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Spike, I was the one who posted about Kodachrome State Park. After my post, Phil Andrews from OTT contacted me and I wrote a story on Kodachrome State Park that appeared in the Oliver Newsletter. Kodachrome State Park is a great park, and close to Bryce Canyon. They take reservations, so it may be hard to get a spot in a couple of weeks. I think some Utah State Parks have some campsites set aside for first come first serve use. We have stayed at a great NFS campground nearby called Red Canyon, which is about ten miles west of the cut off road to Bryce. There is also a great protected bike path in this area that follows Highway 12. A distance rurther northeast on Highway 12 near Boulder is the Calf Creek BLM Campground, and it is very nice. The campgrounds in Zion NP and Arches NP are really nice. They take reservations, so it could be difficult for you. The campground in Bryce NP is not so good, but Kodachrome SP and Red Canyon NFS are nearby. The campground in Capitol Reef NP is very nice; it used to be completely first come first serve, but I just looked at the Capitol Reef NP webpage and it says now most campsites can be reserved. but a few remain first come first serve. In Canyonlands the Willow Flat Campground in the Island in the Sky is all first come first serve. The Squaw Flat Campground at The Needles section of Canyonlands NP has part reserved and part is first come first serve. The area around Moab, near Arches and Canyonlands has a lot of BLM land with great free campsites, as well as BLM campgrounds. Mike mentioned Horsethief BLM campground, which is really nice. We like the BLM campgrounds near Moab along the Colorado River. The only amenities are pit toilets, a fire ring, and a picnic table. There are also good BLM sites near Capitol Reef NP. There is a great book on boondocking sites in Utah that I posted info about HERE. The authors also have a guide to Arizona. My sister camped last year with her Casita at Escalante Petrified Forest State Park, and raved about it, so we made reservations to camp there later this month. Other Utah State Parks that are supposed to be nice include the aforementioned Snow Canyon State Park, Sand Hollow State Park, Goblin Valley State Park, and Quail Creek State Park. Goblin Valley State Park is high on our list, but we have not been there yet. I have heard mixed reviews about Coral Pink Dunes State Park; beautiful scenery, but some people are turned off by all of the ATV activity. That is a good plan. Many of the Utah State Parks have water-electric sites, but those parks tend to reserve first. Maybe you could reserve commercial hook up campgrounds for the weekends, and use state or national parks or BLM land for mid week. There are a lot of commercial places in Moab. We stayed at Wonderland RV Park in Torrey, near Capitol Reef NP, and it was nice. There is a good thread on the Airstream Forum that maybe useful. Our last trip to Zion was two years ago while our Oliver was being built. We checked out the campground right next to the entrance, Zion Canyon Campground, and it looked AWFUL. Closely packed rigs with hardly any space for a picnic table. I have heard good things about Zion River Resort Camp, which is about 15 miles west of Zion NP. We have learned to be advance planners, and we have a campsite booked at Zion's Watchman campground during October. If you head south from Moab, the dispersed camping on BLM land in the Valley of the Gods is the prettiest campsite I have ever found. Info HERE. We then stayed at Gouldings, a nice commercial RV park near Monument Valley. Finally, since you are focused on Highway 12, among my collected bookmarks is a guide from Roadtrippers on Highway 12. I will send you a PM with the dates we are visiting Escalante Petrified Forest State Park and Zion NP, and maybe we can meet up. While we are not musicians, we appreciate music!

Long before I picked up my Ollie, Buzzy had posted about painting the hitch orange to increase visibility in a car's backup camera system. I added this project to my ToDo list. My idea was to use tape to mask the area and paint a cross on the coupler, with the vertical and horizontal lines at the center of where the hitch ball should align. I then found an easier solution. I simply used tape to make the cross marks. It works great, especially when I am hitching up alone. The tape is still in decent condition after two years, but I may need to replace it next year.

