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Agreed, no lithium logo per Oliver’s comment on the Oliver Owners FB page. I also saw a comment from Oliver saying lithium batteries will run the AC. Spoke with Anita this morning, she said details of this package would be released In the weeks to come. The Ollie is on its way to the Hiawassee Rally to show off the new lithium pro package.

Oliver put me in touch with prospective buyers, and ten days ago I showed them my Ollie. (Yes, we all tested our temperatures before meeting, and we all wore masks and used hand sanitizer.) The prospective buyers said that their Oliver sales rep told them that lithium batteries would be a factory option quite soon.

Thank you to all who replied! We are going with burgundy and dark grey.

rideadeuce - We considered making the receiver out of aluminum but that takes a different skill level and the finished product would be more succeptable to stress cracking. If we had Oliver's talented welders and materials available, things might be different.

Just saw this in the Oliver FB forum. Looking forward to learning more about this!

Made a whirlwind trip to Hohenwald and back this week and now have a deposit on an Elite 2 for delivery in mid-October. Started out our marriage as backpackers, then tent campers when our children were small, now embarking on new adventures in retirement. We are near Raleigh, NC.

Dang! Another North Carolina Oliver owner. Welcome to the group and congrates. Bill

Love the gif. Pass the popcorn. Tests have been done in Australia on far more efficient ac units than the Dometic units available to the US. and, we've all seen Overland's experiment. Will it run ac? Sure. How long.... However, I'm really glad Oliver is getting into lithium. Maybe then, they'll offer a dc danfoss compressor refrigerator . 😄 Sherry

I went to the only repair shop that would agree to work on an oliver trailer. They didn't do a bad job. They took pics and updated me daily. Most of the frustration with them came after the guy fell off the ladder and scratched the trailer, but it had to be sent to another store for the fix so even that wasn't their fault. Having the dealer, the fiberglass repair and Oliver was just a case of too many cooks. Anyway, regardless of whether or not somebody has posted about this issue, it is a very well known issue within the company. The design is very poor in that in order to properly maintain the penetration that gets hammered by sun and pooling water, you have to remove the awning, the brackets, clean and re-seal.....just as you said. Thats when people fall off ladders and open worm cans. You can choose to remove the bulb seal to solve the pooling water, but now you have rain pouring down the side defeating the purpose of the awning all together. Regardless, you're missing the point in the fact that this problem exists at all on a brand new rig. Oliver chooses not to have a dealer network representing their product, as far as I'm concerned, the dealer they choose to work on the trailer may as well have an Oliver sign out front. Oliver saves a boat load of money by going direct to consumer, this is a cost of doing business and they should take complete responsibility for any come-backs. Instead, they try to wash their hands of any issues and make the dealership own it. Not a great way to build your network in my opinion. I have no doubt my dealer would go back in and work on the leak because they seem like good folks, but I can guarantee they would not work on the next problem. Then we're back to having zero dealers in Montana. If you have an established dealer willing to tough it out, maybe things are different for you.

Perfection is not the goal as I've stated numerous times but if I'm going to pay 3x's the price of a standard trailer, it should at least be pretty darn good. I don't consider Airstream the competition just because its the most overpriced trailer out there and I would never consider owning one. Point is, the bulb seal causes leaks, the penetrations in the Olivers hull are not sealed with any sort of "ingenuity" and Oliver continues to repeat the same installations knowing its causing leaks. I guess I'm the only one here that believes if I purchase a "premium" product, I shouldn't need to tinker with it non-stop just to stay dry inside and under my awning outside for that matter. I didn't buy an Oliver to sit at home in the shop and polish it all day. Its a tool just like my last several RV's. I was hoping it would be close to a Festool but turns out its a better than average Ridgid or something! Don't worry, even my Festool products aren't perfect:)

I will end with this - sell don't sell, not my issue, but if its a leak, it can be remedied, and the bulb issue you reference - has several options - if one applies some ingenuity. I doubt you will ever be happy - perhaps an Airstream would be better suited - for a short time I expect, but in the end RV's at their best, will have issues as time goes by, and if perfection is the goal, good luck. Read the competition forums, I'd wager this one is vastly more informative on this subject, and much less overall - my RV sucks. Hope it all works out for you. RB

Oliver did the panels. The batteries I did myself, professionally. 😛

Don and Jan, Welcome to the Oliver Forum! While most Oliver owners tow with trucks, there are a number of us that tow with an SUV. A truck would not work well for our everyday driving, and it certainly would not fit into our garage. Earlier thread on SUVs here. We tow with an Audi Q7 SUV, which has been a wonderful tow vehicle. Plenty of power on hills or when accelerating. It has a tow rating of 7700 lbs. I did a quick search for BMW X5 35d tow rating, and came up with 6000 lbs. That might be marginal for an Elite II with water and all of your gear. The tow rating I found might be for gas, and not diesel, so you should check out the Trailer Life Towing Guides. Like you, photography is one of my passions, especially when camping. The Oliver is the only RV we have ever owned, and we have loved it. Rather than a Class C or a truck camper, we have been glad we made the choice of a detachable trailer to leave behind as a base camp when we take the car for day trips. While I have never towed on a severely potholed road, we have driven on plenty of dirt roads and camped on BLM land. My all time favorite campsite was on BLM land in Valley of the Gods, where we drove seven miles on a dirt road. It took us half an hour, so we must have driven slowly. You should also be aware that many European SUVs prohibit the use of a weight distribution hitch. Check your owner's manual. Yes, but I think he had his vehicle modified to permit the use of a WDH. See earlier thread here.

Good looking logo. Also never forget that a plain, swooshless Ollie looks fantastic. We used to get a ton of compliments on our pure white 'snowball', probably more than we do with our graphics (which probably says something about my graphic design skills, but let's pretend it doesn't).

ahatter, I appreciate your honest feedback! I've had my share of issues shortly after delivery with several leaks. I understand the frustration and disappointment, I felt exactly the same as you. Several months and several trips to the plant, things finally smoothed out. Now 40K miles on my Oliver I'm pleased. But you're right in saying that they should get their act together. Oh, and I'm not a member of the fan club but I've learned a great deal from owners smarter than me. I've realized all campers go through issues out the door. Could be why many buy used. Best wishes and I hope Oliver makes it right for you!

I think everyone was very happy and excited when they purchased the Oliver. So that’s the answer with poor quality control? Sell your trailer if your not happy and buy something else?

The attached three images shows a plumbing flow diagram rather than an approximate physical layout diagram. The images are for later Legacy II models. I print out all three and lay them out side by side when trying to follow water flow. Please advise of any errors or omissions.

Neat! Can you post the design drawings or photos of the cross beam and braces before they were installed under the frame? It appears that the frame bolts go all the way through, and are there inner spacers? For me this design would never work due to limited ground clearance (reduced departure angle) but the steel receiver would act as a skid plate on a hard surface like concrete and protect the softer frame.... on a soft surface it would dig in and possibly catch on a rock.... Do you worry about expansion/ contraction issues? I see a cushion under the one frame bracket, is that for sideways movement or corrosion protection? For those who are unaware, steel expands about half what aluminum does, for a given temperature change. https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/linear-expansion-coefficients-d_95.html As long as a hitch can shift some due to the way the mounts attach, this should never be an issue unless you plan to tow your Ollie in outer space where it gets quite hot and chilly at the same time. FYI, I fabricated a steel bumper/ skidplate for an aluminum utility trailer and I never had any issues. I drilled the mounting holes a little oversized so things could shift if they needed to. It’s great to see folks engineering stuff to make their trailers more useful and personal... thanks for posting. John Davies Spokane WA