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Thank you Everyone for your replies and recommendations. User error on our part for not properly cleaning all tanks … black, grey, fresh. Cleaned our fresh water supply as directed, flushed the grey 3 or more times. It took a while for all the gasses to leave. Now we are diligently using Grey water TST. Black tank never an issue, but using proper treatment for that as well. I also scrape and wipe every food particle from dishes before washing. Something, as a former State Park employee, had to explain to every incoming camper. It was to minimize crow and ravens’ attraction to the park i.e. protect other birds from their predatory nature. I should know better. Also, the vent under counter on the right side was not properly aligned which was allowing gases to escape into the cabin. My husband fixed it, thank you Oliver and Mr Davies for pointing him in the right direction.

I forgot to mention that we often times walk the campground at odd times of day and night, trying to minimize the chances of meeting other dogs. And a final note, we camp in the neighborhood of 20% of the year so that leaves us with about 80% of the time when behavior problems don’t affect other campers. I also think the payoff we get every time we come home to Nick is priceless! Mossey

Watch Duty screen caps. Tap a fire to get a pop up information screen. FYI the red shaded outline shows the BURN area, not the evacuation area. John Davies Spokane WA

This one is excellent: .Watch Duty - Stay safe from wildfires when seconds count We had three major fires explode yesterday, part of a nearby community was destroyed. None of the fires are even remotely under control at this time. https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2023/aug/18/it-almost-sounded-like-a-warzone-wind-whipped-fire/ Stay safe, in wildfire season it is prudent to NEVER camp where there is no reliable cell signal! always have a second exit route available, avoid long one way back roads that can trap you before you are even aware of the advancing flames. John Davies Spokane WA

AQI - my local source normally goes up to 500 in terms of color coding, I actually thought that 500 was the highest number in this country! Actually I think the brown should be black, unless they are saving that color for the apocalypse… or they could just use a skull and crossbones instead. ;( John Davies Spokane WA

For sure Steve, I sweat all day in the garage and the same when we play pickleball!

Decided to work on the rear end today, as I didn't feel ambitious enough to clean up the front end. Worked on three tasks on the rear; install new shocks, replace rear sway bar bushings and links, and changing the differential gear oil. The oil in the rear was BLACK, with black sticking to the back cover (maybe limited slip additive). Wondering if this had ever been changed. It had no gasket, just gray RTV, looking like factory original. I pulled and cleaned the tags to see I have a 3.54 limited slip diff, nice! Installed the shocks too and waiting on special aftermarket HD rear sway bar links. Rear end all clean and back together. I purchased a Fel-Pro gasket, as I cannot stand RTV in any color! I use Permatex High Tack Sealant on the gasket. Since the gear oil and cover were so black (magnet not too bad, nice), I'm going to drain and fill again soon. With this gasket and sealer, I will be able to loosen the nuts to drain and then just torque down again. The Permatex will stay tacky and seal again. I've bought Triax lubricants before and I'm going with this gear oil: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QPPTG5N/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

@SeaDawg Thank you so much! I really did not want to lose hanging space, so this design works best for us. We did step back the lower shelves so not to interfere with the hanging clothes. It’s amazing how much useable space we gained just by adding those shelves. I’m so happy with it.😍

Tux and tie event. Very classy! 👍

My few experiences with RV dealer-based service centers have not been good. Dealers have a hard time finding and retaining techs, and the techs they have are usually poorly-informed about the details of the various product lines they sell. Just read through any of the forums for SOB trailers and you'll see these types of comments over and over. "I asked the service tech what the red switch does, and he didn't know," "My trailer's been in the shop for 6 weeks now," "I finally got my trailer back and the problem still isn't fixed," etc. In our case, the dealer simply wouldn't return our calls and we ended up taking the trailer back to the factory in Indiana for repairs. Now we only deal with a local/mobile service facility that does NOT sell RVs. If OTT wanted to partner up with RV service centers, fine, but I'd be very wary of any dealership-based service they offered. As for sales, I think a dealer network will effectively cheapen the product, one way or another. To keep the price point the same while still allowing dealer profit would require lowering the manufacturing costs/cutting corners. We've already seen a bit of that to cover the COVID sales crunch: no more customization, no swoosh decals. Two of our previous trailers were from independent manufacturers not based in Elkhart. Slightly better quality than the Indiana trailers and slightly more expensive. Both those companies went under because they couldn't compete side by side with cheaper units on dealer lots. So, service centers? Maybe good. Dealer sales? I don't think so. But,OTT apparently needs to do something different. I hope it works out.

