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WOW...just received our custom leather cushion covers for the dinette. Thought I would share in case anyone else is interested in leather. we have leather furniture throughout our house because of dogs... and we don't mind the distressed look. at least it can be cleaned easily!

You guys need to think outside of the box. Take a few lessons from the ATV hauling thread, add a bucket, and now you're leveling the site, not the trailer.

Your leather cushions look fabulous. I know you will love them. We did not get any cushions on delivery of Hull #050 in early 2014. Our plan was to have some leather ones custom made locally in Tupelo. We chose a beautiful Water Buffalo hide from their selections and had the front panels of the back rests embroidered "The Outlaw Oliver". Here's Dustin cleaning up after a trip to the Mother-Ship back in 2015... Here's Reacher checking his e-mails. He's been sitting on and sleeping on those cushions for 8 years now and they are none the less for wear.

Anderson Leveling chocks. Used them at a couple of camp sites. Mostly at home, When Oli isn't in her covered shelter, Then she next to the garage and that slopes down but 3-3.5 inches from one side of the axle to the other. Really simple to get it really close as long as my beloved wife is telling me when to stop. Takes little team work, but it is quick and easy.

The old 2x10 x16” long pressure treated each end cut on a 45dg angle. I never had to go any higher than the 1 1/2 thickness of each block. Although these days you may be able to buy the Anderson levelers for half the price of wood. 😳

I get it as close to level as I can with the Anderson and then fine tune with the leveling jacks. Oh sorry, I meant to say stabilizing jacks 😆.

Land Between the Lakes, Birmington Ferry. Campground.

We use the big square black and yellow Camco legos. I have two sets of 10. I use them under the jacks with wood blocks so that I only move the jacks a few inches and under the tires if we’re not level. Mike

Just kidding. I could only wish to see this view out the back window of the Oliver over morning coffee. Seeing it in person was just as amazing Grand Canyon

Thanks! That’s at Aguirre Spring BLM campground near White Sands NP.

Jacks

Today, it's a view of the back yard. Here's a shot from 2009. Ontario. Superior park. Our first trip through Canada with the Ollie. (We have an awning rear window in the older Ollies. ) I wouldn't ever want a trailer without a rear window.

Yeah, but sometimes you've got to bring in the big dogs. And most parks frown on that...

Ha ha! Very clever Steve! That movie is one of my favorites. When I saw the title of the post, the movie was the first thing that came to my mind.

Indian Cove Campground at Joshua Tree National Park.

What do you use to level your Ollie? Anderson Levelers, the big Lego squares, wood, rubber strips,

Narrow minded people! Maybe there are parks that are more open to a few big dogs helping out.

Those would make some good tow vehicles. Slow but mighty.

I did have one problem with out trailer and we returned to the Oliver plant to have it corrected, it was an internal wiring problem that I didn't really trust a local dealer to correct. Since we live in the DFW area we made a nice camping trip out of it, so we enjoyed the trip. I will say that I had a few other things go out on the trailer and Oliver sent me the new items to correct the fault item, being pretty mechanical minded I diagnosed the problem and replaced the faulty item myself and Oliver furnished the repair item needed. I don't really care for RV service centers to work on my Oliver as most know nothing about the Oliver, but I guess a A/C, heater, etc. are pretty much universal throughout the industry. trainman

We have a lot of leather furniture at home, but for camping in all types of weather and we truly like to open air feel when camping we find that leather is not as comfortable as material covered furniture. Our animals all live outside in the woods at our home and none have been in our trailer that we know of. trainman

Albert, not sure about satellite internet. We will be storing our Ollie in East Texas. We currently have internet service with our local telephone provider ( it sucks, can’t receive or send emails while watching Netflix , they call it broadband service 4.8 up and 1.02 down ). Currently our only other option is Starlink, on waiting list they say mid 2022, Hopefully by then they may have the Starlink mobile service .

We've used Lynx Leveler blocks for all our RVs. I like them because you can use them for other things, too, if needed (sewer hose ramp, picnic table legs, etc.).

Andersen leveling chocks in the rear. Andersen bucket in the front. 2, 6x6 pieces of pressure treated for the rear stabilizers.

We love the design of the Oliver and being able to back into some great views. What is the view out of your rear window? Please post your pics! Elephant Butte State Park, NM

The two rear leveling jacks.

