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I have an ‘18 Raptor with the high output turbo. With premium fuel, it’s like there’s no trailer attached under acceleration. Engine aside, the trailer backup assist got us out of a few jams on our recent trip that without, well, I’d still be out there trying to get the trailer turned around. Talking single track roads with a mountain on one side, a cliff on the other, and someone in the passenger seat asking if we’re about to die. Get the trailer backup. And the interior is road trip heaven.

During the long wait for pick up day I admit to spending a lot of time lurking on the Oliver forum - so much great info and experience, thank you so much for all your contributions! But as a newbie to towing and trailer camping, somewhere in that process I began to get very anxious about the learning curve we were facing. There was so much discussion about the different systems and modifications and configuration options and work arounds and etc etc - all of it great info btw, this is not a complaint in any way - but it was all so foreign to me that I began to form the impression that this new life we were embarking upon was going to be a lot of work. It didn't take long in our Ollie for that anxiety to melt away. This trailer has everything we need and then some. Lights? Flip a switch. Hot water? Turn on the faucet. Below freezing outside? The furnace works great. Everything you need is there and easy to use out of the box. Yes, you do need to learn the systems...but not overnight. Over the last month we've slowly made our way further away from the mothership as we gained confidence in the abilities of both ourselves and our new trailer. The wealth of info in the forum has been an invaluable resource as we figure out how it all works and get our travel legs built up. But I'm very happy to report that nothing yet has felt like hard work...and that anxiety? Disappeared before we checked out of Fall Hollow after our first weekend:) We're Greg and Theresa Kopish, we'll be posting as Grumble and Twist. Looking forward to meeting you all at the rally in May! Twist

I second the motion.

Probably - I haven't cracked open the case it since I don't want to void the warranty, but like you I'd bet that it's something simple inside that can quickly be repaired. In fact, when I opened the front panel to inspect it after it sprung the leak, two screws fell out. One went to the regulator in the front but the other came from the back somewhere. It's probably a fair bet that it held together whatever is leaking.

Yup, but I would have done things a bit different. Overall you just can't beat the quality of the shell. Because it wasn't finished and because Jason had been shoved into the Service Managers position the week before, we all did our best to get things moving. I've had lot's of trailers but this was my first new purchase. You always hear that there's a lot of problems with all brands of new trailers and though I have had my share in the 2017 Oliver, I had no leaks on pick up, I had hot water even though with no controls working inside, and I had heat, so the basics were all there. They changed a lot of things this year and that has created more problems for them then usual, so the growing pains are there. But the quality of the shell itself is what sells it. You can buy cheaper trailers but... Reed

Same here in the Chevy, the tow haul mode is for 10K+ trailers and really adds nothing to the control of the Oliver. I do like the Chevy's on the column shift and it's easy to just drop it into manual and drop gears when going down steep inclines. I didn't like the shift on the dash that I saw... and the Jeep Grand Wagoneer's shifter looked like an accident waiting to happen. The Land Rover just didn't.... You know... The trailer back up system just made me laugh because Dad started me out driving the horse trailer when I could reach the pedals... and the Oliver with the back up camera is a dream come true as is :) Trying to back it up with an old 62 International these days isn't in my best interest but driving it as a child added a lot of muscle because it took everything I had just to get it around the corner... Lol. Not moving meant the steering wheel would not budge for any normal man... lol :) I love the squared wheel wells and the overall look of my Chevy, that's why I waited and bought this year's as it has the right looks for me. I still have my old 78 Step Side and it's a beast lifted with lockers, but these days a little more tame is easier on the back.... Then... we're in Arizona for the winter again and all of the pains that come around with the damp air up north are once again gone! I keep thinking that I'm going to hurt, but instead that smile comes in just like the sunrise :) Reed PS I was behind another Ford Taurus yesterday with the left brake light burned out... What is it about those Ford's with no brake lights??? Lol.

Yes they installed two ridiculously sized boxes on the roof. The charge controller was a larger unit that they had to special order so that they could charge me for it and then not install it.

