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We’re camped in Catalina State Park just north of Tucson. It’s a popular park, so reservations need to be made well in advance. There are 4 other Olivers here, two of them that we’ve camped with many times before.

Project complete.

I think it depends on how you like to camp. Our solar package (with 340 watts of solar and 390-Ah batteries) typically produces between 100 and 120 amp-hours per day (Ah/day) in the summer, depending on exposure, shade, etc. Late fall and early winter (with sun at a low angle) we were gaining about 20-30 amp-hours. Maximum summer charge rate is about 15 amps. Of course, hourly and daily charge rates are less if there is shade. In the summer when boondocking we use about 40-50 amp hours for lights, water pump, CPAP, jacks, awning, etc., and more with abundant furnace use. A microwave (which we don't have) uses a lot of electricity; the amount of electricity it consumes depends on how long you use it and the power setting. The A/C uses about 100 amps per hour, so it works fine for rest stops but it can't be run very long with the expectation that it will charge quickly with solar. Here are typical draws (per Oliver User's Manual): When traveling, the refrigerator uses about 15 amps when switched to 12 volts (and it generally runs continuously when it is switched to 12V). Thus, even in full sun with the panels producing 15 amps, the batteries are not charging when the refrigerator is on 12V. This is why some have installed DC to DC chargers for the lithium batteries: it lets you drive down the road with the refrigerator on 12V and provide additional charging capacity for the batteries. Here are some simple scenarios to illustrate the number of days before an external charge from shore power or generator is needed. I calculated the number of days before a charge is needed based on an assumed useful capacity of 312 Ah (80% of 390 Ah, the rated non-platinum lithium battery capacity). Clearly, a 600-Ah battery set will let you boondock longer in the shoulder seasons, under shade, or with greater power demand, but perhaps the 390-Ah battery set is sufficient for your intended use. So, whether you need 390-Ah or 600-Ah batteries depends on how and where you intend to use your trailer. Good luck!

I ditto what is said above. And, would add a proviso that you consider what your own financial situation can handle. Once the original components are out of warranty can you afford to quickly replace an air conditioner or fridge? These extended warranties are basically insurance policies. If you can afford to self-insure it is highly likely that you will gain in the long run. Bill

OPINION ONLY. I personally am not generally a big fan of extended warranties. I am more a fan on new electronics that are not as proven. I don't purchase them on new vehicles and personal feeling is the fine print in the warranty seems to never provide coverage for what is needed. Again personal opinion. I didn't purchase the warranty on our Ollie as I felt Oliver's warranty on the trailer was pretty good and it would more likely be the components like fridge, ac, water heater that would fail. I also figured if those components failed it would likely be early on. This proved true in our first 6 months with the fridge. We had a tech solve the problem and no issues since. So far no issues with the he Ollie in 100+ days of use and 7000 miles. I would look carefully at what the extended warranty covers and how long, specifically on appliances etc. Of course, each person needs to make these decisions for themselves. Others may differ in opinion and that is ok. Just sharing our decision and rationale. We also live 1400 miles from the factory. Congratulations on your new Ollie. Enjoy your camping and travel with it. Be prepared for folks to ask questions and want to see your Ollie. Safe, healthy, and happy camping.

Everyone is different. It’s nice that you camp as you did in the 80’s. A lot of us like to explore our National Parks and Monuments. Most of the campgrounds in these areas have no hook ups. We’ve discovered the capabilities of our Oliver allow us to spend time in some very scenic areas without being concerned with power requirements. Like you, we do like FHU commercial campgrounds, occasionally. But, nothing beats being out in a National Park or some even more remote areas, with no other campers nearby, enjoying a quiet sunset with a nice glass of wine. Life is good! Mike

I agree that there are a bunch of nice state parks in the Tennessee system. We’ve stayed at those mentioned and recently a couple that are a little further from Hohenwald, Fall Creek Falls State Park and Panther Creek State Park. Both nice. Also near Nashville and closer to Hohenwald are Cedar Creek COE and Seven Points COE, both also very nice. Water and electric. Good luck! Mike

