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Be very aware that almost all Native American reservations prohibit having any firearm in your vehicle or trailer, even if empty and locked up. This also applies to Indian buildings on a through State or Federal highway, for example a gas station convenience store. Be careful, don’t walk in to pay while carrying a concealed pistol. I avoid reservations for this reason, if I did find myself on one, I would be sure to secure them really well inside the Ollie and not drive recklessly! John Davies Spokane WA

Not to worry you will be drinking water out of a fire hose on delivery day! 😅 All kidding aside, it will be a lot of info, and yet a lot of fun. My wife and I throughly enjoyed our delivery day. Oliver made us both feel special and it was very memorable as it should be. The Oliver staff were very good to us. We hit the books, developed our check lists and did a lot of reading in Oliver University while our Oliver was being built. It made a huge difference for us as first time owners. The more you learn the better it gets! Patriot🇺🇸

Dave, are you OK with gravel and rough back roads? Do you have rock protection? Do you mind dust? That early in the season, camping is all about elevation. The lower desert attractions are perfect that time of year, but the USFS sites up high and anything up on the Colorado Plateau will most likely still be snowed in. Make sure you have maps that include topgraphic features (elevation contours). You cannot rely on cell phones, you need a stand alone navigator that is better than your lame factory nav system. I use an iPad Mini 6 loaded with several mapping programs. If that sounds agreeable, search the forum, we have discussed this many times. I really love the Moab area, my wife and I have specified in our wills that our ashes be distributed near the White Rim Road (Arches). If you want to drive that road, it requires a back country permit and you may not be able to acquire one, unless your dates are very flexible. You would need a short wheelbase 4wd rental, ATVs are not allowed. Mountain bikes are OK. https://www.nps.gov/cany/planyourvisit/whiterimroad.htm White Crack CG milepost 39 is the one to pick!!! White Rim pics from 2013. John Davies Spokane WA

A couple of things we have discovered about first-come/first-serve BLM campgrounds... In some cases (we encountered this with some of the smaller sites along the Colorado River near Moab) you might want to pull over at the entrance first and walk the campground looking for open site(s) and sufficient space for a trailer turn-around before you drive in. This should not be a problem with larger / more open sites. For the BLM areas that charge a (usually small) fee and have identified sites - just because there is a "ticket stub" hanging on the site's post doesn't necessarily mean the site is currently occupied. Some campers will leave the site in the morning without taking down their stub from the clip on the post, even though that stub is now "expired". Check the actual dates written on the ticket stub.

This site will list the many BLM campsites around Moab. You can make multiple alternative plans. We camped at Goldbar on hwy 279. It was a side of the road along the river. Across the road was a very nice hiking trail that led to some special arches. At one point the trail went up a 12 foot alum ladder!

Update- It's been 6 months now and I've had absolutely no issues with moisture or condensation forming under the mattresses. Left one of my dinette cushions without this underlayment as a test and found moisture under it at least 6 times during that same time. Definitely recommend it for anyone looking for a low cost Hypervent alternative..

This link is to a member who has sold their Oliver, but they were based around Salt Lake City, Utah. Read the post "Seeing Ollie in the Best Possible Light" for Utah camping inspiration. https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/profile/807-davids/content/ Mossey

Planning sites like Hipcamp are great to find private land sites at ok cost. Below is an example of a small place we stayed just outside the gates of Monument Valley. It is the backyard of a Native American family. Around Moab we stayed on BLM campsites along the river....first come first serve....boondocking. I believe we paid $10/night.

I'd bet that Matt is presently working his butt off showing the Olivers down in Georgia. Probably will not be back in the office until Tuesday and then will be trying to play "catch-up". Bill

@MDuncan You've got mail! Is this your area of expertise? We have 18 days until delivery, and while we've already watched the 2020 delivery video, I'd sure like to see the ins and outs of the new AC/heater, fridge, and solar controller ahead of time. Thanks!!

Those all work but, honestly, I usually just type "Oliver trailers [search terms]" (without the brackets). 9/10 the forum results come up.