I would love to see Oliver owned and operated dealers and service centers here. Key phrase "Oliver Owned and Operated"

We use one of these to monitor my wife's medications, which have to stay in a certain temperature range: Govee WiFi Thermometer Hygrometer H5179, Smart Humidity Temperature Sensor with App Notification Alert, https://a.co/d/65LlkWV Hook it up to campground wifi or your hotspot and it will send a notification to your phone if the temperature leaves your preset limits. Works very well.

I've been on the road by myself for ten years. Yes to heavy duty. Diesels are fine but are much more expensive, less reliable overall (with emissions in the US), and mechanics are harder to find. A big gasser will do fine. (These are not heavy trailers). Yes, to lots of storage in your tow vehicle!

You need a tow vehicle that is serviceable in most small towns. NOT a German, Swedish, Tesla, or other non-mainstream brand. You will be spending lots of time away from large urban areas where those brands have (a few) dealers. Ford, Chevy, Ram, Toyota, and no other brand, if you want to avoid major headaches in the event of a major breakdown. You really should have a HD vehicle, so that takes Toyota off the list. Ollies have very little storage capacity for full timers. Actually they have very little storage for two-weekers …. They are not the best choice for full timing, so you need to have massive cargo volume and payload (weight capacity) in the truck. If I were going to full time, an Ollie would not even be on my wish list. I would look for a smaller used high quality diesel pusher motorhome with NO slides. John Davies Spokane WA

This is an easy fix. If you don't already own a rivet gun, drill out the rivets, take the light down, tighten the backing nut (Loctite here?) and put it back up with some one inch #6 screws. You may not even have to un-wire it. The wiring can be accessed from inside the cabinet above. Just lift the rubber mat in the bottom.

Yes, Nick always camps with us and we have never been asked to leave a campground. And dogs led us to buying a RV. When Krunch's parents were still with us, they were our dog sitters. When our dog got to be too much for them, we started staying in hotels that allowed dogs. And we soon realized that most hotels considered smoking rooms and pets allowed rooms to be the same. When smoking rooms were outlawed in most states it made things easier, but the Ollie was the game changer. National Parks are a real challenge with limited dog friendly areas and COE's are extremely dog friendly in our experience. If we leave Nick alone in the Ollie, we try to limit his ability to see anything outside and sometimes we will leave him in the bathroom with a radio on. Our biggest fear is an electric failure and the loss of the of the air conditioner so we try to limit the amount of time we are gone. And I must say that one advantage of the Dometic AC's are their ability to drown out outside noise😎. Like David and Paula mentioned above, behavior modification does work and consistent direction is the key. Research clicker training for information. And don’t give up, you be rewarded with a loyal best friend! Mossey

Thinking more about this, I’d like to see OTT set up their own regional centers for both sales and service. While I ended up buying used from an acquaintance, I was still left with a very positive impression of the Oliver organization. IMO… They should replicate that culture and experience to accomplish their planned growth.

