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W Another chance encounter with an Ollie owner: Andy from San Diego on the right, my wife Suzanne to the left. Camping in Collier State Park in Oregon on our way to Lassen National Park.

Revised my post on 9/19/2022 due to apparent miss-understanding of my original post. I made a Lagun side mount bracket as described in a past OVERLAND post. The relocation allowed me to install an access hatch to the basement. When I order the metal from the 80/20 company, one of the boxes got lost for a short time and 80/20 sent me another set of the 15 Series Extrusions, so I now have a extra set of 15 Series Extrusions that I do not need. The picture shows these extra extrusions. One piece is 9" long and the other 2 pieces are 6" long. If anyone wants these extrusions they can have them for free but will have to pay for shipping. To make the side mount Lagun bracket, that person will still need to buy the angle irons and attachment bolts. (see list of materials below provided by OVERLAND in his original post) Anyone interested, please contact me. #3075 Extrusion, 24" [This item is what I am giving away.] #4303 Bracket, 4 pieces #4302 Bracket, 2 pieces #3320 Bolt Assembly, 14 pieces You'll also need some stainless ¼" or 5/16" bolts to fix the block to the hull. I think most can be 1" or 1.25" long but you'll need two 3" bolts for the two vertical ones that go through the bed extension. I used lock nuts and large fender washers to spread the load against the fiberglass. I also cut off all the bolt ends around the bed side with a dremel and cutoff disk and filed them smooth so not to damage the mattress or cushions.

New owners trailer in foreground and the other two trailers in the background. This was the first time we have camped with other Oliver owners. We had fun talking about our trailers and our travels. I'm taking the picture!

When this happened a couple of years ago at the Baker's Hole NFS campground just north of West Yellowstone the three of us Ollie owners decided to have a pot luck dinner. It was a fun evening - particularly so when a thunder storm rolled though and forced us to crowd into the center of the screen house we were in. What are the odds? Bill

Hey everyone! We are planning on being in Quartzite in early February 2023. Will be travelling from Western NC along the southern route in January, and back in late February or Early March. Usually when we camp in the cold months I winterize and we just dry camp. But, this will be a longer trip and we'll need water. I surely don't want to de-winterize (summerize?) and re-winterize on the road. So.... I was wondering if the brain trust would share some knowledge? How far north can we go? Anything to look out for? TIA, Scotty

We’ve gone to Quartzsite from San Antonio on I-10 in January a number of times. Never winterized. January could be cold in west Texas, but more likely well above freezing. If you go west on I-20 there’s more of a chance for colder weather. We’ve spent January in AZ the last 6 years. No need to winterize if you stay south of Flagstaff and NE AZ. Even if you venture north, the probability of really cold weather is slim. We’ve camped around Flagstaff and north, all the way up to Page, AZ and Lake Powell. Cold at night (below freezing) but nice during the day. Last year we went to Zion National Park in southern Utah on our January trip and it was perfect, high 20s at night and 50s daytime. Quartzsite is almost always pretty nice. That’s why so many folks head there in the winter. This January we’ll be camping way south at Lake Patagonia, at Kartchner Caverns near Benson, north of Tucson, several spots around Phoenix, north and about an hour east of Payson, and just south of Sedona. We’ll be visiting Flagstaff from our campsite near Sedona for a weekend hockey tournament that our grandson from Durango will be playing in. Maybe we’ll head over to Quartzsite to see who is there. There’s a certain peacefulness about picking your own spot out in the Quartzsite desert and watching traffic on I-10 from a long distance! We will not winterize for any of this trip. Actually, we’ve never winterized our Oliver. Mike

Hull 806.....from near Winston Salem! We camped in Wyoming with lows around 15 degrees for a week, not winterized, with no problem. Altitude was about 7,000 feet. I have three SensorPush HT1 Wireless Thermometers to monitor the temps. Sensor # 1 was located in the cabin attached to the rear most driver side reading light. Sensor # 2 was located between hulls under the passenger side bed near the tail lights & water lines. Sensor # 3 was located between hulls under the driver side bed next to the shower outlet. On the outside of Ollie I removed the shower head and pulled the water line inside the hull. I set the furnace to mid/upper 50's and monitored all three temps....adjusting as desired. The driver side had the largest variance to the cabin temperature.....about 15 degrees. I have two 30 lb propane tanks. We were boondocking. After 5 or 6 days with ice/snow cloud cover....the batteries got down to about 50% SOC. At that point, I used the generator to recharge....not risking the furnace fan operation. We consumed one tank of propane and promptly got it refilled. (This was a portion of a five week western trip..we had been running the refrig on propane so we did not consume the whole tank in this one week). I also carried anti-freeze and pump ..... just in case. We operated the water system/hot water heater as normal. (((BTW...I have move one of the sensors to inside of the refrigerator. We adjust the temp setting according to the readings. Early on in our experience we were having veggies and eggs freeze because we did not monitor and adjust....now, not an issue.))) Steve