I don’t own an Eco Boost but I do think the 3.5 is a great engine for towing, but it is not trouble free. Expect more problems than a normally aspirated V8 and don’t keep it past the warranty, or buy an extended one. My Toyota 5.7 is a brute but it won’t haul ass while towing like the EB. And it has serious failures after 150 k miles if supercharged and run hard (rod bearing failure). So I will stick with weaker straight line acceleration. If we could get the wonderful twin turbo Toyota diesel Land Cruiser here, that would be in my garage now.... John Davies Spokane WA

Yes, it will be a big change in that all of these trucks are (at least to me) much bigger than the Taco I drove. I only have used the "tow/haul" mode on my F-150 once - just to try it out. But, since the mountains of Colorado and Wyoming have virtually no effect on pulling the Oliver, I never even think about using that mode. Yes, I know that the "tow/haul" mode uses more engine braking when going downhill and keeps the transmission in each gear longer when going uphill, but, it simply doesn't seem to matter that much with the weight of the Oliver. In addition, I tend to use cruise control whenever possible. Cruise control will automatically shift to lower gears when going downhill in order to use engine braking to help slow you down. I did set up the trailer backup system but really do not care for it. Guess that I "GREW UP" the old fashion way and habits die hard. Perhaps if I was backing up a boat trailer or construction trailer where the truck's camera can actually see something towards the rear of the trailer I'd use it. I found that the "manual shifter" in the console takes a bit of getting used to - no real problems but using my thumb to shift gears was a bit strange at first. Speaking of which - one of the screens on the dash has a list that shows which of the ten gears you are presently driving in. At times, when using the manual shifter, this list will disappear. There is nothing in the owner's manual about this and/or exactly how to get the list to re-appear on the screen! The fix is simple however - when in regular automatic transmission mode simply press the "+" button on the shifter. Even though Ford has reportedly tested this turbo 6 with a bunch of mileage, there are reports that if you plan to drive it well over 100,000 miles, the engine just might need more service. I believe that this is one of the reasons that "Bugeyedriver" chose the v8 in his new Ford. Finally, yes, for a truck, it is fun to drive! Just when you think you are having a blast in punching that thing, try the "Sport" mode on the trans. Still not as much fun as the motorcycle but it will catch your attention. Just can't imagine what that same thing in the Raptor feels like. I too liked the exterior design of the Rams, but didn't like the interior. I liked the reputation of the Tundra's and also their exterior, but didn't like the color choices and interior design. I didn't even look at the GM's - a company that can't seem to fix the front lights for a period exceeding ten years is not high on my list to start with. AND, I just guess that I'm not grown up enough yet to buy a Chevy. Bill

I got four cables coming from the roof and...that was it. No controller, nothing going back to the batteries, no disconnect, breaker, place to mount anything...nada. The plan had been for them to install their Zamp system so that I could just swap out the controller when I had time. So instead we delayed our vacation while I installed everything. Went ahead and installed the rest of the electrical system while I was at it. I’ll do a thread on it...someday.

When you buy an F150 up here, it comes with a free puppy. So when it breaks down you have somebody to walk home with...

OMG, that made laugh. Thanks Reed

So the Ford is designed for first time drivers :) Nice! Then when they grow up they go buy Chevys :) Hehe.

It’s a little knob that you turn to tell the truck which way you want the trailer to go. Then the truck does the steering for you. Let go of the knob and the truck straightens everything out like magic. With a bit of practice it really is like steering the trailer rather than the truck. It’s no substitute for a good spotter though It also includes a lane change assist that adds the trailer length to the warning lights in the mirrors. A small thing but having never towed before, it was big in getting both of us comfortable driving on the highway.

I replaced 2011 f150 5.0 4/4 in may with f150 3.5 ego turbo 4/4 I pulled ollie with both 5.0 and 3.5 turbo the 3.5 has more torque for pulling hills in pa big plus is gas milage 24 and 18-20 pulling ollie note: my wife says I run under speed limit 10 speed transmission shifts smoother than 6 speed in 5.0. I did get max tow option and tow mirrors, also has hitch assist ,but have not programed . Truck and trailer have to be level and a triangle measurement from hitch to bar code sticker you place on trailer , may get to it in spring. I use truck for daily use , interior quieter than most cars ...