I replaced the 4 original batteries when they went Tango Uniform at the end of the 2020 camping season - two Battle Born 100 amp hr, with room on the tray for a third with only a little extra minor work. So far that setup has worked fine for me, I doubt that I will add any more capacity. John Davies Spokane WA

John - Really, the best way to get up to date "factual" information of this sort would be to contact an Oliver Sales agent and ask. They do not pressure you or bug you. They really are there to help you. Good luck! Bill

We never buy extended warranties on anything. They are "hard sold" precisely because they are high-profit items for the seller, and therefore low-return for the buyer. And, the hassle of actually obtaining a replacement under an extended warranty at least doubles the time required to replace the covered item. If the extended warranty were offered and administered by Oliver, it would be a bit more attractive, because of Oliver's outstanding Customer Service department. But, the extended warranty is sold by American Guardian Warranty Services. We are not interested.

Hi Carol!

My daughter has a 2007 Outback XT (2.5 turbo), it is rated for just 2700 pounds, and I can guarantee you that it won’t work for even the small Ollie. I personally would not try towing anything over 2000 pounds behind it. Especially at 7000 feet! Even the big Ascent is only rated at 5000 pounds. That would be acceptable for the single axle Elite, but wouldn’t have any real margin of safety. These trailers are double shell, and they are indeed heavy little tanks. They need a very substantial tow vehicle. John Davies Spokane WA

Yes, it is a beautiful area indeed! Storage is... a bit of a challenge. We do not have a shop or a convenient parking spot. In the winter (during heaviest use times) we are parking it uncovered in our driveway, which is at an ~11 degree slope. (the runout of of which ends at a 150' cliff over Hwy 14 😮. ) I'll try to post pics of the parking state when it's daylight tomorrow, as it may be interesting, scary, and/or comical for some; for now, here's one from the weekend, on it's first Mt. Hood campout, with pups in tow.

Sounds like you’d really enjoy the smaller Elite I, but I hate to say that I think even that will be too heavy for your Subaru, especially at elevation. I think to be comfortable towing the smaller Ollie at higher elevations, you’d want a tow vehicle with a 5,000 lb limit at least. Ollies are definitely cozy, but light they are not.

Meh. "The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything" Teddy Roosevelt. similar quotes attributed to lots of smart folks. Doesn't mean we have to publish them. Just learn from them, right?

Hi folks - We're new to the Oliver forums. We've ordered an Oliver with an estimated delivery date of July12, 2022. After delivery, we're hoping to park somewhere near the Oliver factory for a few days in case any issues pop up. We would welcome any recommendations about where to stay. We're open to anything, state park, RV campground, etc. I have searched the Oliver forums, the Oliver owner's Facebook page and the internet for ideas, but could not come up with anything other than Davie Crockett SF and Fall Hollow Campground. I bet there's more out there, but I couldn't find it! Thanks

Tennessee has a wonderful state park system. There are probably 3 within an hour of Hohenwald, and three more within 2 hours drive, a couple more in 3 hours. We've visited most of them, and others that aren't state campgrounds. Around Nashville, there are a few campgrounds on Percy Priest lake. Not state parks. Maybe state recreation areas. Your plan to hang around, trst everything, enjoy Tennessee, and return to the mother ship if necessary is exactly what I recommend. Enjoy a week or two, if you can. Tennessee is a beautiful camping state.

Thanks for all your responses and help!

If you really wish to test those boondocking systems then the Meriwether Lewis campground over on the Natchez Trace Parkway might be of interest. It is only a few short miles from the factory and you can get water there - but - there are no electric or sewer sites. Bill

We have stayed at Henry Horton State Park (Lewisburg, TN) and Montgomery Bell State Park (Dickson, TN), both within an hour or so to Hohenwald, TN. Both pretty good, check out the TN State Park website.

John You mentioned "I had 4 AGMs and solar originally"... What have you now? Just curious, since you are an Oliver expert and have great ideas and mods of value to the Oliver community.

