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I posted initially because I like to do my due diligence. I try to identify as many potential issues as possible before committing to an action. In this case the question was: Are we foolish to drop a large amount of cash on a purchase we might not be able to fully enjoy? The feedback here has been helpful. In reality there were 2 questions that needed answering. 1. Do we want to keep camping, even if current conditions continue? The answer to that is yes. Even in the past year we were able to enjoy our current rig. We are looking forward to more camping after retirement. 2. Will the Oliver increase camping enjoyment, even if current conditions prevail? I believe the answer to that is also yes. Compared to our current fifth wheel, we will have more choices with our Oliver: more sites it will fit in, longer camping season, easier to haul long distances. Those things are even more important with the new influx of campers. Last night, just for fun (research?), I was putting random camping dates into the Disney World reservation system. (I figured Disney would be a good model for a hard-to-reserve camping destination.) What I found was multiple dates in 2022 where the only available sites were for campers under 25'. Tried the same thing with some state parks and got the same result. Bottom line, the Oliver will almost certainly get us to places we couldn't reserve with our current rig. And the solar package stretches that even further by opening up easier boondocking. Sure, we'll miss the good old days when things were easier, but the Ollie is still our best bet going forward. Where there's a will, there's a way.

I don't think anything could "ruin" camping. Covid changed a lot of things, including camping. Smart phones changed a lot of things too that I didn't particularly care for, but I learned to live with them and even take advantage of them. I don't like all of the changes, but I'm sure not going to stop camping just because things are different. They will be different next year too. My wife and I have had a fantastic 2021 enjoying our new Oliver!! For the most part, we stuck to state parks and didn't see a lot of the problems others have reported. I can't wait to start our 2nd year of Oliver ownership - already have a trip planned in mid-December - yes, I did make reservations just in case. 🙂

Interesting, as we've used agms for 6 or 7 years, at least, well maintained. Probably depends on manufacturer and owner maintenance. I would never discard agms after 3 years.

I guess I don’t mind planning way ahead… perhaps it’s a result of having a business that had a way of snuffing out spontaneity.. if we wanted to get away, we had to work it all out well ahead of time. Or maybe it’s just me…I enjoy working out where we are going, pouring over topo’s and Google earth. In terms of campgrounds, if we are staying in them, we try to stick to State Parks. I like checking out campgrounds and trying to figure out which is “the best” site for us.. if we want to go someplace, like SW Florida for a month to collect sharks teeth we know we have to make reservations way way out ahead of time… and figure that’s just the way it goes… And if life throws us a curveball, like say knee surgery this fall, we cancel those reservations as soon as we can and somebody else gets lucky…

My take on it is this - if one thought that they used to be able to go cross-country with a lot of flexibility then in these times they simply will need to have even more flexibility. Yes, perhaps it is a different kind of flexibility but it is now more important than ever. This past summer I was fortunate enough to get a reserved site in a Yellowstone campground for 10 days. Every single day there would be sites open where people with reservations either didn't show up, cancelled at the last minute or left early. And, every single day there would be those people who simply just showed up at the right time and got one of those sites. Definitely not the way I prefer to travel but these people (for the most part) knew that they were taking a "flier" on getting a site and were prepared to move on if they were not successful - they were flexible. During this same trip I spent four days on the road driving to the West and another four days driving to the East all without a single reservation. Knowing that I might run into issues finding a place to park for the night, I had 4 or 5 different places already identified in the event my first choice was taken/full. Not once did I have to resort to even my second choice. Lucky - perhaps, but, I was prepared. We have purchased one of the most flexible campers on the market and if outfitted correctly it is capable of keeping us very comfortable is a very wide range of situations. In these times we just have to be as flexible in our planning to be able to enjoy ourselves no matter what situation we encounter. Bill

As an Idahoan that @John E Davies often makes fun of, but not one that gives him cause 😉, I can speak to the changes in the Idaho parks. In northern Idaho we are very close to the Washington boarder and have some wonderful state parks. However in the last 2 years we have been overrun by Washington license plates. When I say overrun I mean if you go to any of the parks or even to a trailhead over the last 2 years >60% of the cars have been Washington plates. The Idaho plates are in the minority. Now given our proximity there is always a lot of boarder state cross over but it has really gotten bad the last two years. One of the primary drivers of this was that Washington closed a lot of their parks because of COVID so everyone just came to Idaho. I expect this will slow down moving forward. I just checked one of our most popular campgrounds for middle of July and found 104 RV electric sites available. Reaching all the way out to August (the end of the 9 month window) there are still lots. Now, this a planning a long ways out and as summer gets closer these sites will get picked up. However, this last Labor day I grabbed a spot in a state park 2 days before the weekend. The campground was very full though. I grab the last spot but the spot next to me was reserved but a no show, everything else was full.

