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I agree with JD on tongue weight. I haven’t weighed but figure mine is about 600lbs. It would be a stretch to get to 1050lbs. I’ve towed with a Tacoma, two Ram 1500’s and now a Ram 2500. The first three trucks used the Andersen and I was always close to the payload limit with what we carry. With this 2500, I don’t worry about payload (2000+ lbs of payload). Also, no Andersen hitch. When I drop my trailer on the hitch the back drops down barely 2” compared to over 4” with the half tons. The big diesel doesn’t seem to break a sweat towing. If you have a choice, go big and don’t worry about it. Mike

Reminds me of the saying that you don't need to be able to outrun a bear. You just have to run faster than your friend.

We purchased the Yamaha 2400 Inverter Generator for our 2017 Oliver Elite II, it works great with power to spare. The only down side is it's weight but will put up with the additional weight as it is an outstanding generator.

I know you meant 100 watt portable solar panel. To get an idea of what 100 watts of solar is capable of some simple math can be applied. At 100 watts, the max amps you will get in theory is ~5 (100 watts / 18 volts). So if you had 6 hours of "great" sun on your panel, you would theoretically produce ~30 amp hours (5 amps x 6 hours). In practice, these numbers could be lower - maybe a lot lower depending on sun angles, etc. - but it gives you a ballpark. So for this example, no matter what type of batteries you have (as long as they are more than 30 Ah), a 100 watt portable solar will be sufficient to keep your batteries charged if you only use a max of 30 amp hours per day. In the grand scheme of things, a 100 watt panel doesn't seem like much when compared to a 400 Ah battery setup, but it all adds up! If you add it to the existing 340 watts (340 watts / 18 volts = 19 amps), then you can produce 144 amp hours in 6 hours of full sunlight (24 amps x 6 hours). 🙂 On an average day, do you know how many Amp Hours you typically use? We can keep it around 100 Ah per day without the convection oven / stove or any other inefficient components. Easy to double that if we aren't paying attention or not worrying about it because we have a generator and want a nice oven cooked meal.

I am a Honda fan. After reading all the Forum posts I bought the 2200 (not the Companion, an adaptor is fine) and converted it to LP with a Hutch Mountain conversion kit. Easy peasy. Now it will run on gasoline, or I can connect to the LP quick connects on our new Ollie when we get it on May 17! The YouTube installation directions made the conversion so very simple to install. After re-gapping the spark plug, it started right up on LP. Yes, a Honda is more expensive, but so is an Oliver. I don't plan to purchase another generator in my lifetime. It is very lightweight and perhaps the quietest on the market.

If the owners would like one of us to remove it, we can; or if they want to leave it on the market for the right buyer they can certainly do that, too. It’s not really our decision to make for them.

Never say never. Our immediate family is currently experiencing serious issues with CoVid. We are just trying to deal with the stress. Our hospitals have no ICU beds and our family needs them! We are getting our vaccines next week and trying to hold it together. Our daily walk is a prayer vigil. We are on our knees constantly. But it did our hearts good to go out and take those photos and fall in Love again! Oliver is a great product. We are proud to be part of the family.

Yes - I've heard it said before - "when it gets hot, get high" 🤣

Hello, We are Dan and Theresa from Colorado. Yesterday we brought home our new 2020 Elite II as second owners. (Hull #627). After a couple decades of camping with pop-up tent trailers, we have moved up...way up! We first learned of Oliver just a few months ago as we started researching travel trailers and finding that we were dissapointed with the quality of pretty much everything we saw. I started reading through the forums several weeks ago as we were considering this purchase. There seems to be so much great information shared and a sense of family. I'm sure I will have questions as I get some experience and start to ready the trailer for a trip and would sure appreciate the wisdom of this group! The weight and size of the Oliver meant we needed to upgrade our tow vehicle as well. So --- we pulled the Ollie home with our brand new Silverado 1500 I6 Duramax and it was fantastic. We are a little (Ha ha) lighter in the wallet now but excited for upcoming adventures as recent "empty nesters." Already have reservations at Great Sand Dunes NP in Spring, Rocky Mountain NP in June and Mount Rusmore/Custer SP in Fall. Looking to add more in-between. Again, appreciate all the great info shared here! Dan & Theresa 2020 Oliver Elite II, Hull 627, 2021 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 3.0L I6 Duramax

