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To avoid some very cold temps and a winter snow storm at Zion, we headded to lake Mead and Boulder Dam. We stayed 3 days. We decided that we would move 50 miles north of Law Vegas to Moapa. We are at Palm Creek RV Park about 8 miles west off of Route 15. This is a small family park with only 12 or so sites and they are a bit tight. Very friendly family, clean facilities. What makes this special beyond the family, is the fact that the stream that runs through the property is fed by a hot spring 1/2 mile up the road. They have beautiful property and access to the 80 degree stream. We are going to visit the source spring and near by and Valley of Fire State Park. This place is a gem! In the summer they have almost a private beach set up with picnic tables and 70 smoker grills. They get 400+ guests on the weekends for day use. We are going to stay 3 nights and head to Moab over 2 days early next week. It is still cool here with lows in the low 30s at night. It beats 10 below in Bryce Canyon.

You will be dissatisfied with your towing experience with this vehicle. It’s just not enough truck for an Elite II.

I'd bet a bunch that a WDH is REQUIRED by Ford for towing anything that has a tongue weight of any Oliver Elite II. And, given that Ford requires it you risk not only your Ford warranty if you decide to disregard this requirement but you also risk untold liability if you are involved in a mishap regardless of who is at fault. Bill

Welcome! There are several critical towing capacity numbers you need to look at on your Ranger. You mentioned one of them and that is your towing capacity of 7,500 lbs., but you also need to find out the following info, which you should be able to get from the Ford Towing Guide for the Ranger (link below), and from stickers/labels on your truck. And the Andersen hitch is both a weight distribution hitch (WDH) and an anti-sway hitch. - The tongue weight limits (both with and without a weight distribution hitch). Look for a label on your hitch receiver on your truck. See photo below from my F-250 for example. Tongue weight is typically about 10% of the trailer weight. - Payload/cargo capacity limit (this will be on a yellow & white sticker on the door frame of your Ranger. See photo below from my F-250 for example. That number has to include your tongue weight, weight of driver and passenger and any luggage, the weight of any bed liner, bed cover or cap that you have, etc Most people with smaller tow vehicles will exceed the payload limit without realizing it. - Frontal area limit. - Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR). Based on the numbers I’ve seen, the Ranger is marginal at best as a tow vehicle for an Elite II with options and equipment loaded up. https://www.ford.com/cmslibs/content/dam/brand_ford/en_us/brand/resources/general/pdf/guides/20Towing_Ford_Ranger_Oct15.pdf

You would absolutely need an Andersen. I doubt that a Ranger could handle the tongue weight without one. What kind of 6,000 lb trailer did you tow? Did it have the front surface area of an Oliver? Your gas mileage will be very poor, what size tank do you have? I’m assuming you have a brake controller, you will find that stopping and going down hill will be a challenge, especially in the summer when temperatures are up. What is the payload capacity for your Ranger? Remember tongue weight, people/pet weight, cargo in the bed and cab, and bed cover/cap all constitute payload. Emergency maneuvers will be white knuckle, there’s just not enough truck to safely handle the Elite II in a lot of emergency situations. I towed with a Tacoma for about 5,000 miles, it was enough to cause me to trade in for a half ton with twice the capabilities. Mike

Data: Average Elite II Tongue Weight will be > 500 lbs. And can range from 550-750 typically loaded. Our Hull 505 at the factory on pickup day with all options and Full Dual 30 Gal Propane was 585 lbs. As I've used a tongue wt. scale I've found that it's been as high as 750 lbs and typically at about 675 lbs. because we also have a front basket, and dual 30G propane tanks. The Ford Ranger Receiver bolted into the frame will have a sticker stating two weights it can handle : Weight Distributing, and Weight Carrying: Here's the example below from our F150 Hitch: The Weight Distributing number is the "MAX" you can have as a tongue wt. while using a wt. distributing hitch. The Weight Carrying number is the "MAX" you can put on the hitch as 'dead weight' while not using a wt. distributing hitch. As a practical matter, we upgraded from an F150 to an F350....not because of 'Towing Capacity' but because of the Payload Number. Our F150 had a door jam payload sticker rating of 1557 lbs and a tow rating of 12,700 lbs. We found after subtracting the Tongue Wt of our trailer we only had about 800lbs payload left for people, tools and cargo in the truck. The Ranger would be able to tow with a WDH, but the bigger concern may be stopping safely, and towing drivability and safety for you and your passengers. Hope that data helps you a bit. C Short Hull 505 - Galway Girl

