Leaderboard

Two years ago we sold our Oliver and bought a Black Series HQ19. It was a huge change. Two trailers could not be much different. Our Ollie, Hull 92 was a wonderful trailer and we went across the Country twice, to two Oliver Rallies, and visited 22 states. But it was not intended to be an off road trailer and we wanted something with a few differences inside, that was more rugged and prepared for off-road use. Enter the HQ19. It has been a wonderful trailer too, but I've worked on it a lot. Some optional and many things not so optional. It went to the trails in Moab, Colorado mining roads, Death Valley, Whitmore Canyon and a lot of other severe places with no problems related to off-road use. But it is heavy, tall and MUCH harder to pull than an Oliver. So now, we've gone to a trailer that offers the best of both. Extreme winter performance, no underneath plumbing, full headroom throughout including the dry bath, 1500 lbs lighter than the Black Series and about the same as the Oliver, better streamlining than the Black Series, but not as good as the Oliver, a full galley with oven, three burner stove, hood and Corian countertop. Lots of cabinets and a big pass through storage. A dinette that will seat three and not have the cushions fly off while driving, and a queen size bed. It has hydraulic adjustable ride height and torsion style independent suspension. Large off-road tires with two spares and an on-board air compressor. It will have 480 AH of Lithium batteries with their Off-Grid package and at least 380 watts of solar. I still look back very fondly at the time we had with the Oliver, and the friends we made here and at the Rally. Take care everyone, Raspy Here's a review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUP9nK-zGhA&t=113s&ab_channel=RVsofAmericaBlackSeriesXploreTaxaOff-Road

No 6 volt? No problem! Nothing to plug into anyway. Go for it.

We also experienced a "micro-burst" hailstorm three years ago--75mph winds were driving marble sized hail horizontally across our property. It stripped all the vegetation (trees, shrubs, garden plants) totally clean and did more than $110K in damages to the house. Not one scratch or dent on the Ollie fiberglass!!! I was shocked. The only thing the storm did was pepper the narrow plastic lining around the front door--easily replaced!

Great overnight at David Crockett. Love our new “ get away “ ! will have lots of questions I am sure so thank you in advance !

Ordered. TYVM. Glad you happened to be hanging out on the forum when I posted.

Thanks Ray and Susan. I'm interested in the comparison. Good luck with with the swap-out 🙂

First world problem, but while my initial thought was I don't need Bluetooth for AC either, after living with the DB level and recycling time of the 2020 Dometic I'd be happy to be able turn it on or off, or change temp, from bed as needed vs having to get up multiple times and try and read the LCD screen. 😉

That is amazing! An a/s would not have faired as well.

Try this when your tank is empty, so it actually gets down to the valves.

Our Xantrex 3000 inverter does the fan kicking on every 15 min or so, like the OP reports, running for a few minutes when hooked to shore power. I asked Jason if this is normal and he says it is. Whether the noise level is as high as yours, I can't say. It isn't bad, but annoying, especially after we settle in for the night. I've thought about unplugging shore power at night. That being said, we have a new Xantrex 3000 waiting to be installed. The original inverter that was part of the Lithium Pro Pkg would not communicate with the remote panel (consistently). An attempted firmware update did not fix the problem; thus, Xantrex decided the inverter had a bad communication board. Oliver sent us a replacement which Jason will walk us through installing so we can be fully functional, in regards to power. We'll see if the new inverter fan does the same.

We took a long and beautiful drive today, from Asheville, up to Linville falls, over to Julian Price, down to Banner Elk. Enjoyed lunch at one of our old favorite in Banner Elk. Continued on to Roan Mountain. It was a great day for exploring. All three campgrounds have great sites. We settled on Linville, because of the open sites and sun, in the early fall. It gets cold at elevation in October, and, Roan Mountain's lower (and more open) campground is nice, but pretty booked for the weekend we're looking at. Upper campground would be fine for us, and our friends with little Elites, but we don't love running the generator. We may drop in to Roan mountain on a few weekdays. It's a beautiful park. We saw a number of deer today. So much to see and do around and within the park. Lake Julian price is lovely, especially on the lake . The upper campground, across the road, would be great in the summer heat. In the fall, with all the trees, I think I would be stretched for solar, and be looking for something at lower elevation. Ps. Construction on i40 near Black Mountain, exit 64, affects traffic both directions. Worse eastbound. But, the views are great, both ways. Makes the slowdown just another chance to appreciate the engineering of the road, and amazing vistas.

John, Before buying our LE2, we towed a 2000lb aluminum travel trailer out west a couple times from NC with a 2013 4.0L Nissan Frontier. Best fuel economy I could get with this rig was 13.5MPG. Called this trailer a lightweight aluminum brick because of the lack of aerodynamics. The Trailer Frontal rating for the 2013 Frontier pickup was 60sf. When we purchased Ollie in Missouri, towed Ollie home with the Frontier and could not believe the fuel economy @ 15MPG to NC (checked by actual gallons burned) with Ollie over double the weight of our previous camper. In 2014 the trailer frontal area dropped on the 2014 4.0L Frontier to 30sf with same engine and pickup frontal area. Believe these changes were made due to SAE J2807 towing methods. If you look at 2014 Ford towing brochure, if I read it correctly, even the F-550 Super Duty is restricted to trailer frontal area of 60sf, page 13: https://www.fleet.ford.com/content/dam/aem_fleet/en_us/fleet/towing-guides/Ford_Linc_14RVTTowGuide.pdf This is a good discussion on the FGRV forum on the same topic during 2016: https://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f56/trailer-frontal-area-77307.html

NCeagle - One "easy" way to find all of your posts is to click on your avatar. When your page opens, look for a white box on the right side of the screen that says "See My Activity" and click on it. Bill

We saw an Ollie today going Eastbound on Highway 68 in Cumberland, Maryland 🙂 (Near Deep Creek Lake) I think it was a Oval logo with a Horse on it.