Our third taillight has had its issues over the 13 years, requiring resealing every 3 years or so. This year, it developed some hairline cracks, as well. We decided to remove and replace the lens. Ours was held mostly by (probably 4200) adhesive, and a few dabs of epoxy. The adhesive loosened with a heatgun on low in the attic, and a plastic scraper. The epoxy was mostly mechanical, plus heat. And not fun. We broke the lens in several places removing it. We installed the new lens from Oliver with a bed of grey butyl tape. Since that's not truly an adhesive, Paul added 6 small stainless screws. We felt pretty comfortable with the addition of the screws, since butyl is pretty much self-healin, self-sealing. After a couple days for the butyl to rest, he applied loctite marine to the exposed edge of the trimmed butyl, to protect it from uv and dirt . Today, we added a lip of eze rv gutter on the eyebrow, for good measure, extending beyond the length of the bottom of the trapezoid lens. I can't tell you for another 5 or 6 years if this is a better solution, but I'll be able to tell sooner if it fails. We'll see. We're both very happy with tried and true old school butyl as window and hatch bedding.

So I don’t have my Oliver yet (May 2020) but just bought my tow vehicle. I was deciding between F150 and F250. I went with 2021 Platinum F150 4x4 with 3.5L ecoboost and max tow package. Payload sticker is 1,535 lbs. A couple reasons. The TV is my daily driver and I just did not want to drive F250 around town. My use case for next 5 years or so won’t have me on weeks long trips and I am not a heavy packer. I prefer hiking so no bikes or kayaks to carry. Inside truck normally just me and 40lb dog. In 5 years or so when I start taking much longer trips(weeks at a time) I will look at bigger trucks. Of course by then I hope to have a nice Bronco in garage for daily driver. I was really tempted by F250 payload but just not ready to make that leap yet. Good luck!

You pretty much answered your own question on the Payload calculation. As mentioned - the TW is somewhere around 600 give or take a few. Do a search here for TV - lots of real world advice. Glad to have you in the group. RB

I assume you are referring to the Honda 2200i Companion. The pictures I see on Google look like it but I can’t be sure because I can’t physically test that. And it looks like the newest model have cover over the outlets so that’s another variable to consider. The following pictures show my equipment. I use a 50' 12 gauge extension cord plugged into an outdoor 15 amp outlet at home to power my trailer 24/7 365. But I can run the air conditioner with the same extension cord plugged into the Honda 2000i. And I will mention it again, I do have an Easy Start. I recently helped a friend install a Soft Start on his 10 year old SOB trailer and he is using a Yamaha 2200i. Works just fine. The other equipment in the pictures are the neutral ground plug that came with my trailer. A test cable I made out of a male and female 15 amp replacement plugs and a scrap of wire. An AC/DC Amp meter to take load readings from the generator. A 15 to 30 amp conversion plug. Mossey

If they're keeping it can a moderator remove the listing in the classified section? Might be helpful so that someone doesn't think they've found one when it's no longer for sale...

Glad you are keeping it! The time spent in our Oliver has been some of our best times. Enjoy! Mike

So you guys are keeping your Ollie? That’s great news! Please keep us updated on your trip to Florida - happy butterfly hunting!

Welcome back to the forum, I hope you can post some pics and tell us how you are adjusting to your new Ollie lifestyle. The other way to look at break-ins is to put everything of value, including paperwork, garage remote, etc, in a small bugout bag, and take it into the house each and every night. Leave the car doors unlocked, a thief will open them and look in the glovebox and console and leave. Lock it up, you end up with a busted window or jimmied lock, and possibly weather (water) damage to the interior. If it is a polite crook you may never even know he was there..... unless you find him asleep in the back. John Davies Spokane WA

Nice - happy trails.

Carl, thanks for clearing up my confusion, obviously I was not fully informed. That was great information. I do want to caution that the Anderson is NOT suitable for offroad use. Graded forest roads, small potholes, washboard, no worries. If you remove all the chain tension it will do about as well as a regular ball hitch, but when they are tight they severely limit articulation, and they can put a huge amount of stress on the truck and the trailer frames when the back of the truck drops into a gully or washout. It also has very inadequate ground clearance in those situations. Also, it actually is not very good at weight distribution compared to a traditional hitch with big steel spring bars. It excels at controlling hobby horsing as Bill pointed out, and at controlling sway, which an Oliver does not need. Get a dead weight offroad coupler like the one Overland has, I am sure he will chime in or you can Message him to ask. If necessary you could add rear airbags to level the back under a load, and maybe install better shocks with adjustable dampening. I have the Andersen and I really wish my Land Cruiser could do without it. John Davies Spokane WA

10 month wait - WOW. And Oliver gets $$ up front - I always said it was a great business. I don't believe you will need the Anderson, for the towing, but what is the payload rating of your TV. You should take a look at that number. Not sure what the hitch weight of an E1 would be at full capacity. And respectfully - all the fanfare from cars.com is worth what they cost - nothing. The actual numbers - printed on your vehicles GVWR sticker are the legal ratings. That is the DNA. Welcome to the group.

