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We have the newer lighter weight cover from Calmark which we purchased from Oliver last summer. It is easier for two people naturally with ladders to install the cover. It’s not difficult but it is not a quick on and quick off procedure either, there are some gymnastics involved 😅. We always install the cover on the curb side and sit it on the awning and unravel it from this point. Others may have a magical way, but this worked for us. We used it last winter for the first time when we winterized and stored our Ollie here at our home. We used foam pool noodles on the sharp angled corners to reduce wear and tear on the cover. Corners such as the solar panels, rear bumper, entry steps. We had no visible signs of scratching or marring of our Ollies finish at all. Naturally without a cover you will begin to see some dulling or oxidation of the gel coat and you will reeeeally need to stay ahead of that with waxing and buffing. With the price tag of new Olivers creeping up year after year, we opted to take the best possible care of our Ollies finish. That said and here is another option to the Calmark cover- Last Friday, July 29th after a lot of previous research, planning, and due diligence we had a custom built “RV port” or as we call it an “Ollie Hangar” built on our property in our backyard area and are very happy with the results. We used a local Mt Airy, North Carolina company called - steelbuidlingsandstructures.com This NC company is an engineered certified steel structure builder which meets and exceeds our State and County’s code requirements for wind and snow. It does exactly what we intend it to do- keep our Ollie out of the UV, and elements. The crew installed it in a day and a half so we feel it is well worth the investment for us. We also like the convenience of taking off in the winter months without wrestling with the cover standing on ladders and all the gymnastics that goes with it. This structure is fully covered by our homeowners policy, note - some policies do not cover out buildings. We have 30 amp shore power so no issues with battery maintenance. Just another option. “Ollie Hangar” located on Blueberry Hill Demenions - 13X25X11H “Back Stage” as we like to call it. 😅 Our home LED motion sensor lights put a lamp on our path for a few minutes when we walk out to the hangar.

I had the same issue on #676 (2020). The crack in my shroud, like yours was at the screw hole, but mine did not seem to have as many cracks as yours judging from the picture. I bought a replacement shroud from a local Camping World, but have not used it yet. I was able to patch my current shroud using a strip of fiberglass drywall joint tape and JB Weld epoxy. I put the epoxy on the inside of the shroud, then layered the fiberglass tape on and more epoxy. It is still holding 18 months later.

If you ever decide to order/build an “Ollie Hangar” shoot me a pm. We learned quite few important details in our due diligence while vetting and selecting a business that sells and builds steel structures. 👍🏻

Those screws have a shoulder on them. The shoulder should pass through the elongated hole in the shroud and be tightened down against the steel base, leaving the head of the screw snug but not tight against the shroud to allow the shroud to expand and contract with heating and cooling. You might find that the shoulder was tightened down against the shroud, or the screw was loose allowing too much movement of the shroud. We’ve been in some very strong wind and never had that happen. I agree with @Cameron I’d fix that also.

I ordered my Elite II on July 7th this year with a $2500. The buyer has 7 days to cancel without penalty. After that, Oliver will retain $1500. My trailer goes into production around November 20th. I have to either pay the remainder of the 50% deposit by August 20th (3 months prior to the start of production), or have approved financing plus a total of 15% of the purchase price paid by then. The buyer can add or delete options until the time the 2nd deposit is made (i.e., 90 days prior to production start). As for boondocking, I have only done so for a few days at a time. To avoid filling the grey water tank, we wash dishes outside using collapsible basins (one with soapy water and the other with rinse water). We take quick Navy showers, or use an outdoor solar shower with shower tent. We also bring drinking water in one gallon jugs to avoid using the fresh water tank. Enjoy your visit to Oliver, and best wishes on whatever you decide. I'll be taking the Oliver factory tour in September, but by then I will already have placed my 2nd deposit.