Nice shot! Always nice to meet other Ollie owners while camping and on the road, maybe next time! Don't think we're going back to Doughton Park this year, but plan to next spring! It's only a 1/4 tank of gas (up the mountain) from home! Air Bellows Gap on the way home:

It used to be a rare event, our first year or two we only accidentally encountered other Oliver owners a couple of times. We intentionally camped with other Oliver owners many times! It’s good to see the random gatherings increase. Mike

George, I've been pondering your issues today, and I am wondering if all of this may be related back to the problem you had back in July when your batteries were all at zero, and you only had shore power. We never did hear why the batteries didn't charge on shore power. Just assumed you had turned them off accidentally. Now, I think you probably ran the batteries to "zero" at some point previously, and the bms turned them off to keep the small reserve and save your batteries from harm. At this point, I'm "guessing", and you will probably know, that your batteries have not all three ever been brought back to 100 per cent since then, so you could have a couple issues. First, your state of charge likely won't show accurately until all three batteries have attained 100 per cent, and the monitoring system "resets." (This isn't just lithionics. It's pretty much all lithium systems that I've used or read about.) The second is, every big lithium battery is a whole bunch of smaller cells, making up a bigger capacity battery. Those cells can vary slightly, and won't rebalance till the battery has reached 100 per cent, and stayed there for awhile. Til then you won't get full battery capacity. If you have a bad cell, you never will, but you're under warranty... An acquaintance with victron had to charge each battery separately, for example, to rebalance after running to zero, as I recall, but that's different gear, and I wouldn't recommend it for your system without speaking to Oliver first, and then Lithionics if you are referred there. Every manufacturer has particular practices that they recommend, based on their design and chemistry. I'm wondering also if your charging profile is set correctly. Balancing only happens in absorption, I think, for most. Perhaps that threshold isn't high enough on your xantrex. Ask Jason to run through the settings with you. I know this has been frustrating for you. At this point, I'd open a service ticket, talk through everything with Jason, (including your past issues) and hopefully it's just something small-- like changing a setting, or leaving the trailer plugged in and charging long enough without other loads like ac, to get accurate per centage of charge readings. It's important to remember that lithiums don't behave like lead acid or even flashlight batteries, where voltage tells the story, and lights dim, etc., as stored amp hours run down, but the flashlight or overhead lights still work, just dim. With lithium, it's pretty much linear. Everything works at the same voltage, but when you're out of stored energy, it drops off a cliff, and you have nothing, and the bms shuts you down, which may be what happened to you in July. So a voltage reading from lithiums tells you pretty much nothing, til they're depleted. (Although lithionics, I'm certain, retains a small per centage in the battery, but shows zero, and shuts down. All the majors do.) The bms depends on algorithms and power in/power out to give you state of charge readings. Hang in there. You and Jason will get it straight, I'm sure, so that you can enjoy your lithium system as you should. Best of luck.

Gotta love those impromptu mini rallies! How fun that must have been!

Thanks for the helpful message. We have been chatting with Jason and Xantrex. We've run alot of test. Sent alot of data to Jason. Where we stand now is Jason has been in touch with Lithionics and the 2 batteries that won't accept a charge or discharge are going back to Lithionics for some magic cure I don't understand. Jason has so patiently worked with us on this. We are now using one battery , shore power or generator until the "sick" batteries return. All's good and will get better AND we're learning SO much. (Jason and Oliver owners are the best!) Melinda

@ScottyGS We will be going in mid January. If I were you I would stay on I-20 or below. The further west you go on say, I-40 the more likely you would be to run into snow or ice which could hold you up for days. Like Mike, I don't winterize and you won't need to either if you can get this far south. Let me know when you plan on leaving.

Mike and Carol, We live in TN but love CO. My wife and I met in Ouray on a 4x4 expedition. We have driven pretty much every major trail in that area and look to go back with the Oliver (as soon as we get it) and do some more high-altitude camping. Very nice pictures, keep it up. Safe travels! Brian

The problem with the plastic cans is that you cannot secure the openings and they inevitably leak or smell. I have two 5 gallon NATO cans, I carried them for years up front on the cargo tray, then I moved the tray to the back and carried them there. Now I carry one inside the Land Cruiser, no worries, completely out of sight, no leaks, no odors. These cans can be dropped or run over and they don’t leak. Period. https://www.amazon.com/Wavian-USA-JC0020RVS-Authentic-System/dp/B011AJF0PE I don’t think your Highlander has NEARLY enough reserve capability for a 5000 pound LE1, but if you carefully watch your loading, travel with empty tanks, and don’t ever travel at high elevations it may be adequate. Until you get tired of its many limitations. “For every 1,000 feet of elevation, a gasoline engine loses 4% of its power. Because of this, you should reduce your vehicle’s maximum towing capacity by 2% for every 1,000 feet of elevation. So, for a non-hybrid Toyota Highlander at 10,000 feet, the actual towing capacity should be 4,000 pounds instead of the rated 5,000 pounds.” https://camper101.com/toyota-highlander-towing-capacity/ If you don’t want to change vehicles, a 3500 lb trailer would be an ideal match. John Davies Spokane WA

How fun! Oliver’s are gaining in popularity, as more and more are rolling out of the factory everyday these random encounters will increase.😃

It’s a Highlander 2020. I don’t want to carry fuel inside.