Sure do hope you never "forget" to chock those tires before unhitching! Really nice view though. Bill

Here's a couple pics of our parking arrangement 🙂 . The front jack is just shy of max extension to approach front-back level. We cannot use a taller wood block at this time, as it barely fits with the jack at minimum height as-is (after installing the tow vehicle airbag controller, we may use the air springs to set a taller starting tongue height for parking). The wood block is cut so it has a near level pad when resting on the driveway slope.

Oliver only offers two models: The smaller Elite I with a dry (empty) weight of 3,700 lbs. The larger Elite II with a dry (empty) weight of 4,900 lbs. And when the trailer is loaded with some options, tanks full, and camping accessories you can probably add 500 pounds or more to each of those weights. So even the smaller Elite I is too much weight for your vehicle. If you are really intent on towing with such a small vehicle like the Subaru, you need to be looking at trailers with a dry weight of less than 2,000 lbs. Or consider getting a bigger tow vehicle.

NO! All Olivers are too heavy for the vehicle you mention. Bill

Let the fun begin!

Fill the toilet with peat moss and you’re there I think.

This is a great idea for saving water while boondocking. Would love to see Oliver add this to their trailers: "Several RVs feature a SHOWERMI$ER system. You can flip a lever and the water that would otherwise come into the shower gets diverted directly back into the fresh water tank while waiting for the hot water." https://aquaviewinc.com/rv/

And, you've wasted a lot of propane. I've read about that happening on Forest River forums. I've been watching this since it was introduced, five or six years ago. Like Overland, I thought the exposed length of blue thetmal color changing tubing was ugly, and looked like a shoddy install. You'll find a wealth of comments on forest river forums. Some are happy, many say it doesn't work well with an instantaneous water heater. That, i don't know. As much as I think it's a plausible solution, correctly installed, I'll stick with collecting cold water in a kettle, and use it for dishes . (Heat it on the stove.)

With commercial RV park prices on the rise, the marginal cost of additional "boondocking" power (i.e., solar panels and lithium battery packages) will be amortized more quickly. If you are even happier boondocking than buying RV park services, like we are, the marginal cost of solar with lithium makes more sense.

I think that from Oliver’s standpoint, if they we’re to go though the trouble of plumbing a recirculating line back to the fresh tank, then they might as well plumb it back to the water heater and just offer the Truma Comfort Plus as standard. But from a modification standpoint, I think it’s an interesting idea to plumb back to the fresh tank. Although I think you’d end up with a better looking solution just using a standard shower diverter valve - that little section of exposed blue pipe is a bit weird. I think you could do the plumbing all within the vanity with only the handle exposed, mounted to the right of the caddy. Might create a small campground flood if you inadvertently opened that valve while hooked to city water. 😂 Would be interesting to see someone tackle it. Of course, if you go that far…

This is a trick I learned while tent camping in Alaska. You never want to unzip a tent door in the middle of the night, because you’ll never get back to sleep with all of the mosquitoes you let in. And it’s really cheap. Now if I could just get Krunch to use this bottle, I’d really be saving black tank capacity.😉 Mossey

The Garmin 890 is on sale for $379 at Amazon ($499 normal price). Looks like there are several vendors, one has it for $509. Mike

Thanks for the warm welcome folks. Having owned 5 or so boats and having worked on the water for a few years (I’m a licensed USCG Master) I am ready to see what’s between the coasts. I tend to over research my toys but I like the simplicity of the Oliver. No slides, no engines, no leaks, less maintenance overall. Also really love the resale value of these trailers, its unique among RV’s. I’ve checked boat ownership off my list and ready for the “Next Thing”. I am sure Ill be asking more questions as my quest continues. Cheers S 😎

Welcome Two Stooges, I retired at the end of 2020 and the time flies. We live in Calvert County so if you want to see an LE II let me know. I also volunteer at the Calvert Marine Museum for the Patuxent Small Craft Guild and am convinced I will never own a boat 🙂

Welcome Andy! Congrats on your new Ollie. Enjoy Mt. Hood staying in your toasty trailer. We lived in WA for 26 years (Olympia and then Felida/Vancouver) before moving to Colorado in 2019. We were super lucky to find a barely-used LE2 a year ago here in Denver. We have loved exploring with it! Awesome places to take your new trailer around the PNW - Enjoy! Dan