We have a 2019 EII with the standard toilet. Tanks on 2019 were specified as : Fresh = 30gal - more like 28Gallons Grey = 30 Gal Black = 18 Gal (Now 15 Gallons reported in later models.) The NEWER Specs from 2023 data sheet are shown below: Fresh Water Tank Capacity Design Capacity 32 Gal. Grey Water Tank Capacity Design Capacity 32 Gal. Black Water Tank Capacity Design Capacity 15 Gal. Use Case: Boondocking sites...no restroom or pit toilets. We take very short (Navy) showers, wash hair outside or in a basin, and use wipes every other day. Black: Boondocking the black tank fills between 3-5 days. (If there are pit toilets or other facilities then we can get to 6 days.) Grey: Typically lasts 8 days. We've not typically had an issue with GREY filling up. For Boondocking, the toilet really is the limiting factor, and many have specifically chosen the compositing toilet for that reason if they plan to do a lot of boondocking. Craig Hull 505

We live in New Hampshire and store our Ollie uncovered in the driveway. David clears most of the snow off after storms and that keeps the solar panels charging enough so that we almost never have to plug in to shore power. We give it a quick wash after each camping trip and wax 2-3 times a year. Ours is a 2019 and so far it still looks good. Paula

Will do! Thank you so much.

Yours may still be in warranty, check to see. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t change it yourself if it is going to take two months to get it through normal warranty channels. Sometimes it makes more sense to just buy it and do it yourself, if you are comfortable doing that. John Davies Spokane WA

We have a standard toilet/black tank. Toilet paper goes in the tank with everything else. We spent 5 days dry camping in a state park with the park bathrooms readily accessible, so we only used the black tank overnight/wake up. Careful with water and 2 navy showers each. Tank readings at the end were: Fresh 38%, Grey: 38%, Black 31%. We spent a week with full hookups, taking longer showers and using the trailer bathroom exclusively and I found myself dumping the tanks roughly every 1.5 days.

Hi Katjo I also gave this great thought last year before I picked up our trailer. I can't store it where I live so I keep it at a friend's property about three hours away. It's not covered. I consulted with SeaDawg who told me that they've never covered their trailer either and simply wash it and wax it twice a year with good quality marine products. I've done the same and so far so good. It cleans up very nicely. So, if your primary concern is about keeping the gelcoat clean and shiny, I think you'll be OK without a cover.

We are with Elli Rose 🌹 in the Traverse City Region of Michigan. Only 3 months since we picked her up. She’s a dream to travel in. Here are some pics along the way 🙂A good place for lunchOn the 45th!Leland, otherwise known as FishtownFrom the dock…can’t beat nature’s paletteA break for dinner from our trek on M22 Cherries everywhere 🍒 Sleeping Bear Dunes…the water looks like the Caribbean 🏝 Until tomorrow 🥰

Just returned from a trip up to the Seely-Swan River Valley and Flathead Valley here in Montana. Had a great trip, no problem getting campsites without RSVP's but each campground did fill up all but one night. We Kayaked 4 of the local lakes, rode our bikes on a 28 mile loop within Flathead Valley and did a few hikes in the area the most grueling being up to Strawberry Lake in the Flathead NF, steep switchbacks would be an understatement. Below are a few iPhone snapshots from the trip. Thanks for looking. Campsite at Harpers Lake Kayaking on Harpers Lake Hike to Morrell Falls kayaking Holland Lake View of Swan Lake Kayaking Swan Lake at the National Wildlife Refugee Strawberry Lake, Flathead NF Kayaking Echo Lake, Swan Range in the background

Had my first chance to do a long range experiment of gasoline vs. E-85 in my flex fuel F-250. Recently towed the Ollie about 1500 miles so I had a chance to compare mileage over several tankfuls each of both gasoline and E-85. I typically get about 11.5 mpg towing the Elite II on regular gasoline (which can still contain up to 10% ethanol). On E-85 the mileage dropped as expected (due to the lower energy content of ethanol) to about 10.0 mpg. But now to look at $/mile, with gasoline at $4.49 per gallon here in my area of PA, and E-85 at $2.99 per gallon. So on gasoline it’s costing me about $0.39 per mile. On E-85, it’s about $0.30 per mile. So the E-85 wins on cost per mile, but a downside is the loss of range of about 50 miles on a full tank. I’ll keep using E-85 when it’s available, but now that I’m looking for it I did discover that it’s hit or miss at gas stations if they have E-85. It’s nice to have the option of both though. We can have a separate debate about the environmental impact, the government incentives for ethanol blending, etc. 🙂.