We camp with a dog-reactive girlie. Fiona is great with people, but having had some scary dog-dog interactions when she was younger, she does bark and sometimes lunge especially if the other dog comes at her. It requires some management but certainly can be done. I've become much better at telling other dog owners to NOT let their dog greet mine. The phrase "but mine is friendly" from other dog owners now has me bluntly replying "mine is not". After lots of training she can walk pass campsites with barking dogs and not make a peep. That is amazing! One thing that helped a lot was learning and practicing pattern games, especially those from Leslie McDevitt. You can find several of them on You Tube. If another dog passes our campsite she will bark a bit but then is quiet, as she gets paid with a treat for being quiet. 🙂 We don't leave her outside the trailer if we are not out there with her as we know she will bark more then. If we meet other dogs while hiking we move off the trail and I toss her a few pieces of food into the grass or leaves and tell her to "find it." She's too busy sniffing them out to react to the other dog. We have worked on "find it" a LOT, over and over, especially without other dogs in the picture. The cue to "find it" is so strong now that she doesn't stop to think, her nose just hits the ground. Unleashed dogs with owners who can't recall them are a nightmare though. I've tried to teach Fiona to go behind me if an unleashed dog approaches her but haven't been to successful at that. At least not yet. 🙂. Like I said, it requires management but is doable. We've been very happy many times to find that she's one of the better behaved dogs in a campground, despite her dog-reactivity! Here she is relaxing at an HH. Paula

I asked my husband to build me some closet shelves after seeing posted photos of others who have added shelves, and here they are! I love it! So much more space and so much more organized! We opted to not wrap the shelf around the right side because I hang a shoe rack and I didn’t want to lose hanging space. He did add a small shelf on the opposite side. We ordered the black rubber shelf lining from Oliver which will be here soon. I also added command hooks to hang hats. I love that the wasted space behind the clothes rod is now useable and valuable space. ❤️ IMG_7332.mov

We camped at Redstone Arsenal this past week to attend the Huntsville Hamfest. Redstone is an Army facility with over 140 spaces. They are all 24 feet wide by 45' deep with W/S/E(50/30/20). Spent several days in the area and one day "geeking out" at the Hamfest. It's only $25 per night flat rate but you have to be active duty, retired, 100% disabled, etc. to use it.

The offroad raised setting is for, well, offroad, low speed use ONLY. It shouldn’t be used for normal driving, especially for towing a max load. It raises the body all the way up, so that the suspension basically has very little downward travel left. The handling will suffer and the suspension will top out whenever a wheel drops down into a deep hole. It is not safe at any kind of highway speed because the steering geometry is altered. Plus it wears the axle joints excessively… “Lift / Offroad - On select models such as the fully equipped Q7, an Offroad mode lifts the adaptive air suspension to its maximum height for additional ground clearance. This mode is intended for the most uneven terrain at low speeds.” https://www.audiwestmont.com/research/audi-drive-select.htm If this is incorrect, please explain how you are able to do this while towing. It would be better to have a raised ball mount to get the 24” that you need for an LE2. If that won’t clear you need an aftermarket suspension lift, here is one: “For vehicles with air suspension only The Eurowise 3+ inch lift kit for the 7L VW Touareg, 955/957 Porsche Cayenne, and 4L Audi Q7 is a combination of their spacer lift and 1" subframe drop. Machined from 6061 aluminum solid block, these lift kits will never wear out or fail. In addition, a 1" subframe drop kit with hardware is included to correct your axle geometry. When set on auto mode your vehicle will be roughly 3" taller over stock. In extra/off-road mode would be over 4 inches of additional lift!” https://www.ecstuning.com/b-eurowise-parts/eurowise-lift-kit-3-inch-air-suspension-with-sway-bar-end-links/ewor9014-sbl~euw/ John Davies Spokane WA

Thank you for the Govee suggestion. Our big problem there is inconsistent wireless service. Maybe I’ll fix that with a proper wireless network one day. I do have the ability to monitor the temperatures with 4 Ruuvi sensors remotely when we have wireless coverage, but it’s those other times that worry us. Mossey

Thanks. It is a bit of a dilemma: go small and 1st class or larger, more comfy, but, well, you know... We really intend to travel bare bones - we just have to see if we really can...