@Islandgrl these are the first AGM's that I have owned, so I can't speak from experience. However, I did a good bit of research and SeaDawg's comment appears to be spot on. Maintenance and proper operation are the key to getting the maximum life out of your batteries. Read the owners guide for your batteries. It can be a bit intimidating if you are not accustomed to reading technical manuals. The manual will tell you how to care for them and will say what type of charger you will require. Any old charger won't do. You will be able to charge all four of them at the same time by jumpering them together like @topgun2 suggested. As it was explained to me, it just turns them into one huge 12v battery. The NOCO Genius 10 brings the batteries up to full charge in stages (like the owners manual says to do) and when they get close to full charge the green indicator light will slowly fade on and off. It will turn solid green at full charge. At that point, the charger is in the maintenance mode and will keep your AGM's in top shape. Leave it plugged in all the time when in storage to keep your batteries in prime condition. Mike

Nothing works. After trying several products designed to clean mold and several products designed to clean other tough stains (CLR, Tidy Bowl, Hull cleaner, TSP) I thought, what the heck & soaked one overnight in undiluted outdoor bleach. Nothing. Buy the black ones.

Here's the link to order the black glass seal. 🙂 https://www.pellandent.com/Half-Inch-Glass-Vinyl-Seal

During my 35 years of law practice I did mostly litigation, including defense of product liability claims. IMHO, any "fear of liability" defense to providing owners with electrical diagrams is baseless. If an injury occurs and a product liability claim is filed, any available wiring diagrams must be produced through the formal discovery process. Since they can't be hidden during litigation, refusing to provide them to owners makes no sense. If Oliver management is monitoring this forum, I invite them to reconsider their position, and to resume providing wiring diagrams to owners. Surely Oliver has something their production and quality control employees follow when doing the wiring, to ensure it is done correctly. As a future owner taking delivery next year, I'd like to have one included in the owner's manuals with my 2022. It doubtless would prevent some warranty service tickets and calls, and so would reduce Oliver's service department costs. Given Oliver's commitment to the exemplary customer service so frequently described on this forum, it seems strange to refuse to provide wiring diagrams to owners, at least upon request. Oliver, your response?

For summer 2020 through 2021, camping was about it for safe travel. Or sailing. That's all changing. Imo. Airports are seeing increased passenger numbers, hotels are once again booking, resorts are filling, and I personally think a lot of campers bought in the last few years will begin to languish in sideyards, or go up for sale, as their amateur owners discover they don't love camping, and return to the more lux travel arrangements they prefer. Saw a lot of Quebec and Ontario cars on i95 yesterday, but only a few campers. 😃 Well, maybe it's just my hope, but that's my vision. We've pretty much stuck to our camping property in NC the last two years, and it's been great, but we're ready to get back on the road, next season. I do have concerns about the many sites turned over to reservations systems. We never used to make reservations, anywhere. But, many places that were all first come, first served are now reservable. I'm still optimistic for the future, however. Someday, they'll have to pry the bulldog collar out of my very cold hands...😅 Btw, there was a billboard on i75 yesterday. "Choose Joy." It was advertising a radio station, but, hey, I'm adopting it as my new personal slogan.

I don't mind paying a bit more as an out of state camper. Maybe not double (yikes), but many states charge extra, or don't offer senior discounts for out of state campers. I don't get senior discount in Canada, either, nor do I expect to. My fees are the only way I'm supporting that spot I'm occupying. My tax dollars aren't supporting them, since state parks get little or no federal funding. State parks get twice as many visitors as National Parks. A lot of states have cut back funding from general taxes, and the only way they can pay their way is through fees. Frankly, it's always been really hard for a Florida resident to get a weekend site in the popular parks in the winter. They're booked way ahead by Northern visitors. Our camper sits through most winters. I wish our parks would charge a bit more for out of state plates, too.

