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Capitol Reef National Park, Utah.

I took The Wonder Egg to Alaska last year. It had everything in the front and below the belly band covered with multiple layers of Vortex and automotive paint to match my gelcoat. Overall, I was very satisfied. Nothing will ever chip my front lower section again, however, a few small bits of the automotive paint were chipped. These were easily covered over with touch-up paint from any auto store ... the key is to find the right brilliant white color match for your trailer. John's Stone Stomper gravel guard would preclude those tiny hits in the lower front. I spent 200+ miles on dirt roads in Alaska and felt very protected. BUT . . . The only bigs whacks my rig received weren't on dirt roads, instead, it was the numerous large construction trucks speeding in the opposite direction on narrow, paved two lane highways without adequate tarps on top, tossing off rocks and hurling stones from their wheels. I received a nice front windshield chip on the truck and one high placed chip on the front shoulder of The Wonder Egg. When you see one of those construction trucks approaching, the best course of action is to move to the right as far as possible and slow down until they pass.

John, thank you for the thoughtful post. I will attempt to contact you directly so I don't hijack Bobfist's original post regarding film and coatings.

The problem with any film that you put on the trailer is that it doesn’t stop rocks from bouncing back at your truck. You will find debris on top of your rear bumper, chips in the tailgate paint and license plate, pits in the glass and and possible a busted rear glass, if you are very unlucky. Taylor.coyote.... if you indeed are going to be spending half your towing miles on gravel (!) then you need to do what I did. https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/how-to-stone-stomper-gravel-guard/ https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/how-to-subframe-gravel-guard/ https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/how-to-rear-mud-flaps-for-the-ollie/ The Stone Stomper works magnificently. The downsides are that it requires a lot of custom fabrication since you can’t just screw some brackets into the front of the hull. Hitching and unhitching is more complicated, but you get used to the extra steps. You cannot use it in sticky, gloppy mud, it will get overloaded and damaged. For soupy mud, no worries. The manufacturer says to remove it for “offroad”, meaning any situation where it will get dragged into obstacles. The mesh sends all the chaos from the road - rocks, water, tar, dirt, fresh chip seal - underneath the frame. The area above the A frame stays very clean and dry, as does the back of the TV. But you need to catch all that stuff before it sand blasts your suspension, frame and under side of the hull, thus the need for rubber flaps. Which cause increased drag. At 60 mph in pouring rain, the rear glass and front of the trailer below the beltline remain almost dry. I seldom need to use the rear wiper until I slow down. I have used the Stone Stomper and associated flaps for over 10,000 miles now and I would not travel without it. The front of “Mouse” looks like new, as does the frame. The mesh is holding up very well, the only problem I had was with the center support poles. I used thin Schedule 40 PVC conduit and they started to fail after a couple of thousand miles (snapped in two). I replaced them with heavy wall Schedule 80 pipe and have had no further problems. I do carry spares, just in case, but you can buy a ten foot piece at any hardware store and cut it to length in a half hour at the campsite. Cost is reasonable and customer support has been stellar, the current exchange rate (1.00 AUD is less than 0.70 USD) makes it affordable. Shipping was very fast, but mine got held up at US Customs for a week. ;( I have used Rock Tamers in the past, but even when they are rigged “Aussie style” at a 30 degree static angle (to deflect rocks downwards, not back at the truck) they are only vaguely effective. Your choice of tires has an enormous effect on the quantity of rocks thrown up. A tight tread design like a typical All Terrain will constantly send up a barrage of the fine gravel typically found on graded roads. A mud tire with wide spacing (like my Nitto Ridge Grapplers) throws up maybe 10% as much. Plus it grips way better in turns, a big bonus when you are pulling three tons of trailer. John Davies Spokane WA

Honestly I can’t answer that. I’ve never been to Alaska it’s my understanding that some of the roads are ruff I’m sure no matter what you put on if you travel miles on gravel roads there’s going to be some damage. I read some have used home made mats not pretty but worked. John Davies has a good mud rock guard design. The graphic installer can answer your question. In My opinion it won’t protect from a Alaska trip. Under normal road conditions I would say yes. Hope you find the right combination.

I'm new to this party and understand value of the items everyone is requesting. it's clear that Oliver is good at making and delivering about 150+/- very big ticket items and not set up to encourage or manage a large number of small ticket transactions. I have yet to visit the factory but from afar it's pretty safe to assume this needs to be considered and budgeted as a marketing expense. Yep an expense. Even if they take fat margins on these items, they will mostly likely be financial losers because of a lack of infrastructure for this very different kind of business activity. Yep an activity with great feel good and good will affirming value for all involved. This said, I think it's time for them to find a way to put their toe in water, keep it simple and have available a few good quality items. I might suggest they consider outsourcing the inventory, transaction / fulfillment to a third party that good at managing larger volume, small ticket business activities so the folks at Oliver can focus on their core strengths and keep making great trailers.

Check in your area for company’s that do vehicle graphic wraps. They can wrap any area you like with a clear vinyl wrap that is used mostly for the front of vehicles. It will keep the areas you want protected. Then after time it can be easily removed and replaced. They use heat guns to conform to all curves. I had a Freind who did the clear wrap on the front of his trucks bumper hood and fenders its very hard to tell that it was even done. I think others have posted different ways to protect the front you should be able to search them

I used a Weber Q1200 for a couple of seasons but replaced it with a Cobb Premier Grill for a number of reasons. The Weber didn’t fit in the basement of the Elite II and the Cobb does. The Cobb uses charcoal rather than propane. The Cobb is also much more versatile—check out the website and see what you can do with a Cobb. I also like to cook outside on a propane stove. I opted for a Partner Steel stove. It’s very powerful and easy to keep clean.

Can you imagine what a stick built or Airstream would look like after similar trauma? Is this poor Ollie reparable?

I thought I would share the BLOG my wife and I created showing the trip to pickup our Oliver Elite II - (Hull 505). We did the trip in early August 2019. The way the blog is setup you can click on the links at the top of the page to see either the "Trip to Hohenwald" ...or..."Jump to the trip home" (The pickup is on the first page of the "Trip Home" section. This should work on either a computer display...or a phone... I give this link to prospective buyers when they come visit to see our Oliver. Here's the link... https://4-ever-hitched.com/