Get a big truck. Not just for towing, but for the storage space. We have a crew cab gas dually with a covered 8' bed. It's big. We don't full time but even so the truck is full. The Oliver cabinets are full if we're out for 2 weeks or more, loaded up with a mix of clothes, food, and gear for both dry camping and full hookup glamping. In effect, a lot of the stuff that was in the basement of our fifth wheel is now in the truck. Of course, we could cut back what we carry. We have a generator we've never needed. We have a Clam with us. We have a lot of bike gear. A small Blackstone griddle. We could cut back on clothes. We could get a cap for the truck instead of the hard tonneau cover. I'm sure it could be done, but I'm not sure we'd be comfortable with the choices we'd have to make to do it. But, as @SeaDawg points out, others can. There's a couple on YouTube who full time in a Class B van. That's even smaller. It's a big leap. Have you RV'd before?

I really like the design you and your husband created. Since the hanging shoe bag fits, you should still be able to hang clothes decently. I'm guessing you "stepped back" the lower shelves? As always, well thought out, and executed. Congratulations!

Well - yes and no. Oliver has worked with a few "shippers" to get an Oliver delivered directly to a customer. However, I believe that the actual shipment and arrangements for the shipping are completed between the shipper and the customer versus Oliver handling all of the details. In any case, it can be arranged such that a customer does not have to go to Hohenwald to get their Ollie. Bill

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I’ll update with some Ollie boondocking pics, since when I last posted, we didn’t have VellOllie yet! 1. somewhere near Victoria, Vancouver Island 2. somewhere off of I-80 in Wyoming 3. Meadows Group Campground in Buffalo Creek, CO

Ray's been driving Airstream's all over the west - and is now out there in an Oliver. He feels its a fine boon-docking trailer. I don't see any reason - given a good tow vehicle with 4wd - why you can't get an Oliver into many backcountry places. Clearance is fine and the suspension - while not up to trailers engineered for off roading - seems to be strong. I should find out pretty soon actually 🙂

I'm on the West Coast - glad to see service centers out here.

David just fixed the light above my bed. He drilled out the rivets, tightened the nut and used the blue Loctite to (hopefully) prevent loosening in the future, and reattached the light using 1/2 inch aluminum rivets (per Oliver). Paula

The proposal to change the channel of distribution to a network of dealers is more than a detail. All of the companies I mentioned also had tremendous histories of quality and brand loyalty. They are also examples of the fragility of brand equity and as you say, how "ridiculous" it would be to demolish decades of work in an instant. I am not knocking anything about Oliver. What I am saying is that it is naive to think that partnering with any entity that is of lower repute, less quality, less competent technical service will not damage this brand. The only question is to what extent, and how quickly the brand will be diminished.

The Touareg diesel is actually a very capable tow VH, and very underrated by folks who have never owned one or towed with one. I do agree with you 100% about cargo weight, that is definitely the limiting factor for us. For full timing we can probably also say the Ollie is too small, it’s all about making compromises, definitely downsizing and keeping an eye on the cargo capacity.

We also have a 2016 VW Touareg diesel, one of the best VHs we’ve ever owned and it’s a wonderful very capable tow vehicle. We towed a 2016 AS 26U with twin beds for almost 3 years, it towed like a champ (and stopping), only issue is cargo capacity, at 1180lb you have to watch what you pack. We now own a 2023 LEII and fully packed weighs approx. 6000lb with a tongue weight of 610lb. No issues so towing it or stopping. Fuel consumption towing our Ollie from Hohenwald to Guelph ON (Canada) was just shy of 16mpg. The Touareg is a great towing vehicle AND daily driver. Again, the limiting factor is payload/cargo capacity.

I hope if OTT decides to do this, they reach out to existing owners for personal feedback on service experience -- because a service center can have a "great reputation" locally or even regionally and still fail on providing good service for an Oliver.

Very nice work. I love the way the baskets fit.

Slight topic hijack here, apologies... In another thread you asked "My expected vehicle (2016 Volks Touareg diesel) is rated to tow 7700 lbs. Will it be happy towing the Elite 2 at 6500 lbs?" If you plan to go somewhere and stay for six months at a time that tow vehicle should be "OK". Nothing great, but it would do. On the other hand, if you plan on full timing, you would be carrying all your worldly possessions with you everywhere you go. Further, if you really plan to explore the U.S, and Canada like you indicate in your opening post here, you would be traveling more than staying in one place too long. You are going to need a much more capable tow vehicle. You need something that can carry all the cargo weight and tow the trailer anywhere you decide to go. A 3/4 ton diesel pickup would be minimum and for the minimal price difference between the two, I'd go with a 1 ton diesel. Carry on.

