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John, The custom 10’ cord I purchased above is made right here in the eastern part of our state in Raleigh, North Carolina. here- https://www.pduwhips.com/aboutus.aspx It appears to be very well constructed with top notch components and has many very positive user reviews. I try to source and purchase high quality products here in NC when I can. I think it’s gonna be a keeper. And agreed, ya gotta be careful on Amazon. If I by chance I unlikely wear this cord out or it fails, I will give Marinco a try. -Patriot

Sure, The barn is 26ft wide by 32ft deep. The front barn door opening is 10ft by 10ft. The roof pitch is 12/12 a 10/12 pitch also looked nice. The front barn door is split in the middle with one side sliding right and the other left. We have them hooked up to work on garage door openers and that is pretty slick. The back door is 8ft x 8ft. The balcony is 4ft x 10 ft. The loft apartment is 16ft deep x 26ft wide. We also have some storage on the 2nd floor on the right and left and we have hoist to lift items to the 2nd floor. If I were doing this again, I might go a little bit larger. I am including some pictures if it will help. Please feel free to ask any questions. Thanks!!

Mike, I added solar panels, a solar controller, battery monitor, converter charger and LiFPO4 batteries on our 2019 Elite II. I have also helped a number of other Oliver owners do the same. I would be more than happy to answer any questions, provide you with some written directions and aid you in anyway I can. Chuck, mentioned above, Is one of the owners I helped out. I think there are some pictures of my install on his thread. PM me your contact information if you are interested. Andrew

Just a note on the generators -- you'll need a neutral grounding plug for most generators or it'll trip the Progressive Industries power monitor. This is the one we use. We also just went with the Ryobi generators (blister pack of two 2300W with bluetooth control. with the 30amp kit was less than one Honda - if you dont trust Ryobi's 3 year warranty I think I could have gotten the Home Depot one and still been under the cost of one Honda) but only use one - the other is in storage. They seem to be in short supply now too. Haven't had as many recalls as Honda, folks in Puerto Rico ran them 24/7 for a long time after the hurricane and swore by them. Bluetooth app lets you see hours run and monitor remaining runtime on fuel. You can also set a timer for it to cut off after a certain amount of time (ie just recharging batteries) or send a remote kill (ie just waiting for AC to cool down camper). We hardly use ours with solar, just to run the Microwave a few times and once to charge the batteries because we were under a canopy of trees and there was snow everywhere. We used it once just to see if it would work with one for the AC - and it did. So even if the Honda really is superior (I don't think it is), it's not worth the investment to us for a rarely used piece of equipment. Your needs may be different.

If the preloved Ollie you're looking at is prewired for portable solar (has the port), you can add portable for just several hundred dollars. Even if it's not prewired, it's not a big expense to add the wiring and port. A lot of people find the portable solar is quite enough to meet their needs. I have a good friend who spent a week at Quartzite, with a single 100 watt panel and a single group 27 battery, and she did fine. But, she's a lifetime camper, and conservative in power management. Take a look at Renogy and Zamp suitcase solar, and you'll see it's quite affordable. Look for a suitcase with waterproof controller, imo. Still keeps you in the hundreds, not thousands of dollars in investment. As to whether you "need it" or not, that's really a factor of how you normally camp. If you tend to stay in sites with power, you don't. If you tend to camp only weekends, or travel camp a lot (driving somewhere new every day or two), you probably don't need solar, as you'll likely charge your battery from the tow vehicle as you travel. If you're like some of us, and spend weeks on end at an unpowered site, you'll probably want to add solar. That said, at many times of the year, I can get more power from my portable 100 watt than 200 watts of fixed panels, camping in the shade... Sherry

Solar is needed if you ever plan to camp for more than a few nights where there are no hookups. Some owners do fine without it, but I think it's safe to say that most buyers get the solar package. The easiest way to add solar is to ask Oliver to do it. I don't know how much they charge to retrofit solar but I'd certainly give them a call first to find out. If you plan to do it yourself, you'll need the panels and a solar charge controller. I'd also highly recommend that you add a better battery monitor while you're at it, since they're relatively cheap and easy to install while you're doing everything else. I believe that the cables to the roof are preinstalled but you may need some additional cabling, lugs, a crimper, mounting brackets, etc. It would be a fairly involved job but nothing that you couldn't handle if you're handy. The advantage of doing it yourself is that you can pick a better charger and panels than what Oliver uses. You might take a look at these two threads as a starting point - Another option is to go with a portable solar suitcase. With that, you don't need a separate charge controller and adding an external port to plug them in would be a much easier task. You could always start with that before diving into rooftop solar. Many people add some portable solar even if they have rooftop, just for the flexibility, additional solar, and ability to keep the batteries charged while the trailer is covered in storage.

