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Here’s a photo of the original light grey, or putty: After that color was discontinued, Oliver switched to the off white, which was much complained about at the time. I think that the only other choice that Oliver had from their supplier at the time was black, or perhaps a dark bronze color. This photo is from the factory, so you can see that they had that ‘yellowed’ look from day one: Around mid-2017, Oliver was able to get a pure white version that matches the interior fiberglass, and that’s what they still use today:

Not too far from the posted photo above is the infamous Moqui Dugway as it steeply descends off the southern end of Cedar Mesa down into the San Juan River Valley. Thought it might be an nice to provide photos of the general area where we've camped, boondocked, dry camped or however you choose to describe it, sort of why and what you were doing in the area in addition to where camped. Thanks for looking.

It has been almost impossible to find good indoor storage for our Ollie near where we live. A few weeks ago we inquired about availability at a storage facility in an adjacent village only 6 miles from our home but were told it was completely full. We did get on their waiting list in case something opened up. At that time I told them we would be willing to pay a year in advance. Two days later, I received a phone call stating that someone had "backed out" of one of the three units that had just been constructed. We were subsequently offered that brand-new 18' x 40' unit, electricity included. Did our paying in advance move us up on the list? I wonder. Today we were at the storage unit prepping for our upcoming trip to Door County, WI. The owner of the facility was there working and asked if I might be interested in an even longer lease period for a more favorable rate. He also agreed to split the cost of a powered garage door opener with the longer lease. It appears we are going to be there awhile! We don't mind the drive, R-Villa is out of the weather, and she might have some company; I have some other toys!

Kampfirekid, You're hearing great comments from Oliver owners, and it's the choir preaching to you! We are all biased because we made the decision to go with this company and we LOVE it. Oliver is a small company with just two products. Big companies can afford to make products for all segments of the market. Oliver makes just two trailers, very similar to each other, and so the market has to come to them. Your needs have to match up with just these two products, otherwise you have to look elsewhere. The LE2 may not have everything you're looking for, but I think the advantages will outweigh the disadvantages. Also, in today's market, and likely in the next few years, it won't depreciate nearly as much as the other trailers you've had. If you get a LE2, use it for a year or two, and decide it's too tight for you or you really do want to have other folks sleeping inside, then you can sell it for a good price and move on to another product. As far as the expense, I hear ya! It's top dollar for a small trailer. I could get two brand new Jayco's for what I paid for my LE2. But, when I saw an Oliver and go to spend 30 minutes or so inside, well, it was love at first sight. It will be a big decision for you, but I don't think you will regret it.

As long as the pee bucket is emptied every couple of days and not allowed to "steep" it isn't bad. We do find that if you let it go longer it can be a little ripe when you empty it. The part that I thought would be nasty, emptying the used coco coir, isn't stinky at all. If you had the runs for several days you might need to add more coco coir, but a single case hasn't been an issue. I do think if I needed to vomit I'd choose a bowl rather than hang over the toilet! Luckily haven't had to test that yet! We are glad we chose the composting toilet. Paula

We have found the standard toilet uses very little water when you "need" to flush and can go almost two weeks, without needing to dump, if we take advantage or other places to go, when we are out for the day. Andrew

The main selling point for me was not having to spend fresh water on each flush. Even when boondocking in places like the desert southwest it's better to be taking your poo back with you than to dig catholes and poo in them (there are more and more areas down there where that's now officially a no-no and even in other areas it's just good LNT camping since the soil you dig that cathole in tends to be fairly sterile i.e. no bacteria to break your poo down unlike up here where I live on the wet side of the Cascades). So having the compost toilet for sure significantly extends the time we can go between being at fill/dump stations.

How does one handle loose stools or diarrhea?

decided to work on the camera. pulled the 6 screws mounting the camera to the bracket (3mm). instead of taking the camera off the roof and pulling the wiring, i turned the camera around and mounted it backwards in the bracket. this gave me good access to the screw to open the camera body... from here dry it with a hair dyer and replace the desiccant . the gasket is in need of replacement. Applied some silicon sealer with the hope this will help seal the gasket until i get a new one. ended up being very easy. still need a new gasket

My best guess is your circuit board is fouled with moister. I have gone through 3 circuit boards before finding this you tube post. in my case i installed a new board but coated with a liquid conformal coating before installation. so far so good..

This is a cool thread, had not seen it before. I'll start out with a few in the early years of owning the Ollie. Goosenecks State Park, Utah. While there are some semi-developed campsites located back up the road with picnic tables and the likes we chose to drive further out on this bench, mesa, peninsula, reef or what ever you like to refer these geologic landforms. We were able to back right up to the edge overlooking the goosenecks as the San Juan River winds and cuts its way through land. Gorgeous evening, Trudi taking in the sights. Thanks for looking.

