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I don't think clear coating flat black is necessary, nor IMHO would it look very good, I use Duplicolor Ceramic Brake Caliper Paint, gloss black, no primer is needed like regular spray paints, it flows out beautifully, is dry to the touch in five minutes, and after a week it cures rock hard. This paint is now my "go to" product for just about anything that needs one of the six available colors. Any good auto parts store should carry it. https://www.duplicolor.com/product/caliper-paint/ I just painted the receiver area on my LC200 a couple of weeks ago. The "spots" are weld splatter, that doesn't look so great with a gloss paint.... maybe next time I will grind those all away. And use the Satin Black instead.

Experience running fridge on LP, using LP furnace set to 65 every night when temps are below freezing (dog water dish left outside froze solid each night) and using cooktop minimally I could go eight days on a 30# tank

Thoughts and discoveries from yesterday's tour and purchase in no particular order. I'll add more if I think of anything. Anita was very helpful and knowledgable. When she didn't know an answer, she said so instead of faking her way through. I appreciate that. When we scheduled our tour, I selected the 1:00 slot. Anita countered that the plant gets unbearable in the afternoons, and suggested we schedule the 9:00 tour instead. As it was 91 out, I really appreciated that! The plant works four 10 hour days, so Friday was mostly inactive. This is good because you can hold a conversation and get closer to the assembly line, but you can't watch employees at work. Seeing the final inspection area where any errors were noted by employee name was interesting. Making the offender responsible has to be beneficial. We toured with another couple. We knew that was going to be the case beforehand, but by their response, I'm not sure they did. This might be offputting if you're not comfortable discussing questions in a group. Having spent 40 plus years in manufacturing, I had a lot of questions. This might have taken away some of the time the other couple could have been asking questions. We weren't rushed, and they said they were okay with the time given, but if I were them, I might have preferred to not have me along. 😉 I was taking photos of the wiring and plumbing between hull halves, and Anita stopped me. It seems an email was sent out just the day before that photos are no longer permitted during plant tours. This was somewhat irksome, as I want to know what's behind the walls. Especially with no wiring diagrams available. Several surreptitious photos may have been taken anyway... The 2023 fabric is different than the previous offered material. It seems softer, but maybe thinner and not as rugged or course feeling. Deb has samples of both and I'll try to post a photo later. The Midnight fabric is also darker. No Truma furnace or AC were on the line, as they are still building 2022 models. No Victron components were on the demo unit, but the Truma AC was. It's as quiet as reported! They resumed Elite I orders and builds due to an overwhelming number of orders placed when it was announced they would stop for a redesign. That's now on hold. The rumored larger model is still being considered with no timeline discussed. Forgot a huge point as far as I’m concerned, and caused us to change what we were going to order. When Sue and Matt offered to let us visit them to see their Elite II Twin, we found that they had the upgraded KTT mattresses. Deb and I didn’t see the value of that $1750 option until we laid on their bed. Thick, comfy, and much more firm than I expected. We were sold on the upgrade. Fast forward to this past Friday and our visit to Hohenwald. We sat in the demo trailer, and I asked Anita if they had one with the upgraded KTT mattress. She said that I was sitting on the upgraded mattress!! Go look at the option list. It no longer says KTT. They can’t get enough mattresses from KTT, so they are also getting them from Takata. And the buyer does not get to choose which they get! Deb and I both thought that the Takata that we were sitting and later laying on felt cheap, soft, offered no support, and definitely not worth the upgrade! Deb was sitting on it, and not just on the edge, and the mattress compressed enough that her thigh was resting on the edge of the mattress tray. Very uncomfortable! I said it felt like an old worn out mattress in a cheap motel. By comparison, the standard free cushion felt luxurious! Not as great as Sue and Matt’s KTT, but much better than the Takata. Anita said the difference in support was because Sue and Matt had Hypervent and the Takata didn’t. Can’t be that much difference! So, we saved $1750 and $850 by ordering the standard cushions and no Ultra fabric upgrade, and Oliver lost whatever profit they make on both. 👎👎👎👎👎 We both found the Nature's Head toilet very uncomfortable. As someone who takes a while for things to happen, I don't think it would work for me. We ordered the standard toilet with the intention of likely replacing it with an AirHead composting toilet instead. Placing our order was painless, and picking the delivery date to fit our schedule was nice. There were earlier days available that didn't work for us. Here's where we're at right now: - Elite II Twin Bed - Standard Mattresses - Standard Fabric - Midnight - Hypervent - Omnidirectional Antenna (local weather etc. if we don't have cell service) - Street Side Awning - Frosted Doors - Convection Microwave - 20 Gallon Propane (to keep tongue weight down) - Front/Rear Propane Quick-Connects - Standard Toilet with possible AirHead composting replacement - Full Truma Package AC, Furnace, Water Heater and Antifreeze kit - Largest Lithium Package - No Backup Camera: Probably add our own later - Anderson Hitch - Aluminum Storage Basket - Basement Door - No Graphics

