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To all our new/future Oliver owners - If you have not taken the time to review all of the Oliver produced videos - please do so. They do a good job of explaining most of the systems and some componentry installed in your Oliver. You may save yourself some aggravation, time, and embarrassment. If you are an old hat at the Oliver scene, and haven't done so - join the club. Me, being the type A I am - usually just delve into whatever is at hand - so NO - I had not viewed most of them. My bad. I must admit - even after 3 years of use - I learned a thing or two after watching all of them listed on the Oliver site. Jeesh will I ever learn!! Thank you Oliver - a cut above. RB Directions, what directions.... Who needs instructions, No we are not lost, No I didn't look at the manual - why? Yes !!

An update for the forum on my project to upgrade to 2 new Lithionics GTX315 Batteries for Hull 505 - Galway Girl. Some slide ware below is self explanatory...but if you have questions, please ask. We'll be doing a month long road test in June. Craig Short Hull 505 ________________________________ What are we adding? ________________________________ Project plan: _________________________________________________ New System Level Block Diagram: ___________________________________________________ What we are removing from Hull 505: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ How to disable the existing onboard Progressive 4060 converter / charger: _______________________________________ New Components Installed: _________________________________________________________________________________ The finished installation: ______________________________________________________________________ Battery Bay with (2) Lithionics GTX 315's Installed: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Victron DC/DC Charger Modification - new wiring run and hull penetration: In this case we used a Blue Sea CableClam for the hull penetration to maintain a sealed exterior. 1242127529_Hull505Upgrade.pdf

Swedish blues, anyone? I grew up in the delta AND drove a Saab, so sounds good to me.

Sherry, good idea. It would be interesting to see what folks pack and why they carry what they do. We’ve been paring down what we take. Some of it depends on how we’re going to camp, hook ups or no hook ups, will we need the generator or not? We’ve increased our tow vehicle from a Tacoma to a half ton to a 3/4 ton, but haven’t really increased our cargo… in fact we’ve probably decreased what we bring. Mike

Chris here. If all goes well, we will be picking up hull #110 on Monday. Though reported earlier on the forums as selling for a very high amount, the dealer came to their senses by the time we came upon it and had dropped the price considerably. Looks like new inside and out, really. Someone took great care of it. I myself have been researching RV'ing and travel trailers for seven years now; certainly didn't rush into anything. It's time to stop watching YouTube only. The Oliver is in EXCELLENT condition from what we can tell. We've visited it a few times and gone over it quite thoroughly. I've been watching any Oliver videos I could find since 2015; not too many out there by private owners. Erika and I will ”attempt” to change that. We'll see how we do. We're both software support and video editors (desktop recordings). The only immediate concern we have is the rear Oliver sign and if it's sealed well enough. Does anyone have a link to a how-to for the rear sign? More to come as these TT n00bs get their feet wet. No more tents for us. Also, kudos to the dealer. They even took it camping one weekend and said it tows excellent. They could have tried to sell us an anti-sway or weight distribution system, but said that with my 2020 RAM Limited with 4-way airbags and 3.92 differential (for towing ability), it should not be necessary and to try it first before buying that extra gear. That's a good sign. We're looking forward to upgrading some basic components and making it our own. We'll supplement the 4 new flooded lead acid batteries with our two 1000 watt Jackeries. The trailer does have the 320 watt panel and everything seems to work well. More to come, Chris

I’ve been lurking here for a while, and even asked a few questions. I figured it was about time for the introduction. We are Stevon & Mary. We have had a class A motorhome for the last 5 years, but have been wanting something smaller. We want to get to places that we were not able to with out motorhome. Plus I realized I was hauling around a lot of stuff that I really didn’t need. We are very excited to be getting our Oliver. Definitely looking forward future rallies.

At least a few people have replaced the shower head. NCEagle's lovely upgrade: And, Overland's beautiful total bathroom remodel I seem to remember a few more. I'll edit and add if I find them.

It sounds to me like the check valve in the pump itself is leaking. Possibly from lack of use or the same calcium build up you've found elsewhere. So, it could clear itself up if you're lucky, but probably you'll need to repair it. Or, since they're not terribly expensive, just replace the pump and keep the existing one as an emergency spare - that's probably what I'd do, since it's always good to have a spare anyway. That would be pretty easy for you to do since the connections are just plugs for the electrical and screw fittings for the plumbing. You can store stuff under the dinette seats, particularly the front one. You just need to put things in containers that won't get lost between the hulls. The one on the back, you need to be careful about the electrical and not put anything back there that will knock something loose or damage the wiring. I don't keep anything there but some people do. A few people have installed electric valves so that they don't have to move the mattress. Others have installed an access port or door on the side under the bed and access that valves from there. It was originally designed for cushions I think, which are obviously easier to pull up for access.

