Leaderboard

We have had a fast introduction to our new-to-us Elite I (hull 731) since we picked it up over Labor Day weekend in McComb, Ill. We are four years into retirement and felt ready to do some camping and to get out and see more of our country. We thought we could fit camping trips in between our life with our many local grandchildren – and help with visits to our non-local grandchildren. From our home in Pittsburgh, we’ve now taken 5 trips, visited 7 states (from Illinois to NY to Tennessee), travelled 3400 miles and camped for 13 nights. This has given us a deep dive into the Oliver camping world. I thought we’d share our first impressions and ask some questions. Overall, it is evident that the Oliver is a complex and capable trailer. We love it!! We are glad for our purchase and our start into some years (God willing) of camping adventures. The Oliver online forums and the Oliver University have been a goldmine of advice. Thanks to you all, more than once!! As we got started, we had to: · Upgrade our TV capabilities, adding a class 3 hitch, air bags and a brake controller to our 2022 V6 GMC Canyon. All this was new to me, and I’m glad to say we’ve had no towing difficulties. · Learn how to tow. I got my first lessons from our seller at pickup, a *great* guy. Caution and care were important as we started. As of this writing, we’ve been through the Adirondacks and the Smokies at least once. · Learn how to travel with our Cocker. ‘Brecon’ goes with us, almost always. But she does not sleep on our bed, so… the floor by the door proved perfect for her bed, leaving the isle free to walk to the bathroom in the middle of the night. She travels well, and is a sweet companion. · Learn the basic systems, including parking, electrical, propane, solar, water, sewage, heat, and solar. We were told at sale that both our previous owners sold after 1500 miles in part because of the complexity of these units. We sympathize! · Learn the basics of finding places to camp. We studied up on federal, state and private options, including Harvest Hosts and Hipcamp. We quickly concluded that we love remote camping, so we had to learn how to boondock. Hipcamp has been our favorite. · Learn how to live in tight quarters! We’ve been married for 46 good years, but this is a new season. As soon as we had a week of nights or so under our belt, we began to shape our Ollie to fit us. All these mods are reversable, but to date we have: · Swapped out the Furrion rear view camera (with a dim, small, fuzzy image) for a Haloview BT7 1080p Backup Camera. I used the wiring for the Furrion and relocated the camera below the Oliver light, temp caulking the previous Furrion holes. The difference was well worth it. · Taken the TV and its mount out. We don’t use it. · Taken the rail btw the front dinette seat and the rear dinette seat out. The added headroom in sleeping is well worth it. · Added 6 Tireminder TPMS transmitters. I may add 2 more to our spare tires. · Made solar work for at least two or three night stays offgrid. 8 of our first 13 nights were remote (by choice) with no hookups, so we learned to keep electrical use to a minimum, turned off the inverter when off shore-power, and added a 100 watt portable solar panel to our 230 watt rooftop panels. As we sit here and think back on our first weeks with the camper, what have we liked, what do we love? · Without exception, we have enjoyed the people we have met. This country has a lot of great people, many of them living out in the country. · The Oliver has made visiting our large family and other friends a cinch! We happily sleep in our trailer! · We are pleased with the Oliver itself, with its aesthetics, its evident craftsmanship, and its ‘mod-ability’. It fits us well. · We love being warm and snug and dry inside when it is cold and windy and wet outside. · We love waking up to sunrises streaming in the windows. We love going to sleep with night breezes across our faces. We love the hoots of the owls and the barking of the coyotes in the hills. We’ve loved sitting pondside and watching snapping turtles cruise in the evening, the swallows as they dart, and the fish as they leap. · We love the quiet and the calm of the countryside and the hills. · We love the stars deep into the nights in the countryside. We travel with a small telescope and binoculars. The stars have long been a love. Geoff and Becca Chapman

A little trout fishing in Bull Shoals White River SP in Arkansas. All (5) Rainbows were keepers. This is a very nice SP, nice large sites, super clean, we highly recommend it! The fishing is great too! More trout fishing tomorrow. Onward!!🇺🇸

Dude! THE BEARD!!! I'm envious :) I don't remember seeing any of that at the rally... Glad ya'll are having wonderful adventures. We'll be back to SC at the end of the month. Somewhere between 21 and 22 thousand miles on the rig by then (big smile)! Happy Trails, John

Assuming that your storage facility does not provide you with any protection from the weather then I'd suggest a CalMark cover for your Oliver. These covers are not cheap, but I've had mine for 8 years and it is still going strong. If you do this - be sure to pad (pool noodles are good for this) the bumper and the solar panels such that they don't abrade the cover. The only time I use my A/C is when I travel from Western NC to the Rockies each year to fish. If the temps are hot (above 90) I'll simply plan on staying in a commercial campground for the night where I can use shore power. Yes, the A/C is a bit noisy but it doesn't keep me awake and I can't hear it when I'm sleeping 😁. Perhaps a relatively small set in the direction of more power while staying relatively cheap could be had from a portable panel. This way you could charge those relatively new AGM's a bit quicker. This might give you time to really assess just how much power you are looking for while not wasting the batteries you have now. And, you can always use that additional solar panel if you later decide you want to go with the lithium route. Bill