#1150 Eggcelsior at Hammonassett State Park in Connecticut recently.

It’s a boy! Due March 28, 2023. There was really no indecision. I knew what we were going to do before we arrived. Deb pretty much was set to order, too. It was more about taking the hour to sit there relaxed and make the final decision. I’ll be half a year shy of 70 at delivery, with Deb two years behind. We deserve to enjoy ourselves while we can. A big thanks to everyone who has offered advice and encouragement! We really do appreciate the input.

I just use Rustoleum black after cleaning the rust. Clear coat may cause the paint to last longer. Let us know if you try it. Mike

Storm:

@AZ Wonderer Yep. Here are photos of 2023 samples. Midnight:

I’m curious about the photo restriction. We took lots of photos on our tours and some came in handy later. Anita gave us our first tour in 2015 before we ordered. Things were a bit more relaxed back then. Mike

Thanks for all this info. It's very helpful. I'm doing the reverse of you...doing a plant tour after order. Our tour is scheduled for Sept 11. Did Anita show you samples of the new countertops for 2023? I understand they no longer will be fiber-granite but instead will be solid surface acrylic. Congratulations again on your order.

JD, I believe we did because Maggie is Canadian and it would make sense to ask for that feature. Problem is how does one test that feature while down in the lower 48. I think we have this one resolved. Our phones have an ATT SIM card HOWEVER we were informed that it does not have coverage in Canada. When we ordered them I asked that they be UNLOCKED which was good for this exercise. we were able to get to civilization and to a Canada Bell subsidiary and we were able to get a monthly plan that puts us back in working order for the next 2 months while up here. thanks to all for replies.

One of my hose fittings came unscrewed during a campsite setup. I didn’t have the tool on hand so I hand tightened as best I could. I found the 2018 post and ordered this socket on Amazon (same as recommended by @ScubaRX above). Water hose connection socket Another use for the Oliver supplied 1/2” breaker bar is a socket for removing the water heater anode from the standard Suburban water heater. Water heater anode socket

Just disregard the thread jacking that occurred mid thread

Great suggestion, necessity is the mother of invention! 😊 👍🏻👍🏻

There is no need to buy an L shaped wrench, just get a square drive bit and use your 1/2' breaker bar, Oliver even includes a bar in the spares kit for the wheel nuts. Mine have never loosened, and I don't plan to buy a tool for the trailer kit for what might never happen. You can pick up a square bit like that in any auto parts store if you need it while traveling. I do have a full SAE/ Metric set of square drive bits at home. For about $40 you can have them all. These are not pro grade, but they are fine for casual use. John Davies Spokane WA

Thanks for bringing this up. I had mine corrected at my last service. Took them about an hour after the oil change and tire rotation. Simple fix but worth watching and getting it corrected.

LOL, I have had that personality trait pointed out to me more than once. Anita was a real Southern sweetheart (I hope I am allowed to say that) when we visited in 2016, we did not do a tour then or ever. I am 90% sure you will want to add rear airbags, you can try towing first to see how it feels, but I was pretty unhappy, the stock LC200 springs are really soft (that is why it is so great on rough roads). If you were to install an Old Man Emu suspension, I don't think you would need them. The OME kits, even the base version, are engineered for load carrying ("real truck duty") rather than for hauling kids to the soccer match. I think you have the Heritage Edition, is that correct? That may come with stiffer springs in back, you could check at IH8tmud.com. Firestone W237604164 Coil-Rite Kit https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/2059-land-cruiser-200-towing-thread/ Congratulations, are you going to sell your current trailer this season or wait? John Davies 'Spokane WA