Finished up mounting the batteries this afternoon. Couldn’t have done it without the help of fellow Ollie owner, Ken Cvacho, @mountainoliver.

Hurricane season is over. Supply chains are opening up. Get the yamaha, if it's what you really want, but one of the lesser names, purchased from Costco or another source with a good return policy, would also do quite well.

Our rooftop solar is most advantageous on the road, and in storage, and we get some charge even if camped in partial sun through the day. We also supplement this with (currently) 100 watts of portable, when our rooftop panels are shaded. 80 watts of portable wouldn't keep my batteries charged, but, we have a dc danfoss/secop fridge to add into the equation of shoulder season camping.

John, Agreed, a Magruder road trip is not for the inexperienced, faint of heart or those afraid of dirt/dust and scratches/dings to the body work. I've travel this route (it is my backyard area sort of) so many times I can't keep track. Started back in the 60's with Grandpa/Grandma dragging us brats along to pick huckleberries or hunt bear...hated some of those forced outings. Of course, now days, I'm guilty of the same punishment on the youngsters. I've hauled horses in stock trucks and trailers over the Magruder for years. It's just a matter of what you know and are used to, I guess. These type of roads are not a big deal to me, but yes you had better know how to use your mirrors and be very comfortable backing up your rig, to include around switchbacks. Big cities and traffic...that's my Rubicon. Every time I hit Denver traffic headed south on I-25, I wonder why I'm here and if I'll make it across the US interstate parking lot mess to visit the kids. The posted photos are from this last summer. A buddy had never been across Magruder and wanted a guide. So off we go...spent two nights at the top of the world and as I'm totally done with the tent camping, the truck camper was my rig of choice: from the USFS brochure...#10 - Observation Point Observation Point Campground has nice camping spots and toilets. The elevation is 7620 feet and visitors can view the southern portion of the Bitterroot Mountain Range, especially El Capitan. The point also offers breathtaking vistas of subalpine/ alpine wilderness. As to long wheel bases and bigger sized TVs. It's all relative I guess. Your four door Yota would be considered big and cumbersome on many roads, but it appears you at least know how to get yourself out of a mess. Our two door Jeep (and really, do Jeeps need four doors...errr) is the right sized 4x4 for our needs. But compared to a Suzuki Samurai we are huge. Sorry for the slight thread hijack...back to tow vehicles and the endless discussion of what is the best rig. In my experience, you either use what you already own or can afford or move on to obtaining the correct vehicle matched to the task at hand. Me, I use what I already own which was purchased to tackle my taskings. Would I haul Ollie over the above discussed roads...yup, if it was all I owned. Spent, folded and/or mutilated be damned. Mark

We’ve had a couple of Tacomas, lots of miles and they still held their value. I was surprised both times at the trade in amount I got. I actually got more at the Ram dealer for my second Tacoma than the Toyota dealer where I bought it. Mike

I owned an Oliver Elite II for four years and loved it. Like Raspy, I wanted better off-road performance. I stubbed my toe by purchasing a Ram Rebel and a Conqueror 490. The combo was incredibly capable off-road, but the Rebel's range was too limited and the 490 was way to much work and lacked the creature comforts I was accustomed to. So, I now have a Ram 2500 diesel and a Kimberley S3 should be in a container headed my way in early January. I'm pretty confident I've found the right combination for the type of travel and camping I love.

For what it's worth: To be on the safe side, we never run our fridge on auto mode. If you switch it manually and it doesn't detect power, it should alarm to let you know.

Which model Norcold is being installed these days? The 510.3 Norcold will default to dc if neither 110 nor lp is available, according to this manual. (This did not occur in our Dometic, as I recall. It was only 110 or lp in auto.)

Isn't this the same trailer that is currently for sale in the classified section?