California and now we are in the midst of the holidays. I'm hoping to get out in January for its inaugural adventure. I ordered mine with a few upgrades including lithium batteries, interior sink, stove and fridge, and StarLink wall plug. ROA did a really great job in prepping mine. I've been going through with a fine tooth comb and have found very few issues with it. All electrical components are working and plumbing is holding steady (no leaks). I did see that the caulking around the Thetford toilet has separated from the toilet but not the walls as what some of you have reported here. I'll contact them after the holiday to find out if they have a solution. The sealant tape that some have discussed might be a good option. I did find that the speaker wiring was screwy. I wonder how many of you with Dwellers noticed the same. Mine was wired such that the front and rear right stereo signal was wired to the inside speakers and the front and rear left stereo signal was wired to the outside speakers. Therefore the only way to isolate the sound to the interior was if you adjusted the stereo unit to right signal only. Anyway, I rewired it so that I could use the fade adjustment to isolate the sound to interior/exterior/or both and that both interior and exterior speakers had left and right signals.

I was wondering if some of you could give me some ideas how they organize that cavernous interior storage space between the bathroom and side door (i.e. the one behind the sliding doors). I'm probably going to use it to store kitchen supplies / food etc, but it's too big to just put items in there to bounce around on their own. Are there any storage containers or baskets that you have found that fit perfectly and help keep things organized?

View attachment 812259

Congratulations on the new 13. We picked up our 15 at ROA last June. They treated us great. You’re in So Cal, where about? We are in the OC.

 

[USR103]

I noticed you have a Topo print. Did you do that or did ROA do it. Also didn’t notice any Dweller badging. Looks great

 

[Ranchmkt]

I noticed you have a Topo print. Did you do that or did ROA do it. Also didn’t notice any Dweller badging. Looks great

I believe that is a newer model 23 or 24


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[marmotguy]

Congratulations on the new 13. We picked up our 15 at ROA last June. They treated us great. You’re in So Cal, where about? We are in the OC.

I noticed you have a Topo print. Did you do that or did ROA do it. Also didn’t notice any Dweller badging. Looks great

ROA designed the wrap and had a local company in Salt Lake City apply it. They did a great job. I’m in the San Fernando Valley. I was thinking of the D15 as I really like the layout but I travel alone 95% of the time, so the D13 makes more sense for me.