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Great suggestion - you should get a badge for that!!

Yeah. Enjoy the dopamine spurts while they last

I agree with Townesw's statement "We don't need no stinking BADGES". I can't see how a system can rank me as a NEWBIE, when I have been pulling travel trailers all over the United States for over 50 years, with no issues.

BADGES! We don’t need no stinking BADGES! What we need is an easy-to-use search function!

Yes, it is thrilling! I suddenly have a bunch of cool badges , but I seem to be stuck at the Newbie level since 2015….. I feel like the day I joined the Cub Scouts, more than a few years ago….. Maybe a moderator can explain this new and exciting system😬 However, I do really think I should be a Rookie by now. Do I have to send doughnuts to somebody? if you zoom in on a badge icon it says “Rare”. That must be good, like a rare pokémon card….. I do not yet have a Conversation Starter badge, Susan, I am a little jealous. Could I have yours? John Davies Spokane WA

Welcome and congrats on your upcoming Oliver! I’m not a tire expert by any means, but I’ve learned a lot from sites like Tire Rack that lists specs and provides explanations of those specs. There are some pretty knowledgeable members here that can give some good advice. Stand by! Mike

It’s true.. there is a lack of East /West routes across northern New England.. if you want highway driving you’d have to go back down to Portsmouth NH, then head north into NH or VT. if county roads are what your looking for…get yourself to Augusta, then work your way to RT 2.. this gets you through the western part of the state, into the White Mts of NH and over to VT.. very very pretty drive, and a good cross sectional view of this part of the country IMHO…

No, but the extra generator would cost much more than the soft start kit, and infinitely more trouble to haul around.

I do not know the $$ of the Oliver LI platinum package - over that of the AGM - but one of our posters indicated the cost to upgrade to LI was in the neighborhood of $8500. Seems that buys many years of replacement AGM's Add a low cost gen set - and just smile as you go about your travels. RB.

We all have gadgets, gizmos, and things we use often but forget how handy they can be: for off grid my two favorites are: the handy dandy German Military surplus " trinkwasser" water carrier And my Arb. Can't beat it for all the extra fluids and overflow. It runs of DC when moving and off grid, AC when on shore power. It will freeze if set that way or cool too your designated temperature. Sips power like a gentle hummingbird. What are yours??

If not easy to use, at least one that is successful. How about the old Boolean logic search?

Hi Kendra, I agree with the recommendation to rent first. My process started three years ago when I rented a Jayco for a three week trip around the West. I had a full size pickup so towing was no problem. I learned a lot! I went through Outdoorsy.com and everything went very smoothly. I repeated that process twice more with different size trailers and learned a lot more each time. So, when the time came to decide on the Oliver and put down my deposit, I felt very confident with my decision.

Contact Oliver and set up a viewing. It helped us tremendously to see one in person and spend some time with an actual owner. Unless you see the two for yourself your not going to know if the E-I is big enough or if you should wait to get an E-II.

I think that whether anyone has had both is a bit unimportant in that it is really up to you to decide. Take a tour of each one (the Sales staff at Oliver can arrange that for you) and then decide. I do agree with you that the Ford Ranger is too small to tow the "II" for any distance from both a comfort and safety stance. Good luck with your search! Bill

As previously mentioned, each manufacturer may have different specs. I just got off the phone with the Lithionics folks, as I understands the current supplier for OTT). They confirmed that the BMS will shut batteries off at 130F or so (as sensed on the cell liners). He said it takes time from a cell to get up to this temperature. As for storage, their storage guidelines are attached. He went on to say that their storage specifications are very conservative. This make sense given a max temp for normal operations of 130F and storage specs of 95F max. My thought would be that 24-hour average temps of <95F for storage would be fine. Not many places see a 95F 24-hour average. I feel for you folks in the west with all this heat. At least for most of you, sweat works with your low humidity. Something that fails us here in the south 🌞 Storage-Procedure-Rev-03 (1).pdf

My suggestion is to get ahold of a camper, pickup with a shell, van or even a tent and sleeping bag and pad and get out there and try the lifestyle. Whether you buy, borrow or rent doesn’t matter. Trying it (for a few days or a week at a time) will tell you quickly if you find peace in the experience or are freaked out by the changes you encounter. If you find that you like camping then see if you can find a small camper to buy, even if you end up placing a order for a Oliver. While you wait to make your decision, or wait for your trailer to be manufactured you will gain invaluable experience which will serve you well in the ling run Have fun!

