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Does anybody know more about this rig? I saw it at this thread, which covers the recent 2017 Northwest Overland Rally in western WA. Which I did not attend, though I would have loved to inspect this closer..... https://expeditionportal.com/the-vehicles-of-nw-overland-rally-2017/ John Davies Spokane WA

Now I know many of you use a handy tshirt to block the light at your door window.....:) I recovered the head bumper ( I may have forgotten to mail it to the upholstery person!) oops ... and I made a simple roll up and tie curtain for the window. There was already a piece of Velcro at the top of the screen door so maybe it had a curtain at one time? Don't know. Anyone have a curtain? Besides light it seems like it's going to really help with the heat too. Hmmm I still have extra fabric. Maybe some toiletry bags and a dirty clothes hamper? Lol I Have time to sew right now since I'm a teacher still on summer break. Lol

Three days after we took delivery of Mouse, I climbed up my ladder for a check of the roof. Everything looked fine, except for the solar panels. Three knobs were slightly loose, perhaps a 1/16th of a turn. One was a full half turn loose. This is dangerous since a loose or lost knob could wreck the panel and possibly the vent and AC unit behind it, especially if you are towing into a stiff and gusting headwind. I got out my Dewalt driver drill and modified the knobs so that I could secure them tight. I can't recall the hole size, probably 1/4 inch, big enough for a standard sized nylon wire tie. This is just like safety wiring a bolt using steel wire, but the advantage is that the big white ties are highly visible from the ground, so you can include a visual check of all four as you do your final walk around before leaving. You must route the tie so that all the forces are acting to tighten the knob. I think this should be done at the factory, but in the meantime I strongly recommend that everyone with panels on the roof secure the knobs. A better fix would be to drill out the threaded inserts and install through bolts with self locking nuts, but this would make it very hard to reposition the panels for cleaning the roof underneath.... Here is a question: have you ever checked them? If not, then please do so before your next trip. They may be loose.... Be safe. Here is my Werner convertible ladder in action. It is good to have access to your roof, always. John Davies Spokane WA

After picking ours up, we went south and poked around for a month or so. We went up some rough ' goat paths' , camped on mountain tops, traveled a lot of dirt rough roads, and even traveled rougher paved highways. For lack of initial load up room we left our collapsible ladder home. And then headed home to Maine. Turns out we never needed it. Checked our knobs at home and they are still tight. We could always back up the tow vehicle and use that for a ladder I guess if we ever needed it. We have left the ladder home since and have never regretted it. Have a safe trip home to Ma. and may the roughest part of your trip be paying the tolls for the extra two axles... P.S. I have found that if you really need a ladder, and fellow campers happen to have one, they are more than happy to lend it. They also will give you a helping hand. You can meet some wonderful people on the road and share some interesting stories around a campfire or picnic table. All they need is a friendly smile and a handshake...

Yup, I check mine each time that I clean the solar panels. I ended up tilting my panels down as far as they can go in the bottom holes to the street side to keep the water from pooling on them in the rain. Plus I prefer to park with the sun off of that side when we are boondocking. All of my adjustment bolts have been tight every time but I may use some loctite if needed in the future. I go up every couple of weeks to dust them off and remove the small cedar cones that get blown down on them. So far, having them tilted has stopped the pooling and associated dirt or dust rings left on the panels after it rains.

For the convenience of customers and prospective customers alike, we have created a Measurement Index for the Legacy Elite II travel trailer. You may find it on our Oliver University page http://olivertraveltrailers.com/oliver-university/. This will help if you have any questions on measurements throughout the interior and exterior of the travel trailer. Coming soon: Legacy Elite I Measurement Index. Thank you

You might find this product useful, not as much fun as safety wire or tie wraps Vibra-tite VC-3 threadmate Adjustable and reuseable

I agree that there's nothing wrong with the Zamp system provided that you know on the front end what you're buying and what the tradeoffs are. Like I said, Oliver should offer two systems - one simple and one advanced - and let the buyer choose. In Reed and Karen's case, I think they have a legitimate gripe that they were unwitting guinea pigs for the system. As for the price, well I guess we're all aware that Zamp in general is overpriced and Oliver clearly sees it as a money maker, just like most of their other options. Their foam mattress upgrade for example is more than twice what I can pay Southern Mattress for a much better mattress. And I about blew my top when I was told how measly of a credit they were giving me for not buying their cushions. $162! Less than what they had told me before that they would credit us for just the fabric! But it is what it is and you've got to pick your battles. It's nothing unique to Oliver and they're doing other things for us that we feel even out the score a little. I just wish they'd offer a "will return emails" option - I'd pay good money for that!