Do the research. Understand the terms. Read the manual. Do the math. This will provide comfort when the terrain, the weather, and darkness all conspire against you... and they will.

I have #135 which is a long way from #1019 and without some of the electronic goodies you probably have. I put in a battery shut off switch that essentially disconnects the ground cable like you are asking. I do it whenever I go into storage. Nothing needs resetting when I turn it back on. I just turn it on and go. Mike

We have two Blue Heelers. The youngest just turned one year old. To protect the door screen from an energetic Blue Heeler, we installed a screen door protection. Lowe's cost was $12.31 from the $13.68 price with a Military Service Discount. The sheet measured 12 inches x 24 inches and at least 3 inches will be trimmed. You can have it fit loose or arch out a little by just 1/8 inch more trimmed. Just under 3 inches was trimmed off to fit the lower door screen area. If you cut it a little long, this Screen will arch outward. I liked that in the event this is pushed, it will not contact the screen. This does not inhibit air coming in or out. There already is a groove on the inside of the screen door that the cut Screen, with a bit of arching, fits snug. You will easily see it. Oliver may sell a protective Screen that is pre cut. I do not know. The Sheet has a pattern and stainless steel. There are also aluminum Sheet Patterns that are nicer, but cost more and not as easy to use a sheet metal clipper to trim. We can always remove it at will if this one does not work out. The project took less than 10 minutes.

There are fancier Camco door handles, I got this at Home Depot for a couple of bucks.

With the help of a number of good folks on this forum and my great RV Tech, Mathew Gonzales, who has worked on my 2017 Elite II since I brought in home to SE AZ, I finally achieved my goal of being able to run my AC off of my 2000-watt inverter and my new battery bank: 4 100ah Battle Born lithium batteries. After asking for, and getting, advice from folks on the forum about a number of issues that Mat and I ran encountered when attempting this upgrade, I made these decisions and Mat did this work: I first made the decision to purchase the Houghton 9.5K Low Profile Air Conditioner from RecPro--due mainly to how much quieter it runs compared to the Dometic Penguin that came with my Ollie, and to its lower amp draw (10 vs. the 16 for the Dometic). I learned that the Houghton could be run off of the 2000-watt inverter that came with my Ollie, using a transfer switch plugged into it running to the AC. I asked Mat to move the Micro-Air soft start previously installed in the Dometic to the Houghton. We discovered that he needed to reprogram the soft start to coordinate with the new AC. Since, unlike the Dometic set-up that came with my 2017 Ollie, the Houghton did not have a way to control the furnace, Mat installed and wired an Emerson non-programable thermostat--once again using information gleaned from folks on this forum--to control the furnace. I figured it was a good idea to supplement the 320-watt solar panels that came with my Ollie with a 180-watt Zamp solar panel kit. I also purchased a Zamp solar port that Mat installed near the shore power input. When my AGM batteries overheated last fall, I found I had no way to easily disconnect the battery bank. (This, I suspect, is something that is an original defect in the electrical system of my Oliver. Is it for all Olivers still?) So, while Mat was doing all of the other work, I had him install a battery disconnect switch near the inverter. I don't want this to appear as a straightforward process. It took a lot of back and forth between Mat and me trying to come up with solutions to problems encountered along the way. This back-and-forth involved a lot of advice from folks on this forum, some of whom I have not thanked by name. I would like to give special mention and thanks, however, to CnC and Minnesota Oli, who spent a good deal of time with me exchanging private messages. Man, were they patient with this technical novice! The outcome is that I now have a much quieter AC that runs off of my solar, batteries, and 2000-watt inverter. One can read elsewhere about the advantages of the Houghton. Mat told me, before I took my camper home, that he ran the Houghton for about four hours, supplementing the roof-top solar with the Zamp portable kit, and the voltage never dropped below 13 volts. I ran it when I brought the camper home, and verified that the system seemed to run the AC flawlessly AND much more quietly than before. I am delighted, as I have been wanting for a long time to be able to boondock in climes needing cooling of the cabin without having to resort to the hassle and noise of a generator. I will follow up with another post if I run into any issues. Disclaimer: I still have very little technical understanding about how this system functions and how the components and wiring fit together, so I will not be the one to answer many, if any, technical questions, but I know that on this forum, if you ask, you receive. There are some good posts on this forum involving the Houghton AC and related issues, so take a look around, and don't hesitate to submit your questions on this forum. Doing so paid off big time for me! Here is the interior view of my newly installed Houghton 9.5K Low Profile Air Conditioner: Here is an exterior view (birds won't be able to nest in this one!): Here is a photo of how Mat secured and wired the transfer switch and battery disconnect switch: Here is a photo of the Emerson non-programable thermostat to control the furnace (thanks go to John Davies who suggested the purchase): Here is a photo of the Zamp solar port with cord leading to the Zamp 180-watt portable solar panel kit: Here is a photo of the charge controller on my Zamp 180-watt portable solar panel kit, showing the voltage just after I plugged it in. (In less than 10 minutes, this controller and the interior Zamp showed the voltage up to 14.6 before dropping back into the floating voltage range.):

