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UPDATE - Returned home after first trip with wife and teenage daughter. It was intentionally an easy trip. Drive about 200 miles total over 3 days. I highly recommend an easy first trip for rookie RVers (like us). This was a great way to get my (semi-reluctant spouse) to enjoy a weekend in the Ollie. The first night we visited our family at their ranch near Llano, TX. The second night we stayed at a Harvest Host in the middle of Johnson City, TX and we met up with old friends. Great food and conversation all weekend. Overall, the trailer is great. Today, I will work to repair 3 minor "issues" with the trailer, but I will search the forums and start new threads if I have questions: (1) need to check the electric AC connection on my Norcold fridge (won't work on AC power when plugged in; does fine on propane); (2)aAutomatic gate closed on the trailer scratching the fiberglass (need to try to buff it out; and (3) mirrored bathroom door has a crack. I don't think any of these are major repairs, but if I have questions, I'll post on the forum. @John E Davies & @topgun2 - thanks for the advice about sterilizing the fresh tank. I will do that today. We don't use the fresh tank for drinking water, but, obviously, want the fresh tank to remain "fresh". @Mike and Carol - I will defintely disconnect my batteries before storage. Thank you. @Time2Go! - Our HH was the 290 Vinery in Johnson City, TX. This is a historic hill country town on HW 290 (the TX wine country trail). Overall, our stay was great. The owners and their adult kids were very casual and relaxed. They have a large variety of wines, including many from outside the region. There are no hookups. It was a busy winery on Saturday afternoon, but after it closed (around 6 pm), we were there alone. The best part about this HH is the location. You are a short 3 blocks from the town square. This would be a great stop during the holidays with the courthouse and surrounding grounds lit and decorated. We would stay there again. I don't have any great pics of a beautiful hill country sunset or perfectly ripe grapes, but, because you asked, here is the rig at the 290 Vinery.

We just pick up our 2019 Elite 2 and Towed it home with our 2015 Mercedes GL 450, equipped with 4 Wheel Air Suspension. Note, this vehicle is limited to 600 LBS of Tongue Weight. I was apprehensive about Towing with this combination, primarily because I didn't have any experience with the Andersen Hitch characteristics and its ability to transfer enough Tongue Weight to the TV's Front Axles. Andersen has told me that their Hitch can transfer up tp 30% to the Front Axle of the TV. In preparation for the "Tow," I measured and marked, 34 inches up from the ground to a Mark, above each wheel on the fender, while the vehicle was unloaded! The plan was to then take new measurements once the Trailer was hooked up and compare the two measurements to determine what affect the Tongue Weight had. BTW, the empty TW was 480LBS, plus the 60 LBS of Hitch Weight, which is what Oliver told me to expect. Naturally, I expected the Rear End of the TV to be lower with the added weight! However, believe it or not there was hardly any Difference, maybe 1/8 - 1/4 across all 4 wheels! Apparently, the Andersen Hitch and the Air Suspension did their job exceptionally well. Additionally, I set the "Ball Height" at the recommended 23.5 Inches, but this produced a slight "Nose Up" attitude of the trailer. I'll try to lower the Hitch's Head, one bolt hole and take another look. Finally, I calculated my fuel mileage at 13.5 MPG, while driving at 70 MPH on the interstate for 150 miles. At this point, I have to conclude that the combination of the GL 450 and the Oliver is going to be a good one!

WandR, So glad to hear this worked out for you. John Halter the owner of Zarcor was a pleasure to do business with and I highly recommend his company. He really made things seamless for us when we ordered. Maybe Oliver will offer this as option or better yet a standard feature. We would have gladly selected it. @Topgun2 as mentioned was instrumental in our pursuit of this very useful mod, so to his credit. 👍🏻 Happy Camping!

That "white stuff" lubricated the grass, making it easier to mow. Mother Nature provides it for free up here. Sometimes she is so good to us, we get some in April or later...

This is pretty bad for storing just about anything hard, I had been using a bunch of loose foam sheets to pad the wires and plumbing. I made strips from 1" thick Dow Corning R5 rigid foam board from Home Depot. It can be cut with a SHARP knife and dressed smooth with a bench top belt sander. Wear a dust mask! I used 3 mil aluminum HVAC tape to secure it. The frame member got 2" total thickness, the outside got 2.5" to make it level side to side. The black tank rinse plumbing has been bugging me for years, so I removed it completely (Natures Head toilet!) And capped the bottom fitting with a1/2" FPT Cap, so nobody could accidentally flood the interior: I cut out a tray and it just rests there, so access underneath is not an issue. Here is the area stuffed fairly full, it all lies nice and flat. The material is not especially strong, but it weighs absolutely nothing and is easily replaced if it gets damaged. Plus it is fire retardant. If you wanted it to look nicer you could cover the entire top with the aluminum tape. The material is however 100% waterproof. I tested that by submerging a piece in a glass of water for 12 hours. No worries! John Davies Spokane WA