An old friend of mine called me this evening and told me about finishing up his day of fishing near Maine's Nubble lighthouse located just outside York, Maine. In the parking lot he noticed what he thought was an Oliver, so, he went over to check. Indeed it was an Oliver that is about one year old. My friend didn't catch the owner's name but did supply some information as to where he could park and even some place that the Oliver should visit while in that area. Nice to hear that even friends of Oliver owners treat other Oliver owners kindly. Bill

We had hoped to get a good introduction to our Oliver this fall, setting the stage for more trips next year. Looking ahead, we hope next year to travel out to the west coast (southern route in March or April) and return on a northern route. Later in the summer, we’d like to go up to Canada around a Great Lake, east to Nova Scotia and return through Maine. We will see! But first, we have several follow up issues that we’d like to pay attention to over the winter. We could use some advice. Next up, I will need to learn how to: · Figure out if the Cell Phone Booster is worth it. I can turn it on, but it sure doesn’t seem to make a difference. Other threads seem skeptical as well. · Figure out if the Bluetooth connection on the entertainment unit works. I’ve read up, reset the firmware, but can’t make it work. Any hints? · Take out the microwave to add a storage cabinet (perhaps) · Figure out if I can changeover one of my external propane connections to be high pressure (to fuel a Camp Chef Everest 2x). Or maybe just go with a different tank and regulator. · Hook up the Tireminder signal booster to the Rear Camera switch on the entry light panel (so it does not drain our battery when not needed). @ScubaRx, did I see a post where you did this and mounted the booster in the bathroom vanity? Any details on how you got the wire forward to the vanity? · Do a solo cold weather trip up to Cherry Springs State Park in Pa, a world class dark sky spot. I do astrophotography and have been hoping to make that trip for a couple years. The Oliver can make it happen! · Bed it down for 2-3 winter months. We have an outdoor slot in a secure storage park 30 mins away. Might I be wise to get a cover for it? It has been covered in each winter of its short life. If we are going to travel like that, we wonder if we might need: · More electrical power? We have 2 6v Napa Commercial AGMs, rated to 190 AHr, installed in Jan 23 by the previous owner. Lithiums would double that, I suspect, and another solar panel could be added. But $’s are an issue. Thoughts? · Better AC? We will likely not be using much AC (we will stay out of the south during the hottest months), so I think we could stay with the noisy Dometic and be limited to AC when on shore power. Thoughts? · Any other recommendations? Geoff and Becca Chapman

Ive just put the Ollie 2.0 into storage for a few weeks while ill be gone for work and having spent most nights in it over the last few weeks i now have a few observations of the differences to share. The new folding outdoor table is super handy, I can pull the truck up next to the tongue and use my portable grill on the tailgate coming from the forward quick connect and having that little table is a handy addition for outdoor cooking. I do appreciate the extra fridge space that the new fridges have however being of the younger crowd i am a sucker for pizza rolls and the freezer section is so tiny you really cant put much in it. i never did get around to testing fridge power draw strictly off batteries but supposedly its much more efficient on 12v than the 3 ways were so hopefully that makes up for what i consider a loss of no longer having the option of running it on propane. While the new truma furnace and ducting changes definitely do a better job of quickly reaching set temp i absolutely think the room temperature sensor should be relocated to over the bed or at least somewhere more central rather than the far corner of the ceiling next to the bathroom wall. on the first night i ran it with temps in the low 50's at night i had set it at 70 and woke up roasting with my weather station i had set up stuck to the aft wall reading about 85 inside temp and checking my propane tank levels showed i had ripped through about 30% of a tank in only one night. setting the temp at 62 the next night and pointing a fan in the direction of the sensor kept the bed area at about 70 through the night and a much more reasonable 10% propane usage. Honestly i think they wouldve been better off keeping the old furnace if you dont opt for the truma package and simply reworking the ducting which would eliminate the need for a separate control panel for each A/C and furnace as now you are forced to get the truma package if you want it on the same panel because i have not been able to find anything that would let me control both the dometic penguin and the truma furnace on one unit. I specifically did not want the truma AC becuase i like having the easy start and being able to run it on the small honda 2200 or the slightly sketchy 80 year old wiring of my grandparents garage when im back home visiting the folks and as little as i use the ac anyways i dont really mind the noise all that much, maybe ill swap it out for a houghton at some point. i would have liked the truma water heater but they will no longer install that unless you get the whole truma package with the AC.