Wow, but a new bumper sticker is truly unnecessary. Our forum is our own, and not moderated by the factory, first of all. Then.. Any forum is an accumulation of participants' experience and/ or opinion. A number of people here have given their experience and opinions. Take it for wiw. Do your own research. All of us did.... We all hope you enjoy your new trailer. Not trying to be snippy. Just trying to figure out what information you want.... All we have to offer is what has worked for us... Thanks, and good luck, Just an fyi, in the sticky world, a couple dealers tried to convince us in 2007 that we could tow a midsize fifth wheel with my little Silverado 1500. We knew then and now that it would have been at the least a problem At worst, a disaster. Here, at the very least, you'll get real world experience from owners. I have a legacy 1, so I can't help, except to say, read and learn. Truth is, most of us are a bit on the senior side of the line, and will steer you to a more conservative solution... Happy travels, Sherry

I changed out my Xantrex 2000 watt inverter due to a warranty claim. I found that the required Chassis Ground cable was never installed. It’s the small center terminal between the two large Positive and Negative battery cables, between the two cooling fans. You can just reach in with your hand and feel for a heavy gage wire there, or use a small inspection mirror. The installation manual specifically requires a BIG cable here, minimum size 8AWG which is pretty hefty. They suggest that one the same size as the other two cables be used. There is a potential danger of shock (“Death or severe injury”) if the unit should fail without a chassis ground. Max load is 250 amps for this unit. That is a heck of a lot of current, so huge wires are required. I used a pair of 4 AWG battery cables and installed crimped and soldered terminals. You can make a cable yourself, if you have the skills and knowledge. If you don’t feel OK about this, a professionally crimped cable should be installed. I ran the cables forward to the battery box support column, using a 5/16” bolt and self locking nut. I used an existing hole that was missing it’s hardware. ;( That support is welded at the bottom to the left main frame rail, so it is an excellent ground point. I alerted Oliver Service and requested that they issue a service bulletin and send out cables as needed to all affected owners. Here is my fix: Please inspect your inverter ASAP and respond here, and submit a Service Request if needed. [attachment file=Xantrex Chassis Ground 01.png] [attachment file=Xantrex Chassis Ground 02.png] Install Manual: http://www.xantrex.com/documents/Power-Inverters/PROwatt-SW/975-0529-01-01_Rev-B(PROWatt%20SW%20Inverter%20NA).pdf John Davies Spokane WA

I had the same problem seeing the ball with the Oliver front camera, especially in the shade. I have tried several things, colored masking tape, (because I had some), it worked but fades after a while. My latest technique has been to use a thin orange latex glove on the ball and one on the receiver. When the gloves almost touch on the monitor I take them off and finish the hook up. I use the gloves to cover the ball and receiver when not hooked up also. Easy to see and avoid getting grease on things. I keep a box of orange gloves around for general use also. As for avoiding finger injuries when locking down the hitch I only touch the clamping part with the handle of my rubber dead blow hammer. Another handy thing to have around.

$40-$50 on Amazon. I can’t remember which one I got but I suspect that apart from the super expensive ones they’re all generic Chinese tools with different branding. The one I got was definitely high enough quality for the 50 or so crimps I had to do when swapping out my electrical. Also came in handy when making cables for a dual battery setup in the truck and for my portable winch.

If you tighten the hex screws on both sides of the mount it will significantly decrease the potential to come unhooked while on bumpy roads. I keep mine tight enough that the TV will stay stationary halfway down. Mike

Three years ago (shortly after I took delivery of Twist) I found that I could not see the hitch on the Oliver very well when using the on-board camera in the truck. Buzzy (another Forum member) had the same problem and we both came up with a similar solution at about the same time. We painted the hitch florescent orange. Certainly this made it visible, but, that paint fades in a very short period of time. I tried repainting again and top coating with clear sealer, but, the end result was the same. Last year I again repainted the hitch but used "hammered" silver. This has worked much better, keeps the hitch looking new and is easily seen from the truck. While at it I also lightly sanded the areas on the rest of the hitch assembly that had rusted and gave then a couple of quick coats of Krylon Black Satin. This matches the original fairly closely. Finally, note in the one picture the small strip of closed cell foam that I glued to the top of the release handle on the hitch. This prevents the tailgate on my Ford F-150 from hitting that handle and scratching/denting either one. Temporally I left that one small area un-finished for comparison of before and after. The Krylon dries quickly (less than an hour) while the Rust-Oleum takes overnight to really dry.