Our Pup Blue Heeler picked up NW of Albuquerque, New Mexico last Summer. We were Boondocking in New Mexico and knew about some Blue Heeler pups, old enough to look at. We were collecting Chalcedony Agates in New Mexico and the timing was perfect. She, Cody, now can enter and exit, both, the Oliver and the Airstream. Our first Boondocking Trip will be with the Oliver. The Airstream already had the protection for the bottom and upper screens. Our next photo... will be with the Oliver. Yep... we are loading all of the permanent items that stay in the Oliver. Mike and Carol... took a look and a screen door handle will help closing the screen door when camped. Have some hardware in the garage to check out. Just getting the 'little things' take care of when convenient.

I have seen another Oliver owner's trailer where they added the same protection mesh, although I seem to remember their protection grid filled the entire lower section of the door. The protection mesh worked for them, so it will likely work for you as well.

Thanks so much for this!

Thank you, Mike.

And, zamp equipment is installed on so many brands, finding a qualified service center should be easier for many people . Which Zamp controller does Oliver install with the solar package these days? If it's the 30 amp, and you added the 2 x 90 watt panels, you'd be slightly (30 watts) over the stated wattage capacity of the 30 amp controller.

Kirk - If I were in your shoes, before I spent a bunch of time, trouble and money switching from one solar controller to another (interior) I'd study the differences between these two types of technology. From what I've read, the differences are very small - in the real world - and would take considerable time to recoup any real difference in performance. The reason Oliver switched from using MPPT controllers had more to do with simplicity for the user/owner than it did with anything else. Bill

Using a black marker you can have any ratings you want for towing, just apply the marker ink, hookup your trailer, and go. trainman

Not more than once-

Good Job

The exterior solar port that Oliver installs does NOT run through the Zamp solar controller. This exterior port connects directly to the batteries and, therefore, any portable panels must have a charge controller of their own.

JD, I TOTALLY agree, All this was on ME and me alone, looking back at it, we are fortunate that we made it without any accidents. B, Out

There are some great county parks.. Brownville Park near Arcadia is my favorite.. They take reservations starting 90 days out from your arrival date, which we did.. but we spent more than a week there and there was always open campsites..

