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We've driven the Million Dollar Highway over Red Mountain Pass on Hwy 550 between Silverton and Ouray. Most of the Youtube videos label it the most dangerous road in America. Personally, I didn't find it to be any big deal. This was after several locals in Durango warned me not to try pulling the Outlaw Oliver over it. We've driven the Moki Dugway several times both up and down with no problems as well as the Shafer trail in Canyonlands NP. Maybe it's just me, but roads like that don't particularly scare me. But I've never gone over the edge on one either. Tali, OTOH was petrified. She's emotional like that...

I live in SW Montana and have been over the Beartooth Highway countless times. I have an F150 Super Crew and would not do it, period. Back when we had a T@b we crossed a couple of times with a Tundra TV (much shorter wheel base) and even that was pushing the envelope IMHO. During the summer months this road, as remote and extreme as it is can be very busy with a constant stream of traffic both directions including but not limited to lots of motorcycles. Aside from the fact there are very tight hairpin turns on the switchbacks and a lot of them at that, this road is extremely steep especially on the decent into Montana from the Wyoming side. This is a road that does not allow for mistakes. As for camping the Rock Creek area on the Montana side after cruising through Red Lodge all require RSVP's but there are some crude boon docking sites in the area if you know where to look. Back on the Wyoming side and between YNP and the ascent up to the passes there are several nice campgrounds albeit not very large ones that are all first come first serve. Mosquitos even at 9000 ft elevation and above are absolutely relentless up there so be forewarned and they are up at the crack of dawn, first light. Pray for wind. My preferred route is approaching from YNP and the west, then descend back into Montana. The Rock Creek campgrounds are nice but you'll need to RSVP way ahead of schedule they fill up constantly all summer. The drive in from the Montana side assuming you go through Roscoe is a gorgeous drive but again its very winding with lots of ups and downs and whoop-di-doos. This road is skinny with NO shoulder once you are passed Roscoe and the final leg to Red Lodge. There is another route from Billings/Laurel to Red Lodge but its boring as hell compared to the route south of Columbus. In all the years of crossing/driving over the highway and I cannot recall once seeing anyone towing a travel trailer even with modest size ones like the Oliver. I tend to er on the side of caution. One thing goes wrong on a route like this and you'll be into some very big trouble quickly taking others with you. Hopefully this helps.

I admire your lithium and solar system update and have used many your ideas for the design of my system. I thank you for all the time you invested on the system design, as well as the detailed report of the entire process. Likewise for the truck bed electrical installation. All quality gear for sure. For those with covered beds that don't have stuff moving in the bed on paved roads the above will work perfectly. But for those using fire roads in mountains or running across unpaved rough roads, stuff in the bed does not always stay put. For this group, a modification of the above layout would be beneficial to provide protection to the exposed components. My suggestion would be: Add standoffs to move the carpeted board out from the truck cargo bed wall just enough to mount the thicker electrical in the recess under the cargo tie-down area. Layout the the electrical components on the back side of the carpeted board taking advantage of the bed vertical ribs and voids. Raise the carpeted board up an inch to allow for cooling air to flow up and out of the created electrical cavity. Use a SS continuous hinge on the carpeted board (On the left side) allow the carpeted board to swing out for service. Attach the right side with removeable hardware for service. Run the appliance electrical under the carpeted board to power up your loads. For those with open beds, a rain shield would also be beneficial. The cargo load side would then be a clean board with carpet , and all the electrical components well protected from cargo by that board.

Chances are that if your "navigator" ain't happy then no body will be happy no matter what you do.😉 There are a number of videos on YouTube (go to YouTube and do a search for Beartooth Highway) that can give you an idea of what the road is like. However, re-read the first sentence. My suggestion would be to drive over it (and back) with only the Ford. Depending on which way you are going, there are a number of places at each end to camp and/or leave the Ollie for the day. Bill

This is a great random orbital polisher and the instructions are very, well, instructional. https://www.griotsgarage.com/content/pdf/10901.pdf It is critical that you use a low rpm variable speed polisher, do not try to use a high rpm random orbital sander. Even though they may look the same. John Davies Spokane WA

I went over the Beartooth pass with a vehicle (no TT) and it was amazing. With the constant traffic (bumper to bumper sometimes) I wouldn't think to try it with a trailer in tow, partly because I would want to stop to take in the views and parking isn't always easy to find at the view stops. We also had weather come up fast on us -- it was exciting enough without a trailer in tow. And drop dead gorgeous.