Sorry, no worries, this is why you should always use the Quote feature when you are commenting on somebody else's post, especially if you are referring to one on a previous page. I naturally assumed you were responding to the post directly above yours. I see that I am not the only one who was confused... John Davies Spokane WA

Desert

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Capri-Tools-1-2-in-Drive-1-2-in-Hex-Bit-Socket-3-0558/305590114?g_store=&source=shoppingads&locale=en-US&&mtc=SHOPPING-BF-CDP-GGL-D25T-025_001_HAND_TOOLS-NA-Multi-NA-SMART-NA-NA-NA-NA-NBR-NA-NA-NA-Hand_Tools&cm_mmc=SHOPPING-BF-CDP-GGL-D25T-025_001_HAND_TOOLS-NA-Multi-NA-SMART-NA-NA-NA-NA-NBR-NA-NA-NA-Hand_Tools-71700000086053656-58700007291967538-92700065470082093&gclid=CjwKCAjw0dKXBhBPEiwA2bmObZv9tvRhJahr2TsT0YEj4AYoLNASzW-9qBbtR2LAw-koQHgx1ffRBBoCc3cQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

We just just spent a week at Bear Den CG just North of Spruce Pine, NC. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ with Hull# 634 which performed flawlessly. It was a well needed vacation post our blueberry harvest. We took time and spent a lot of time learning our Ollies systems- Love Love the Truma, long instant hot showers a win.I think it took like 6-8 seconds for us to have constant hot water at the kitchen sink and sink/shower. Microwave convection oven a must have for us. We were easily able to quickly cook/heat meals during a heavy storm one evening. Full hook ups allowed us to use our black and gray tanks seamlessly. The generator tray was extremely useful for a number of tasks. (We did not take our Honda generator this trip). Our AC kept us cool and cycled as it should. We did run the Dometic furnace on a cool 60 degree morning and it performed great. All in all a great safe week! A few photos....of our great State of North Carolina! 😊🇺🇸 Our Tundra CrewMax and it’s reliability delivered and performed outstanding. Check out Bear Den if your ever traveling the gorgeous elevations of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Happy Camping! Patriot

Hi everyone! I wanted to share a plumbing episode that I experienced in Albuquerque, NM last year (6/2020) after getting it serviced in TN. After two (2) days of driving, I hooked up my WPS (water/power/sewer) connections at a KOA and had a major plumbing issue, or so I thought... After shutting the water off and inspecting under my curbside bed, I found the culprit. It seems that, the offending hot water line to this tee fitting was cut about a half-inch too short when installed at the factory. Mind you, this happened after a few thousand miles on the road and after a few bad miles on I-40 in Oklahoma before this manifested. After understanding just exactly why this happened, I contacted our good friends in the service department and Jason was able to offer some very helpful assistance. Luckily, there was a Home Depot just a few miles down the road and I was able to purchase a longer length of the same hot water line installed on the Ollie and Jason recommended the "SharkBite" brass fittings as a permanent replacement for the plastic ones installed at the factory. This was a quick and easy fix and I have had no problems or worries since. The SharkBite fittings are the best and I decided I didn't ever want an episode like this to happen again, so I later replaced every elbow and tee fitting in my Ollie with the SharkBite brass fittings. The Team at Oliver was great and reimbursed me for all materials for the tee that caused this problem. I came out-of-pocket and did the rest on my own. I highly recommend these fittings and wish they would have used these in the first place. Below are photos of my experience... Nicky Ray

It was time to touch-up the bulldog hitch. I used a pretty good Rust-Oleum flat paint, after wire bushing and cleaning well. Should I bother with a clear coat enamel on top? What would you do? Thanks, Chris

what was the issue?

We used Rustoleum black also with no clear coat over.

An Oliver owner on the Olive Facebook page passed on his purchase of this 1/2” hex head wrench off of Amazon. It’s used to tighten the city and fresh water fittings on the Oliver and its compact, easily storable, space saver, works perfectly. My city water fitting was loose, and not anymore. I feel like this was a little expensive for this tool and had trouble locating it anywhere else. Lowes, HD and even our local hardware had nothing in available. You may want to shop it for a cheaper price. It’s also a good time to check both your city and fresh inlet water screens. If this has already been posted, MODs please delete or link to existing post.