FYI, related thread and discussion: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/4759-redarc-trailer-charger-mounted-inside-the-ollie-for-100-lithium-charge/?tab=comments#comment-49376 https://www.etrailer.com/Battery-Charger/Redarc/RED96FR.html I won't add much commentary, it is pretty self explanatory. The instructions allow you to mount in any position, I chose horizontally with 1" cooling holes and a 1/2" gap between its housing and the mounting plate for cross flow of air. Note that there is a ton of extra space, I plan to add a small Victron MPPT Solar charge controller for my portable panel, it will go just to the rear of the Redarc, and there is room for another circuit breaker too. More.... John Davies Spokane WA

Here is a related thread, I installed a similar box up front under the jack: ... https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/2688-how-to-junction-box-for-trailer-harness-repair-or-extend-the-harness/ This all came about because I wanted to install a ... Redarc DC to DC Battery Charger .... and I needed to know FOR SURE that the wires were big enough. 12 AWG is the absolute minimum according to Redarc, and bigger is always better, especially in an Ollie with a very long run back to the batteries. Here are the existing butt splices, half of them are absolutely buried under the sewer pipes. Time for a J-Box! So I cut all the splices, and dragged the ends up to where I could inspect the wires. Most were OK, but the white Ground wire was not. Somebody extended the front wire with a smaller sized one. Darn it! I bolted down the box next to the 120 VAC outlet. I spliced into the green and white running light wires and brought them up to the box via the bottom hole. The other wires come in from the left and right sides. I ran heavier 10 AWG black and white wires (power and ground) from the box back to the appropriate posts. So now the Redarc charger will not suffer from excessive voltage drop, and with the easy access, it will be very simple to troubleshoot any future 7 Wire Harness problems. The new splices are easy to ID because they have clear spiral wrap plastic, and they are secured to the inside wall using a 1" thick block of HDPE plastic, bonded with JB Weld directly over the small LED light. The placard goes inside the J Box using 3M double stick tape. Here is the placard, in Apple Pages format: Oliver Junction Box wiring placard Rear 7 pin.pages Note that I indicated where those marker light splices are - I hate not knowing! John Davies Spokane WA

This is the torsion hitch I will use to tow the Ollie I. GenY has a great reputation in the industry for producing excellent products. I have been using this hitch with my 14’ enclosed trailer I use to tow our street motorcycles and camping gear. It really does smooth out the ride. I can’t wait to see how it works with the “shorty”. Here is a link to the product website. https://genyhitch.com/product/the-glyder-torsion-flex-hitch/?gclid=CjwKCAiAkJKCBhAyEiwAKQBCkvLZgT5zOEl0s3GV1gKd3TUU-p6JYiwPKLcPCiNXy1MMqhopCzcekBoCBm8QAvD_BwE Is anyone else using this hitch? If so what has been your experience? I've loved it so far. I’ve attached a couple of pics of my hitch below. Carl

Patriot, Nice work! You motivated me to do the same thing to my 2015 Ollie. When I called Zarcor (last week) to ensure I received the correct color handle I mentioned we had been discussing their window shades on the Oliver Forum and they gave me free shipping. Total cost (tinted window plus white shade w/white handle) was $129 with no tax and no shipping. For those of us with the older Ollies with the screw in window frame versus snap-in Mike also has an installation thread that was helpful. Just installed it today and it looks great! Really nice to be able to see outside while seated at the dinette as well as see who is knocking at the door.

+1 on Custer State Park! We had a Game Lodge electric campsite, close to the wildlife loop, saw many buffalo. Sylvan Lake is close and nice place for a walk: Badlands: Custer State Park:

A draw bar between the three point hitch bars. A non spin attachment (available at Tractor Supply) is the safest. We have a 2" ball in the center. You can raise the ball from inside, then get out and latch. We have a ball attachment that fits on our forks. We move unloaded trailers all the time with those. Easier because you can see where everything is. And moving the steering wheel a little can move the tongue a lot. Still use the truck to move the camper and loaded boat. Just safer I guess?

We liked Custer State Park. Don't remember if we had an electric site or not. It was fairly close to the wildlife loop, which was great at dusk. Teddy Roosevelt is awesome, and a very different view of the Badlands, but you'll want to stay close to Rushmore, for that, I'd think.