Stand by for sticker shock if you have to buy Marinco products. The standard joke in the local boating community is that if it is "yellow" it has to come with a 100% mark-up because it is "Marine Grade" just from being yellow! I bought a 50' Marinco cable because the local West Marine store just wanted it to heck out of their store (heavy, big, took a lot of shelf space, had it for two years, etc.). The gave me a smoking good price, like half off! I then cut it up and made-up the sections and connectors I needed.

We store Beacon in our barn that was completed last spring before we even fully considered purchasing an RV. The barn has a few nice features including a full seasonal bathroom, an outdoor shower on the first floor, and a small efficiency apartment on the back half on the 2nd floor. The apartment has a nice view of our beach and newly constructed beach pavilion. One additional nice item is, I set up our hose so I can have hot water to wash the cars and now the Oliver. Friday is wash day for the Ollie as we are finally starting to get some warm weather. I do not have 30 amp outlet in the barn yet. I am looking for some advice, currently I have Beacon plugged in to a standard outlet using the 30 amp cord with an adapter at the wall socket to keep the 4 AGM batteries charged. Is this ok? Should I unplug the Ollie occasionally? I would appreciate some feedback on this. Thanks and stay healthy and safe!!

John davies, I'm sure at that price point it's not the equivalent of the same size true Yamaha. But, since she uses it a dozen times a year or so, mostly to charge batteries, it's perfect for her, and affordable. An alternative.

I used the nav on my new truck on the way home from the dealer. It was already out of date.

Just looked at several reviews on YouTube and this one like many worked as described. I did want one with a 7" screen, backup camera availability if I later decided I want to add one in the future, does have a battery that does give and hour run time if needed which you could carry with you when out of the vehicle, accepts both traffic and weather if you want to add it. There are several other things that this model offers which I don't need or use because our Ram offers all these electronics in our pickup. Buying a GPS and I have purchased several over the years it can be pretty much a toss up on which one you choose as many offer so many options. I personally wanted one with a 7" screen and most 7" Garmin GPS's come with many options as standard. I have never purchased any GPS but a Garmin and have always been satisfied with my purchases. As I have read on sites the iPhone is taking over GPS and as so many phones do offer so many options today, it's hard to say the GPS is worth spending a lot of money for, but I like the screen on the GPS over the iPhone and I can read that 7" screen. trainman

Thanks for the nice feedback. We enjoy this spot very much late spring through Columbus Day. We winterize everything around here after Columbus Day including the barn, boat, and pool. The area closes up after Columbus Day. We go camping from late January through April down south. We use the barn apartment for summer overflow of guests and actually it is usually the coveted choice for guests. We were going to rent it out as an Airbnb but have not done that yet. This year is especially not good for rental. There are lots of rental properties in the area in the summer. I have a holding/pump tank for the barn waste water just to the left of the front door. There were no pump out stations open near to us when we had to come home early this spring. No problem I just dug up the service door and emptied Beacon's black and gray water. I am thinking I may put a 4 inch waste pipe in then I could host an RV if I wanted. We would have everything for a full hook up and easy for me to pump out any time. Let us know if you are in mid coast Maine!!!! Enjoy your summer!!! Best wishes Matt & Nancy.

Mattnan - You can't be serious - that is one really sweet setup. Nicely done! Bill

Mattnan, All I can say is super wow factor! Very well done. -Patriot

Mattnan, I love your barn! And your location is beautiful! Sherry

Yup Landrover, it is a great place for a Lobster rally!!! Once this Covid 19 is under control we would be able to do something like that. This is a great area; beach, boat launch, several lobster pounds near by and the Pemaquid Light House. Lots to see and do. We have a converted lobster boat in the harbor and see the lobster boats fishing all day from the house. There are campgrounds in the area (one on our street) and we could host one or possibly 2 Ollies in the barn driveway. We go camping in the winter down south as I cherish our summers here. If folks are in mid-coast Maine please feel free to contact us. We are about 1 hour north of Portland. We feel very fortunate. Thanks