If the spare sections of PEX aren’t secured, I would recommend that you do that. I have a spare section floating around out of sight in the lower hull. These pictures should be self explanatory, but if not, let me know. I did rework the B+ and B- cables to work with the battery cut off switch, battery + and -, and the Victron shunt. And I will second Overland's suggestion about the hydraulic crimpers. With careful planning, you can crimp new lugs on while the 4/0 cable is on your work bench or while the still in the lower hull. I removed my B+ cable from the main Oliver fuse and the inverter, which enabled me to make up those shorter cables on the work bench all out of the original cable. The Oliver B- cable was moved from the inverter to the shunt and I purchased a new 4' piece of 4/0 and lugs to complete the negative side cables. Mossey View from the rear dinette hatch View from the front hatch of the street side bed

Sorry to hear of your fire. I, too, had a truck fire 3 years ago when my 2012 Ford F-150 caught fire just as I backed it into the storage unit that we rented at the time in Montana. The fire ended up burning the entire building and destroyed all of the contents that were in it, not only mine but of the other tenants as well. I’m guessing the total losses were around $10 million. Although the cause of the fire was inconclusive, I believe it was related to my truck’s air conditioner blower motor. I also have State Farm insurance, and they were very fair with me in handling my claims, which totaled over 900 items, including an RV, truck, boats, ATV, utility trailer, and numerous personal items, etc. I never retained an attorney, although State Farm had/has retained one on my behalf, and they are handling the multiple lawsuits that resulted from the fire. If you do decide to replace your truck and buy a new one, there are some pretty good deals to be had if you’re not in a hurry and can afford to shop around. For example, one dealer in Iowa is presently offering to sell new Ford trucks ordered from the factory at 3% below dealer invoice, with anticipated delivery times of around 3 months, depending on the model ordered.

I added a mounting board on top of the wheel well and placed everything there. You can see it in this post - I can’t say about reworking cables since I did all of mine from the start. But I’d imagine that you’ll want or need to make up a few cables. It’s easy if you get a pneumatic crimper off Amazon - it will seem like a silly purchase for one job but it will make the task go so much easier.

I, too, miss @Buzzy. I think all of you have given some great comparisons to look at. Beyond what you've mentioned, I'd note that the 2022 trailers will have the nevr lube axles, if that's important. If the 2017 has solar, it may be 320 watts vs 340, not a big deal. And, that earlier solar package will likely have a progressive dynamics charger/converter, plus a separate inverter, plus a separate transfer switch. New models will have the more fully featured, lighter xantrex xcpro. Whether that's a bonus, or a big deal, is truly debatable, based again on personal preference. We prefer separate pieces of equipment, many times. Others like an all in one. It's mostly personal preference, and what you're used to. And, it's a lot easier to stomach swapping electronics on older equipment than new, if you decide to update to lithium. I think the things that are expensive, and difficult to change, are most important. I'd say, axle, wiring harness, space for full sized spare, space for convection microwave (if that's your preference, not ours) might be important factors. And, the pickup tube refit, if not retrofitted. (Free, but only if you go to Hohenwald for service.) The rest can be fairly inconsequential, imo. Any buyer of a 2017 will surely realize the appliances and electronics are now 4 to 5 years old. And, batteries and tires. All those things can add up, eventually. Maybe later than sooner. Maybe sooner than later. Personally, I'd consider manual awnings to be a plus, but that's what we like, so, again, a personal choice. The majority of our appliances lasted ten years or more, and some we replaced by preference. Tires and batteries, well, that's another story. Add 4 tires, at least, to the purchase price, for safety.

I have not weighted items transported in Ollie, but interested in keeping Ollie's total weight low. We are minimalist taking only what's needed for each trip. Weighed our LE2 Ollie May 20 on the way home from a camping trip. Ready to camp weight is 4940 pounds with empty water tanks except for full 6 gallon hot water heater, this keeps Ollie under TV recommended WDH weight. We do not have factory installed solar panels. One thing done increasing overall weight was installation of 11" memory foam mattresses. For weight reductions installed one 100AH BattleBorn lithium battery, only use two 1 gallon LP gas tanks (last 2 years), and moved Ollie's spare tire to the pickup truck bed. Load refrigerator & closet to keep Ollie's tongue weight at 10% for trailer stability. Just installed new Cooper LT Discoverer HT3 commercial tires that weigh 37 pounds each, believe most new Ollies have this type of tire. When camping without shore-power, keep a gen-set & suitcase solar panel in the TV not affecting Ollie's weight. One 1 gallon LP bottle will run the refrigerator and lightly used cook top for 4 days, can lift a full 1 gallon LP bottle with 3 fingers. Use the gen-set for power to water heater when without shore-power.