@Katjo, I know you're in Michigan, but I don't know where. You might want to talk with @dewdev or @Mainiac, both in Maine, plenty of snow. Pretty sure both store their trailers outside. Snow melts pretty fast, usually, on the darker faces of solar panels. I'd be more worried about snow load and freeze/thaw at roof penetrations. What's your average winter snow accumulation? I have a friend in Iowa who stored hers outside for a few years, without issue. We winter in Florida, so the most snow accumulation we've seen is a few inches, early winter camping. The folks in the northern latitudes can tell you much more.

I measured my 2008 door, and the opening between the interior flanges with the seal are a strong 22 1/16. I'd try it with an empty bin first. Our pinch-point in an elite I is the shower wall to the microwave/fridge cabinet. We had to get above the ledge of the fridge space to bring in our Truckfridge tf130, without removing the shower wall. That space is only 21 and a scant 1/16" wide. The lower space is narrower,, because of the fridge.. You have more space in a 2, but I don't know how much more. The tf130 weighs about the same as an lectric bike, (64 pounds), and I can tell you it was not simple to avoid scratching something, making the turn, up that high, with two people, one inside, one walking up the steps and guaging the distance. Very awkward. Not something I'd want to do on a routine basis. And, those commander bins won't fit under the bed, even empty, in our Elite. Maybe someone with a 2 could measure both spaces? I know it wouldn't work for me. Another thought, if the bins go in empty, you might be able to walk the bike though the door and walk it up inside on the back tire, with pedals folded, and complete the folding process in the trailer. My brother has to do this in his small condo elevator,, with a non-folding bike. How wide are the handlebars?

Love it, and love the "back stage." Just like camping, at home.

These are excellent, though for only those owners who are very mechanically inclined. He discusses servicing all the parts, such as testing the gas supply pressure, cleaning the jet and burner flue, adjusted ignitor gap, troubleshooting the sensors with a meter, etc etc. If you have been thinking about adding a better fan, watch video 12. Here is that particular one: 12 volt RV Fan Facts Main webpage: https://www.arprv.com/norcold-dometic-troubleshooting.php BTW, I received a Fridge Defend full kit and will post a thread about the install, it requires removing the fridge entirely for my early Dometic unit. The outside access openings are too small! 😤 John Davies Spokane WA

Thank you, Jim! Even more good information to absorb. When visiting our daughter at Seattle Pacific University, we’d stay out in Bothell. So we were in your neighborhood when we had our first ever MOD Pizza, and went to the Molback Garden Center. Plus another restaurant that I can’t recall. One really shocking surprise in Bothell was pulling up at a drive through coffee shop and seeing a mostly naked barista!! 😳 we don’t have those in the Cleveland area. 🤷‍♂️

Just to give a little more data on water use... we have the composting toilet and carry separate drinking water containers to have good tasting water w/o needing to filter from the trailer tanks and wonder what isn't being filtered out. With the two of us taking parsimonious showers each day (somewhat trained from van camping with a 2 gallon hand pump sprayer type shower setup, where we tended to use less than the full 2 gallon tank capacity per shower even with hair washing) and similarly frugal dish washing (trained from backpacking and further assisted by use of Chinette paper plates...) we have gone seven days with at least some fresh water and grey water space left. I will probably replace the stock shower head with a high pressure/low flow head sometime soon as I'm sure this will further extend time possible between dump/fill visits. BTW we can go at least 3 weeks between dumping the contents of the composting tank (as others have noted we dump the pee every few days whether it's full or not as the contents get progressively funkier by the day which is something btw that you'll only notice while actully doing the dumping). And with breaks in-between trips it seems we can go for a decent bit more as the volume shrinks back down a surprising amount over time with periodic agitation and moistening. We put TP into the toilet btw - the only downside we've had is that it makes turning the crank a bit hard at times, but not so hard as to motivate us to come up with a separate TP disposal strategy.