Now I gotta find a way to move WA closer to CT, or at least flatten out those mountains in between. 🙂

I just replaced mine with black. I ordered 18 feet (as recommended in a past post) which was enought to do the 3 large windows and the bathroom window, with a little left over, but not enough to also do the back window which already had a black gasket. If you want to do all the windows including the back window, I think you should order around 21 feet. You should take your own measurements to confirm the length though. The black looks really good, a lot better than the white.

Here is the Word version of the checklist we used. Again, Fritz and others did all the heavy lifting on this. Inspection Checklist Ver 20211004.docx Now, for the truth....Did we go through EVERY item on the list at our pick-up last month...No . As mentioned above, given the excitement, exhaustion from trip preparation, etc., it was really hard for us focus on every item. But we did take time to enjoy delivery and have fun! We did run through the list, and as I mentioned in our delivery day post, I was totally impressed with corrective actions taken on recent issues. Hanna in Delivery knew of every recent issue I raised and provided a detailed description of what had been done to address it. We I asked about the battery box support nuts, she immediately dove into the rear settee compartment to check them, she mentioned she could not remember having done that on their pre-delivery inspection. And yes, they were tight. So, while we didn't check every item on the list with our own eyes, we asked Hanna about it and discussed it. Other examples include: didn't crawl under the frame to check every zerk fitting, the ones I could see had grease showing in the right areas. didn't check to ensure there were balance weights on the tires, but I did ask if the tires had been balanced. didn't check that the Xantrex inverter had the latest firmware, but asked if it had been updated. didn't get out my ladder and check the roof, solar panel attachments, etc. Now that we are home, we are taking more time to review items. So far, everything that Hanna told us was completely accurate (tires were balanced, inverter had latest firmware, etc). 👍 Given that we were totally newbies, I would add the following to our checklist.... While at the Oliver Campsite (which is very nice!), test every system to ensure you know how it works. We did not try to empty the grey water tank after the first night, even through they have a dump station at the Oliver campsite. A couple of days later when we went to actually drain the tank, we could not get it to drain 😲! We called service, and with calm help on the phone, realized our trailer was not very level at the dump station. Our problem was due to pesky gravity. Had we done this at Oliver's dump site, we would have better understood this issue. 🤪

If you decide to go this route then simply take a picture of how your batteries are wired prior to taking them out of the Ollie. Then, rewire them in exactly the same manner when you store them and attach the NOCO alligator clips to the terminals where the main wires (negative - black and positive - red) from the Oliver were attached. Plug in the NOCO and it will do the rest keeping all four batteries charged as long as there is 110 volt power supplied to the NOCO - walk away.

WOW! The person that backed into that spot really did a fine job! Just got to believe that Maddie and Baxter helped. 🥰

"Price-elastic." Love it. That's a great phrase. Wish we were more price-elastic!

Yeah, with the population increase in WA, it seems like it's becoming to Idaho what MA is to NH. Get used to it, as it's not going to change. And my bet on that new policy? I bet that you'll continue to see a flood of WA plates at the ID SPs. I think that a big chunk of the new to camping crew from western WA is pretty price-elastic with regard to experiences like camping. If the park or stuff nearby looks great in photos on social media, this will be even more true.

Thank you all for all the words of wisdom, experience and great advice!! This forum and Oliver owners have such a wealth of knowledge! I really appreciate the quick, detailed and realistic advice. Retirement and owning our first truck and soon to be tow trailer has so far been a fun challenge and learning experience we are both embracing. As we say here on the island, "Mahalo" and Aloha Friday!" Safe travels and hope to one day see you on the road and/or at the rally. Mahalo, M&K

Sheesh gang I rely on you already Ollie owners to slow feed me the CoolAid while I await delivery in March 2022. Don't tell me camping is ruined even if it's true! I am realistic that camping has changed and is now more popular. Sites will be more difficult to get and require planning. Since we are purchasing while still working, we will use our Ollie locally in Michigan and get used to all of the bells and whistles it offers. We also have not spent a lot of time camping for extended periods outside of our backyard so we don't remember the glory days when you could show up and find a site. Maybe that helps us have more realistic expectations? I do hope and think the fervor will die down in the coming years and the camping life will still be appealing. Time will tell.