My Tv tows just fine. 🥴🤥

Shortly after we took delivery of Hull #634 we had 10 mil XPEL paint protection installed on the dog house, both wide front corners and all along the bottom street side and curb side areas. Essentially areas where we felt needed the most protection. Here is a photo of our installer working his magic. The standard paint protection used on most cars and trucks today is 8 mil. The 10 mil material is naturally thicker and it’s really tough material. It’s presently the thickest p/p made by XPEL. So far it’s held up great with no damage to our gelcoat. Its fairly expensive to have installed, but well worth it in our experience. We use a product called Plexus to keep it clean and polished up. Our installers business name is Sun Stoppers located in Concord NC. We have this p/p on our vehicles as well only in 8 mil. https://www.xpel.com

Hi SeaDawg: We just returned from a three-night stay at Roan Mountain S.P. and it is now one of our favorites. My wife left a post with some pictures on the Oliver Owners FB page. I appreciate a well-run campground and this is one of them. We found the grounds and facilities well kept with the rangers making regular rounds in vehicles and sometimes on foot which I really appreciate. The lower loop sites are closer together than those on the upper loop. The trade-off is the upper loop road is on an incline and its sites are not consistently level whereas the lower loop sites are nice and level. The upper loop has a more quiet/secluded vibe and the lower is more families/kids at least it was when we were there. It's just the two of us but nonetheless we enjoyed the lower loop in site 10 directly next to the bathhouse. Nice campground check-in/store with tee shirts, firewood, ice cream etc. An eight-mile drive and you're at Carvers Gap and some awesome hiking and views. - Brian

Congrats from Hull 802. We launched on 5/14, also overnighted at David Crockett and camped our way back to CT. We had no major issues, but came up with lots of questions. You can expect a call from Oliver in 2-3 weeks to check on your delivery, but don't wait to post questions on the forum. Lots of good knowledge available from the fine folks here. I learned a lot just by reading posts. Enjoy.

For those who might not know: …https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/tir-na-nog-legend-eternal-youth.amp I love seeing reflections off a perfectly clean Ollie. What a great name for a great trailer. Good luck on your first adventures. Just don’t touch the ground when you get back home. 😬 Please tell us how your Ranger does as a tow vehicle. John Davies Spokane WA

I love your mud flap install and have studied it. Sadly, its out of my wheel house. Maybe someday I'll find someone willing to duplicate and fabricate them as I think it is a much worthy mod! For now, I'm not planning much off roading (although thats more my style) with ILOVHER. As far as a blowout, I've had one in ten years and my opinion is the fiberglass in that area is more at risk for serious destruction. At that end, my fittings are the least of my worries.

We camp at Linville Falls Federal Campground on the BRP when the temps in the lower elevations are below 90F. The places to hike, drive, and eat in my first post are close by Linville Falls Federal Campground. Linville Falls Campground on the BRP: Met a couple from SC at Mt. Pisgah on the BRP when they had a truck camper, they toured our Ollie, next time we saw them at Mt. Pisgah they had a beautiful new Ollie. We head to Mt. Pisgah @ 5,000' when temps in the lower elevations are above 90F. Last time we camped at Linville Falls on the BRP, they were there, too: Here's a shot one morning at Mt. Pisgah, beat the summer heat there without AC when it's hot everywhere else: Our favorite sites @ Linville Falls on the BRP marked in pink:

There were two or three near Wilkesboro, can’t remember which one we were going to since we ended up going up to Banner Elk.

We're the same, but we let it slip a bit when camping. Maybe more than a bit at times. We rationalize it with the extra hiking we're doing. Like above, we usually have a stocked freezer at home, and we always portion and vacuum pack meats when we buy them, so pulling out individual portions for camping is a breeze. With the freezer in our truck, we can carry most everything for a three week trip, but usually stop at least once every week and a half or so to refresh vegetables that are bulky or don't keep well. We'll also individually vacuum pack trail snacks, which helps get us out the door quickly in the morning.

I read Where the Crawdads Sing and enjoyed that book. I like to read at bedtime. During the day at work and on my drive to and from I like to listen to Audiobooks. I download mine the the digital library for free using the Libby app. I also read/listen to a lot of James Patterson, John Grisham and if you haven't seen the movie Woman in the Window you might enjoy listening to that audiobook. Cindy

Coffee, and Tea for sure! We're on Keto diets for two years, no sugar and very little carbs. Occasionally we fall off of the "no sugar" wagon. 🙂 Bacon & eggs are OK! 👍