Welcome to Traverse City and Leelanau County. Looks like you hit a few of our favorite spots.

“Should” does not mean “will”, you could certainly get it in vertically, but will it go in with a bike inside, horizontally (make the turn into the center aisle), without jamming or scratching any gelcoat? Maybe some owners would be OK with loading the bin and the ebike separately, but that method is not appealing to me. Can you try sliding it in, and then turning it, as if it were full? John Davies Spokane WA

We like our upgraded mattresses and street side awning. Wish we could have gotten the Truma A/C. Lithium is great. Front storage basket helps make up for limited exterior storage. I keep my slippers and sandals in the basement via the inside hatch. The Furrion rear camera is pretty good. Not sure if they'll install a different one.

We would love to build a similar Ollie Hangar (that set up is so beautiful in the photo)!!😍

I’ve never seen that happen. We’ve been in and through some pretty high wind conditions. I’d get it fixed. I did lose a screw at some point and called Dometic for a replacement. They sent me a pack of six for free. I’ve seen various Dometic AC covers on Amazon but would check some of the RV parts places first. UnitedRV.com has provided good service to us. Mike

Hi Sak That's weird. Doesn't seem like the wind could crack it but who knows. The important thing is to make sure that the shroud doesn't come flying off to hit someone behind you on the road. If the other connectors are secure, you're probably OK but if it were me I'd want to fix that.

Thank you!

Great info. Thanks!

Wilco...great info. Muchas Gracias! You are right - most rv mobile mechanics are not familiar with Oliver. It is pretty awesome when they do see one for the first time (had this happen a couple of times) and they are very impressed.

While he is underneath, have him check the nuts for the four big jack bolts (use a 3/4” deep socket) that go down through the frame, the spec is 43 foot pounds. They do loosen, as do the suspension and ubolt bolts. He probably already was going to check those, but he is probably completely unfamiliar with Ollies and their peculiarities. If any of the lower jack bolts are loose, have him retorque the four inside that go sideways. The front jack hardware also loosens, that is easy to access. Good luck. Don’t worry about hijacking, we all do it and eventually that spawns a new thread, or the conversation drifts back to the original subject. 😬 John Davies Spokane WA

The black tank on trailers currently being delivered is 15 gallons.

I agree with the numbers you are seeing here. We dry camped for 10 days this past June with a NH toilet on board. Grey: about 80% full at the end - we did dishes once per day and reserved that water to put out the nightly campfire. We each showered every 3 days or so. Fresh: We started with a full fresh tank, refilled with about 15 gallons through the boondocking port (we have a filtering jerrycan that worked extraordinarily well to fill from a creek), and had separate drinking water of about 15 gallons. Ended the trip with about 6 gallons in the fresh tank. Composting toilet: we emptied the pee bucket about every other day. We drink a lot, and pee a lot. The solids required no maintenance other than stirring. We put all TP in a separate lined waste basket. mb

Our numbers are about the same.

Olivers aren't perfect, nor are any other RVs. Just looking at other owner forums and watching YouTube will show you that. I'm still hopeful that the overall better design and materials used in Olivers will make this trailer our favorite eventually. I will say that the Service department has been responsive to our problems so far.

Service told me they were forwarding this incident to the Engineering and Quality departments for review.

Appreciations for the info! Unfortunately, I have to hire a mobile RV mechanic to help determine the cause. I am unable to get down under the trailer myself due to injuries sustained over 28 yrs of military service. I will give this info to him to help ascertain what is going on. The sound (a popping/creaking) seems to occur in the middle underside (near axels and frame) of the trailer. I spoke with Mike (very nice and helpful) at Oliver and he thinks the Dexter system needs to be lubricated. So, we will start with that and then move on to more troubleshooting if needed. I sure hope I am not hijacking this thread in any way. Either way, I am thankful to Corvus and ScubaRx for your assistance. Our Ollie is my ticket to peace and tranquility and hope to get it back operational soon.