Thanks for posting your experience. It's illuminating for those who may be considering an (eventual) upgrade to lithium batteries. This may be a bit off topic but why did you decide to go with Battle Born batteries versus the (LFP) competition?

Oliver did three 160w panels (I guess I should get out the tape measure and verify that's what I got, lol), and then they did two skinny 80w panels at the rear on each side, so 640w total. I actually think that the 80w panels look really good where they put them, and in fact wish that we'd have had some better communication when they were coming up with that solution - I'd have asked them to do three pair of 80w running down the sides and then just a single large panel lengthways on the roof, mounted directly to the roof rather than up on stilts. You can see here how they're mounted. The awning mounts have been raised and the panels mount to the back of those, then the inside has a little spar that attaches to the 'curb'. I honestly think this should be the new standard - compared to them I think the ones in front look like a real mess. From the side, they disappear as they look a lot like part of the awning. In fact I asked them to order silver awning cases so that it would all blend in. The only thing I don't like is that they're not perfectly horizontal, which drives me nuts...

Just to update, everything is back up and charging now, and Battleborn/Dragonfly say that the batteries did what they're supposed to, which is to shut down at ~10 volts. It took a moment of troubleshooting to get the charger going again - if a control panel is hooked up, the charger looks to that to tell it whether to turn on, and if the controller has no power, it's a bit of a loop and nothing happens. The solution is of course to just unplug the control panel and let the charger wake up, then plug the panel back in. Easy, though not intuitive if you're scratching your head looking at a bunch of dead equipment. Dustin and I then changed a few settings to make sure it charges as quickly as possible. At the end of the day, this was a good test of the equipment and is something I had planned to do myself sometime, only not from 200 miles away and no way of knowing the state of things once the control panel conked out. Anyway, all is well that ends well. Hopefully everything kept their settings and I don't have to go back and reprogram the battery monitor, charge controller, etc. One thing I learned is that the battery monitor was spot on, which is difficult with lithiums since their charge state doesn't correlate all that much with voltage. From the voltage, everything is fine and then it just drops off a cliff in the last hour. So the charge controller has to do some guessing and the algorithm Victron uses for lithiums seems to match the battle born batteries pretty well. The other thing I've learned is that the batteries are good to about 10% remaining charge, rather than the 20% that I thought. Battleborn assures me that discharging down to 0% won't damage them nor effect their lifespan. Others say don't take them below 20% but Battleborn are confident that you can take them to zero and still get 3000 cycles out of them. But 10% looks to be the point where the voltage begins to drop precipitously. I also verified that 3 days (3 days, 6 hours, to be exact) is what we can expect with normal use, which is pretty much what I'd planned for. Possibly more, if we only rely on 12v, since the inverter was definitely consuming more power than we would use with lighting, fans, etc. In fact, I need to call Victron about the inverter's power use - I asked them before about a ghost ~50w of power that it shows being consumed when the inverter is turned on. Victron said that was normal noise in the system and wasn't real, but going from this experience, there is in fact that draw somewhere, since it correlated well with the battery discharge. The fridge doesn't consume nearly that, and I can tell from the graphs when the fridge cycled on, and apart from that, there should only be a minor draw from other electronics. Victron advertises 8-20w of idle consumption for the inverter, depending on what mode it's in, so I need to do some digging to see where that extra power is going. I guess the final thing I learned - apart from making sure Oliver knows to plug the trailer in, or that I shut off the fridge and inverter before handing it over - is that I need to get the remote console working for the Victron system. I should be able to log in and do things like shut off the inverter, but something on the router is preventing that communication. I can see everything, but it's not allowing two-way communication. Just another thing on the to do list, but I guess I need to give it priority.