My first reaction is negative. When shopping for a trailer, I decided on the Oliver because it was a small company where I could tour the factory, ask lots of questions from people doing the hands on work, and well, because it was "Elite". It was elite because few people had one, you could only get one from the factory, and it was the antithesis of the mainstream RV brands in America. Although I live in California and can't easily take it back to Tennessee for routine maintenance, I've received excellent customer service that helped me resolve all my issues, so I don't care about the distance. Sounds as if one of the issues is to partner with various RV businesses so that those businesses can provide service with the blessing of OTT. That's good, I guess. But if they're going to have units on site and selling them apart from OTT, I see that as a negative for the brand, not a positive. If OTT wants to grow the company, I think there are other ways they can do it without resorting to the standard model of RV sales lots. When I was kicking tires before getting the Oliver, I had some unpleasant experiences at those lots. It's the "used car salesman" syndrome. I don't want Oliver to get mixed up in that. My impression of Oliver owners is that we are passionate about our trailers because it took some effort to get them. We are a dedicated bunch who love discussing every aspect of the trailer in our very active forums. We are committed, which adds brand value. Putting Oliver trailers on a lot with Jaycos will diminish the brand value.

You'll either need to upgrade your TV or go with an LE1. The 4.7 is a million mile motor but it doesn't have the power to tow an LE2 in the mountains.

Welcome to the forum. Since you live in Oregon, 100% buy the smaller Elite, you do not have nearly enough truck for an LE2. If you lived in the East you could get away with it for a while, but you would be EXTREMELY unhappy with the truck after your first venture into the high country. I consider the Land Cruiser 200 to be marginal for an LE2 due to limited payload capacity and short wheelbase. Don’t sell the truck! I love those older Lexus vehicles, I had a 1996 LX450 that I treasured, my oldest kid totaled it, but they were unhurt. My wife had a 1998 SC400 which was stellar. The build quality and comfort (seats especially) of the older high end Lexus products are unmatched. I would have bought a late model LX570 rather that the Toyota if they were not so very butt ugly….. Yours would be a terrific match for the LE1, and you would not need the weight distribution hitch. but you should consider replacing the soft cushy LX springs with Land Cruiser spec ones (or an Old Man Emu suspension kit) if you plan to tow a lot. If you will traveling into the back country you should install different wheels and tires if they are still stock.. Please post some pics of your LX. you did good, you got the 5 speed trannie plus VVT-I. https://forum.ih8mud.com/forums/100-series-cruisers.26/ John Davies Spokane WA

...more pix from Eagle Nest, Red River, Cimmarron, NM weekend "beat the heat" adventure: Above Eagle Nest Lake State Park boat ramp. Lunch stop adjacent to the Cimarron River - awesome fly-fishing. Above, Cimarron River... Magnus is ready to hit the road.... Great being out and about with the Casablanca, but not another Ollie spotted... Be safe out there... Best, A & D

Eagle Nest Lake State Park, NM... Where's Magnus? He's love'n the 60F temps (so are we for that matter)! His FAV spot - right under the Ollie steps! Red River, NM - 8,600' near Eagle Nest - great weekend romp! He's spent... Oh, well... charge up his batteries and go again in the morning. Cheers, A&D

My guess he's minus a few rivets on his inside skin...

Has anyone had a problem with their locking tab on the new MaxAir bathroom vent? On ours (hull 1368), no matter how hard I pull down on the handle the black tab will not engage/lock. Just slight upward pressure with back of hand will open the vent whether or not the tab is pressed. Traveling at highway speeds generally results in the vent opening by itself. I could use a dowel or pool noodle to keep the vent closed while traveling, like others have done, but if there was an easy fix I’d like to do it so the vent operates as designed.