You have to discount the $8500 by the cost of upgrade from lead-acid to AGM, less the price difference between 2000w and 3000w inverter. I don't know the current costs; yes, I'm a retired bean counter 😁

You must be the fastest typist in the West . . . . 500 posts in 1 hour? I'd gladly trade my Conversation Starter badge for one of your doughnuts 😏

The badges came with our recent software upgrade. Don't feel bad about "newbie" status. That was mine, too, when it started, and I'm a forum original member, 2008. It appears to be tracking some things as you post, etc., updating some levels, not others. I'm now an "apprentice." Like jim_oker said....

it sounds like a battery has shorted out internally, a catastrophic condition. That will be easy enough to diagnose for a battery shop or an RV tech. You most likely need at least two new batteries, I bet that was more than a little unnerving. Hang in there. John Davies Spokane WA

I thought I would call Battle Born Batteries and ask them about this issue with camping in hot temps. First I looked at their website and found this information. Temperature restrictions on Battle Born Batteries Battle Born Batteries protect themselves from charging in cold temperatures and won’t accept a charge once the internal cell temperature drops to 24°F. At this point they will continue to discharge even down to -4°F. At this temperature we recommend no longer pulling power to avoid damaging the batteries. Insulated battery boxes, heating blankets, and placing your battery bank inside your RV will help keep the temperature stable. On the high end of temperature range, the batteries will shut down once 135°F is reached. When talking to the representative he advised me that I would see a slight loss of performance in 105 and plus degrees battery temperature but it would not hurt your battery and it would retain it normal performance once you were in cooler climate and battery temp drop below 105 degrees, also the battery will shut down once 135 degrees is reached in the battery. He said that it has not been a problem with RV users. I think in the case of the Oliver with it's battery not in the direct sunlight I don't think they'll be a problem. I would suggest anyone trying to make a decision on what battery type to buy should contact the battery manufacture and get all of their concerns answered. I know at Battle Born the rep was very knowledgeable and friendly and would probably talk to you all day. Paul

Well, it's more than a few, so a large enough minority to just "write it off" IMHO. It's pretty tough to survive in business just keeping the vague "majority" happy, especially these days. One of the things I've learned reading this forum for well over a year now is that Oliver does pay attention to the owners. If there are a handful of owners seeing excessive fiberglass dust in their new trailer, then maybe the Oliver team will want to address it. It's not a tough thing to address unless you are unaware. 😉 I don't think any of the owners have said it's a problem per se, just a little bit of a bummer having to spend time cleaning up the dust right out of the showroom. I was one of the 2020 owners that had a lot of fiberglass dust in my Oliver when it was delivered, but I saw the dust along with some other minor things when we took delivery that I made a decision then and there to address myself rather than point them out and wait longer. Covid certainly played a huge role in that decision. When we picked up in mid-November, 2020, it was a ghost town in the Oliver sales office. It was even mentioned to us at the time that some of the Oliver staff were out sick with Covid and they were short handed. I know Covid was creating a lot of different challenges for every company out there. I think Oliver does an amazing job with the overall construction of the Ollie and didn't miss a beat in 2020 with regard to that. I get the sense from my own experience and what I've read in the forums that the attention to detail may have slipped a bit here and there in 2020. Again, it takes awareness before you can take action, so I'd bet Oliver would be happy to hear about easy things to fix like these.

Heat tolerance of automotive lead-acid batteries - ScienceDirect Seems so - according to these guys. As to LI - another reason I was not on the LI train. If I was to visit my family in desert AZ this summer - would I have a problem with the LI - maybe. So how do those with the LI set up deal with it - what does Oliver say about it. I need to AC my Oliver to protect the batteries??? Seems impracticable for the normal RV'er.

Kingman Az here. Yup this past month has been terrible. We don't pick our Oliver up till feb. We did go with the lithium upgrade package. Our garage (where it will be kept when not in use) is getting a split system just incase. We do hope to pick up our Oliver and immediately start to travel full time as the retirement plug gets pulled 2 weeks before we pick it up. We will follow the weather.

My favorite gizmos, in no particular order. Rooftop solar, plus home made "portable solar", from cheap Coleman panels. My conical shape tea kettle, plus pourover coffee cone. At our camping property, the $100 ecotemp shower/water heater. Has worked for 13 seasons, with one small part replacement. This year's fave, as we are camping a lot on our property, this year, a redneck deck from reused dock boards, and pt stringers, in three sections. 8 x 12 in total. Keeps our feet dry in the rain. Will make a great tent platform someday . 5 gallon stackable water jugs, bought many years ago.