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This is a great spot on Energy Lake. It is a spot we stopped at on our way from Tennessee to Wisconsin. It was in The Land Between the Lakes and was really fun. A great spot was The Homeplace 1850 Interperative Center. Pioneer log buildings and everything that an old farm would have. Tina and I loved this spot. Volunteers doing things that would be done in those times. It was memorable. Tina and Mike

Should be easy to see one, as there are close to 20 in Maine, a few less in each of the other NE states. Just know that most in this area are either winterized or on the road heading south. You know if there are that many around here they must be adapted well to "cool" climates, narrow roads, small older camping areas, and narrow city streets. Those that are winterized are still easy to see. Just turn on the propane, start the furnace, and turn on the lights. Everything except running water will work...

We recently fabricated or cut a Queen size Casper “element” memory foam mattress into two twins. We were not comfortable on the Southern mattress with coil spring twins and sold them to another Oliver owner. I am 6’3 and a side sleeper and so far am very happy with the Casper mattress. We really like the twin set up as it just works better for us. We did not want to give up the night stand/drawer as we like the storage. PM if I can answer any other questions. And welcome to the forum!

Thanks, Mike. Been learning a ton in the last 24 hours. Got the build sheet, read lots of posts, watched lots of videos. The little details keep surprising us. Truly a remarkable little RV. Put in my name hoping we can see one in real life before winter arrives here in New England. Dudley

Update - SUCCESS! So, I'd bought a charger/maintainer on the road but never took it outta the box ... the solar struggled along keeping charge, diminishing the batteries a bit each day (actually had a net positive a few of the days!) ... while driving we turned the AC/DC refrigerator off (it's electric only - the one "sizable" draw source) and only turned it on when plugged in at a campground (about every 2nd or 3rd night) ... by the time we arrived home on Sunday evening the batteries were down to 41%. The replacement converter section I'd ordered had arrived ... installed it today using John Davies excellent instructions - was actually pretty easy... and, yes, John, it was one of the new LI-capable ones (thanks for that tip). And ... voila! ... Ollie is now charging batteries like a champ. Went 17 days without a shore charge on the batteries. Hoping I didn't damage the batteries ... at one point was down to 11.8 V ... now, charge IN is around 13.8 with a 35+ amp flow ... should be back at full by tomorrow. Thanks, guys, for the insights and for giving me the confidence to keep going. Cheers, -Dan

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

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.

Hello, Oliver owners (Ollies?, Oliverians?). My wife and I are pondering what will probably be our final RV purchase. We're approaching a somewhat early retirement in 2 years and thinking about what retirement RVing will look like for us. We're experienced campers, 22 years in a 26' stick and tin travel trailer, 30' Titanium 5th wheel, and currently 32' triple slide 5th wheel. Now considering the Elite 2. It would be the smallest RV we've ever owned. Anticipated usage would range from midweek jaunts to the local dry camping state park to cross-Rockies trips from our home in the Northeast to the Southwest. We're hoping a fiberglass RV will be superior quality to the typical stick builts we've seen. Our retirement RV goals: Best possible resale value, for when we're ready to settle down and buy a brick and mortar retirement house. Less time on the roof caulking 100' of seams. Comfortable for my wife to tow. (She did OK with our travel trailer, but wasn't comfortable with either 5th wheel.) Better fit and finish than we've seen in our 5th wheels. Good boondocking performance for 2-3 nights. Good cold weather performance to extend our camping season. Appropriately sturdy for long haul trips. Better fuel economy/potentiality smaller future tow vehicle. (Current truck is a gas dually pickup.) At least 10 year service life. Would love to hear how well current owners would rate your Olivers on those points. We do anticipate some challenges: Far, far less storage space than we're used to, inside and out. Moving from a fifth wheel will open up the truck bed, but we'll be back to storing stuff in bins and loading them into the truck before each trip. Our current rig has 2 big recliners we really enjoy. I'm 6' tall. Are the dinettes comfortable? The wet bath seems like a pain. Will miss the roof ladder. Although I don't enjoy being up there, the built in ladder does make repairs on the road easier. What say the experienced on this? Finally, a few specifics: Rear dinette vs twin beds: does the rear dinette convert into a comfortable bed, or is it lumpy with all the separate cushions? What kind of sheets fit that? Lithium batteries worth it, or AGM adequate? Street side awning worth it? How do you use a ladder with awnings on both sides? Does the winterizing inlet simply fill the fresh water tank with pink stuff, or does it feed antifreeze directly to the pump? Any other thoughts/suggestions? The Bigfoot 25' rear queen is also in the running. A lot more living/storage space but the quality doesn't seem as good and the boondocking capabilites are less refined. Airstream Bambi has come up as well, but I'm not a big fan of single axle towables. We're considering a factory tour next summer, with a possible purchase within the year after that. Nothing like hearing from those who've already been there, done that, though. Thanks for any replies. -Dudley