I'm no optics expert. Just thinking out loud... I would do everything @ScubaRx recommends right up to the point of reassembly. At that point, I think that I would attempt to fill the unit with inert gas to ensure no moisture was trapped inside. Place the two halves of the shell in a ziplock bag. Snip off one corner of the bag and insert a plastic straw, sealing it with tape. Evacuate all of the air by pressing gently on the bag forcing the air out of the straw. Insert the nozzle of a canned argon canister into the straw. Snip off the opposing corner of the bag (for air to escape) and fill it with argon until it displaces all of the air in the bag. Let enough argon out of the bag to manipulate the two shell halves to mate up. Hold them together tightly with one hand. Tear the bag off with the other hand (or recruit help). Insert screws and tighten. Provided you can get a good seal on the shell, once filled with inert gas it will stay moisture free. You can get a can of argon on Amazon. People use it to evacuate the oxygen out of open wine bottles they want to re-cork. I think they cost around $15.

Good point about the emissions with the propane conversion. The standard gasoline fired 2200i meets the emissions of every state but California. Honda makes a different model approved for use in the Golden State.

If you live in a humid climate, carefully use a hair dryer or heat lamp for a while to force out any moist air immediately before you reassemble. It is really hard to completely dry out stuff if the air has 80 or 100% humidity. If there is room inside, insert one or two small silica gel desiccant packs. Post some pics please, I have never seen inside one of these. I have a Garmin BC30 and it is permanently sealed, I think. The video quality is garbage, but it hasn’t fogged. John Davies Spokane WA

We have a Honda 2200 converted to propane fuel. Our air conditioner has a soft start circuit. All works very well to date. This said, we have yet to challenge the system at high altitude on a hot day. These factors could put the performance of the generator the outside its ability to supply enough power to properly run the air conditioner. We love not having to deal with a supply of gas. We have the large propane tank option and have never run short of propane. Water is always the item that brings us back to town. Our conversion is a Hutches kit. This kit will void the warranty of the generator and is illegal in some states (not approved EPA emissions)

I had a unique opportunity on a recent trip we took while towing our Ollie down to the Chesapeake Bay for a little vacation. Actually observed a trailer tire failure in real time. Driving in moderately heavy traffic on an interstate at 60-65 mph, we were a bit behind a pickup truck towing an SOB dual axle travel trailer. It was a section of the interstate with 3 lanes in each direction. I was in the far right lane as usual, and the pickup truck/TT ahead of us were in the center lane. My wife and I both noticed that the forward tire on passenger side of the trailer ahead of us was low and the sidewall of the tire was oscillating side to side noticeably. Our position to the rear and right of the other trailer gave us a great viewpoint. The oscillations were getting worse, but the pickup truck driver was showing no indication he noticed anything at all as he happily maintained his speed. I tried to speed up an little to get alongside to try to honk/wave to warn him, but traffic opened up a bit at that point and he actually sped up significantly, so I fell pretty far behind. At this point, small chunks of rubber were now being thrown off the tire, but the driver continued on at speed. I gave up on my attempt to get alongside to warn him since I didn't feel safe getting closer, and actually backed off a bit further. Within another 30 seconds larger chunks of tire started coming off, followed by pieces of aluminum siding from the trailer side wall around the wheel well as the entire tread started coming off the tire and whipping around in the wheel well. So I slowed down even more to get a very safe distance behind from the impending disaster. Incredibly, the driver was still maintaining his speed! Probably doing 70mph and in the middle lane of three lanes of traffic! The full tire tread soon came off, fortunately I was far enough behind to avoid it easily along with all the other debris laying in the road at this point. By now other drivers closer to him in traffic were honking & waving at him, and he probably felt some drag or vibration at this point, and he finally figured out something was wrong, but because he was in the middle lane of the three lanes, and with the traffic, it took him quite a bit of distance to finally get over to the far right lane and he exited at an off ramp and pulled off on the shoulder there. By that point the tire was completely gone, but fortunately since it was a dual axle trailer, the driver never lost control. Some lessons learned, and/or reinforced. A very strong reminder of the need for a good TPMS system (I've had one since day one with our Ollie Elite II). A great demonstration of the advantage of a dual axle trailer for stability. And also a reminder that keeping to a reasonable speed and staying in the right hand lane most of the time are good practice.

Good for you! I'm glad that you got it fixed. I never would have imagined that there would be room enough in there for a desiccant pack. Way less effort than my "inert gas in a bag" idea 🤪, and in the long run probably more effective. Don't mind me. I like to tinker. I once replaced a broken battery terminal on my daughters watch with a piece of heating element from an old toaster. It was Minnie Mouse watch from Disneyland. Irreplaceable in her eyes, and she told my wife "Daddy will fix it". What was I to do? The pressure was immense. I had to think outside the box.