According to the owner's manual, the LEI basket has a maximum weight carrying capacity of 55#. The dry weight of a EU3200i already exceeds this and a ready to run EU2200i, full of gas and oil, leaves no remaining capacity for any amount of additional fuel. Lack of room won't be your issue here.

I'd agree with John. When we've delivered new other brand rvs, we find bits, pieces, and especially fasteners almost every day. We save them in a box. Sometimes, that box gets pretty heavy... I suspect your bit was missed by the cleaning crew, and if everything is working, I wouldn't worry.

Fritz, that lone tree and the big Carolina deep blue sky is amazing. Thanks. I wondered what it would look like in b/w. Totally different mood. Much more stark. And lonely. Love your photo.

I had a similar problem with only two of my batteries charging. The blue power light should blink if they are charging. For me the solution was to return the battery to Lithionics and they recalibrated the BMS. Lithionics was very responsive. They sent shipping box and I had the recalibrated battery back in a little over a week.

Lucky us, full time or part time NC residents. We don't have far to go, to feel so very, very far away... Florida is my home, but my heart is always tugged back here to our mountain getaway.

@Cameron, you won't ruin your Ollie. We've driven the entirety of the brp, and many parts ,many times. Come east and enjoy our beautiful country here, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It's the sunblocker fifth wheels who may have issues. Another beautiful thing about owning an Ollie. To ease your mind: https://www.blueridgeparkway.org/tunnels/ https://www.nps.gov/blri/planyourvisit/tunnel-heights.htm#:~:text=Low Clearance,while staying in your lane. It is good to check ahead. Every year, at various times, there are closures for repairs. But, you can get on and off the bpr, and the Shenandoah, to access local highways. Enjoy the ride. Its amazing. Our camping property is 20 minutes each way from two entrances to the brp. It's a lovely drive, and we'll sometimes just hop on for a stretch to see what's going on, in various seasons. I feel blessed.

Trip to Doughton Park Campground NC on the Blue Ridge Parkway. First camping trip to Doughton Park. Cost is $10 per night with the geezer card. All of the campground roads are paved. There’s no water or electricity at the campsites and their restrooms don’t have showers. They have a uphill dump station that makes dumping Ollie easy. When filling the fresh water tank could only fill to 70% due to grade at fill area. They have plenty of hiking trails. The picnic area was a beautiful place, especially for sunsets. We will be visiting again.

So, to summarize the important data gathered in this thread: (1) You can upgrade to the more expensive, but quieter and more efficient, Truma air conditioner; (2) but, "you won't need" (and you can't install) a Micro Air Easy Start in it, therefore (3) you must also have at least a 2200 watt generator to run the "more efficient" Truma unit when boondocking. Thus, bbrault, you cannot start and run the Truma Aventa Eco with your Yamaha 2000 watt generator that will fit in the front basket of an Elite. But, for significant additional cost, you can run it with a Honda EU3200i, which will also fit in that front basket.

This thread has been informative. We were considering upgrading to a Truma A/C if/when Oliver offered them. However, our Dometic A/C runs just fine on our old Honda eu2000i generator. It would have been expensive enough to buy the Truma. Needing to spend another $1200 on a slightly bigger generator, too, is a deal breaker.

Most folks that have ever met me and seen my setup know that I would never be mistaken for a minimalist. That is very true so I won’t offer you an opinion on how big a generator to buy. Basically using your numbers from the above post, I will create a scenario from which you should be able to make an informed decision about generator size. I am taking solar out of the equation and discounting all inefficiencies of the equipment. I am also assuming nothing is running except the Progressive Dynamics converter/charger. No lights, no water pump, nothing. Let’s say you have used 150Ah out of your battery pack and want to replace them using only a generator. A 1000 watt generator putting out 120 volts is connected to your trailer. The 120 volts is fed into the trailer and is used by th PD 4100 series charger which, on the newer trailers, will supply up to 65 amps of charging power to the battery. A rough estimate of time to fully replace the 150 amps is 2-3 hours. Buying a larger generator won’t accomplish this any faster, BUT it would allow you the convenience of running other things at the same time as charging OR perhaps just using it to run the AC. Which is a much more efficient way to run the AC anyway.