We sleep with our heads next to the pantry & stove. It's fine for me at 6' tall. Some folks sleep with their heads at the rear of Ollie, which would be tighter for someone over 6'. At 6' tall, I don't have headroom problems in the shower, but we do not have a wooden shower matt on the floor/drain area, I'm sure that affects headroom. Bill, I was thinking about Patriot, too. Checked the invoice today and it is AB Lifestyles 11" RV memory foam mattresses. Here's the pattern AB Lifestyles used for our mattresses in our 2015 LE2:

Hello Everyone, We only started looking at Oliver Travel Trailers a couple months ago due to a need we had in the family. After reading everything we could find and watching lots of videos we decided it was the one for us. On our way home from a 36 day driving vacation out west, we decided to get an appointment to tour the factory and talk to someone in person. We met with Anita on 9/23 for the tour and discussion. As someone mentioned earlier there were several Ollie's sitting in the parking lot awaiting pickup. However, there was also one whose owner had a major health issue and was not able to pick up his 2021 Elite II. Anita told us to take a look at it. We fell in love. It had more options than we were planning to purchase, but since it was a 2021 the cost was within our budget. We bought it! And we pick it up next Wednesday, Oct. 6. We are so excited and can't wait to take our first trip. We have learned so much from these forums and are looking forward to learning a lot more from you pros. We are totally new to camping. We both recently retired and looking forward to many years in our Oliver. Thank you all for the wonderful information you have shared. Kathy

At the Florida mini-rally I hosted a couple for a tour of my twin bed Ollie. The male is 6'4" and he laid down on the bed flat on his back and had a bit of room to spare - his head did not touch nor did his feet touch unless he flexed his feet (pointed his toes) towards the wall. At 6' tall, I can flex my feet and touch the wall with my toes but my head is not touching the wall. Patriot is in the "tall" range and has the twin bed model. Perhaps he will chime in here and/or you can always send him a private message (PM) on this Forum to get his input. Bill

JD - I believe that it (the color) is being caused by the lighting in the photo. Note the color of the aluminum where the "1up" sticker is located - much the same color as you are referring to on the sleeve. Bill