Josh White was our salesman. When we visited the factory back in August he was the new guy and had only been there a few months. He conducted our tour and answered all of our questions. We corresponded by email and phone throughout the ordering process and through to pick up. If he didn't know the answer he told us so and that he would need to talk to Rodney to find out. He was quick to respond to emails and return our phone calls. I'm sure all of the "sales" persons are great. They don't have to do much "sales" at all as the trailer sells itself. They are not pushy. They don't bug you or call you unless you have requested it. Josh was quick to point out not everyone needs all the features, it depends on the type of camping that you do. Cindy

Yes - De wintered today! It is always a mystery - what will go wrong ??????? All systems are a GO! Blastoff - T minus and 6 days, plus a few hours. RB

Hi Everyone, You may have noticed some members with a different name markup (Bolded) and user group Member+? This is a new user group created that helps identify members that are highly active on the forums. These members have over 200 posts and have become fairly well known around the forums to everyone and staff. There is no real benefit, no extra permissions, but it is fancier and an incentive to be active in the Oliver Owner's community. If you have over 200 posts and have not been automatically promoted to this user group, then you need to logout and then log back in so the automated system can upgrade the account. If you have any other trouble or questions please feel free to private message me. In the future there may be more user groups to be automatically promoted to as the forums grow. This is a common practice to adapt to a growing community. Thanks y'all and have a good day!

And - If you are connected to shore power, you can use both the electric and the propane at the same time to heat that water even more quickly. Without being overly stingy I can take a "navy shower" including washing my rather short hair only using between three and four gallons of water. This plus the fact that the water heater is then constantly heating even more water as you use it results in being able to take two of these showers back to back without any negative effects. Another way of using this water heater is to use a "meat thermometer" to gauge the temp of the water in the heater (place the probe on the outside of the tank under the insulation) when the temperature rises to what you want for a comfortable shower then turn off the propane/electric, get in the shower and use only the hot water to shower with. Even though the water does get cooler towards the end of the shower given that new cold water is replacing the water that you have taken out of the tank, it is still OK. Another benefit of this method is that you will not experience that dreaded short burst of cold water that is produced when you turn the shower back on to rinse off. Bill p.s. Even another benefit of this hot water only is found in the propane you save by turning the heat off right after the water gets to the temperature you desire. For reference, I usually let mine heat to about 104 - 105 degrees. The temp of the water will actually be a bit warmer in that given that the probe is on the outside of the tank there is a bit of heat loss in the steel of the tank and the length of the wire from the probe to the readout.

Is this the same person that back on October 20, 2008 said, "We really like our Dometic" air conditioner? 😆

Can't wait to get on the back roads with this rig. It is almost like an instant party. Folks line up behind us. There is a lot of horns blowing, yelling, and hand waving. Yup, like a rolling party...

As I prepared and was planning my two month fly fishing trip to Wyoming for this summer, I found out that I could not get reservations in one of my favorite campgrounds. This particular campground had always been a bit of a problem in that it only has eight sites and only four of those are reserveable. A day or two later I found out about a "free" reservation service available at Wanderinglabs.com. I went to that site, opened an account, filled out a form stating the campground, camp site and the dates I wanted to reserve and then waited. This morning - some four weeks later - I received an email stating that reservations were now available for exactly what I wanted. I clicked on the link to Recreation.gov and got the site reserved. Simple as that! All without having to check back every day to see if something had become open. This service is free unless you want to pay for "premium service" (more frequent checking for openings) or if you want to "donate" because of the amount of time they saved you from having to do this checking yourself. Bill

Great pics! Thanks for sharing.

I picked up my trailer from storage today and followed the de-winterization process, described in the recent post from the service dept. Trailer is brand new 2021 Elite 1. This is our first RV of any kind (we are RV rookies). I took delivery the first week of February and spent 3 nights on my way back home to central TX and a couple of more days parked in front of my house trying to learn the systems. In preparation for the winter storm, I winterized the trailer. I drained all of my lines and tanks the best I could. I added the pink RV antifreeze, turned off all components drawing a current, and - certain that I had forgotten something - prayed for the best. The trailer is stored in a Boat & RV storage facility, covered, but open air. No hookups. After 3 full weeks in storage (including a full week of below freezing temps), I picked up the trailer this morning. My batteries were at 12.4V (is this about a 50% charge on my 2 AGMs?) . After a day in the direct sun, the solar had charged the batteries to 13.8V. I plugged in at my house (20A service) for tonight. I assume the batteries are still healthy? I flushed the fresh tank, and ran enough water through to the plumbing to fill a and drain a couple of gray tanks, and I reconnected and tested my water heater. No visible signs of leaks. No water leaking through the metal drain holes. While running the water, I took a flashlight and looked for any signs of water or leaks under the rear seats. (Finger crossed) I think my little Ollie survived! I am taking my wife on our maiden voyage this weekend. We are staying very close to home - on a nearby ranch the first night and at a Harvest Host the second night. We are visiting family and friends each night and will never be more than 1 hour from our house or more than 5 minutes from a town. The weather is forecast to be beautiful. I am trying to do the easiset trip possible to ease into this RV camping. Wish us luck! Again, thanks so much for all of your advice and patience with the first-timers. Bill