I think that if I were in your shoes I would give GM a month to figure out their next step, they are without a doubt as freaked out as you are by the parts fiasco. If they can’t assure you of having a working truck by then, have it towed to that other shop, pay out of pocket and plan on joining the huge class action lawsuit that is sure to come. It is very worrying to think of the bad things that can happen when you are in the middle of a long vacation trip and get stranded on the other side of the country from your home…. Good luck. John Davies Spokane WA

John its a big job a lot of parts to take off the front most of it is the cooling system intercoolers trans coolers lots of hoses. If it wasn’t a $1500.00 warranty job. It would be at the local diesel shop. Hopefully GM will reimburse me for a aftermarket OEM pulley and I’ll upgrade and pay the cost difference. At least I’m driving there vehicle for awhile. It’s tuff no matter what avenue you try to take your stuck. I’ve never seen it this bad. Very frustrating the new norm.

Here is a picture of mine. Oliver installed it for me at pickup. Ran the cable from the tongue, under the trailer the up through the top of the spare tire cover. The have the cable come through a little chrome piece. The excess cable is in the bumper compartment. John

We have an ARB 63 Compressor Fridge in our Truck. It's been bulletproof so far. We use it for any trips over 2 weeks to extend storage of vegetables, dairy and beverages. We've just returned from a 6 month road trip and found that was a great companion for the fridge in the Oliver. Here's some data showing the current draw on various ARB fridges and how many hours various size batteries would last. For my ARB 63, I've put in 2- 100AH batteries in the back of my truck that are charged by a Redarc DC/DC charger. In our recent trip, we never had the batteries drop below their 50% point even after 4 days of use off grid. My plan for longer term boon docking is to add solar onto the roof and have it connect to the MPPT input on the Redarc. For more on our installation see the pix. Above: REDARC DC/DC charger keeps the 2 - 100AH AGM's full charged while driving. Dual 100AH AGM's are the current power source for our ARB Fridge.

I mounted my first rear camera in the spare tire cover. Given that I had asked Oliver to wire this area for a camera the actual install was basically a no brainer. Probably your camera from GM has a mount that allows for the camera to be "tilted". This is important in that the spare tire cover is mounted such that it is 6 degrees off from being perpendicular to the ground. My camera is mounted with a 4 degree offset thus allowing for less of a setting sun to blind it. If you do not wish to drill a hole in the cover for the camera wires like I did I guess that you could always place them in something like THIS in order to better hide them and to protect them. One disadvantage to this mounting location is that there is more "road spray" given that the camera is located closer to the road. Obviously another disadvantage is that the view is somewhat limited in the event there is another vehicle right behind you. For these two reasons I added another camera located in the usual spot on the roof of the Ollie. Good luck! Bill

Darn, me, too. How the heck does that happen? I wake up in the morning, all clear-eyed and happy, then I swing my legs over the side of the bed and my knees tell me I'm not 30 anymore.🙃 This article might help you, if you decide to go with wax, and a mechanical advantage. (For the time being, still our choice, after 40 years. We'll see what the next decades hold.... ) Fwiw, Google practical sailor and best wax. There are choices beyond our labor intensive paste wax. Discusses some orbital electric devices for waxing/polishing https://www.practical-sailor.com/blog/waxing-and-polishing-your-boat

This is most excellent, if you want to understand why lithium batteries are so cool. "You have just sold your first-born into slavery, remortgaged the house, and bought yourself a lithium-ion battery! Now you want to know how to take care of your precious new purchase: How to best charge lithium-iron batteries, how to discharge them, and how to get the maximum life out of your lithium-ion batteries. This article will explain the do’s and don’ts." How to Find Happiness With LiFePO4 (Lithium-Ion) Batteries John Davies Spokane WA EDIT: That is a pdf that doesn't print well. I made a Pages doc out of it, that can be printed and added to your Ollie records, if you like. JD How to Find Happiness With LiFePO4 (Lithium-Ion) Batteries - Solacity .pages EDIT 05/16/23. Thanks to Jim and Francis for converting the article to a PDF: How to Find Happiness With LiFePO4 (Lithium-Ion) Batteries

What little snow I saw around then was up along the highest roads, was brief, and was inconsequential, fwiw.