I did call Jason Essary this morning, as Bill suggested I do, in order to inquire about the new now-standard exterior solar ports. Yes, they not only fit the mobile Zamp solar suitcase options but Jason added that other solar manufacturers also provide an adapter as well that will plug into this same Zamp port. Jason said the original Blue Sky system is superior when wanting a more powerful unit and the options for controlling it and fine-tuning, but they found it is complicated for some people. The Zamp system is automatic and is designed for trouble-free operation. Turn on the switch and everything is already set for you. No adjusting. Also, with the Blue Sky system, other perhaps not-so-handy operators adjusting things created a bit of a problem for themselves and Oliver with burned-out batteries and other inconveniences. Jason's explanation made sense and I feel better now for staying with the Oliver Zamp recommendation. Once I start modifying Oliver systems certain warranties will no longer exist. In addition, I have no desire to fool around with my trailer tweaking things and being an amateur engineer. I want to travel with ease and comfort, see the sights, relax, and enjoy our little home on wheels. The more the Oliver people can do for me in providing an easy accommodating switch and equipment that makes my life more comfortable I am willing to pay a higher price.

I'll be interested to see what my portable panels do relative to the rooftop system once I get them set up. (I decided to run them through our onboard charge controller, which means that I need to remove the charge controller from the panels, swap out cables, connectors, etc. - it's on the to do list still) What I can say though is that location is a huge determinant relative to what your charge controller is doing. Here's a graph of our solar output showing the difference between being out traveling in the desert vs parked at home in the shade. It's pretty obvious when we parked it and you can see that even with 640w of solar and an MPPT controller, we're just seeing around 2 amps many days and only brief peaks of 6 to 8 even on good days... With our fridge running, it's not quite enough to keep the batteries topped up. To be clear, I do think that the MPPT controller will be better for you, but I'm going to guess that it won't show as big of an improvement as you're hoping - though I'm curious to see. For me, the drawback of the Zamp is that it's a black box and no way to see or control what it's doing. I would recommend my system to anyone and everyone, but because of the info and data rather than performance.

The Scamp Camp South West RV Rally was lots of fun and I was able to really check out a 12 x 12 Clam. They are nice and it was surprisingly warm for having no heater on. The outside panels made adjusting the inside temp easy. There were just a few of us at this small Rally, but it sure is a nice area here in Sedona, Az. http://lakeshoreimages.com/18trip/scampcampsw.html Once again, Goldilocks was visited by many people on Viewing Day. It was lots of fun with lots of good people :)

Don't understand what the problem is - write a fairly good sized check to a privately held company and wait a couple of months before you see anything in return? Add to that the problem with getting financial information on that company and the anticipation of getting a camper that one hopes will last them a long while. Finally, when one reads the sales contract there is little there that would tend to give the buyer any sense of protection. Having said that - this really is one "stand up" company. Unfortunately that is all too rare in today's world. What little financial information that is available is solid. For me, the single thing that made me feel a bit more comfortable was the virtually unanimous glowing reports that current owners kept giving Oliver and its people. Once you take delivery and/or get to meet more of the people that are associated with Oliver I'm sure that you will wonder just where did all that concern come from. I too took delivery of my Elite II in mid-February. Those long winter months seemed to make the wait even longer. I bet I watched Windcrasher's YouTube video (all 1 hour and 20 minutes of it) 50 times! However, before you know it you will be watching the weather reports and praying that it doesn't snow anywhere near your delivery date. Bill

Man, I wish I could get mine now. April 2nd 2018 looks like my delivery date. Can hardly wait. Should start production soon. Congratulations! You guys enjoy that thing. Ray

The Renogy Solar Suitcase doesn't need a port... It has its own controller built in and only costs a few hundred dollars. I have mine clipped right on to the battery and the wire runs safely out the battery door, no need for drilling, no need for any Zamp port or any different wiring. Having a fixed system that can't be pointed at the sun isn't getting the most bang for your buck :) I will take some better pictures after the sun comes up here in a couple hours. I simply clipped on the battery clips, then closed the door and locked it. Then I have a safety cable padlocking it to the trailer so it won't walk off. I'm in a safe place, but I bought the cable and it's part of the system.

This is the factory divider wall, I highly recommend it. . John Davies Spokane WA

We chose to have it set in normal also because it's just best for us. Then we have one sink cover cutting board for whatever and when cutting veggies you can just scrape everything into a bowl in the sink. Then we have this second cutting board that does everything else. It's a kitchen table, splatter gaurd, and desk top.