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Hope everyone has a great holiday! 250 years is a pretty good run. Based on some of the videos from the World Cup attendees visiting the US for the first time, we seem to be the envy of the world! Mike

I think a lot of us with older trailers have the cracks.

This sucks all the way around. I wonder what percentage of Oliver owners have this problem.

Final Verdict - NO Go on Door Core Replacement. After buying and trying to replace the door core *which Lippert said should be an easy fit, I have bad news. The new door core when installed was out of alignment by about 1/4" even though we meticulously measured and remeasured the placement of the holes for the hinges. I reinstalled the old door and it fits perfectly fine and I'll be doing some re-taping of the ugly cracks. It appears perhaps the event that triggered the start of cracking may have also bent the hinges just enough that they no longer fit for a new perfect door. Oliver has suggested that the best action is to drill out and replace the full door and frame. (Back to the $1600 cost and I will consider having Oliver do a full door and frame replacement when I go back for factory service this fall.) The new door core has brand new latches, new windows etc. If anyone else needs a door core let me know as it's NOT returnable. I could bring it to the rally or keep it as a part's door for the window and door latch. By the way, these door cores are constructed by laminating together the outer skin, and inner skin with glue which is also used on the edge channel of the door. So you cannot simply pull out the core of the panel and swap into the old door frame. So much for saving money on the repair. Craig

Welcome. Ask Away. Hull #1045, Jolli Olli

@Boudicca908Thank you. If you order the MEGR 253 I think it comes with straight inverted flare fittings installed in the inlet connections. You should be able to connect your current pigtails to these fittings if you don’t want to convert to the 90 degree inlet fittings. You will still need pipe sealant or tape to attach the 3/8 inch fitting on the supply hose from the trailer to the outlet connection on the bottom of the regulator. If you get teflon tape be sure it’s rated for use on propane and natural gas. It will probably be yellow. Most Teflon tape you see is for water and air. Before applying new sealant or tape be sure to clean all of the old sealant or tape off of any reused male or female pipe threads and don’t let any of it fall into the regulator or hoses. If using teflon tape start the tape just shy of the end of the male threads so it doesn’t obstruct the opening and wrap it in the same direction that you will be turning the item with the female threads. I’m afraid that my instructions seem intimidating but this really is an easy project. Bill

Thank you for the excellent images to go along with your description! This is very helpful.

This is very important. Greater interior room is nice, but do you want it at the expense of maneuverability? Summer of 2005, I towed a 26' cargo trailer to move our home from VA to AZ. It wasn't fun. The only positive was selling the trailer at a profit vs. renting a U-Haul! 🤣 At 7 ft the Oliver is the same width as a full-size truck/tow vehicle. If your truck can make an opening, the Oliver will too, following behind in the same space and tread. You only have to worry about height differences in tunnels or under trees. At 8 ft, like all the BOX trailers, the body is wider than the TV. Can your truck can make it between parked cars on a narrow city street or the Scrub Oak on a FS dirt road? If yes, then the Oliver will, but would the wider trailer? Also, the Casita is probably light enough, but not true of many Airstream trailers. Some of them are beasts! And you'll need towing mirrors to see around that big box. And there's a point where a bumper pull trailer doesn't make sense, hence all the 5th-wheels on the highway. I don't want to tow anything wider, ever again! Our Olivers are "right sized!" 😎

Hence the word "similar"

None are perfect for all uses. We came very close to buying an airstream 23' with twin front beds but the price back in 2019 was $95K compared to about $72K for our loaded OEII. We chose Oliver over Airstream after the local person who showed us their Oliver stated...they had sold their Airstream due to leaking rivets after driving on a few rough roads. Upon looking at the Airforum pages, many people were complaining at that time of rivet issues and leaks causing floor rot. Anyone happened to see a recent KYD episode where Mark was having to replace Airstream rivets that had fallen out because they towed on a gravel road? Cheers

Welcome! You'll love the community here! Oliver offers a factory tour which I highly recommend!

Welcome! Lots of friendly expertise here ready for any questions. Mike

+1 on the Welcome mat. Good place to learn. What type of camping and traveling are you doing.

Welcome. You will find the folks here very helpful and rich in useful experience with Oliver, and other trailers. What trailer appeals to you as you sit right now?

New here and mostly lurking so far but wanted to say hi before I keep browsing. I am just genuinely curious about the community and figuring out if a fiberglass trailer is the right move for me. I'll be reading through build threads and asking probably too many questions over the next while. If anyone has tips for a total newbie trying to learn the ropes. Thanks for having me. 🙂

Bump to this thread since Lippert Friction Hinges came up today on another post. Me too, love them. Craig had an issue where above he showed damage to the interior sheeting. Not sure if cause was determined in his case. I couldn't see how keeping the door still would cause this. @Ty J, what do you say about longevity 3+ years later? After 2 1/2 years, ours are still working GREAT! 😎

