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We frequently let folks know about things that go wrong, but my recent experience with Vornado deserves praise. I bought a new, small Vornado space heater. It has 2 settings, 500/1500 watt. No digital thermostat. It worked great for my first nights at David Crockett and again in Little Rock. It was in the low 30's and kept the E1 warm. After a few days without electricity, I was in Gallup where it was snowing and got into the low 20's. the vornado had stopped working. Back to LP. i contacted Vornado customer service from the campsite and by the time I returned home there was a new heater waiting. They had me cut off the power cord and send a picture showing the cut cord and model #. No need to return broken machine. My concern about the process is that it was too easy with a system in place which implies that they have frequent failures 😂 I had left the heater sitting on the floor while driving. I wonder if the shut off switch broke from being rattled about? I'll take the heater apart one of these days to see what broke. Very simple design with few moving parts. John

Introduction: I will start by saying hello I'm Pat from Joliet, IL. Thank You for this forum and the opportunity to meet all of you someday. I do not fully own an Oliver, but I will soon pick up an LE II on July 19th. A little about myself, I am a divorced Dad that raised three beautiful young ladies. I spent most of my life working on things that fly and just retiring from a 37-year aviation career. During that time, I have had an opportunity to work on some iconic machines. P51 Mustangs, TBM's, A4's, AD1 Skyraders, F86's, and all of today's modern aircraft from DC9's to 747's. I have also worked on Outlaw sprint cars, Drag cars, both super gas and alcohol burners, and off-road race cars. The list goes on. I am also a lifelong camper with canoe trips to BWCA, backpacking Alaska 10 times, to just tromping the Midwest woods. As I got older and had a family, I moved up to a pop up then to a teardrop(empty nester), and now the cats meow an Oliver. In retirement, I hope to meander around the US, Mexico, and Canada with my dog Phoebe and my camera creating art in my home on wheels. I hope to meet all of you in a camp somewhere, sip some wine or a good whiskey, heck any adult beverage, and trade stories. See you soon "Swamp" IE Pat Marsh Joliet, IL

Our fold up television unclips itself and falls down frequently while towing our trailer. It's also very wobbly in general, so I was looking for a way to stabilize the television. I decided to try a couple pieces of pool noodle as stabilizing shock absorbers and so far so good. One will stop the television from unclipping itself, but two (one on each side) provide additional stabilization and prevent the wobble. The television hasn't fallen off since I put these up and although I haven't put a camera on it while towing, I can't imagine the television is wobbling any more either. The noodles don't flex much so they provide very stable support. Because of this they had to be perfect in size, so it was trial and error. Mine were both 3-3/8" thick. A softer type of material like foam or sponges would be easier and may even work better. I'm sure other owners have developed a slew of ways to stabilize the television while towing, but unfortunately forum "search" turned up . 🙂

For what its worth - the two awning "failures" that I have seen resulted from the wind taking the awning and bending it up and over the roof of the Oliver. In both cases the support brackets did not seem to have moved but the metal and/or plastic pieces of the awning were toast. Bill

I'd much rather a bracket fail than the fiberglass it's attached to. I've never heard of an awning completely detaching itself, but perhaps one has. I believe that the brackets that attach the arms to the case are what fail in wind. So you just get an awning that's folded over the top of the trailer without damage to either Oliver's brackets or the hull. I think that the bracket design changed when Oliver switched to legless awnings. Perhaps they were concerned that the constant flex of the unsupported awning would eventually fatigue the brackets.

For those companies, which have a good reputation for "Service", I believe asking YOU to cut the power cord is their way of making sure you do not use it again. Returning power cord & info on model/SN, and sending you a replacement unit is a lot cheaper than the alternative. It also gives them a good rep with owners/new customers/forums like this. Words; Get around.

While we weren’t near Naples, while in Fl we stored our E2 at an IStorage place.. we checked out the place and felt the security was good, so we went with it. We swung by every now and checked in..we were happy with how things went. We will be rolling back home to Maine tomorrow having been out and about since November.. Great experiences with HH, everything from Dairy Farms to Diner parking lots. There are places out there with power and water, usually for a fee.. Don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled for town, city, or county parks offering overnight camping...We had good experiences with them as well.. sounds like a really great trip! Have a blast!

Reading through the many threads concerning lithium batteries in the Olly, I'm wondering if it could be simpler. We have a 2019 EII with the solar, 4 AGM batteries, and 2000watt inverter. It seems like the 4 AGMs could be simply swapped out for a single LifeBlue 200ah unit. The LifeBlue has the built-in BMS and bluetooth monitor. Zamp solar controller has a Lithium setting. The PDI charger has a lithium setting. Charging from shore power or solar, not from the tow vehicle. SO, take out the old batteries, drop in the new one, swap over the positive and negative connections from the trailer, change settings on charger and solar controller... done? I'm aware of the VERY detailed, VERY thoughtful installs others have performed... just wondering if this would work or if there's a huge gotcha that I've missed.

Thanks for the review. I purchased the system.