I also chose the Midnight decor, with black and silver-grey metallic graphics. I wrote my 2nd deposit check today. You'll have a few months before you have to cut the 2nd check and finalize your options

roguebooks Thanks for posting this issue. As soon as I finished reading the post, I went out to my 2018 Elite II and checked to see if the connections were tight, which they were. Attached is pictures of my transfer switch, which is a Series 5100 switch. When you get the new one, let us know if the wire connectors are different then on our transfer switch.

I think att and tmobile use the same towers in Canada. Or, at least share. They're both cdma based. And share with another couple majors in Canada. All this is changing, with 5g. None of the above work in many of the more remote places we camp in Canada. Nor, does Verizon. We choose to live with it. They all often do work, however, on many of the highways. Not all. And, in most communities. Not all. Way back in the day, we'd have to stop at visitors centers in towns to hook our phones to the free wifi, and check in, because neither carrier worked, elsewhere, or worked poorly. Not necessary today, in most towns. Most services will work in towns, on roaming. With any Canadian prepaid, you'd probably get service most places. Check prices on roaming, on your service. I've never had your service, consumer cellular. Chances are, they simply have no sharing/ roaming agreement with Canadian services. Til you get it sorted out, you can probably still do the old school thing, and use your phones on wifi at visitors centers, etc. You may find it cheaper to go to a Costco/walmart/rogers/att store, get a throwaway phone, and buy a bit of service for your month or two in Canada.. I doubt your consumer cellular phones are unlocked, to just use someone else's chip. Maybe.

Dry wool socks, weight depends on season, takes care of cold tootsies. (Change socks before bed.). Comforter weight depends on season. We keep the trailer around 55 at night, in shoulder season. Never tried an electric blanket. I will line the side of the hull with a rolled lightweight fleece, if it's cold, but our 2008 doesn't have the newer better insulation.

T-mobile/rogers apparently have a connection in much of Canada. We find our tmobile phone works best there. Not everywhere, but better than Verizon. So many places with zero signal.

Sleeping with my peripheral neuropathy affected feet near the battery vault, I use a rechargeable USB hand warmer (aka foot warmer) to take the chill off. It's kinda like bricks placed at the foot of the bed in days past - except it stays warm all night. Charlie.

My electricity "splurge" on chilly nights (above freezing) is to heat a sack of cherry pits for a few minutes in the microwave. If my tootsies start off warm, the rest of me is fine all night long! mb

You need to study the cellular coverage maps and decide what Canadian carrier will work for you. Where are you now? Where do you plan to travel? That is the question.... https://www.cellularmaps.com/regions/canada-coverage.shtml Our Verizon phones have a Canada provision, but it was highly restricted in terms of data and rarely at all worked once we got into central BC. If you don't end up buying a phone, consider a Garmin inReach for emergencies and for routine check-ins for your family or friends. You need an Internet connection to set up your account and to save any prerecorded (free) text messages. Unfortunately you need an actual computer to sync those messages to your inReach. But you can still type them by hand on that device, they just won't all be free, They work anywhere, even at the Arctic Circle. Any good sporting goods store like Cabelas should carry them. inReach SE®+ Satellite Communicator PART NUMBER 010-01735-00 Sorry to ask .... did you research this before leaving to another country? John Davies Spokane WA

In a pinch I've also used a bolt with a hex head on it that's the right size before. I clamped the bolt on the threads with a pair of vice grips or something and then you can use the bolt head as a hex wrench. 🙂

@AndrewK, and it still looks great! Mossey

Yes, we do! So helpful! The other brand that folks installed couldn't be operated from the closed screen door. Useless, imo. Who wants to open the door, to operate the blind? Thank you, very much. I could see operating your blind from the side, and squinting out.

Read this I thought I had a thread on the forum where I talked about my “fresh water tank overflow tube clamp being loose” but I can’t find it. Anyway, if your fresh tank is full and your trailer is slightly nose down and the overflow tube clamp is loose you might be getting water out of that drain.