Welcome to the group and hope this helps! "Our retirement RV goals": Best possible resale value, for when we're ready to settle down and buy a brick and mortar retirement house. We purchased our 2015 LE2 Ollie used in 2016 and conservatively it has gained 15% in value over our purchase price. Less time on the roof caulking 100' of seams. Every other year I may spend a day caulking, but when not camping we keep Ollie in an aircraft hangar. Comfortable for my wife to tow. (She did OK with our travel trailer, but wasn't comfortable with either 5th wheel.) Ollie has Great towing manners, very easy to tow and not too wide Better fit and finish than we've seen in our 5th wheels. Great quality fit/finish and easy to maintain Good boondocking performance for 2-3 nights. We don't have factory solar, but we used a 100W suitcase solar panel with 2000W gen-set and single Battle Born Lithium battery. Does great on 1 week dry camping trips so far. Good cold weather performance to extend our camping season. Have not camped in Ollie when temps below 30F, do not have as much experience as others here in cold temps Appropriately sturdy for long haul trips. Our longest tow day so far is 720 miles, but most of the time tow 200 to 300 miles per day. Ollie's structure/frame is very tough and durable Better fuel economy/potentiality smaller future tow vehicle. (Current truck is a gas dually pickup.) Have towed Ollie with a midsized pickup with V6, but personally prefer towing with a 1/2 ton pickup. Currently looking at the new V6 twin turbo Tundra as an economic tow vehicle. Ollie is very aerodynamic and economic to tow for a trailer it's size and weight. We keep our LE2 ready to camp weigh at 4950 pounds as per CAT scales At least 10 year service life. If properly maintained, believe one of our children will inherit Ollie if they are interested in camping We do anticipate some challenges: Far, far less storage space than we're used to, inside and out. Moving from a fifth wheel will open up the truck bed, but we'll be back to storing stuff in bins and loading them into the truck before each trip. For two people (guilty of being minimalist), we have more than enough space and storage in Ollie also using the covered pickup bed and crew cab back seat for storage Our current rig has 2 big recliners we really enjoy. I'm 6' tall. Are the dinettes comfortable? Believe the dinette cushions could be more comfortable with a better grade of memory foam The wet bath seems like a pain. We use a automotive Chamois to wipe down the shower interior after use to keep it looking good, not an issue for us Will miss the roof ladder. Although I don't enjoy being up there, the built in ladder does make repairs on the road easier. Only needed to access the roof once during a camping trip, keep a telescoping ladder in the pickup bed for that Finally, a few specifics: Rear dinette vs twin beds: does the rear dinette convert into a comfortable bed, or is it lumpy with all the separate cushions? What kind of sheets fit that? Purchased twin custom memory foam mattresses from AB Lifestyles, they also supply some Ollie owners with sheet sets. Our twin beds are just as comfortable as our mattress at home, I'm 6' 195 pounds and Debbie is 5'2" and 110lbs Lithium batteries worth it, or AGM adequate? Just installed a single Battle Born Lithium battery this year and really like how fast it charges and performs Street side awning worth it? How do you use a ladder with awnings on both sides? Only used ladder on street side without awning so can't answer that question Does the winterizing inlet simply fill the fresh water tank with pink stuff, or does it feed antifreeze directly to the pump? We use the rear inlet with onboard 12V pump to winterize the plumbing system except for using a hand pump to winterize the fresh water & city water inlets, and black tank flush inlet.

I’ve got the older 320W solar panels. We don’t use the AC much at all. Too loud. No, we’ve never run the AC off of the batteries. The two BB’s do fine running everything else. We’ve never been below 80% in the morning after running the furnace, lights, occasional microwave, etc. Mike

Try this: left click on the three dots located in the upper right of the post with the picture you wish to edit - the picture should turn a blue color. Then right click while holding down the "control key". A "pop-up menu should appear in which one of the choices in the middle of that menu is edit picture. Left click on that and another menu pops up that allows you to move the picture and/or re-size it. I don't think this is an Moderator only function - but - I could certainly be wrong. Bill

Perhaps he’s headed in this direction…….

Good idea. FYI, if the threads are buggered, you can easily snap a bolt in two, using a big breaker bar, or impact driver, as long as you can hold the other end very securely with a box end wrench or socket. They are not especially strong. I have done this to a 1/2" bumper bolt, where the nut seized solid. That is a little tougher, but doable. These little ones would snap easily. I won't use thread locker on any stainless bolt, it gets anti seize instead. John Davies Spokane WA

I cut the blue PEX tube several inches after the tee into the water supply line to the sink. Then I put a brass 1/2” PEX plug and crimped it with a copper ring. I snipped off the toilet supply valve, and pushed the line thru the hole in the fiberglass, and a 4’ section of blue PEX line slid right out. Yes, I will cap off that outside connection to avoid user error. I didn’t have a cap on hand, need to go to store. By the way, the two white PEX lines you see in the photos are the flush lines, the same ones you already disconnected from the flush inlet and the other one on the black tank. They lead to a brass backflow preventer underneath the countertop. I pulled those out too, came right out easily. You can also see the black tank vent line, it’s a 1.5” abs pipe that connects to the vent line going to the roof, right next to the composting toilet vent hose.

Welcome from Maine. Waiting and reading the forum you will be tempted to start gathering "stuff". Take it easy. You will be tempted to store it in a spare room. Don't, there is more room in a garage or small barn, lol. We have been up and down the eastern seaboard and the Mississippi River a few times in the last five years. And a few boondocking trips too. Each time we get home we evaluate items we haven't used, and see if we really need to be carrying it. We carry quite a few pounds less every trip. (What we did find was that there are stores all over the USA). We actually have three overhead cabinets that are almost empty, and room in the closet. We eat well, travel light, and stop often. Stay off the interstates as they almost all look a like. Come to a stop sign and flip a coin, tails to the left, heads to the right. That has lead to some of the best sights. Oh, and carry a good set of maps. Garmins usually lead to big crowds... See you around a campfire...