In February 2018 I took delivery of a Safari Condo “Alto” F1743 trailer, empty weight 1743 lbs. An ultra-lightweight trailer in the 17 ft size class. See Caravanes (Alto) – SÉRIE F17 – 1743 | Safari Condo . Safari Condo is located in Quebec, Canada.
I’ve now accumulated enough towing experience that I thought I would share my thoughts and also the extensive modifications I’ve had made to the trailer.
I had never owned a camper trailer before buying the Alto, nor had I ever towed anything! So it has been a learning experience in many ways. But my wife and I are enjoying our trailer travels more than we thought possible.
We chose the Alto because of it’s modern styling, high quality, light weight, and compact size while still offering a permanent queen size sleeping area, two person dinette, full kitchen with sink/stove/fridge/microwave and lots of storage, plus a bathroom with toilet and shower. In this blog post I describe the various Alto models and why we decided on the F1743 version:
A “Safari Condo” is not an apartment in the Serengeti…
Safari Condo offers a number of options, many of which are not described adequately on their website. In this post I explain why we chose the options we did and how they are working out for us:
For Alto enthusiasts: factory options I recommend
Since I have a 9.8kW home solar system, and drive 100% electric, I knew from the beginning of my trailer research that I wanted to install as much solar as possible, as well as lithium ion batteries in the trailer, with the goal of not using any propane on trailer trips. The first step was to source flexible solar panels — since rigid panels would be an aerodynamic disaster on a curved trailer roof — and figure out the various sizes needed to maximize the system output. That proved to be more challenging than I anticipated! See this post for the story:
Flexible solar panels: how NOT to buy them for your Alto
I used a local company, Quality RV Solar (Qualityrvsolar.com) in Fremont California (close to the Tesla factory, just a coincidence) to design and install the solar/battery system for the trailer. They did an amazing job and I highly recommend them. This post describes the system in some detail: Camping 100% electric = no propane
In addition to the solar/battery install, Quality RV Solar also made a number of other very worthwhile modifications to the trailer, including a cell signal booster and router in the trailer so I have convenient WiFi, better ventilation in the trailer bathroom, additional trailer taillights to improve rear visibility, a storage box on the trailer tongue, and more. See this post for more information
Improving the already impressive Alto trailer
As a guide for those considering buying an Alto and towing it with a Model X I wrote this post to offer some general advice and specific comments about the Alto, drawing heavily on several very helpful TMC threads and linking to them. See
Towing with a Tesla
If you have any questions after reading those posts I’ll try to answer them as best I can when I have time; currently preparing for a three week trip to New Mexico with the trailer. Here’s a photo from our first day of Alto trailer ownership, picking it up in Canada in February. It was a bit nippy...
And a few months later in a warmer location:
The flexible solar panels:
I’ve now accumulated enough towing experience that I thought I would share my thoughts and also the extensive modifications I’ve had made to the trailer.
I had never owned a camper trailer before buying the Alto, nor had I ever towed anything! So it has been a learning experience in many ways. But my wife and I are enjoying our trailer travels more than we thought possible.
We chose the Alto because of it’s modern styling, high quality, light weight, and compact size while still offering a permanent queen size sleeping area, two person dinette, full kitchen with sink/stove/fridge/microwave and lots of storage, plus a bathroom with toilet and shower. In this blog post I describe the various Alto models and why we decided on the F1743 version:
A “Safari Condo” is not an apartment in the Serengeti…
Safari Condo offers a number of options, many of which are not described adequately on their website. In this post I explain why we chose the options we did and how they are working out for us:
For Alto enthusiasts: factory options I recommend
Since I have a 9.8kW home solar system, and drive 100% electric, I knew from the beginning of my trailer research that I wanted to install as much solar as possible, as well as lithium ion batteries in the trailer, with the goal of not using any propane on trailer trips. The first step was to source flexible solar panels — since rigid panels would be an aerodynamic disaster on a curved trailer roof — and figure out the various sizes needed to maximize the system output. That proved to be more challenging than I anticipated! See this post for the story:
Flexible solar panels: how NOT to buy them for your Alto
I used a local company, Quality RV Solar (Qualityrvsolar.com) in Fremont California (close to the Tesla factory, just a coincidence) to design and install the solar/battery system for the trailer. They did an amazing job and I highly recommend them. This post describes the system in some detail: Camping 100% electric = no propane
In addition to the solar/battery install, Quality RV Solar also made a number of other very worthwhile modifications to the trailer, including a cell signal booster and router in the trailer so I have convenient WiFi, better ventilation in the trailer bathroom, additional trailer taillights to improve rear visibility, a storage box on the trailer tongue, and more. See this post for more information
Improving the already impressive Alto trailer
As a guide for those considering buying an Alto and towing it with a Model X I wrote this post to offer some general advice and specific comments about the Alto, drawing heavily on several very helpful TMC threads and linking to them. See
Towing with a Tesla
If you have any questions after reading those posts I’ll try to answer them as best I can when I have time; currently preparing for a three week trip to New Mexico with the trailer. Here’s a photo from our first day of Alto trailer ownership, picking it up in Canada in February. It was a bit nippy...
And a few months later in a warmer location:
The flexible solar panels:
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