As owner of Hull number 14, picked up in March of 2008. I've now pulled The Wonder Egg 124,000 miles from Florida to Alaska and California to Newfoundland, including most points in between, I do admit that 2018 Olivers include a more refined bit of quality control "between the hulls", and some cool toys are being thought of (push button awnings). That being said, my venerable Wonder Egg has faithfully provide me with the dream retirement, wandering the roads 4 to 7 months each year and traversing everything from smooth interstate highways to mind boggling frost heaves in Nova Scotia, car swallowing potholes in Newfoundland, and literal hundreds of miles of dirt roads in Alaska and Montana. The trailer's "bones" are sound. Items that have failed over this period have either timed out (10 years for the original microwave and water pump) or been abused by my failure to properly care for the entire mechanical system (because I live in south Texas and was complacent about winterizing). I believe this was causative to one of the internal pressure regulator's failure. Many wonderful changes have been made by Oliver over the years, such as placing a furnace between the hulls to quiet the noise when it is on. But to do this, the power cord reel was eliminated. I do love my 45 ft, 30 amp cord that winds into the trailer with a push of a button. Sure, there were QC issues at the beginning as the company went through the slow maturation process to where they are today. But since the first Ollie graced the roads of this nation, the company has stood by their "Trailer to Last a Lifetime" idea and always made it right for the customer. Even second owners are treated like part of the family. Now, with checks and double checks taking place throughout the building process. They have, indeed, come a long, long way in the Quality Control department. Some owners have minimal skills when it comes to turning a wrench or selecting the right widget for a mechanical job (take ME , for instance) Others are gifted with the ability to discern how something could be improved upon, and have the tools and wherewithal to make it so. Bless their hearts and thank goodness they are out there to improve their rig and help the Ollie be the best it can be. Some of their ideas make it into future Ollies and others stand as examples of how their unique rig has given The Starship Enterprise a run for its money in the "pizzaz" factor. It is apparent that recommendations for improvement are noticed by the company and incorporated when it is deemed feasible to improve the Ollies rolling off the line. But, we must realize not every good idea will make it to the production floor for a myriad of reasons. Ultimately, the company decides. It is nice, though, that they have and will likely continue to listen to us. Keep those ideas coming. Bottom line, to the original post of this thread, how is the quality control of an Oliver Travel Trailer? Has it improved over the years? You bet it has. This opinion is formed from my years as an early adopter of the Ollie and talks as well as face to face meetings with owners all over the country throughout the last ten years. Pete

My wife and I live full-time in our Oliver Legacy Elite travel trailer. We are first-time trailer owners, but have a varied past tent camping and spending a great deal of time outdoors. Beginning in early 2018 we sold our Florida home and then this summer we dispensed with our cabin in northern Michigan. Our Oliver is now our only home. We chose this trailer because of visits to see first-hand the Oliver company and then its competition. We looked at other fiberglass trailers, Airstreams, and also whatever you call the higher end teardrops. The superior quality of the Oliver trailer stood out far above the rest. And so did the price. We both believed at this sales price the Oliver should be free of defects and all quality control issues handled at the plant during initial construction. But we discovered, again, that nothing is perfect when humans have a hand in making something. Oliver Travel Trailer Company has addressed the few problems we have had thus far. They have been accommodating and fair whether they personally make the repairs, send me the necessary equipment I need to do them myself, or reimburse us for expenses incurred in the process. Jason Essary has ALWAYS been available to answer a question, respond to a text message, or teach me something I need to know to better operate my equipment. There is a learning curve. One must be prepared to go through these sometimes disagreeable adventures. To read the posts of a few talented people on the forum who perform their highly detailed and complicated maintenance procedures or modifications is at the least daunting. It could be a bit overwhelming for those of us not so gifted with our hands. There is no way I will ever be doing the modifications these engineer-types perform. But I can learn the basics. I remember early on in this thread where the Lukens advised me that before my journey was over I would be everything I wasn’t in my forty-year career in the building trades. Our survival now depends on it. If I had to choose any travel trailer today my first choice would be Hull #309, the very one we eventually purchased. We love our Ollie and hope in the years to come it takes care of us as well as we take care of it.

We had a corner mount TV. I wanted to move it to the center and used the mount Steve recommended. We like the center mount much better. There are two hex screws on the sides of the hinge. If they are kept tight it prevents the TV from moving around. We did have it come unhooked once after a rather large bump. Lots of other things moved around too. Once in well over 20K miles is acceptable... Mike

Because we owners are Oliver's R&D department. I think early on, they'd try most anything an owner requested. Then they got to the point where they'd say no until the third or fourth person asked and they'd relent and try it. Now I think they say no until they see one of us make the modification ourselves and then they adopt it.