Thanks for the info! Those fittings look awesome and like some others have said... I'm almost inspired to see how many I can change :-). (I probably won't until something fails)... but nice to know I can fix it on the road if something ever happens.

@Dave and Kimberly, my guess is your brother in law had either a $400 uponor expansion tool or a pricey hydraulic crimper. You don't need either to do simple repairs with sharkbite push to connect fittings. We just plumbed our barn last year with sharkbite pex pipe and push to connect fittings. We looked at using crimp connectors instead, but for the few connections necessary, the higher price of push to connect fittings vs. buying a hydraulic crimper, it just didn't make sense. And, we've used sharkbite push to connect fittings for other repairs previously, so knew they were easy to use. We used a few Evopex connectors, but mostly the brass push connectors. The Evopex is interesting, in that a green band shows through spacers to tell you when you've made a tight and proper connection. But, they're not, as Mossey said, removable or reusable. (We only used two, in a location that would be difficult to repair later.) For standard push to connect tools, I'd just add a ruler and a sharpie to the list of tools Mossey gave, but those are likely in your toolkit, anyway. You should make a mark on the cut pipe to the proper depth (15/16" or 24mm) for 1/2 inch pipe, to make sure you've made the proper connection. That's it. I'd recommend getting pex a pipe vs pex b for your spare pipe lengths, as it's a bit more flexible, and more resistant to freeze damage. ( we specified upunor pex a for our new home build, some years ago, sharkbite in the barn. Our lowes and ace hardware both carry sharkbite.) Here's a video showing how to use the sharkbite push to connect fittings. (I'll say that it may take a little more hand strength than it appears to in the video, but no big deal.)

I just did the same! Although I miscounted 1 “L” fitting and one “T” fitting so I have 2 more to do. That being said, any of the connections that have come lose in the last year were replaced. (this has happened to us twice in less than 5K of miles on the road 😬) For such a nice trailer at such a high price, these should definitely one standard with brass fittings. They are even easier and faster to install than the plastic alternative anyway, could save a small amount of time at the factory.

Glad the issue was resolved quickly. What you’ve done looks great. Like Steve, ours have held up well for about 60K miles but now I’m inspired to do some plumbing work! Mike

We've owned two different Oliver's over the past 12 years. Collectively, we have traveled over 150K miles. I have had one fitting to break and it did cause a mess. I agree that brass fittings are better than plastic and they should be using them. I always carry several feet of tubing, a few different brass pex fittings, and the tools to replace them in case that ever happens again.

Hi John, that was my thought when this happened. I agree, I expected better too but it’s all good now. These fittings got teeth, like a shark and it won’t be happening again, that’s for sure! 👍

I understand why (money) plastic fittings are used but it couldn’t coast more than an extra $30 to do it correctly and use brass fittings. At this price I would expect the best materials to be used during manufacturing. John

I shopped around and found an in the bed locking tool box that is deep enough for the Honda 2200 generator we chose. In addition to the generator, it carries: a small tank of gasoline, small, portable LP tank (for an outside two burner stove and gas grill), the aforementioned gas grill, tools, bike tool box, folding camp table - items you like to keep secure and out of the weather. It is deep enough to accommodate the generator and has tons of room for more "stuff". We did not get the tongue accessory box because it would interfere with our bike rack that attaches to the pickup with a dual receiver hitch; the box would prohibit most turning situations. Storage box Ball mount hitch with accessory receiver

I got the aluminum box off of Amazon. About $100. It carries my heavy rubber chocks, wood blocks, 20 legos, gloves, flashlight and a couple of other items. I never lock it. It’s held up well the past few years. For what I use it for it’s perfect. Mike

We've carried the same Yamaha 3000 watt generator over 150K miles on the front of two different Oliver's. Wouldn't have it any other way. Fuel goes into the generator tank. Fill it up when you get fuel for the truck.

I'd add one more option, no basket. That's us. Everything we carry is in the truck bed or the trailer itself. Our tongue weight is pretty consistent that way. The tow vehicle information is important. (Another consideration is, many people don't like to carry fuel or a genset in an suv. )

Very pretty! I'm really missing North Carolina views right now. Thanks for sharing. Glad you had a fun trip. Sherry