Not a great combination, admitted. My wife and I are planning a trip from the Cincinnati area to Southern Utah (Brice, Moab, etc). Time frame is end of April through May. This wasn't planned month in advance so obviously the National and State Parks are booked. I'm seeking advice on where we might park the Ollie to stage trips into the parks and surrounding beautiful area. Thank you for any words of advice! Dave

Glad it worked out! Please post some pictures if you have them. Funny enough, I re-looked at my pictures and videos, ends up the factory fiberglassed plates into my roof too, except they were in the wrong place when they attached my solar panels, so they used the Fiamma spacers instead. That's why I had to cut some of my plates shorter, they were butting up to the fiberglassed aluminum plates, which were too far forward to be used correctly. I'm kind of pissed at the factory for taking a quick and dirty fix instead of grinding off the misplaced aluminum plates and fiberglassing them in the right location. Oh well, c'est la vie.

@Gliddenwoods, your water heater is surely under warranty. Have you opened a service ticket?

Yep, I figured that would be the case. I just wanted to post the question while I was thinking of it, based on a post in Ollie-Haus’ thread. I did send Matt an email on Monday, but maybe he’s away all week. The in-person walkaround will be great! But having never owned a trailer with plumbing, heat, or AC, I’m trying to learn (and retain) as much as I can ahead of time. 😁

Campendium and Campendium360 provide insight to those near the National Parks. Go to https://www.campendium.com/national-parks and then you can use the "near" filter to find those close to the "real deal." Charlie.

And here I thought it was jut me. 😉 18 Days. Those of you that corrected me when I said the next 90 days would drag on back when I paid the first half were right! I can't believe how quickly it's gone. Speaking of which, it's time to tag Matt Duncan in the YouTube thread.

Last November, I, too, looked forward to the opportunity to thoroughly inspect the build quality of our new Elite II. I found several issues while camping over a long weekend at David Crockett State Park. It took two work days, but they were all promptly addressed by the Oliver Service team once we returned the trailer to Hohenwald the following Monday. My report of that experience is detailed here: I am looking forward to your post-delivery report, given your experience and training. I expect I will learn things that enable me to address potential issues while our Elite II is at home with access to all of my tools, rather than out on the road.

I'm starting to have dreams and getting sleepless at times. Something big is getting ready to happen! Dreamed the other night that I was having trouble backing into our driveway. I hope this isn't a sign!😆

Here is a related thread, I installed a similar box up front under the jack: ... https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/2688-how-to-junction-box-for-trailer-harness-repair-or-extend-the-harness/ This all came about because I wanted to install a ... Redarc DC to DC Battery Charger .... and I needed to know FOR SURE that the wires were big enough. 12 AWG is the absolute minimum according to Redarc, and bigger is always better, especially in an Ollie with a very long run back to the batteries. Here are the existing butt splices, half of them are absolutely buried under the sewer pipes. Time for a J-Box! So I cut all the splices, and dragged the ends up to where I could inspect the wires. Most were OK, but the white Ground wire was not. Somebody extended the front wire with a smaller sized one. Darn it! I bolted down the box next to the 120 VAC outlet. I spliced into the green and white running light wires and brought them up to the box via the bottom hole. The other wires come in from the left and right sides. I ran heavier 10 AWG black and white wires (power and ground) from the box back to the appropriate posts. So now the Redarc charger will not suffer from excessive voltage drop, and with the easy access, it will be very simple to troubleshoot any future 7 Wire Harness problems. The new splices are easy to ID because they have clear spiral wrap plastic, and they are secured to the inside wall using a 1" thick block of HDPE plastic, bonded with JB Weld directly over the small LED light. The placard goes inside the J Box using 3M double stick tape. Here is the placard, in Apple Pages format: Oliver Junction Box wiring placard Rear 7 pin.pages Note that I indicated where those marker light splices are - I hate not knowing! John Davies Spokane WA

People should check with their manufacturer, but tow ratings are usually calculated with the tow vehicle empty except for a driver. Every other pound you add in the tow vehicle gets deducted from the tow rating. For example, a vehicle with a 4000 pound tow rating that contains a driver plus a 150# passenger, a 50# dog, and 100# of gear can tow a trailer with a maximum weight of 3700# without exceeding the specs. This topic is beat to death in every RV forum. Do people exceed their limits? All the time. Are they all dead? Nope. Could it contribute to an accident in certain conditions? Probably. If that accident caused harm to others, could the opposing lawyer use that against them? I think so. Should you do it? That's up to you. After 24 years of towing various trailers we have decided excess tow vehicle capacity gives us a buffer for unexpected situations and a more relaxed travel experience. I'm entitled to my opinion and so are you. If anything happens, either of us might have our opinions validated by a jury, one way or the other. We all have our own level of comfort with risks. But, information is always useful.