I’m not following you about the “no storage under the dinette”. The LE2 has ample space, the rear cover is screwed down and says not for storage, that is very simple to fix. Remove the screws, throw them far away, and use that area carefully for storage of DRY bath towels and similar soft non conducting items, and keep them away from any electronics. This is not Oliver Approved. That decal is there because there is 120 volts AC wiring. The front area has ample space. https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/5272-how-to-flat-foam-storage-tray-for-the-front-dinette-seat-compartment/ For the LE2 you do need to get the mattress out of the way to access the water valves, but you can simply rotate a Twin one up 90 degrees and leave it propped against the window. We have 10” tall ones and this does work. Or you can cut a hole in the wall underneath the bed and install a swing open marine hatch, and leave the bedding undisturbed. Keep in mind, those valves are normally not needed in any way when travelling, except if you want to refill your tank using the rear boondocking port. At all other times, you won’t need to get under there. There is no easier method to transfer water, the below floor tank has no high-up fill opening like your Casita and most stick and staple ones. Water has to be sucked in using the pump. It sounds as if you have a lot of deposits, the vinegar flush with several hours sit time should fix that. Don’t forget to include the hot water heater, it really gets crusty. Don’t do this over concrete, it will etch the surface and leave a bright area It is harmless but unsightly. Please clarify your model, add that info and your tow vehicle as a signature to appear after your posts, to prevent confusion. John Davies Spokane WA

Yes - most all are really good Trucks now a days. As for the Ram - I was just picking a fight - I actually have warmed up to the new look. as for the rest - its all about the same really. My father in law - once a staunch Ford man, and decidedly anti "Dodge "has purchased two Ram's in the last few years. I poke him about it regularly - Although I think they are nice trucks, it is fun to rib him. 🥰 RB

Trekhard, I used to have an F150 3.5 Eco 4WD SB Crew Cab. It had a 1557 lb cargo capacity...so very similar to your truck We found it towed the trailer perfectly and we got reasonable mileage and had plenty of power even in the Rockies. Where we had to be careful was when we fully loaded the trailer with food and water, and the truck bed with gear. In particular on steep downhill descents we had to be really be careful to shift down before the descent as the 3.5EB doesn't have the compression braking of a diesel. Just pay attention to payload item's and you'll be fine. 1) Payload of GEAR you carry in the truck....1555 lbs sounds like a lot until you start carrying items for longer trips...like bikes, extra coolers, generators etc. We carry a generator, extra cooler, 2 bikes, camp stoves and tools. Our gear including a truck canopy typically ran right at 550 lbs in back + 400 lbs for passengers left us 605 lbs available for tongue wt. That meant we were right at the payload limit all the time and we had to be careful about where we put extra weight. We were needing to put some items from the back of the truck into the trailer to maintain proper tongue wt and balance. (Example - the extra coolers would go inside the trailer instead of inside the truck.) 2) Tongue Wt. of EII - ours ranged from a low of 580lbs (full propane, full food, but empty water. no tongue box load) to as high as 730lbs one time where I had too much front loaded gear including the tongue box full of gear. Most of the time our actual wt of the trailer is between 5800 and 6300 lbs...and our most common tongue wt has been ~650lbs (as we have a storage box on our tongue.) Here's a real CAT Scale printout from our F150 days. The truck was loaded up about 475# of gear in the back, 200# passengers, and the trailer had full water and full dual 30gal propane tanks. Tongue wt on this run was 685#. We were exactly at the Payload limit of 1557 for the truck. Note: The GCWR for this F150 was 18,100 lbs so we were well under that limit. Data Table for our F150: F150 Truck GVWR = 7000 lbs 3:55 axle, max tow pkg Cargo Capacity = 1557 lbs Truck GCWR = 18,100 -20” wheel Tow capacity: 12,700 lbs Hitch Capacity/tongue load Weight carry rating on hitch - 5000/500 Weight Distributing rating on hitch - 12,200/1220

We are constantly changing what we carry depending upon the trip. Since we're preparing for a 9 month road trip, I thought I would take a moment to categorize the items we have to carry and put it into an XLS and share that with the forum. Here's the OVERVIEW total weight of what is in the truck bed. If you want to see what makes up that weight...the XLS is attached listing details like Bikes, Generator, Camp Chairs, etc. The full xls is attached which lists all the items and their individual weights. We plan on scrubbing the contents before we start our 9 month road trip. truck manifest.xlsx

Welcome and congratulations on acquiring #184. I think you’ll find a lot of the issues you are having are due to mineral deposit buildup in the water lines, valves, etc. from that Ollie sitting for extended periods of time. We met Ron and Char (Ron let us see #184 when we were making our decision to order ours). And sadly it seemed that Ron and Char didn’t get to use their Ollie very often due to health issues. I think their son mentioned it was only used 3 times. To answer your question #1, you do have to move the mattress to get to the valves under the curbside access hatch to change the valve position to “boondocking” to draw water or vinegar mix into the fresh water tank from the rear inlet. There should be a diagram for the various valve position settings on the underside of the hatch. If not, it’s in the manual.