Maniac makes a good point. Glad I was happy with the service. If not I would not have responded. Hope my review does not reflect negative on others because I think the entire company tries hard to please. Audrey

A few notes on our install of the smaller 9500 unit: We had another motive for changing out the ac, besides age and noise. The size of the Dometic 600 interfered with fully adjusting our two sidemounted 200 watt solar panels. We picked up several inches of gap with the new smaller ac unit. The old Dometic 600 was a well built, heavy unit, that lasted a long time. The new unit, though well built, has a lot more plastic, so we'll see if we get the same longevity. I'm also going to have to buy or sew a cover, as the outdoor unit has a huge rooftop grilled opening over the fan that will offer an open door to mud daubers, dirt, and leaves. The new unit has the convenience of a remote, but the remote is the only way to fully operate the small unit. So, I will be taking very good care of that remote. (Edit to add: limited function is available through a tiny touch screen in the bottom of the plenum. Ac will run at 24 or 22 c, fan on high.) The indoor distribution box is made of a glossy, lighter weight plastic. It's very slim and sleek, and we gained about an inch of headroom vs our old unit, but it's very light. It also just barely leaves room in the trolley part of the roof to easily remove the washable filters on each side. I'm not sure the larger unit like Katanapilot's would work in the smaller Elite. The install went very smoothly because the pieces are well thought out by the manufacturer. If you get the first indoor piece right, the rest falls into place. I wouldn't necessarily recommend our 3 person/two ladders/rope safety install without a lift, unless you have a sure-footed, strong young friend like ours, who volunteered to do the rooftop part of the job. He noted that our roof is very well waxed, and it would have been pretty easy to slip. (And, he's used to working on fiberglass boats.) You definitely want two, or better, three people, though, to make it an easier job, even with a lift. It's a very precise fit, and one on the roof, one inside, at least saves time and aggravation. We used a foam gasket, instead of silicone sealant to install the top plate. This method had served us well for the last ac. If it doesn't work out, removing it and replacing with butyl or silicon will not be that difficult.

We agree with the above responses. Our sales person is Anita. We will be receiving our camper in a couple of weeks so we are still in the process. Anita has been wonderful. She has a great personality and is always available to answer questions. An additional plus is the entire Oliver family. They communicate well with each other. A few of our questions were about new equipment. If Anita was not familiar with it in her experience or company videos or manuals, she would research (talk to staff) and get back to us with an answer. We love her honesty, great sense of humor and effort to get us the camper look that we want. So far we have been extremely impressed. Audrey and Vincent

We ended up at a commercial place - first one just above the hot temps. I can't remember the name. Was just ok. We had come across SD from the east - it was about 100 in the flat expanse of the big straight multi lane I State. Any port in a storm that day! Look at Campendium - lot a possibilities. Happy Trails.

Not sure this is really a fair question to ask, in an open forum. I would be sure your salesperson is able to answer, directly, any system question you might have. If not, that they are able to get back to you, in a timely fashion, with a proper response. What you don't need would be an order taker.

Ahh, a fellow JD TV aficionado. I use mine to also move it around the home place. What is all that white stuff>?? RB

Anita! She has been selling - well - helping customers select the best options for their future Oliver based upon for their situation and desires for a long while. . We were satisfied with our experience and would recommend Anita for sure. However, as was stated - I am sure any of the sales - force - would do a great job. If your aim is to make the best choices - a tour of the plant and thorough research is in order. RB

I can’t advise about Rushmore, except to say it is usually insanely crowded in warm weather. I suggest that you continue north to the Roosevelt NP area. https://www.beyondthetent.com/camping-in-theodore-roosevelt-national-park/ John Davies Spokane WA

I think whoever your sales rep is you’ll be happy. We placed our order 5 and half years ago with Anita, so she has been in sales for a while. We enjoyed working with her and have visited with her whenever we’re back in Hohenwald and at past rallies. I wouldn’t be concerned with whoever takes you through the sales process, you’ll enjoy it. Recommend a trip to Hohenwald for a factory tour and the chance to meet face to face with your salesperson. Mike

10-15 minutes for hot water, when on propane. I showered and washed my hair and still had hot water. And the hot water recovers quickly if LP is on. Compared to the Truma we had in our previous RV, the standard tank heater gets the water much hotter, in my opinion. With the Truma, we had to have the hot tap open full and the cold tap off to get shower appropriate hot water temp, and then the temperature fluctuated. I much prefer the tank heater; and you can run it on electric when connected to shore power.