I've been down around there a few times at around that time. I think Zion and Arches and Canyonlands and the GC will be fine. It's *possible* that you'll see snow going over the flanks of Boulder Mountain between Capitol Reef NP and the Boulder/Escalante area, but odds are you'll be fine there. Same deal up around Bryce. If that is what the forecast claims to be in store once you get there, you could scoot around a more southern route from the Moab area toward Zion and then GC, going via Tuba City/Page/etc. There are a decent amount of boondocking options along with some established campgrounds along that route if you decide it would be more prudent than your Plan A, but Plan A will likely go at least based on my two fall trips.

We towed our Elite II with a 2019 Duramax diesel 6.5 ft bed over the Beartooth pass in Sept. of 2019 without issue. I wont lie, I experienced some anxiety in anticipation of the trip and my blood pressure may have been elevated a tad as we motored on, but it was worth it. We set the pace we were comfortable with, pulled over to enjoy the scenery and to let others pass at several of numerous overlooks. I must admit that having an engine brake makes mountain travel much easier. We were not the longest rig on the pass. I would suggest to be on the pass earlier in the day to avoid the masses.

I added some pictures from the spare tire camera so that you can see the angle of view. Bill

Really?😇

You're welcome! Bill

We have a small Iceco 12v and used it a lot in our Airstream, but our Ollie Elite II frig/frzr seems big enough if we are near services. When boondocking in remote areas, we do use the Iceco as a freezer only. Charlie.

A compressor fridge like my medium ARB unit works great, but it uses around 60 amp hours daily, and it also provides continual “amp anxiety”. With marginal solar when the days are short or grey, it makes me constantly worry about recharging the batteries. I am much happier and laid back if I just leave the fridge at home. If I had a larger solar array, I would be more likely to bring it along. It operates off the alternator when moving, and off the trailer batteries when stopped. I hate the older three way fridge for a number of reasons, but I do have to admit it works well enough and doesn’t drain the batteries if you tow with it set to propane. I would rather use those truck amps to recharge the trailer batteries than operate the fridge….. it is a very heavy draw when set to 12 volts. John Davies Spokane WA

1 - yes. If your intent is to run the fridge/freezer on 12 volt while driving down the road then it would be prudent to plan to NOT open the door of the fridge thereby preventing cold air from escaping. My ice-cream stays hard! 2 - Maybe. This depends on how much food and/or use you plan to give the existing fridge. I'd plan on not getting a separate unit until you actually see what your usage is. Congrats on the April pickup! Hopefully we'll have a chance to meet at the Rally in May if you plan on being there. Bill

Obviously, that would be a function of just how cold it gets in the winter and how many openings to the area between the hulls you have. Bill

"We're not getting any younger... and though the results of waxing are rewarding, it's not easy." I noticed on my last driver's license that I have gotten older compared to the previous license. Is there any way to apply the wax by some electrical device rather than by hand? I put screws in with a driver now and not with a screw driver. Maybe, hopefully, there's a faster way than by hand.

I missed that in your comment. Sorry. You're looking at diy. Honestly, I think at least 75 per cent of modern waxes and coatings, if specifically designed for marine grade fiberglass, are fine to great. We've always used paste wax, with uv inhibitors and a high carnuba content. So, we stay with that. Others have used polymers, and spray waxes. Paste, spray, wipe on/wipe off. It's somewhat of a personal thing. This has been a raging debate for decades in the marine world. Most important, imo, is keeping up, keeping clean, and consistency of product type. You can read practical sailor reviews til your eyes glaze over. Or, review marine forums. Or corvette forums. Or fiberglass plane forums. (I'm a self- proclaimed coatings nerd, and I read them all the time.) My advice is to buy and use a product with good uv resistance, and a shine level, and a personal work level, that you can live with, imo, from a reputable company, like 3m, starbrite, meguires, collinite, etc ., that will remain in business, and allow you to buy the same product, year after year, and you'll likely be good.

I agree. Its all a tradeoff. We just try to carry the minimum. Like I said, maybe we live on the edge.

You might want to send a PM to Forum member - Steve&Betty - I believe that they had a coating applied to their Ollie about a year ago. Bill

Build sheet sent. Wallet lighter. Colors picked and street awning included. Thanks to all for the feedback! Can't wait to get a hull number!

