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So true.

Camp pillows that tickled my funny bone...

While scooting around underneath my Oliver on my creeper greasing the chassis, I did a quick inspection of everything I could see. I noticed one of the the two 3/8” stainless steel bolts that secure the propane tank enclosure to the hull was loose, had backed out about 1/2”. Both of the bolt heads could be turned by hand, but could not be tightened externally, there are nuts on the other end that were spinning. I turned in a service ticket and asked for DIY instructions. Jason got back to me right away with 2 local RV repair centers that would fix it under warranty. He also gave me step-by -step DIY instructions, which were easy to follow. I prefer to do it myself, it was an easy task. It involved removing the bath vanity to get to the nuts on the ends of the bolts. The SS nuts had flat & lock washers, but obviously had not been tightened during production. I replaced the 3/8” SS nuts with SS nylon lock nuts, and all is well. While I was in there, I removed the toilet water supply line and valve, and capped off the tee it was connected to. I have the NH composting toilet. I also removed the black tank flush lines and back flow preventer, will save for a future owner that might want a flush toilet. I opened up the black tank drain and found it had quite a bit of RV antifreeze inside. Apparently the factory had added it to the black tank during the winterizing process. This was obviously not needed, but perhaps they do them all the same, regardless. So if you are underneath your trailer, you might give those bolts a quick check.

Maybe or maybe not. I will be posting about the project under Ollie Modifications when complete.

Looks like a spot to put lots and lots of solar! I’ll be watching this…. Mike

Here are some quick thoughts… As far as your RV goals go, the Oliver is a good match to all of them. As far the 10 year service life, an Oliver would be much more. Ours is going on 6 years, 60K+ miles and still looks and feels new. Challenges… you learn to minimize camping stuff. We can carry enough clothes for a couple months inside the Oliver. Chairs, grills, Clam, fire pit, etc. go in the truck bed. The wet bath seems like a pain to the un-initiated but it’s not. The dinette seats will not be anywhere near as comfortable as recliners. We sit outside as much as possible, camp chairs are more comfortable. We do use the dinette when the weather is cold or rainy and don’t have the Clam set up. Our twin beds serve as good reclining spots for reading as well. I’ve only been on a ladder to get to the roof once in all of our travels. I’ve never actually been “on” the roof. A collapsible ladder works fine, which I use after each trip to clean the roof. It stows easily in the truck bed. Specifics…. We have twin beds with mattresses and they are very comfortable. We had 4 AGM batteries for 5 years and I have no complaints. When they needed replacing I used two Battle Born 100aH batteries and they are working fine, too. How much money do you want to spend? We only have one awning and leaning a ladder against it has not been a problem. I did cut two pool noodles that wrap around the ladder to protect the trailer finish. I’ve never winterized or used that outlet to fill the fresh tank (different valve configurations for each operation). Hope this helps a little. You’ll get more input in the coming days! Mike

Cool, a party platform for ball games, races and star gazing? I hate working off a bunch of ladders, you need one of these .... Titan Auto Rotisserie I can't wait to see it finished. John Davies Spokane WA

If anyone else finds that these bolts are loose, there is an easier fix. Rather than removing the vanity to access the head of the bolts for a holdback, clamp a pair of vice grips on the threaded portion of the bolts and then tighten up the nuts. If it were me, I would back off the nuts a tad so that I could put on some Locktite before snugging them down. Obviously this will only work if the bolts are long enough like the ones in the photo. Yes the vice grips will damage the threads, but it is unlikely that you would ever have the need to remove these particular fasteners. If they ever had to be removed you would need to cut off the damaged portion to remove the nuts.