As has been pointed out before, Oliver management does not routinely monitor this Forum. There are a couple of individuals who do look at it but I think that the word "monitor" is too strong. I do not believe that this lack of monitoring is by design or purposeful, but, it is due to the fact that virtually all of these people wear a bunch of hats and are simply too busy with all these hats to spend copious amounts of time here. For instance - the person that is responsible for keeping things running smoothly here is also responsible for doing that exact same thing for every department throughout all of the Oliver companies. In addition there is the job of investigating and implementing new soft (and hard) ware. He has also been involved in video production, photo shoots and marketing material design (brochures to t-shirts), etc. SeaDawg's advice is absolutely correct. Bill

@Rivernerd please send an email to your rep. Oliver rarely monitors this forum. The forum is owners to owners. Not a factory space. Thank you.

Or ---- You could simply ditch the white window molding and get the black. Once and done versus dealing with the funk and grey. Bill

Yes they are. The camping spots are very level with crushed gravel topping.

On our way out West a couple of weeks ago we stopped to visit friends in Elkhart, IN. For those who don't know, the vast majority of stick built (screw and glue) travel trailers and motorhomes for the U.S. market are built here. My friend works in Quality Control (post-build inspection), covering most of the major local SOB brands (Heartland, Forest River, Thor). From our talks I gathered that the US RV market is unsustainable at Pandemic level and signs point to not only a decline in sales but also many recent Pandemic (NEW) owners exiting the flanks of ownership over the next couple of years. He told me that some of the Mega RV dealer networks he supports are already reporting a return to 2018 sales levels. Many of the new Stick-built units being sold during the Pandemic are being financed for terms of 15-20 yrs, Many of the current Stick-built units are built with a rubber membrane roof, over luan and 2x2 wood framing, held together with lots of glue and staples. Lots of staples. Many of owners of these new stick built RVs are storing their new RVs outdoors in sunny, rainy, windy and hail-prone climates. In Colorado, I see huge RV storage lots popping up along the Front Range to support storage not allowed in the nearby covenant-controlled planned housing developments For the above reasons, I do not see many of these new buyers remaining as campers for more than a few years, or at least until the damage incurred by their trailers from outdoor storage is no longer covered by warranty and outweighs the ding to their credit from walking away from another 13-18 yrs of payments. While sad for these new owners, the indicators observed point also to a decline in occupancy at campgrounds coming soon

It was a lovely fall evening at new Oliver Campground!

I did an epoxy repair like John Davies describes to a fiberglass shower unit in a home we own. After the repair had cured for a couple of days, I hand sanded it smooth with super-fine automotive finish sandpaper, then applied 2 coats of Nu Finish car wax. It made the repair almost disappear.

For that location, I would use some white epoxy filler, it is something you can do yourself and it should not be noticeable down there. For an eye level gelcoat repair, a professional is needed, unless you are comfortable working with that tricky substance. This is most excellent. https://www.amazon.com/Marine-Tex-RM305K-White-oz/dp/B0014419V0 http://marinetex.com/products/marine-tex-products/marine-tex-epoxy-putty/ You could just dab it in there, but a much better repair will result if you use a dremel tool with a small round steel grinding bit (not a sanding drum) and VERY carefully cut away any loose material and sharp edges around the perimeter. Make a neat bevel. Vacuum away all the debris and then clean with a solvent. That way the epoxy will stay in place and not get ragged around the edges. I can't tell how big that chip is, if it is small, you could just use a countersink drill bit for that, and it won't slip and scar the neighboring gelcoat. Plus a neat circle will look better than an odd shape. Usually a towel bar support bracket does not snap in place, it hooks on at the top and then you tighten an internal hex or slotted set screw underneath. Once tight it might need an occasional snugging down every few years, but it should NOT fall off constantly. If it does, it is defective and should be replaced. You need to address the problem, not the symptom... 😉 John Davies Spokane WA

NCEagle: Good catch. It appears that Oliver noted your post highlighting the 18.5 gallon vs. 15 gallon discrepancy. I have a 2022 on order, so after reading your post, I checked the specs for the 2022 Elite II: 15 Gal. Design Capacity Black Water Tank with pressure flushing system for the Tank Standard So, maybe thanks to you, new buyers like me are on notice that they are getting only 15 gallons, and maybe less, depending on the difference between actual and "design" capacity.