Reed, in my opinion I think your asking something from your Zamp controller that none of them can supply, none of them work very well in the shade, 30 percent of 3 amps is still only 1 amp, I for 1 am truly happy with the the zamp system, if you look at previous posts on the blue sky system it can be very complex. I don't know Oliver's true reasoning behind changing over to the zamp system, but from a business standpoint when you have an outside vendor supplied product that people don't understand and have to put time and effort into educating people how to use it, it's time for a change. I haven't had to educate myself on it's use and I'm a firm believer in the k.i.s.s. Principle.

My take on the quality of our Elite ll is outstanding! Is it absolutely perfect no, but I never expected anything hand built by man to be perfect. We were in Hohenwald last week to get some minor issues addressed and the staff took care of everything promptly and efficiently. I realize not everyone has the luxury of returning their camper to Hohenwald for every little issue, but when I first called Jason about an issue, his first response was to try to talk me through it, and if that didn't work take to someone who could fix it. I guess the point I'm trying to make is they go above and beyond to try to make things right. I didn't get the new suction tube installed in my water tank at this time but I was assured that the "fix" is forthcoming, and I believed them!! One of the engineers informed me it will be an easy fix that most fairly competent repairmen can perform on their own, or they will take care of it through outside vendors, but he assured me it will be fixed.

Wow, I didn't realize that they would only get to 1.4A, no wonder you have all the issues. They should definitely offer both systems with different price points.

And you can see by that statement why I'm so jealous of you guys with the MPPT system Randy :) At the most, being mine is a Pulse Width Modulation system, my pulses only hit 1.4amps max in the full sun we have here and generally it's only around .4a max. When I was watching Mark smile as his worked so well like yours, I was holding my head down in shame because this system flat out isn't what I paid $2800.00 for... Lol. My god, it's so embarrassing to have an inferior solar system on my trailer, and this is the BIG picture! Oliver says that one of the reasons that they changed over to it was because it was easy to install... So if it took 5 hours to install that's um... $2800.00, will say -$1300 in parts to make it easy = $1500 for installation ÷ 5 hours max = $300.00 an hour × 2080 hours = $624,000.00 a year income, and yea, this is how my mind works... Lol. I really feel like I got taken to the cleaners being that our order started out as the Blue Sky system, like yours.

Just as a general bit of info. The following photo is at 10:20am and the BlueSky showed 2.6A output

Reed, I'm thinking that before you change over to an MPPT controller, you should run an accurate test with absolutely full sun on the panels for a full day and monitor the results. While it's true that the MPPT controller advertises up to 30% more charge, it's the nature of that difference that is important here. As I understand it, the difference in total amp hours delivered is at the top end of the collector voltage and amperage curve, or the Maximum Power Point, which is at voltages over 14.1 in full sun at relatively low temperatures with a normal angle of orientation. With PWM, or pulse width modulation, the controller cannot control the charging voltage, only the battery charged voltage, so it pulses power with varying band width to protect the batter from going higher than 14 volts. The affect of PWM is that there is a lot of off time in the pulses to keep the battery voltage under control. Whereas the MPPT controller is a DC transformer that can take the entire collector current and adjust its voltage to 14 so that you get full amps to the battery until it reaches 14 volts. This means no off time compared to the PWM pulses. This is where the overall difference begins to show up between the two. Then it goes into absorption mode and reduces the amps, while maintaining the voltage, until the amps reach a pre-determined minimum amount that triggers the Float stage. So the battery really does get charged fully instead of giving a false high voltage reading that increases the "off" width of the pulses in PWM. So, the real difference is during direct sun at higher collector voltages and, possibly, at higher states of charge. But at lower states of charge, in full sun, the difference may be small or none. Direct sun is the key here. Any shading drastically reduces the output of a particular collector being shaded, or just shuts it off. This can be as little as a tree branch shadowing one panel. Since the difference between the MPPT and the PWM overall amp hour delivery is at the top end of the voltage scale, and especially in cooler weather, any loss of collector output through partial shading can easily make up the difference between the two. In your case, you are needing a strong bulk charge to make up for the night's use, but you may be getting far less than the rated array output because of partial shading. Shading percentage is not equal to the percentage loss of output. Output loss is far more than shading percentage. Another factor to consider is the rated array output adjustment due to imperfect orientation. You may have to give up 10-20% right off the top of Oliver's rating because of that alone. I'm bringing an MPPT controller with me to Bandon. Maybe we can run some tests to compare results to your PWM controller. John