Two Stooges Welcome to the Oliver Form. Retirement is great, but I am actually busier than I was when working. This is a great place to learn from the experiences of existing Ollie owners prior to your purchase. Also check out the Oliver University forum prior to purchasing for more information. As a former boat owner, I do miss sleeping to the sound of the water/ocean. Never-the-less, I no longer have any boats and now have a different toy, my Ollie, for us to go camping in. The decision to only have a land boat was the right decision for me. Just remember that presently there is around a 10 month wait from the time you order a Oliver to when you take delivery. Getting the Ollie prior to retiring gives one time to see what you need for traveling after retirement.

Woots! Exciting times for sure. Enjoy your new Ollie and we hope to meet you one day! We picked up ours in October - the only thing they didn't tell us at pick up was that they get dirty and they didn't tell us where to find the "clean and wax it" power switch/breaker!🤪

John: Very correct. The intent in my post above was directed only towards charging wire size between TV and Oliver. You bring up other equally important concepts that those wanting to use a newer TV's with smart Alternator to charge up their trailer batteries. Direct connecting TV to Trailer where you have L.A. to L.A. or AGM to AGM can be done as Raspy posted a couple of years ago (Battery to circuit breaker to Anderson Connection to Trailer batteries). The reason is that the two systems operate at the same voltage and have the same charge profiles. The voltage drop (I.E. a measure of cable resistance over its length) from the front battery to the back batteries will to some degree self limit the amount of power that could flow. This in turn provides a good measure of protection to the TV electrical systems. However mix a L.A./AGM TV to a Lithium Trailer batteries using direct connecting will really cause grief for several reasons: The internal resistance of the Lithium's is insignificant to that of the AGM or L.A. batteries. This would allow HUGH currents to flow from the TV to Ollie. If properly fused at both the TV battery terminals you would just be inconvenienced a lot. However, you are still at risk of damaging the TV charging/battery. Lithium batteries generally require a three program charge process that a direct connect does not provide. A smart TV alternator varies the output voltage to match the need. As a result, it will tend not to provide high enough voltage much of the time that the Lithium's need to get charged up. So to use your TV smart alternator to charge your lithium's, you need a current limiting device, that also acts as a "Buck Boost" transformer, and provides the computer smarts to provide the lithium's their three phase charge program. The unit you suggest appears to do all these tasks at 11 amps. A larger unit is the Victron Orion 12 -12 30. The "12 - 12 30" translates as: A 12+/- volt input providing a 12 to 14+ volt charge voltage to the lithiums, with up to 30 amps continuous (if needed), with current limiting and smart charging profiles. If you have a smaller battery bank, and drive many hours a day, a 11 amp charge system would work great and save you $$$. But we are now seeing Lithium battery banks commonly in the 200 to 300 Ah range. And some up to 630 Ah (such as Galway Gal's and the Oliver OEM Pro set up). For those, you likely would want the larger Victron Orion 12 - 12 30 charging system. Just a reminder these auto smart transformers are not 100% efficient. In the case of the Orion, it can continuously produce 30 amps at the correct voltages as needed, and is listed at 87% efficient. So that would mean your TV alternator/batteries could see up to a continuous 34.5 amp current draw. This means that there will be about 57 watts of power lost to the heat sink. So be careful where you locate this unit, and provide cooling holes/vertical space for the heat to dissipate (See JD's Posting On This Topic).

Here is a load/ pressure chart I made using Michelin data. I plan to tape it to the inside of the closet door next to my Towing Checklist. Their info is published as a Flash page and it does not run well (or at all!) on some computers. Attached is a Word Doc that you can print and laminate if you like, or just insert the whole page into your Owners Manual. printed at 100% it gives a 5 inch long placard. Oliver-Michelin-Inflation-Tire-Chart-122017.docx BTW I have suggested to Matt Duncan that this should become a new Tech Bulletin. John Davies Spokane WA

Beautiful area & photos!!!!!