We have thicker cushions. However back in 2017 it was an option that is no longer offered. The draw back for us is that someone that is vertically challenged their feet might not touch the floor. You could always open the cover and put in a piece of denser foam. The shower head we have is perfectly fine, at least for us. However most of the time we are trying to balance a complete shower and conserving water...

Thanks guys.

Tomorrow, if we get time, I'm going to try to add up wrights of items we carry. I'm doubting we're over 700 pounds in the bed, unless we haul the atv. We'll see. Can't promise on tomorrow . Its likely a busy day, but, I'll try. And, thanks for starting an interesting thread

Ha. We love our Ram. Then again, I love my old Silverado, too. And, I loved my Ford. Honestly, I think its hard to find a "bad" truck these days. Harder to find the best, for you. But, like I said before, a truck at that price tag has no space in my garage. YIKES!

Owners have now gotten various answers from various employees on why Oliver won't share electrical diagrams any longer. From there are none (right!) to not sharing a super competitive design (right!) to a liability issue (right!). The real liability is in the fact that every time an owner of a 2020+ trailer has an electrical problem, add 1-2 hours of discovery work (more $$$) and/or risk (more $$$) to the labor tab due to lack of information. Oliver has set a precedent and provided electrical diagrams for all models until they magically disappear in 2020, so I think they need to provide recent owners with a valid, consistent reason or they may really be putting themselves at risk. P.S. I might not be as adamant about this topic if Oliver had at least provided some basic information in the non-existent electrical section of the owners manual or if they had bothered to label any wires or make sure things worked electrically before delivery. I had several electrical problems right out of the gate that took longer than they should have to troubleshoot due to the lack of a diagram / information. My examples of "need to know" would include which circuits have cutoff relays, which circuits have in-line fuses, which circuits have neither, which components are connected to DC only and which are connected to both DC and the inverter, and which circuits are not completed (e.g., the charge wire from the TV is NOT connected if the Lithium package is purchased).

Ollie in the Wild! Bandits Roost CG in our beautiful home state of North Carolina. Nice large sites and clean facilities. Highly recommend this CG.

A few threads you might enjoy There are more. A number of people here have done this trip. Mid-may is a great time to go. Not as busy. Coming home after mid-September may be problematic, because many Canadian and northern US campgrounds close after labor day. Just keep that in mind. We are particularly fond of camping in the Yukon. The Yukon territory campgrounds are 12 or 14 Canadian dollars, and free firewood. Often beautiful views, not far off the highway. I'd try to plan my route for at least two weeks in the Yukon. Northern BC is also a favorite for us. Good luck, and have fun. It's a beautiful trip. We've done it several tomes.

I use a Anderson WDH for legal reasons, personally I think the 1500 Ram can handle an Oliver Elite II, but I'm not going to take a chance in todays courts that might prove me wrong without the Anderson putting me within the legal limits of the truck manufactures towing limits. The single axle Oliver should be ok without the Anderson WDH. trainman

We have towed our Elite 1 for 6 years all over the country with a 4 runner. We have had no reason or need to use a WDH hitch. The Elite tows wonderfully for us.

I remember phone conversations with Pete about that, but I don't remember seeing an Anderson hitch on his rig last fall, when we camped together for a few weeks. Maybe I'm just blanking, but I'd think I'd remember, since we spent a lot of time working on his front jack switch and wiring. Possibly my poor memory. We've never used an Anderson, towing with my Silverado, nor Paul's 2008 Ram 4 x 4. Neither our tongue weight nor our trailer weight warrant it, for insurance purposes, and never seriously felt the need. Each to his own, however. I know the new trucks love to tout huge numbers for tow capacity, plus asterisk, requiring wdh. With the smaller weight of the Elite, I think it would be sad for a half ton manufacturer to require a wdh. My opinion, only, after 13 seasons. Sherry

I put the Towtectors on our van. https://www.realtruck.com/towtector-aluminum-mud-flaps/R183268P1999Y722MA.html So far they have worked great, but I haven't been to Alaska either (yet). We have traveled many miles on gravel roads with no chips. More time on the road will tell as we're just getting going with our new Ollie. But these got very good reviews. It is important that the bottom of the skirt has the proper 3" to 4" clearance from the road for the best effect. Dave

Wow, $130K. I got a truck and an Oliver for a little less. I do like the grey. But as its a Dodge - a Chrysler, a Ram - well I'll pass. RB

Makes the 2021 Ram 3500 Mega Cab 6.7l Cummins I spotted on the dealers lot seem like a bargain at $91k! 😆