Hey Karen, I for one am not mad at you, I agree 110%. Some folks at Oliver are obviously upset at the public responses here about QC, but they should knuckle down, hire capable workers, train them well, and just fix the darned issues without delaying too long. Not fixing the fresh water problem for a decade is crazy bad PR IMHO. I plan on keeping Mouse indefinitely since there is nothing out there that is better, but I don't like having to fix the factory mistakes and goofs. No way. John Davies Spokane WA

In my experience, it is those that have been wronged (or perceived to have been wronged) that voice opinions in the strongest manner possible. At the same time, those that are satisfied (or at least think they are) go merrily on their way without saying too much. I've tried my best over the years to write letters of thanks and gratitude when I have received good products or service, but, am usually amazed when I hear that this doesn't happen too often anymore. There have been voices on this Forum that have documented their displeasure at the quality and/or service received from Oliver. And, there have been others that have praised Oliver not only for the initial quality but for the long term commitment to making a better camper plus fixing any problems that customers may have with their campers. Rarely have I seen a company publish a public note explaining its position on this subject and then actually "do it". Olivers are not for everyone, but, from what I've seen and heard and experienced they are the best (by a long shot) out there. I know that I'm a happy camper even for $60,000. No, mine is not a Rollie - not that I've ever actually owned one - but, for me, it sure beats anything else I've been able to look at. Bill

An Open letter from Oliver Travel Trailers Dear Members of The Oliver Travel Trailer Online Forum Community, Over the last two weeks we have seen an increase in people addressing quality and build concerns on our online forum. First off, we want you to know that when we fall short of your expectations, then we fall short of ours. We are dedicated to producing a quality product that can be passed down from generation to generation. Oliver Travel Trailers is different in many ways from other manufacturers. One of these ways is our transparency with our customers and potential customers. This is why we have our own forum. We would like to thank you all for your feedback. New and potential customers may not be aware that we monitor the forum and listen in an attempt to learn from the members. We are always striving to make improvements and take care of any and all issues that arise. We are far from perfect but will continue to get better, always working to build the highest quality travel trailer available. With that being said we want all of you to know we have heard your concerns and recently implemented a new 3 stage quality control inspection to our build process. This is just one of the ways we are aiming to be the best in the industry. Tanks have been a recent hot topic on the forum and we want all of you to know we are currently working with an expert in the industry to see what we can do to improve current designs. We will update you as we learn more. Wiring appearance has been another topic that we are addressing by working with component manufacturers to improve quality of appearance and function on all wiring harnesses. As we improve and implement changes we will share these improvements from time to time with our customers and on this forum. We have always gone above and beyond to fix any issues our customers are having with their trailers and will continue with your help to make Oliver Travel Trailers the very best. Again, we would like to thank you for your feedback. In the future, we kindly ask that if you have a problem or concern with your Ollie, please call us directly so we can help you. This will provide us the details we need in a timely fashion and expedite our course of action. Of course, if you ever feel we have not done enough to fix or improve your issues once you have brought them to our attention then by all means feel free to address it on the forum. We are confident you will find that given the opportunity Oliver will take care of you and improve our product at the same time. We will never be too big or too busy to do the right thing. Sincerely, The Oliver Family