We went with the Standard bed option. My wife and I are retired, camp primarily by ourselves and leave the bed made up. When company arrives for dinner or a visit, we stuff the bedding in stuff sacks we have on hand (primarily a down comforter and a couple of sheets) and put it in the back seat of the pickup. We use 2" memory foam toppers split down the middle of the bed and encased in sheets - these we roll up and stuff in the back seat of the pickup along with bedding. The whole process is easy, takes just minutes and leaves you with a large table / seating arrangement. We have seated seven adults comfortably around the table. Gettng in and out of bed for a nighttime stroll is easy - just slide off the foot of the bed (we sleep with heads to the aft end of the trailer). Accessing valves / breakers under seats is no different than a twin - lift the cushion, prop it up with the lid and make your changes ... it may be incrementally more difficult than a twin setup but not enough to matter. The bed, with standard cushions and the toppers is extremely comfortable and it is HUGE. One issue you might consider with the standard is that the upgrade, latex cushions are very bulky, heavy and could be difficult to deal with if you have a standard model and wish to store the inserts while using the dining table. For this reason, when placing the order for our standard Oliver II, Rodney in sales suggested we go with the original (thinner) mattress style. Incidentally, I have found that, leaving the table up, the smaller beds on the standard model are still plenty big enough for me @ 5'9 & 180#.

X2 on the Clever Dripper. It's what I use to fill my travel mug daily before heading to work. It's perfect for making one mug at a time, and it works well for camping. I use an old Hario burr grinder too, but slightly modified. I replaced the knurled nut and hand crank with a 10mm acorn nut. We keep a small cordless drill on board anyway, so might as well use it.

We love good coffee too, whether at home or camping. Once you grind coffee, a lot of the flavor starts being lost quickly if you don't brew asap. So a good quality small portable burr grinder is a must. We used to use a classic looking Zazzenhaus mill but after many years of use while car/van/trailer camping the burr was shot and not replaceable, so I got a Hario Mini Mill to replace it - it works reasonably well and has no glass (whereas the larger Hario mill has a glass bowl to catch the ground coffee - I'd prefer to avoid glass for a camping grinder...). For brewing, we both like the Clever Dripper. It looks like a classic filter cone type brewer, but it actually brews more like a french press in that the coffee sits in the cone extracting flavor from the grounds until you put the device on a cup/mug and then a stopper opens up and lets the coffee pour through. But unlike french press, it's as easy to clean as a simple plastic cone with a disposable filter and you get no grounds in your cup. You grind as for french press and let it sit for minutes in the cone with a stir partway through before letting it rip into the cup. It's definitely not for someone who want a high volume of coffee fast but it does make an excellent cup once you get your grind and timing down. We have two Clever Drippers so we can brew our own cups simultaneously (and do our own mix - I do mostly home roasted decaf which is better than almost any decaf beans I've ever found with the one exception being a now out of business small batch roaster/cafe on the WA coast). I love the espresso we can make at home but the Clever Dripper makes equally fine cups of coffee albeit in a somewhat different style. https://www.sweetmarias.com/clever-coffee-dripper-large.html

Yes. The support for the middle of the bed is comprised of: (1) the table top and (2) an extra support piece, that goes in the closet when not in "bed" mode. See this video:

I thought I share this with any Chevy GMC Duramax owners. While doing routine maintenance on my 2017 Chevy Duramax. I noticed a small oil leak at the front of the engine. I suspected a bad crankshaft seal. Under warranty the Chevy dealer confirmed a leaking front crank shaft seal. That was the easy part here’s the nightmare. I was informed that the harmonic balancer pulley which has a rubber grommet in between the pulley for engine vibration was deteriorated and needs replacement. I was told I was lucky to have brought it in. If the pulley let loose it would have destroyed the engine. Speaking with the mechanic he said several like this has been reported. The bad news. There is only one pulley available at a North Carolina dealer and they refuse to sell it to my dealership. GM has zero available and are looking at 12-16 weeks maybe. I have started the complainant process but it also takes time. GM no longer will give you a loaner vehicle of the same kind you get what they give you. Which is wrong but better than nothing. The other sad part is there are no new trucks available to buy. 🤯🤯 There are better quality pulleys out there after market at $500.00 range. In negotiation’s with GM they may reimburse this cost to me. It’s not like GM to do this but we shall see. The battle continues.🤪 It looks like my Oliver travels are on hold for awhile, with the fuel prices this all my be a good thing. 😇

Reed and Karen Lukens have posted their LEII for sale on Fiberglass RV. Mossey