Yes, you can Scotty and thank you! The grey trim matches the striping on the hull AND the lower body paint on my truck! 😎 I renewed all the outlet boxes with grey ones, even a new matching license plate light in grey! If only Lippert made a grey powder coated door lock! That would be a nice addition! And when I replace the door security glass with a grey-smoked glass maybe I should paint the frame in the same grey color as the fridge vents and other painted parts. The entrance door has 3 hinges. You leave them as-is and insert 2 friction hinges in-between the 3 OEM hinges. The screen door gets in the way while working, but you can wiggle the friction hinges into place. I just centered them by eyeball, drilled the first hole and mounted the screw to hold the hinge in place. Then 12 screws per hinge! The kit comes with self-tapping screws, but I prefer to drill pilot holes one size smaller. In the picture, the hinges that are riveted are the OEM hinges and where you see the square-drive screws is the friction hinge. A careful installation should only take a half hour. The door hook has no value when you are opening or closing the door in windy conditions. Often you have to fight, holding the door, while trying to get it hooked. With these hinges installed the door can be at any angle and I promise a 40 MPH wind will not budge it. 😎 Never again hear that BANG! And btw it is the bang on that rubber stopper that cracks the interior sheeting of the door panel. If you look closely at the picture, looking through the screen, you can see the cracking of the interior sheeting. If friction hinges were installed OEM, I'm certain they wouldn't be there. As soon as I had heard of these hinges on our Forum, 2 1/2 years ago, I installed them. Why aren't Lippert Friction Hinges installed OEM by OTT? Instead of the bumper and hook, they should be.

I'm with Patriot on this one. I wouldn't ever apply a suction cup to the fiberglass. I hang my bath towel over the truck tailgate for an hour, then fold it up and put away. If it's a late-night shower in the wet bath, the screen door handlebar is perfect to hang a bath towel. Chris hangs hers in the bathroom. The cheap black rubber on those suction cups is the issue. If you must use a suction cup on the hull, use the clear plastic suction cups, not black rubber. I use one of these for our outdoor shower, but I only stick it to the window glass. https://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-Bathroom-Handheld-Mounting-Polished/dp/B07ZXB9FXQ/ And the thought of Vaseline or olive oil is really gross. These products will collect dirt when camping or towing and to remove them the residue, you will also remove the ceramic coating (or wax) in that area!

You should see what Will posted 1 hour ago. Less than 5min vid. He’s going to clean these companies up. Like Dave’s Auto Center will help improve diesel engines.

Can you replace the top or middle hinge without removing the whole door? In other words... Just kind of remove one hinge and slip the replacement in the same location? btw... I kind of like the grey trim stuff... goes with the stripes. Thanks, Scotty

That is amazing! Yours is just above the belly bar and ours just below. When you lift the curbside a few inches for leveling it puts the door handle rather high! And yes, if you installed the keyless lock, it would be right up on the window frame. The chrome on your lock looks great. Ours had wear scratches from key use and a little bang in the latch from a prior owner.

It is larger, that round section with all those numbered keys, plastic parts. Reminds me of the keyless entry system I had on an 80s T-bird. It was cool 40 years ago but they stopped putting them on cars long ago. I should remember to remove the "two emblems" before I renew our ceramic coating next time. I've removed every other label OTT plastered inside and out (about 20 of them)! In a post 3 years ago John E Davies wanted me to add warning labels to the rear emergency exit (just after I had removed them)! 🤣 I don't worry about code and insurance and all that rot. I need to remove the "black door bumper." I removed the door hook from the fiberglass last year (drilled out 4 rivets and filled holes). Just add Lippert friction hinges and you don't need any of that stuff. Best simple mod ever! Lippert Friction Hinge Kit for RV Entry Doors - White Over 90% of the feedback I've received on our grey trim has been positive! I'll mark you down with one other longtime Oliver owner as not liking them. It is my appearance mod theme! We love it over having 10 shades of white all over the body (see pic). Setting the bar awfully low! 🤣 I just replaced ours before it failed after 10 years of reliable service!

Just local RV dealers service department rate charge. Has nothing to do with Oliver. No idea what Bretz in Missoula (official Oliver Service) charges but would guess it not too far off.

The differences from one year to the next with the Oliver travel trailers is amazing. Looking at @jd1923 door and lock compared to ours and where they decided to install the lock. Doubt I could even fit one of the RV Locks into that tight of a space. Looks like we will be content with the one we have which is fine.

I don’t know that a black lock detracts from the appearance any more than the two emblems immediately to the left of the lock, the black door bumper, or the grey fridge vent. We haven’t been “locked out” of the trailer by either failure of the RVLock - but still have enjoyed not having to remember to take along a key for 5 years. Compared to everything else that has failed or broken in the trailer - the leaky windows, water heater that shoots out flames, black tank dump valve issues, massive air leaks, appliances that unplug themselves, freezer hinges that break, interior belly bands that fall off - and an air conditioner that is not compatible with human life - I’d say a door lock that requires service every two years is actually pretty good. (Is this horse dead yet?) I wonder what the actual failure rate is. I’m hoping there are folks out there that have RVLocks that -haven’t- failed?!