At least it didn't have this problem............🙄

Possibly a through review of all videos for spelling corrections and other content edits. My guess. Stay tuned! 😊

Finally got around to doing my mud flap project. I used 1” square single slot aluminum T slot rail and 1/4”-20 T slot nuts (from McMaster Carr) with 1/4”-20 stainless screws & washers. A 2’ long section of T slot rail on each side of the trailer, with 12” wide mud flaps (from Husky, very nice quality thick molded mud flaps) cut to the Oliver trailer hull profile. The T slot rails come with a hard anodized finish so no issue with galvanic corrosion when mounted in contact with the steel subframe. The T slot nuts hide a lot of the mounting hardware for a clean appearance. And the street side flap needed the upper corner cut away to allow the basement door to open fully. Thanks to John and others for the inspiration for this project.

We can't imagine AGM batteries after having lithium. There are so many advantages to lithium batteries. While everyone knows they last longer, few think about the advantages of the built-in battery monitoring systems. No longer do you worry about over-charging, having to have a trickle charger, depleting them to zero, etc., etc.

My wife and I are taking delivery of an Elite II next summer as well. We haven't yet been required to make a final commitment on upgrades, but we are leaning toward the Lithium Pro Package over the Solar Pro package. In response to an earlier, similar post inquiring whether to go with wet cell or AGM, I stated the reasons we have tentatively chosen the Lithium Pro Package. I have edited it to more specifically address your LIFePO4 vs. AGM query: "We are presently planning to spend the extra $$$$ on the Lithium Pro Package [over the Solar Pro Package], for many reasons: (1) we view it as "future proofing" (it's a lot easier to have the more robust 3kw inverter and wiring infrastructure installed during construction); (2) we hope to be able to run the AC with just our 2kw generator, which requires the Micro Air Easy Start [included in the Lithium Pro Package] (which is also much easier to install in the factory before the AC goes on the roof); (3) we want to be able to run the AC, albeit for only a short time, on the batteries; (4) LiFePO4 accepts a full charge much faster than lead/acid, and so is more efficiently recharged with solar; (5) 390Ah of LiFePO4 provides much more usable battery capacity than 400 Ah of [lead/acid/AGM batteries], because only about 50% of lead/acid capacity is usable before recharge compared to 85% with LiFePO4; (6) payload,and therefore trailer weight, is an issue with our 2019 Tundra 5.7L Double Cab tow vehicle, and LiFePO4 saves a couple hundred pounds vs. [AGM] and (7) the increased cost is offset to some extent by the 10-year probable life of LiFePO4 batteries." I will add with regard to the first point, future proofing, that we plan to own our Ollie for a couple of decades, and we believe that the price of LiFePO4 batteries vs. AGM will continue to drop over that time as lithium R&D costs are recovered. We do not plan to spend the additional $4400 for the 630 Ah Lithium Platinum Package because we believe 390 Ah will be enough. But, if, over time, we decide we really want more battery capacity, it will likely be less expensive later, and we can add it without having to also upgrade the inverter or any internal wiring. I expect you know you will likely get between 3 and 5 years of service from AGMs. So, over the probable 10-year life of the LiFePO4 batteries, you will be required to replace the AGMs at least once, maybe twice. Today, you must pay at least $800 for 400Ah of AGM capacity. And, I note you have purchased a Honda 2200i generator. If you plan to run the AC using that generator, you will still need to spend the extra $400 for the MicroAir Easy start if you don't opt for the Lithium Pro Package. So, over time and considering the cost of the MicroAir Easy Start, the "net" cost differential between the Solar Pro and Lithium Pro packages falls more in the $2400-$3100 range, not $4300. For these reasons, we are still planning to spend the extra on the Lithium Pro Package. Hope this helps with your decision.