You could look into a satellite communicator like the Garmin InReach or the ZOLEO.

I find this procedure quite useful. I have managed to get cell service, although limited at times, in areas said to have “no cell service” for calls and text messaging, but sending photos was sporadic. In doing so my phone’s ‘personal hotspot’ provided internet access.

Was said difference for the good or bad?

We payed for Hot spot on our phone plan, so I found that placing the phone on top of the blind next to the indoor antenna made a difference of weather our devices would work or not in poor reception areas.

Our nearest "build neighbor" seen so far! 👋

I will add a couple points: - When you turn on the cell phone booster, I am told that you need to restart your cell phone so it connects to the booster. - My Tireminder booster came with alligator clips on the two power wires. I cut them off and bought a USB connector which I connected to the end of the wires. Now I just plug into one of the Ollie USB connections when I want to power up the booster. I added velcro to the back of the booster and hung it above the dinnette table and plug into the USB connector under the dinnette table when the Ollie is mobile.

This topic has been discussed, and several owners have made this modification successfully. I did a quick search and came across this link. I suggest you consult with Service to ask if and where the wires are placed on your specific model. Oliver has made changes in their process over time. DIY Solar Install

Try this - turn the power off for both the monitor and the camera. Assuming that you have verified that the camera is receiving power - turn it back on while looking at the monitor, turn it back on - does it give instructions as to "re-pairing" it with the camera? If yes, then do what it says. Good luck! Bill

What was for dinner?😁

Its a shame that the first owners gave up after such a short period of time - but good for you guys. There is nothing about RV's and Oliver's that is "rocket science". And, by now you are really getting a handle on a good understanding of how the various systems work together. Unfortunately, you are (probably) now entering into an area where you really do need to pay attention. Its when you think that you know the drill and you get over confident and/or something out of the "normal" routine causes you to deviate from the way you normally do things. Checklists are good at preventing this trap. Let us know if there is anything we can do to help make the journey better. Bill

Glad to hear your Oliver is working out so well! We’ve used ours to visit family too, it has definitely improved those visits! Mike

Oh, ‘Signature’ thanks!

Being the "cheapo fabricators", we re-purposed an old poly cutting board from our junk/recycle shelf in the shop to mount the main battery cut-off switch and positive bus bar... Significantly reduced the battery connections down to the 4/0 cables plus a mid-point battery monitor for the Victron Smart Shunt and a batt temp probe. Placed it on top of the Battleborns - seems to work fine.

Lack of dealerships - in the text I’d replace “scarcity” with “lack” to make it clear that there aren’t any dealerships. The factory is the only option

I agree with the point of this article! The size of an Oliver is an advantage, not only is it easier to handle in traffic and gas stations but its size allows for some good flexibility with smaller camp sites or last minute overnight stopping spots. Mike

This one is fine. Mike

This reads okay to me. Clearly isn’t Oliver specific just covers generic remote working. Might help someone new to RV life but doesn’t offer much for an experienced RVer. Mike

Actually I used something more like THIS but the stuff I used had Foil on one side. I think that the "rubber" stuff would be a little better but since I already had what I used in my "junk" pile - I used it. No problem with the stuff I used though other than the fact that it did not have glue on it and I had to use the spray glue stuff and used the foil tape on the edges. The noise reduction is good. Bill

There is really only one "spot" in an Oliver. How do you add an "ergonomic chair" in the aisle? It is quite possible to work remotely, though, in an Oliver. Technomadia did it several years. Maybe add a link to their website?? They are the absolute gurus of mobile connectivity and working from a camper or boat.

We had an electronic lock on our last trailer and really liked it, so we ordered the RVLock Oliver installs. Don't like it as much as the one we had, which seemed to be better quality. It was made by LatchIt. It's an easy self-install. Same here. Great on the highway and I also use it if I have to back into a site solo. I put an orange leveling block on the ground as a target where I want the back of the trailer to end up. I'm going to use it backing into the garage, too. (Always better to have a human spotter when you can, though!) We like our upgraded non-KTT mattresses, so that's a matter of taste. You should go to the factory and try them out if you can.

Aluminum tape is amazing. I used lots of it on the furnace and ducts when after delivery I discovered some problems. Sticks great. Haven't tested any noise- dampening qualities yet, but I have to imagine it will help, especially after I'm able to crawl into the basement area (claustrophobia?) and put reflectix on the ceiling and other walls of the basement.