We are planning to keep the LP cooktop inside the camper. It will only be used to heat water for coffee, tea and hot cereal as meal cooking will be done outside. No plans on upgrading to portable induction as our current single and double burner portable electric cooktops work just fine. It is always nice to have multiple methods and fuels with which to cook. In addition to indoor propane and portable electric, we are also carrying a double burner propane stove, Weber Q series grill, wood-fired BioLite stoves and a small multi-fuel Primus stove. Having not only a plan A and B but also C, D and maybe even E gives us peace of mind that hot drinks and meals are never far away.

Thanks John, Fortunately, I do not own the firm I have worked for the last 18 years, my Boss is 79 and has owned the firm for 40 years. I salute your wife. I have found certification and CPE training so comical the last few year as the instructors try to predict how new changes will be interpreted and tax professionals being the hired guns to enforce and figure out what Congress does not even know what they have passed. Oh well... enough of that.. Nothing better than sitting outside the Ollie and enjoying nature....ah the life!

Mine are simple bent pieces of aluminum, the newer ones have extra welded gussets. Maybe because of this? Those are stretch cracks from when the approximately 120 degree bend was made, so far none of the four brackets has a larger crack. It sure looks like a future failure point to me.... Has anybody seen a broken one? If somebody can post a picture of the new style bracket, that would be helpful. Comments? BTW, I discovered that when inspecting the awning hardware, and I also found this.... which was contributing to creaks and pops. After tightening and lubing with silicone it was OK. Thanks, John Davies Spokane WA

Interesting discussion topic. There have been a few owners that have lost their awning in high winds. I’m curious as well what the failure point is when that happens. Does the bracket fail? Or the bolts holding the awning to the bracket? Does any damage occur to the Ollie fiberglass hull itself?

Yes. I think it (and the contents) could do some damage if it went flying. I plan to stow it in one if my underbed bins.

Hey Andrew sent you a PM Thank you for the help Mike

Can you say “contrasting style”? Fun to watch.

Early days? Heck! I STILL listen to JT and Ms. Krauss and even Carol King from time to time. Bill

Just jumping in to say I'm also doing an upgrade to Lithionics GTX 315 Lithiums in May. I"m going big and doing dual Lithionics GTX 315A Batteries. These batteries are currently deployed into motor homes, and designed to fig in wheel wells of Winnebago's and a couple other Motorhomes. 2 Fit Perfectly in the Oliver EII battery tray. I thought about just doing 1 (which is close to 3 battleborns) and my wife encouraged me to go big...so I decided not to argue. I know there will be issues with enough solar to fully charge in one day, and needing to install a DC/DC charger...I've decided to GO for It. We will install added portable solar arrays, upgrade from the PD4060 Converter to a Xantrex XC 2000 Pro charger/inverter, and add a Victron DC/DC charger. The thread for the upgrade is over here it you want to follow along. I've completed design and am now ordering all the surrounding components I'll need. My batteries will arrive in late April. By Mid May the install will be completed and I'll do a complete post. Craig Short Hull 505

Agree re better than the original. I’m also a fan of Joe “How Ya Dooooin’?” Walsh’s solo stuff. “Things” “Rosewood Bitters.” Helluva guitarist, great sense of humor lyrically.

No trailer can be everything for everybody. Everything in life is a compromise. The Oliver niche is well established. A very high quality, durable, exceptionally nice looking, easy to maintain, all weather trailer for folks than can afford it. The market is the same for Airstream which has been doing well for many, many years and I suspect will continue to do so even though their quality is lacking. If Oliver is going to expand their product line, they should in fact just make a larger version which will satisfy the younger crowd that have kids and the oldsters that simply want the "best-of-the-best". I expect this is a much larger demographic than those that want an offroad, backcountry capable version (which I personally think are pretty cool myself).

This is not an Oliver rally sponsored by the company, but a lot of rallies are organized by trailer owners. We are saying this is a non-rally, but it really is a rally based on the number of folks attending. I don’t think we need an agenda, but I’m sure there will be get togethers and informal events. Based on the age of most of us, I’m sure the majority will be vaccinated. We’ll be outside mostly, so risk is low.

I doubt if any of the front marker lights would be connected to the attic bus bar in the back. I think JRK is referring specifically to the big “Oliver” light on the back of the trailer. More likely the light that you’re having trouble with is hooked to the main bus under the pantry/dinette. That’s a ~6” long aluminum bus bar on the very bottom under the dinette seat with a ton of yellow wires attached: I’d check those connections but also there should be a round access hatch in the closet to access that light, so check the connection there too. Should be noted that you can overtighten the screws on those bus bars, cutting the wires; so don’t go crazy tightening all the screws. Just snug enough that the wire doesn’t pull out.

Forgot to add, Ram 2500's mileage (based on Fuelly.com data), for 2018-2020 over 3,423,331 miles is 15.0 mpg, virtually the same as the Sierra 2500 HD. The Sierra 1500 w/ 3L diesel tabulates at 23 mpg over 193,000 miles, although this almost certainly reflects a lot of non-towing miles.