We had the compost for three years - generally liked it, and had no issues. Were I to choose today - I would have to really think about it. As was mentioned - judicious water use would even out the choice. I believe I would go with the normal toilet - next time. RB

On the older trailers the window frames were never white. Ours weren’t and haven’t changed color since new. They don’t become brittle. I think the new ones are white to match the fiberglass. Yes, they are replaceable. Mike

I try not to handle them! 😉 But seriously, though I don't have a ton of time in yet with the compost toilet we have been out for a few weeks on end with it including some of this sort of fun. We didn't have a long enough bout going into our toilet to have to add any more composting medium ( moistened peat moss or coconut coir) which is what the manufacturer recommends if the hershey's squirts make it overly wet in the compost bin. Any "overspray" that hits the bowl is pretty easy to clean with a few spritzes of the water/vinegar solution that's recommended for bowl cleaning and a few wipes with TP that you can toss down into the bin. Thus far I'm a fan. I did get a squatty potty step which I'm going to scribe and cut to fit against the toilet so I don't have to go on tiptoe to have my feet touch the floor. But we've had no smell other than a little waft of compost smell (earthy - no different from a yard waste compost bin smell) when opening the toilet to get out the urine bottle or empty the compost bin. I add water periodically while in storage and also spin the agitator when I add the water. We last camped in mid June, and there is about two week's worth of poo and TP from the two of us. The TP is mostly just gone now, and the volume dropped back down to very close to what it was right after I added a fresh load of moistened peat moss. Right after the last 9 day camping trip in June the level was maybe two inches above the axle of the agitator and now it's back down to just below the axle. If you let it dry out in storage you'll end up with some brown dust on the floor and in the vent hose. No biggie but also easy to avoid if you are near where you store the trailer. Otherwise just dump the compost before storing. I like saving on water and not having to deal with dumping terribly often - looks like maybe if we did three weeks straight we might want to dump the compost bin and add fresh peat moss/coir. The pee bottle obviously needs more attention - every 2-3 days regardless of volume I'd say to avoid letting it get kinda gross (which you'd only notice when dumping it but still). But it's easy to dump/rinse/replace.

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/1978-nature039s-head-composting-toilet-installation-in-an-oliver-big-thread/ John Davies Spokane WA

Along those lines, has anyone been nauseous and had to use the composting toilet for that?

John, I just received my aluminum for the frame, and was going to un-bolt the old receiver rack supports. From what you wrote, I decided to spray the bolts/nuts with penetrating oil and let it set overnight to hopefully advert some of the problems with the stainless bolts seizing. I went out with a couple of 18" breaker bars to get the bolts off. I was already thinking of what steal tubing I had to make a extension for the breaker bars. The first nut I tried virtually had no pressure on it so I dropped back to a ratchet. I had to laugh, I'm guessing that there was less than 25 in/lbs of torque on all of those those nuts. I'm Fortunate that the receiver assembly just didn't fall off.

John E. Davies et al, Thank you for your uplifting remarks. The normal rate for this space was $275/month. My agreed upon rate, paid in advance for a year, is $250/month or $3,000. Actually, that is a fair rate for our area. For us, the convenience and protection makes it worth the cost. As I mentioned, we will be renegotiating for a longer period. There will be a clause which will allow early release of the contract. So far as working with a closed overhead door, this facility also provides a side door with a combination lock! I have a Surefire Stiletto flashlight in my EDC gear, so if the lights fail, I can easily find the door. The interior measures a full 18' x 40'. I am a huge fan of LED headlamps, which I use extensively in my side business. If they are not adequate, I will go to Plan B.

Sounds pretty straight forward. Yes, we have Lithium Pro Pkg with micro-start. Thanks! Update: We didn't need the AC. Our site had enough shade to keep the inside of the trailer "bearable" . . . . . 80 degrees tops, but it had cooled down to the 70's by bed time. Looks like the heat wave has arrived. It was over 90 when we returned home today and predicted to be warmer tomorrow. Thankfully I have an appointment in Bandon, so I'll be heading to the coast for the day.

Ours did that, an we asked for the camera manufacturer for an exchange assembly. They sent us a new camera, we sent back the old. (Ours was inside warranty). CS

I wouldn't be afraid to work inside with the door down provided that I could lift the door to get out. I would check the manual release mechanism on the door operator first to ensure it functions properly. Pretty sure I could find the door in the dark. I'm with you about fire though. You just can't be too cautious.

Congratulations! Being fortunate enough to find indoor storage to keep Ollie and other stuff out of the weather is so nice!!!