We just returned from camping at Mt. Pisgah NC on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Another Ollie was there, too. Met Lee, owner of #82 LE2, very fine person. We had some great conversations, too! We trailered our motorcycle with the Tacoma and had some fine two-up BRP rides. Also had breakfast one morning at the Mt. Pisgah restaurant. 👍 Already planning another trip to the BRP at one of the lower elevation campgrounds for next month! Great Trip!!!!! 🙂

I think I will get this overland spec work light, it is 1600 lumens and dimmable. It will be way more versatile for me, I can use it if the truck breaks down at night for example. It comes with an 18 foot power cord with a round cigarette plug on the end. https://www.lightforce.com/en_us/flexlight Video Review Lightforce Flex Light I can also use it with my Viking jump start battery, it has a 6 amp 12 volt adapter cord: Or I can plug it into my long charge cable for the ARB fridge, which I rarely use, that goes into the Ollie solar port, or I can power it off an extension cord and the Ollie inverter using a power adapter. Lightforce is an Australian company and their lighting products are tested in the outback and of VERY stellar quality. John Davies Spokane WA

My favorite campground accessory, (partner per se,) is my husband. Next, my friends that we camp with. We don't carry a lot of stuff, but travel a lot of miles. 2nd most important is my tea kettle. Not for nothing, but if you're new to camping, please don't buy a truckbed full of stuff for your new trailer. What you need depends on your camping style. If you don't even know what that is, wait. And buy it later. My rule has been not to buy it, unless we needed it at least twice or three times. Our 2008 came with many things that we never, or rarely used. We bought some things that we never, or rarely use. I carry three good knives, a sharpener, 2 cutting boards,, a wok pan, a skillet. And a small pot, with a lid. I know that sounds spare, but I'm a previous restaurant owner, and I can do most things without anything else, and we don't have a microwave. Trust me, you don't have to carry the contents of a home kitchen to enjoy good healthy meals. I could see a clam, if you have electric awning. We like sitting out in the rain, if it's not too heavy. Life is good, camping. Just, don't get carried away. Too complicated =less fun.

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

Thanks @Dave and Kimberly , the Kayaks are Old Town Cayuga (rotomold) 13 footers so they cut through the water nicely still do not hold a candle to a well made FG or Kevlar. We were once out with some people who had a 17 foot tandem FG very thin, narrow, sleek and light weight. The couple would flawlessly perform 3-4 strokes and they were gone. It was quite amazing to watch.

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

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

We camped at State Forest State Park, Colorado a couple of weeks ago. It’s the largest state park in Colorado with multiple campgrounds and lots of dispersed sites. It’s just north of Rocky Mountain National Park and east of Steamboat Springs, so all the sites are at elevation. There is one campground that has 30a electric hookups, we didn’t see it so can’t comment. Our site was at 9,100’ and except for one night of torrential rain the weather was great, highs in the upper 70s and lows in the high 30s. All propane appliances worked as they should (furnace, hot water tank, cook top and Weber grill). State Forest State Park is in Routt National Forest. This is about 20 miles from our campsite. This is in Bockman campground. 9,100+ feet elevation. Dry camping but there were a couple of well maintained vault toilets. The Weber fired right up despite the elevation. Steaks in the Rockies can’t be beat. Orvis flannel required. This lake (can’t remember the name) was just a few miles from our site. There were a dozen or so camping sites around the lake, well spaced. I wish I would have done more research as they looked very nice. Still a little snow up there. Carol got good use of her flannel as well. Beats south Texas summer heat!!

We’ve done highway 550 twice now from Montrose to Durango, towing. The first time was in mid-September and we had snow and/or rain at the higher elevations. It is exhilarating and beautiful at the same time. Many areas with no guardrail on the outside with a sheer drop off. We plan on going back next summer. The heat in south Texas is getting more undesirable every year and the cool mountain evenings and mornings are so pleasant. Mike

Ouray is such a cool little town. (Except for the cottonwood, and the stickers attaching to the dogs' paws. We found hand sanitizer and facial wipes helped to soften them.) As I recall, the ridgeway park cg was closed still, when we were there, so we stayed in town at the 4j+1+1 cg. We had deer on the hill behind us every night. Walkable to a lot of stuff, but still very quiet. (And, a good laundry center in the park.) Are the swings still there at the brewery? First place I was ever served a can of wine. It was surprisingly decent. Not us on the swings... I don't have a photo of that.

Ridgway State Park, CO just a couple of weeks ago. Warm days but overnight lows around 50, good sleeping weather. Visited Ouray (30 minutes away) and Telluride (50 minutes away). There are several campgrounds in the park, FHU to no HU, depends on what you want. Ouray Main Street. Telluride.

We love to ride our motorcycle two-up on the BRP for day trips!