My Land Cruiser 200 charging voltage is 13.6 volts with the trailer hooked up (using a digital OBD2 Scan Gauge).It never gets above 14 volts, regardless. Here is the history using my VictronConnect app, showing the initial parasitic load (propane detector and stereo mostly) of about minus 0.3 amps, then the engine starts and the trailer battery voltage and current shoot up nicely, to just under 11 amps. It maintains that charge rate right up until the batteries are close to full. , The only fly in the ointment is that the wiring needs to be 12AWG or larger, all the way from tongue to charger. My Hull # 218 had a splice from 12 AWG down to 14 AWG, so I had to rewire the entire 7 wire harness, essentially. That is another thread. ... https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/5271-how-to-junction-box-for-the-7-wire-trailer-harness-under-the-front-dinette-seat/?tab=comments#comment-54709 I went on a 90 minute, 40 mile test drive yesterday, it worked flawlessly, I can monitor the Victron app inside the truck, the sky was hazy high clouds, not ideal solar conditions, but the total charge current kept around 16 amps, going up to 22 when the sun broke through a little. Total cost was about $312, not including all my labor! Questions are welcome. John Davies Spokane WA

Thank you SeaDawg and KatanaPilot - Oliver is in your debt. I believe you just did 80% of the engineering - get the t stat straightened out - boom, AC and sleep!! Love OLIVER owner's RB

We're happy with the Duracell 12V AGM Marine/RV group 27 batteries from Sam's for the past two years. Already have another job for the Duracells to be replaced with lithium.

My hope is that our units become more readily available. Right now, it's very limited supply. As a retrofit, it's great. We needed to replace our 13 year old unit, soon, anyway. I've seriously been watching European and Australian units for at least six years. Finally, there's a bit of inroads. But, not readily available for manufacturers. Personally, I would have been happier with a 12 volt unit. But, I'll take this. For now.

We installed our Houghton 2801 today, and it's just great. Love it. 1 hour and 45 minutes, dumping the old, and installing new. Really nice design, and easy install. Whisper quiet. Hardest part was getting the monster Dometic Dino unit off the roof. At least we had three people. Thanks again, katanapilot, for the heads up on availability of the Houghton, through RecPro.

Yep - I just imported your pics, saved them in .jpeg and re-uploaded. No problem! Bill

How's this?

I don't know if @Commanche still tows with his Durango 5.7 hemi, or not. Haven't seen him in several years. He was quite happy with it then.

As others have already stated, the most likely cause is that the refrigerator has come unplugged and needs to be plugged back in. It happened twice on our Elite I during the first few months of ownership and at first I was baffled by the 10 error code. I was able to come across a post someone had submitted awhile back that described the location of the plug. Once plugged back in it works as designed. Jason recommended we use a zip-tie to secure once we had it plugged back in. We have not had another problem with the refrigerator since.

We are spending another week at Chantilly Farms in Floyd, Va. Friends joined us! Hopefully future Ollie owners. A Blue Ridge Parkway photo at Ground Hog Mountain. “The Beast” did an outstanding job as our new TV, very happy with the Tremor so far. Happy Camping!

When I redid my sink I also moved the weight to inside the cabinet, but I found that it was getting caught on the sink drain and the top edge of the cabinet cut out. And sometimes it would flop over to the back side again. I ended up making a sleeve out of some thick plastic shelf liner material I had lying around - I rolled it into a tube and taped it, then slid it over the hose and weight. So far it's worked perfectly.

Thanks, guys. Here's what I found: CE4340AC-C134-48BE-B5C3-1A9F901862EC Note the black weight attached to a cord that assists the extendable faucet nozzle when it retracts back into the faucet. This weight swings like a pendulum within the space behind the drawers and likely smacked my fridge plug enough times that it eventually knocked it out of the electrical socket. Fridge works fine on AC once it's plugged in. Duh. I moved the "pendulum" to the other side of the sink drain pipes and wrapped it in a spongy foam material. Sad that it took me this long to figure this out but I mistakenly assumed that I was getting power to the fridge because the front diodes all lit up. I was getting power....D.C. Power. Bob G

Here is a picture of the plug.

If you unscrew the small panel behind the drawers under the sink, you'll see the outlet behind the cabinet at the bottom left.