I do not own an Ollie (yet) but I have stored my RVs, ATVs, boats, trucks, etc. in fully enclosed rented facilities in SW Montana for nearly 20 years. I’ve had electric, but have not had climate controlled facilities. I winterize the RVs, remove the batteries and keep them on trickle chargers during the winter, and have never had a problem with anything come spring. One word of caution: If you’re going to be storing your Ollie in an enclosed facility, pay close attention to its fire prevention/detection. I won’t go into further details here as it can be a whole separate subject, but John Davies comment about working inside with the door down, makes me shudder! (The electric goes off… the lights and power go off… you’re in the dark… there is no easy way out…a fire starts…)

We have yellowing on the window door frame, the front jack head, and the exterior outlet cover, all non-oliver . Our unit is stored outside. I've seen others as old with no yellowing, so either they've been painted, or stored inside. I think the "frames" you're seeing on the interior windows are the blind frames, which back five or six years ago were a rather yellowish beige color. Our 2008 blinds are a light putty color. The blind frames are a lighter, whiter color in current models. Ours have not become brittle with age, but yes, they can be replaced. Hull #198 just replaced their beige shades with white.

That is a great spot, woohoo! Congrats! Do you mind sharing what your long term rate is, and also what would be a typical amount? Is there any clause allowing you to break or transfer the lease and get most of your money back in case of emergency ? That is even wider than a standard RV garage, my attached one is 16x42 feet, that is measured by the OUTSIDE of the wall framing, so it is a little deceiving and I did not discover that until after moving in 😤. I would love a little extra width, but you should have plenty of room to get some other stuff in there and still have walking room to reach both sides of your Ollie and to maybe add some big industrial shelving. I am guessing that those ceiling lights are LED, but are they soft white (yellow)? If so, will they let you pay for and have them install a set of 4000k LEDs? That will add a whole lot more whiter illumination, and make doing stuff in the winter, with the door down, a lot more pleasant. John Davies Spokane WA

Put your neutral ground bonding plug into one of the outlets on your generator. Start it up. Go into your Ollie and make sure there is no load on your 120v circuits (TV off, AC off, refrigerator on LP and nothing plugged into your outlets). Plug Ollie into your generator and go fire up the air conditioner. This procedure is what I did the first (and only) time I used my 2200i and everything went without a hitch. I have the micro-start option and I assume that you do as well. Stay cool, Mike

Thanks for the video link. It is eye opening and the guy explains things very clearly. I'm going to make my own spreadsheet and see how it all comes out. I also know that we carry much more stuff than we need when we travel (mostly me--my husband is more of a minimalist) so I can lighten our load if need be.

Add up the RV's, motorcycles, boats, and associated hardware and soon your talking real money. Please don't mention the added $$ spent "improving" -- that makes it look really stupid. There was this one race bike, well... never mind. But - in almost every case -I would do it all over again. Our Oliver experience was certainly one of the better value plays overall. I never really tallied the costs and time/labor ( I'm not a fan of Horror moves) - but after 3 years of great experiences, and resale to a wonderful couple - we felt like it was a bargain. Of course my daily farm/daily driver is the former TV GMC 2500 - to replace it - well although it will bring almost what I paid - there is nothing to replace it with - have you looked lately - wow. - that and I really like driving the beast. Few if any have passed wishing they had left more $$ unspent..... Die young - as late as possible. Have fun Oliverites. RB A former Oliver caretaker.

Good comments. Just to add one - light truck tires on the Oliver are probably less susceptible to issues than most trailer tires. Mike

Thanks for the link, @bhncb. Some really interesting and solid info there. Lower power consumption, and quiet. Almost worth going to the Hershey show next month to see it. It looks really nice, too. I would love to see the interior unit available in white, but the grey would look nice in an Ollie, too.

I suspect that if you weighed everything that you've introduced to that vehicle since 2018, you'll find that your payload capacity is full... Andersen hitch 60 pounds Oliver Tongue Weight 600 pounds Two slightly overweight adults and a 100 lb dog 460 pounds Two mountain bikes 60 pounds Mountain bike roof rack 30 pounds These things alone will put you over 1200 pounds. That still gives you almost 400 pounds to play with, but be careful if you are overloaded and have an accident your insurance company could abandon you. Please watch this video, it should open your eyes.

I just received another new product announcement from Truma. For those interested, here is the link provided.

@IL_Travelers, Truma has one of its service and sales centers in Elkhart. You may want to give them a call. When their Varioheat first became available, I think it wasn't listed on their website either. (It still has only a brief mention.) When I checked with the service manager in Lakeland, they had the Vario, and their shop rate for installation was quite reasonable. The unit itself was rather pricey, but an alternative I'd consider if and when our trusty suburban furnace ever dies. Like our recpro, the Truma adu (indoor unit) looked quite sleek and slim in the video. We picked up over an inch, maybe two, of headroom with the Recpro.

Yes this voids the oem warranty Other trade offs to be aware of include operation at cold temperature and elevation The modification is adding a second fuel option, so gasoline use is still available...less the warranty For our use case the benefits of propane fuel storage and capacity combined with the clean burn were worth the loss of warranty at the EU2200i price point