I suspect that John's missing ground is just another example of poor quality control on the early 200's. I think Oliver should probably issue a service bulletin on this so that owners know to check. Speaking of missing electrical bits - John, I'm curious if your trailer came with fuse blocks and disconnects for the batteries or solar. Mine did not, and I don't know if that was because it was delivered unfinished or if it was Oliver's choice to omit them. I was told that they felt they were unnecessary, but then I was told a lot of things and I've seen some recent trailers that at least have a fuse block in place. IMO, it's unsafe to work on the electrical without both disconnects in place and not safe at all without a fuse block on the battery and a fuse or breaker on the solar.

Thanks for the heads up J.D. I checked today, #359 is just as RnA above, #365. All is well here. John D, I have the same crimper. It has served me well, from large 2/0 down to about #8, I've never had an issue, lugs stay tight, and I don't see a need to upgrade the hydraulic crimp . I've got more tools than I need as it is.

That gold looking latch pivots around and still deploys the TV when it wants too. I will try tightening the hex nuts '' thanks . will still backup with velcro strap.

I would suggest that the white band/seal be removed from the window and cleaned on your picnic table or outside work bench. Then use any product you choose without any damage to the gelcoat. I think a better idea would be to replace the white window seals with a black one like the back/exit window. I recently requested information about that seal from Jason. We will see if it is possible in the future.

For Oliver owners, I'm offering up my place to camp if you're between planned stops, and would like a day or two to collect your thoughts. We have a "farm" with plenty of open space, water, and a place to dump your tanks if needed. Electricity is available, but most likely just a 20 amp circuit. We are located on the south side of Tim's Ford Lake, in Winchester TN. Our location is about 20 min to Jack Daniel Distillery, Lynchburg, TN about 40 min from George Dickel Distillery, Winchester, TN. We are about 1 hour to Chattanooga, and 2 hrs. to Nashville. Lots to do if you have never spent much time in this area. Easy entry off a paved road, and grassy treed area for camping. For more information you can contact me by email : rrbounds gmail.com This an exclusive offer to Oliver Travel Trailer owners only. The cost to camp is about what this post cost me...

I could not agree more with John Davies, who came up with this? We were driving home and the mount on the bracket decided to deploy on it own'', You could hear the TV crash in the downward Position. Hell we were doing 60MPH and you could hear it in the Truck! This is my fix a velcro strap........The best i could come up with.

Wishing you many miles of smiles with your new camper. Sherry

Kenny and Penny, welcome and congrats on your almost finished Oliver! Hope to meet you sometime out on the road.... Mike

My point exactly. In my comments I did not intend to imply there were no issues, simply that not all - is as it seems. My 10,000 + hours of toil tell me this.

Welcome to the party! Have a great time and enjoy. My SO and I are in a similar mindset, going to spend time just wandering about, figure out where we might want to stay a while.

On my unit, 2018 #365, it is located under the driver's side rear dinette. Just aft of the battery box and pantry. Vertically on the bulkhead. The wires are located to the front of the trailer.

Spike - On my EII it is located on the port (left) side, access hatch on right (bed area) as you face the window. The ground connection will be on the forward facing end towards the bottom. A flashlight comes in handy., you can see it very plainly.

This thread caused a lot of consternation for a lot of folks. Now that it has been resurrected it looks like it is having the same effect on current future buyers. The really negative comments were from one owner. Most everyone else, even with some initial problems, were happy campers. I listed the initial issues I had and my total satisfaction of how they were addressed by the Oliver company. There’s much more positive in this thread than negative. Mike

No worries. Your username has to remain kenpen, but the display name is changed. Welcome to the forum. Sherry

A missing ground wire is also the cause of the tow not charging the trailer through the 7 pin plug. Reed and I looked into this and found it missing on both of our trailers. #200 and # 92. I wrote about this a while back as something everyone should look at. Make sure you are charging from the tow, and if not, look for the missing ground wire that attaches to the ground lug below the rear dinette seat. I also called Oliver and was assured the problem was fixed before hull 200. They knew about it and it had been fixed. Not so. This is a different wire than from the inverter, it's the tow vehicle negative that is in the seven pin plug and must go to the trailer ground lug in order to charge and have correct brake operation. This missing ground wire seems to be the cause of Brake controller warnings too. The ground, actually the negative wire, is not completing the circuit back to the tow and the brakes are apparently grounding through the trailer ball. It sort of works, but throws a warning on the controller.