"I don't know the lyrics either, so I just hum along", said one cicada to the other. Mossey

Hammers are good. I got this short sledge at Home Depot. Works great for pounding stakes for the awning and Clam. Very short, easy to store.

You don't want to get one in the trailer. . . . . one found its way into our camper van when it came in on a box we brought in from outside. We had quite a time locating it. Found it in the enclosed shower that we were using as a closet. . . . . . the fiberglass walls magnified the noise ten-fold . . . . . . I expect the result would be similar inside an Oliver!

A favorite gizmo?? I love gizmo's & can always get distracted by anything with 'gizmo' in the title. I do like our trash holder. It holds a plastic bag by pulling down the black things. I have it in the closet, on the left, with a plastic bag holder above it. I have a collapsible kettle & mini coffee bean grinder, for pour-over coffee.

This folding step

This screwdriver. I think it's the perfect utility drawer screwdriver that will cover 90% of your needs - for when you don't want to go dig out the toolbox. Compact, but pops out to a usable length, and has a good selection of quality German bits, which lock in place so they don't fall out. I keep one in the trailer, one in the center console of the truck, and one in the junk drawer at the house.

I’ve been pondering this question since it appeared. While not entirely clear on what qualifies as a gizmo, I’m pretty sure I’ve got a fair number of them. Still, it’s hard to pick a favorite.. But while replacing my very tired old Milwaukee Cordless wet/dry vac today I realized that this is my favorite gizmo.. for the truck, the camper, for dealing with disasters like the time I sort of flooded the Casita years ago…

DougnDawn, I use a ResMed AirSense10 with a 12V adapter and it works great. I uses very little power, even with the humidifier on. I put it in the "attic" cabinet, plug it into the 12V receptacle and run the hose down a hole in the floor of the cabinet. The adapter was a little expensive, at $80 but is sure use a lot less power than running it on AC through an inverter. Andrew

Even if Starlink gets it’s act together quickly to get the RV program operational, it will still be crippled by interference from trees and buildings, and it is extremely power hungry (100 watts) so it isn’t suitable for a whole lot of places I would normally choose. My wife needs to be able to do teleconferences, so minutes-long blackouts are unacceptable. If you just want to download Netflix videos to watch later, it would be fine. As much as I love the concept, I still hate seeing many thousands of satellites in low orbit. That is going to come back and bite them one day when there is a collision with a manned spacecraft. We have too much space junk and we should not be putting up more. First we should create an efficient way to dispose of what is already there. John Davies Space Nut, WA

Steve, On our Elite (2015), the condensate drain off the AC unit was not connected to the condensate drain installed by Oliver. Oliver's drain line is a white pex line that diverts the condensate to the outside. I bought a piece of silicone tubing to fit (can't remember the exact size) and connected to two tubes. The black fitting goes to the exterior, the white is off the AC unit. If you remove the interior cover, you should be able to see if they are connected. Other than that, I've heard pine needles can cause issues up top. Remove the top cover and make sure everything is clean. Haven't done this in a while so sorry for the somewhat vague description! Good luck. Dave

Here's more photos of black tank valve replacement:

There is a fuse (30 amp I believe) inline between the Zamp controller/charger and the batteries (John Davie's diagram above shows them). When we picked up our brand new Ollie last November, we had NO fuse in the holder, so the Zamp was lit up and appeared to be working, but the missing fuse prevented it from actually charging the batteries. I put a fuse in and everything worked fine. From reading this thread, I'm not sure if anyone has checked that fuse? It's worth a check if you haven't.

601 is battery disconnected. Likely a faulty wire terminal crimp somewhere. Been there. Use a two-part epoxy like this one, my go-to for small jobs.