No problem, there’s plenty of room under the doghouse cover for one on each tank. I’ll take pics of my gauges on tanks first chance I get. This video gives a better explanation of how it works. https://youtu.be/_g38JponlN4

You have to tap the gauge to “reset” it. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IpdyTvlivsI I like the concept, since I travel with the fridge running on propane, but how well does a pair of them fit under the doghouse? They are pretty long. Can somebody with an Ollie post a picture please? Thanks. Can a moderator move this thread to the correct forum, it really doesn’t belong here. John Davies Spokane WA

Agreed, I bought two of those before I took delivery of my Elite 2, based on a video I watched onTechnoRV.com. They seem to work fine. You just have to remember to give the active tank a few pumps after you turn the valve on. https://www.technorv.com/gasstop

Oliver in Wild - We spent 5 nights here - https://riversedgemountainrvresort.com and did a little exploring around Nantahala National Forest, Vogel State Park, Blairsville, and Brasstown Bald. Rib Country is now are most favorite barbecue joints in Murphy…awesome cue!! We were camping among the giant RVs.😄 Lots of large motorhomes and big 5th wheels. The RV park was extremely clean and well kept and had large concrete pad sites. We met a number of super nice people during our stay. We took our bicycles in order to do a shake down of our 1Up USA (2) bike rack. We loved having our bicycles with us, it was just great to pedal tour around the park. The 1Up USA Super Duty bike rack performed excellent with no issues during our trip. The license plate relocation bracket arrived while we were gone so I installed it when we got home. I may add an LED license plate light. A few pics of our site, bike rack and views along the way. Bike rack loaded without the license plate relocation kit. Plenty of tail light visibility but needed the license plate relocation bracket. Bike rack deployed- Rack in upright store position- Our site - Looking from Nantahala National Forest up towards the Smoky Mtns. Already missing the higher elevations of the mountains -

We’ll be kicking around New Mexico and Arizona for the month of March so maybe we’ll cross paths….

We had a discussion about military RV parks, usually called Famcamps a few years ago, HERE. It’s important to remember that access to military installations, to include the commissary, exchange and outdoor recreation facilities (Famcamps) are a DoD benefit for active duty and retired military folks. Non-retired veterans get benefits from the VA, not DoD. Some Famcamps are better deals than others, we’re paying $25/night here with FHU. We paid $50/night at Fort Belvoir a few years ago. Mike

Since the fresh water tank is comparatively large and there is relatively little water in there (assuming that it has been mostly drained), there is nothing to fear from the remaining water in that tank freezing. Remember, it is the expansion of freezing water that causes the issues. If there is nothing for this expanding freezing water to "expand" against then there is no harm. Certainly there is nothing wrong with what GJ is doing - assuming that the fresh tank is thoroughly flushed prior to its next use (which should be done regardless when the tank is sanitized). But, it is extra work. Bill

I'd also add that I've never had dealings with a company that is so straight forward and willing to correct virtually any issue that is their "fault" (and even some that aren't their fault). Maybe its the location, maybe its the Oliver owners, or some combination, but, it is a wonderful company to do business with in my experience. Bill

True, but what trailer manufacturer does? Remember that B2B chargers are what's required, and while Sterling has been around the marine world for a while I think, they weren't well known in the trailer or overland community until the past few years. So the trailer world has traditionally just ignored the fact that the vehicles could't charge the batteries; just up to now the battery banks were too small for anyone to care (also, people assumed that the charge that they got from their solar while on the road was coming from their truck). Truth is, I think adding a B2B charger to either lithium package is more likely to add another layer of disappointment. Beneficial, yes; but still inadequate. I don't think that Oliver's sin is so much the lack of B2B charging, but that they aren't communicating the limited ability of either that or their solar to charge a super large battery bank. In their defense, most owners find the subject to be pretty opaque. But FYI to all potential buyers, there's a very limited use case for a large battery bank without also investing in large panels and perhaps also a B2B system; i.e., it makes sense only if you're planning to use power at a faster rate than you can recover. There is, and I can't stress this enough, no way to recharge them for continuous use, at least not one that makes sense with this trailer - Oliver's solar package will provide about 70Ah on average, and B2B charging maybe 100 for an 8 hour drive. Even on a long, sunny drive, you would only plan for 170 Ah even with B2B. Not 350, and certainly not 570, which is what would be required to recharge an exhausted pro or platinum LFP package. So, at the end of the day, either your consumption is within those charging limits (in which case, you didn't need the batteries); or you carry a generator to recharge them (in which case, you didn't need the batteries); or you use electricity with wild abandon for six days and then go plug in or run that generator for 6 hours (at least you had 6 days of quiet). I'm not saying no one should buy them; but wow, everyone should give it some deep thought before doing so. There's advantages, just few and far between.