If you want to boondock, avoid the flush toilet, it absolute EATS your fresh water supply. ... https://www.doityourselfrv.com/how-much-water-does-an-rv-toilet-use-per-flush/ Buy the Natures Head, learn its quirks, and don't look back. Two people using it daily means a trip to a toilet or privy every two to three days to empty the pee tank, unless you buy a second one. The solids part of this equation has ben discussed at length, look here: ... https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/1978-nature039s-head-composting-toilet-installation-in-an-oliver-big-thread/ I keep a little stainless flip top trash bin beside the toilet, with a liner, ALL paper goes in there. Fresh water is hard to quantify, when my wife is along we go through a tank in three days, including one navy shower each. I conserve a lot more than she, and smell more, and can go 8 to 10 days easily when I am solo. I carry an empty 6 gallon water jerry can (blue plastic) and have actually used it one time in five seasons. So usually finding a water source isn't that hard, unless you are dry camping for long periods. There are devices that allow you to get water from unauthorized sources, like a Water Bandit. Get one of those and you should be fine. If you can't connect the hose, your boondocking/ winterization port is your next step, just suck the water out of a can or bucket. Figure 3 quarts day in hot weather just in drinking water, that adds up fast! 1.5 gallons per day for a couple, over ten days, is half your tank volume. A navy shower is maybe 3 gallons, I use less than she because I have a lot less hair. Grey water can be carefully emptied with a sewer adapter and a 3/4" garden hose in SOME places, like the open desert, you can run it off to under a sagebrush and let it trickle out overnight. I dump mine at home in the gravel driveway... 😉 It would certainly be educational to rent a stick and staple trailer for a week, it will let you experience the systems, especially dumping, and the poor build quality, and the latter will make you appreciate the Ollie all that more. I will repeat myself, your LC200 will be "adequate" for towing an LE2 in the Eastern states, with the Andersen and airbags; you may find yourself wishing for the smaller LE when you travel out West, That would be a stellar combination for many reasons. I think yours is a Heritage edition? If so, good, you don't have to remove that pesky third row or buy proper LT tires.... do you know your payload? John Davies Spokane WA

I guess I’m confused as to why you’d want to remove a working unit. My Elite II was delivered with a defective refrigerator at initial factory pickup. In order to replace the defective unit the whole door frame had to be removed so they could make the swap. The refrigerator unit is bigger than the door frame, but smaller than the door opening. It’s a major undertaking to get the refrigerator out and onto the bench in the shop for a likely unneeded service. Nothing else to add other than be ready to remove the whole door frame or be ready to service on the dinette. Ken

Remove the fridge annually? 😳. Nope. Going on 7 years and never removed. I don’t think it is part of the factory annual service either. Mike

The water heater itself has an internal shutoff valve, so when you turn "off" the truma switch outside this valve cuts off gas. The only other shutoffs are the ones on the front tanks. CS Hull 505 with Truma on board.

Mike, Wow! You and Carol are living the dream! Thank you for your inspiration to travel and sharing your adventures. Your photos and write ups really have us dialed in on spending time in Colorado. Kathy and I love it that you actually post up while your camping! Keep the photos coming! We really enjoyed dinner at Crawmama’s and finally meeting you both at the last Rally. Those steaks look amazing! Keep up the posts! Safe Travels, David & Kathy

Could you provide a little more information? What year is your Oliver? I’m pretty sure they changed out bathroom faucets at some point. Which faucet do you have? You are going to need to remove the panel on the front of the sink pedestal to get to the connections. There should be four screws on the front (behind covers) and then cut through the caulking with a utility knife and pull the panel off. It will be tethered by an electrical connection for the water pump. Once you’re in there, you should be able to access the connections. When you replace the front panel you’ll want to re-caulk. It’s easy to do, you can find white caulk at Home Depot or Lowes. I did mine a few years ago and it still looks fine (not for a faucet replacement, we still have the original). Mike

We hit a deer on our return from camping. The front we are having addressed. A mystery remains. Upon attempting to re-hitch trailer to our truck, the Anderson Sway Control will not 'fit' like it use to. I have loosened the nuts at the ends of the chains to their maximum. The chains are very tight. What adjustments must I do?