The inline fuses I know about protect from over amperage, not over voltage. By simple math, to a point, that can be interperted as a power control method, as Power = V * A. But the failure it protects is amperage. Also, the typical inline fuses often have a 250 max voltage limit. Not a level we want to see anywhere in our OTT's. GJ

Also available from Amazon if, like us, you live a 1+ hour drive from the nearest Walmart. The one linked below is 1/2" thick, the size I prefer to work with. https://www.amazon.com/Winco-CBWT-1218-Cutting-Board-2-Inch/dp/B001D3LQVA/ref=asc_df_B001D3LQVA/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=459434780851&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17772694070414201680&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9029558&hvtargid=pla-448665261987&th=1

Out and about boondocking remote parts of NW Nevada, SE Oregon, NE Cal.. Bog hotsprings Nevada, Alvord Desert Oregon, Medicine Lake Ca, Malheur Refuge Oregon, Sheldon Refuge Navada

I keep having people ask what a "Curiosity" trailer is. When I tell them it is our name for the trailer, and that it is an Oliver, they've generally never heard of the brand before, either. 🤷‍♂️ From this weekend; Halloween weekend at Mosquito Lake State Park in Ohio:

Mossey, I'm not opposed to spending the $ either, if there's a clear advantage. Like you, we're more likely to reuse scrap lumber or on hand materials if it suits the purpose. If there's a true advantage long term, well, then, I can open the wallet and let the moths go free. 😁 When Paul and his friend wanted Starboard for a couple projects on our boat, I remember being shocked at the prices I found, even buying cutoffs. I don't remember the exact price, as it was 4 years ago. But, for what we were working on, it was the best available material. We needed the uv protection and the inherent waterproofing, plus the ability to use normal woodworking tools was great. No adhesives involved. I was wondering, honestly, what was the advantage, in this particular case, given the expense, and other considerations, when John wanted a material he could mount with epoxy, which isn't exactly the case with Starboard. There is indeed a lot of carryover in marine materials and fixtures from our boat to the Oliver. Honestly, our long term experience with a fiberglass hull is one of the reasons we bought the trailer in the first place. Sherry

Sherry, I had never heard of Starboard before ADKCamper's post, but I am always interested in learning about new things or products. One of the questions I asked was how much does it cost and you answered "expensive". Ok, so far I have used 3M 5200 to attach some scrap 1"x4" PVC board to a lower hull wall to mount a battery cutoff. I have also used marine Goop to attach 1-1/2"x1/4" PVC board in the lower hull to which I mounted lights with 3M VHB mounting tape. And as previously mentioned, I mounted a piece of oak which I salvaged from some shelves I demo'd in my house and remounted the afore mentioned battery cutoff to. So with the additional information you have provided you can rest assured that I won’t be running down to Farco for a piece of Starboard as I still have lots of left over shelving and PVC board. And it’s not like I’m cheap, I just don’t like to waste money. And I can justify wasting money if pressed.😆 Thanks again Marine Queen for your expertise, Mossey PS: Marine Queen is meant as a compliment.

I'm curious, though, why all of you want to use a plastic material like Starboard, in an interior area. Starboard is really expensive, twice the weight of plywood, and requires special (read expensive, not found normally in our garage, often two part heat fusing plastic welds) adhesives, usually backed up by mechanical fasteners . Like any other plastic, it expands a bit with heat. Which might make me a bit nervous about screws in some applications. Starboard's big claim to fame is uv resistance in a marine environment. And, that in can be worked easily with woodworking tools. We've used it in a number of places on our boat in exposed areas for mounting replacement gauges and lights. Places where in our younger days we might have used solid teak. We don't want the teak maintenance any more than we already have, and teak is pretty much unavailable or equally expensive, so starboard fits that bill. As a matter of fact, it's simply wonderful. In unexposed areas in the trailer, however, we've used plywood and wood blocks epoxied to the fiberglass to mount our 12v danfoss/ secop fridge, and fasten drawer glides, and a few places in creating my microwave replacement storage cabinet. I know Oliver doesn't like to use (ply)wood, but I don't have any problem with it in interior spaces that aren't exposed to water. It's lighter, cheaper, holds fasteners well, easily bonded with epoxy as mounting blocks, etc. Sherry

Mossey, I've purchased some smaller (though not that small) cutoff pieces of King starboard at Farco on 19 and 118th in Clearwater. There's probably a supplier in Tampa as well. I think the thickest guage is about 1.5 inches. Btw, King Plastics is a Florida company. (NorthPort) Sherry

Have to agree with all of that. HDPE sounds like a good choice as does the 1” EPVC, provided you aren’t tight for space. John, another good thing about the EPVC is that you can write on it with a sharpie.

I just completed an install of two 170 watt Zamp solar panels, a Zamp three port combiner box, a Victron SmartSolar 50/100 MPPT solar controller, a Victron BMV-712 battery monitor, a Progressive Dynamics 60 Amp replacement converter and (2) Battle Born 100Ah 12V LiFePO4 batteries. I worked with Jason (Oliver's Service Manager) to complete the install as close to factory as possible. I have attached the pictures I have of the installation. I would be more that happy to help you or anyone else out, in anyway I can. Please message me I will provide you with my contact information. Andrew