Some of the best sweet and un sweet tea is made in the south by far. 🥤

When we were growing up in the south, "PoP" was expensive so we mostly drank “Sun” ice tea. My mom made it very diluted so us kiddos could drink all we wanted. It kept us hydrated and was effectively a low caffeine low sugar beverage. When camping, she would make it in advance and put it into cleaned out 1.75L bourbon bottles (without labels). They were heavy glass so they kept the tea cold in the cooler and also poured really easy as they had a handle too! During the summer of 1968 (I was 16 years old at the time), we were on the Tchefuncte River camping and water skiing. The retired couple that was camped next to us seemed really nice. But as the day passed, they became quite agitated with us. We could not figure out why. Each time the ski boat returned we would run over to the camp table and guzzle about a pint of weak tea in our Red Solo cups. When the bottle was empty, Mom would bring out another one from the "Ice Chest". Each time, the retired couple would get even madder. Then a State Trooper showed up at our camp site. I had just finished water skiing and ran past the officer and poured and downed about a pint of our weak tea. The officer asked if he could have some, and I poured him a pint into a Red Solo cup. He tasted it and then loudly said "Wow, this is really good". The retired couple were at this point pointing at the officer and us and were now cursing about how shameful it was "In broad daylight". The Officer ignored them and we talked for a few minutes about water skiing on the Tchefuncte river with its alligators and poisonous water moccasins. After several minutes, he went over to the couple and suggested that maybe they should just mind their own business as drinking weak tea was just fine. The look on the retired couple's faces was worth a million dollars. Those folks were packed and gone in about 60 seconds.

I'm sorry your fan malfunction was it's demise. I was hoping our fix would be your answer too. I fixed ours this morning & it works great. Fingers crossed it continues to do so.

Neither did we (one reason we went with the Nature's Head). Here is something you may want to consider. Since we wanted to dump the gray water (responsibly) when boon docking and at an RV park so that we wouldn't be limited on our water usage (sometimes we decide even shower at an RV park in the Ollie), we bought a gray (colored) garden hose and used these two adapters: Camco Durable Sewer Cap with Hose Connection Camco 3" & 4" Easy Slip Gray Water Sewer Hose Seal

How to inspect and clean the TWO vent air filters. Yes, there are two, one at each side opening. It is really easy if you do this when the toilet is removed for servicing and cleaning. I set mine on a workbench for easy viewing. Front exhaust filter. Remove the two housing machine screws and lower the unit onto the nearest star wheel arm to support the delicate fan wires. Remove the two fan screws and carefully pry the fan and filter away from the rubber gasket. Leave the gasket undisturbed. Seperate the fan from the filter. Blow off the accumulated dust from the filter and the fan blades (hold the fan with a finger so it does not spin). Reassemble. My filter was visually clogged with fine coconut coir dust but it was still pulling air. Note: if you keep the coir moist with fresh water from the sink sprayer, it reduces the amount of fine particles that might get sucked into the exhaust fan when the wheel is rotated. If it is allowed to dry out (turns a very light brown color on top) it will send lots of dust into the filter. Rear inlet filter. Remove the housing and then the filter, clean and reinstall. This filter was barely dirty. This was the first time I have cleaned these in 18 months. The manufacturer recommends to check them every two weeks. LOL.... I think annually is fine, unless you have really fluffy dogs that shed. After cleaning the fan did move more air. It is really important to keep positive flow of air through the toilet for it to function well. John Davies Spokane WA

I decided better safe than sorry on the bug thing. I had the ladder out yesterday to install the easy start on my AC, so why not add a screen to the plumbing vent while I was up there. Taking off the vent cap is just one screw and it pops off. Once uncovered, the PVC vent sticks up a half inch or so from the roof, making it a simple task to add some screen. I had a pack of these in the trailer for repairs, and they fit perfectly with just enough overlap to zip tie one on the vent. (Those particular patches come with tape around the edge, but it didn't want to stick so I took the tape off and used a zip.) Took all of five minutes, if that. Just be sure that if you go through the trouble of adding a screen that you use a finer mesh like a tent screen. I think standard screen that you'd get at the hardware store is probably not fine enough to keep out the sort of gnats that would infest your toilet.