Update - when I posted a few minutes ago, I must have been reading an older series of posts where folks were pointing out many issues and assigning D ratings, but my post a few minutes ago is attached to a pretty positive set of comments. Obviously, I am not all that good at maneuvering this forum. Anyway, I am now on the positive side of things and glad to read the opinion that quality seems to be improving compared to 2017. Hope I did not offend anyone or create "negative vibes" on this mostly upbeat forum. I truly am super excited about picking up my Oliver in April, and undoubtedly will have the future opportunity to share posts about minor problems and fixes encountered along the journey. Unfortunately, I am not near as handy as many of you and will not be able to fix the more complicated problems. But, with the assistance of this forum, diagnosing problems is a breeze.

Thanks John. Just checked my 2018, #365, and it has the ground wire. 1st picture is with the looming on. 2nd with the looming pulled back. 3rd picture shows attachment to the ground block under the aft side dinette seat (foward of the battery box). I think I’ll check ground on the 120 for my hot water heater next!

I’m the one that came up with that tv mount back in 2013 and had it installed during the build of our Outlaw Oliver II. At first Oliver would not use it for anyone else due to RVIA rules about blocking the egress window. Now it is standard. We've pulled that trailer for 50-60K miles all over this country and not once has the tv come down. Check all the screws and adjust tightness if needed. Also, make sure the rotating cam/pawl lock is turning freely.

If you look at the classifieds, you see that a lot of 2017 trailers were sold to others at a loss... 2017 was a bad year in that Oliver ramped up production and made a lot of cost saving changes that took the overall quality of the trailer, down just a touch. Plus with the increased number of trailers, being that less then 200 trailers had been made in the last 10 years before that, more people found existing faults. This entire thread from the first post from over a year ago attest to this, along with many other topics that list and fix the problems from last year, or 2017, these posts really attest to what happened. The trailers being sold today have at least a few of the problems fixed and you don't see the 2018's being plastered for sale in the classifieds. The quality really went up with the water tank and bladder fix, so the answer is Yes! The quality has gone way up from all previous years, it's a much better built trailer this year. Reed

Thanks for the warning. I too have pinched my fingers, but not as badly as you described your mishap. Ouch! I try to remember to wear thick gloves when hitching and unhitching.

In your picture the TV is not hooked on the gold color latch.

OK, enough. We are getting a bit too close to that line of non-tolerance. Once again, let's all join hands around the campfire and sing a rousing chorus of Kumbaya. Bill

RogerS: Any information you glean from the forum is worth exactly what you paid for it. I have yet to find any post asking you for research, yet plenty exist, posting their personal experiences with towing and travel trailers. I'll take experience over blowhard salesmen, most, who don't know what they're selling, nor care. Personally I'm tired of seeing your posts, but I digress. Happily ignorant in TN.

Bill, Good write up! Sometimes would have same problem seeing a black hitch when backing up over black pavement with back-up camera. Also painted a white stripe for lining up with the back-up camera line making a one person operation. Painted ours with gray Rust-Oleum. Like your protective caps installed on the threaded ends of hitch bolts, too!

That's real close to our numbers.

Great write-up. We have the same setup except our truck is a 2017 Silverado. I assume that your truck is a diesel crew cab with a standard bed. Unless the 2018’s are different and not that it matters much, but if you look closely at the trailer towing section in our manual you’ll see an superscript number 1 by the max trailer weight of this model. We are actually “limited” to 13000 pounds of conventional tow capacity. The larger figure refers to the fifth wheel capacity. Of interest, the 3500 has the same limitation for the same model in SRW, although it is much higher (17200 pounds) for a fifth wheel tow. This is due to an additional spring pack on the one ton models - the ONLY mechanical difference between the two trucks.

http://olivertraveltrailers.com/trip-planning-oliver-larry-mountainborn-harmon/