Oliver’s are now out of our price range too… so I’m thinking I’ll keep #135 as old as it is. It still feels new. Oliver won’t have any problem selling all the trailers they can make. Mike

There are also sites where you can have them alert you to "open" sites. I've used Wanderinglabs.com twice with positive results both times even though the campground that I was trying to reserve was originally booked solid. Good luck! Bill note - Wanderinglabs.com does not make a reservation for you but only alerts you that a campsite has become available. You still have to call or go online to make the actual reservation yourself. I assume that the similar sites work in a like manner.

For those of you who love state park camping, especially because of the lands and ecosystems they help to preserve, here's an article from the Dyrt that provides a thumbnail on each of the 50+ Florida state parks that offer camping. (NOTE: we're a big water state, so some state parks offer only boatslips or walkin tent camping. This article discusses campsites.) Why is it so hard to find a campsite here? Florida is roughly 1/5 the size of Texas, with half as many state parks, and over 2/3 the population of Texas. Probably 1/4 of our land is protected wetlands. We're a straight shot south from Eastern Canada and New York state, via 95. So, we get a lot of winter visitors, and struggle happily to support them. We welcome and love tourism, because many of our businesses depend on it. But have just a bit of patience with us. Our traffic in season can be equally as frustrating to residents and visitors. My advice is to find campsites outside major metro areas, and drive in for visits to attractions and beaches in the tv. Our cities and beaches are really, really busy with visitors, and winter residents. We have a lot more to offer than just beaches. Our rivers, wetlands and springs can also be very beautiful. Some of our state parks are home to very old species, and vegetation not found anywhere else. Take it slow, follow some of the secondary highways, and you'll see some of Florida that many Florida residents never see . Many of those older and smaller fishing, railroad, and agricultural towns are awesome, and rich with history, but today struggle economically. "Seeing" Florida in 2 weeks is impossible. But, seeing even a part of it is very rewarding. https://thedyrt.com/magazine/local/florida-state-parks/amp/

Ain't happing any time soon! Bill p.s. A former Oliver Elite II owner owned one of those small "tug boats". He went by the name - Windcrasher. His boat was really very nice as were his many other "toys".

PMG, you need to add your Hull number to a signature, and also tell us about your batteries, what brand - there have been a number of changes over time.They should never be left for a month with the batteries connected, at 35% charge IMHO, you should charge them before leaving the trailer, the % amount varies by manufacturer. If they are LifeBlue you should charge (or discharge) them to about 50% before disconnecting a negative (black) cable to isolate them. Or turn off the battery master switch, if you have one. You should have a phone app to monitor the health of the batteries, I don’t know if it tells you the overall picture, rather than what is going on in each one. A stand alone Battery Monitor like the excellent Victron Smart Shunt shows lots of great info, you might want to consider adding one. If you are leaving the trailer with the batteries connected, you need a tool that will show you those phantom loads, so you can catch them and hopefully turn them off, before the batteries get drained. For example, I am sitting in my easy chair in my living room, and I can read the battery status (all connected batteries) out in the garage, the -0.37 amp load reflects the Natures Head toilet fan and a couple of other little phantoms that I cannot figure out. If it gets below about 40% I run the charger to bring it up to 70% or so. They are Battle Borns, and they have different requirements than other brands. Alternately, you could get a small 30 to 50 watt solar panel, hook it up and let it keep the batteries “maintained”. It will keep up with those phantoms, but not overcharge the battery bank. If you have the composting toilet, then you need to be aware that disconnecting power kills its little vent fan, so you will need to add another power source for that, such as a small wall charger, or alternately empty it of its, uhmmmm, solid contents so they don’t get gross.The reason I leave my batteries connected is so I can power the toilet. John Davies Spokane WA

Sherry, Foy is making me a wooden dinette top to match the rest of the wood in the camper.