I took delivery of #797 on May 7th. The delivery was a very pleasant experience. Having owned an Elite 1 previously, I knew how most of the stuff worked and had already done the research on the stuff I didn’t know about. As I advised this forum, I discussed electrical diagrams with Jason. He has been asked about this by old and new customers many times recently, so I got a smooth and polite response. I’m guessing my experience was similar to Donna and Scott. The short of it is electrical diagrams are not available to us at this time. Liabilities, many variations in design due to options, etc. He suggested I use the 2019 version in the Oliver University, and call and ask questions about anything I can’t figure out. I’m In the process of inspecting and mapping out the key systems, and labeling the wires, fuses and breakers myself that are not already identified. Yes, it’s a hassle, but I try to pick my battles. I had several questions my delivery person could not answer, but she went and found Jason, who expertly answered them all, I was very pleased I did not find any significant problems with my Oliver (still looking). I had come prepared with a checklist of every problem I had read about on the forum, and I went looking. Many of the minor problems have been corrected, it seems Oliver has been listening to feedback. The trailer was not perfect, but much better than my expectations, and nothing I can’t fix myself easily. My wife and I are just grateful to have it, been waiting since September! Life is good.

It sounds like a failed controller. That isn’t common, but it could happen. It may have been working fine at delivery. I would not get too upset, let Oliver work with you and an RV tech, ask them if they will pay for a mobile one so you don’t have to go to a dealer. It is much less stressful to have the tech come to you. Do you have a digital voltmeter and the skill to do some simple testing? It is easy enough to see if there is power coming in from the roof, and you can electrically check the wiring from there to the batteries. It will only take a couple of minutes. If all that checks out, including the fuses, then the controller is bad. The wiring is actually VERY simple for these units. This is a generic one, not for your hull: John Davies Spokane WA

I've asked Service (Jason) and Sales (Phil) for them by email and phone. No luck. I know of several owners that are asking. It's crazy. I've opened a handful of tickets just because I don't have the electrical diagrams - simple questions that could have been answered. For someone who loves to work on their Ollie, I have it listed as my number one quality issue / gripe by far. Now I know Patriot is after them too. I'm going to open a service ticket and see where that gets me.

Note, these pics are from Hull #218 delivered May, 2017. The big cables Oliver installs for the inverter are in fact 4/0 ("four ought") welding cable, with an abrasion resistant rubber coating, for dragging around a shop floor. Unfortunately they are NOT very chafe resistant. They need to be covered in plastic split loom to prevent this, which was due to it lying on top off the steel battery tray in back, when everything is pushed tight into its normal position. This particular damage happened after one camping season, and I subsequently covered the cables. I recently removed the cables entirely to rewire the batteries, and I cut a piece to show exactly what is happening. The insulation in the top pic is worn well over half way through! If the RED one wears completely through and shorts out to the tray, you will have a fire - the tray is steel, and it bolts to the fiberglass floor (which has a heavy aluminum liner inside it) and THAT connects directly to the main aluminum frame by way of its support post. If your cables are not protected, inspect them closely, and repair or replace any that is worn more than this one. If the conductor wires are not cut, you could add a couple of layers of thick self adhesive heat shrink tubing. And cover them completely! There is a big fuse (250 amps in my trailer), but it is "downstream" from this area and it won't blow if there is a problem here inside the box. FYI these cables also become damaged simply by hanging in the plastic "pass through" grommets, they are very heavy and they move around when towing, and the grommet compacts and chafes the insulation. The conductor cannot short out there because the surrounding area is fiberglass. NOT so with the main cables and the tray. John Davies Spokane WA

SherMica, I am assuming this is the first time you have had this problem. I can only think of two things for you to check. - If you can get behind the SeeLevel monitor, try wiggling the wiring harness attached to the back of the monitor. - Check to see if your are storing anything that is metallic, that could be touching one of the senders attached to the tanks. The most likely place would be under the forward dinette seat. People often store items under that seat. The sender in attached to the side of the black tank, mounted under the toilet. If something metallic is touching the sender, it could show a short. Andrew

Hmmm, it seems to me that somewhere in the Owners Manual it says that the husband was supposed to get up and crank up the thermostat 30 minutes before wakeup time..... at least, my wife has told me that several times. I am the one who reaches up to turn on the water heater switch, but I can reach that without getting up. Our thermostat is the old fashioned kind, where the husband IS the remote. John Davies Spokane WA

Check the second water pump switch switch in the bath. Still nothing, check the wiring at the switch if you don’t have power at the pump. Mossey