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I bet they are going to the Airstream model. Any Airstream owner can go back to the factory and camp in the factory campground to have service done. Or, they can have service done at their nearest Airstream dealer. Mike

In our recent 6000 mile trip camping our way through 12 states and a month in the Colorado Rockies we used a fair amount of propane and never had any issues finding a place to top off our 30# tanks. Infact many if not most RV parks and CGs have LP refilling stations right on site and will gladly top off your tanks. If you do any cold weather camping and you use your cook top or a propane grill or frig on LP while camping, I would highly recommend the 30# tanks. Patriot🇺🇸

We've loved all our (6? 7?) Canadian trips. First, with the Ollie, was to revisit Lake Sharbot, where my husband spent many summers with friends and families, then in to an around Erie,,Ontario, Michigan and Superior, top of the lakes trip. It was. so. Darned. cold. in July, we had to find warmer clothes. Unexpected. But refreshing . 🤣 I still have a too big pair of sweatpants from that trip. I should just give them away. We love our Canadian neighbors, your beautiful parks, your welcome, and especially our travels through the Yukon, and our camping friends there. (My husband is from Buffalo, and I'm from Minnesota, so "almost" Canadian, in our original climates.)

Lol…yup wave the flag for the handful Ollies up here!😜

Oh I 100% know there was no disrespect, just thought I’d chip in from the far north!😊

@jd1923 I did a day long scouting trip up into the Allegheny National Forest in Northwest Pennsylvania yesterday, looking for dispersed camping sites. The ANF is the only large tract of federal land in Pa,, and allows dispersed camping, as do the BLM lands so common in the west. The park rangers had been very helpful, giving me a number of forest roads to check out, but their biggest and most helpful piece of advice was to get the Avenza app and download the Allegheny national Forest map ($5) into it. A number of times we were “off grid“ without cellular service, but the Avenza app kept us clearly located via its GPS capabilities, moving our little blue dot along the forest Road on the app as we drove along. We would have been lost several times without it. You are also able to drop a marker on that map, as we did for about a half dozen sites that we wanted to come back and visit with our Ollie. We would’ve been lost without it! Geoff

Managed to complete the new detector install yesterday…. Now moving on to the Victron DC-DC Charger install…

I believe it is a matter of perception. This new dealer network business model may or may not be a success for the Oliver Travel Trailer company. Only time will tell, but I am hoping that it is successful! First, we know Oliver is going to offer new trailer sales and service through a dealer network, which will provide additional buying, selling and service locations, which should give the Oliver Travel Trailer company a national footprint. Now we know that Oliver has closed the Classified sub-forum completely. This will remove one option for those that are interested in buying or selling an Oliver Travel Trailer. The new dealer network will provide additional oppportunities for buyers and sellers of Oliver Travel Trailers which may be at a more advantageous geographic location. The buying and selling of an Oliver Travel Trailer is still a decision that owners are in charge of. Whether or not an Oliver Travel Trailer owner chooses to have service performed at a dealer that may or may not sell new or used Olivers is their choice, as it always has been. Thank you for listening to my perception, Mossey

The CO/LP monitor is a DC (12VDC) device. While you’re not going to electrocute yourself, best practice is to not have power on while working on a connection. I recommend you find the fuse/circuit breaker and remove power from the monitor. You could also remove shore power and disconnect the negative battery cable that comes from the trailer to the battery pack.

Sherry & Paul, Lots of Campsites are open and more are becoming available each day up here in North Dakota. The only migration is that of the birds heading south. Oh WAIT, our first snow dump of the season, now they are inaccessible until May. B~Out (Shoveling the driveway)

First, I have used Michelin Defender and AT's for 90+% of all my tire purchases since 1970. After having problems with them I started researching which of the many tires would work better for us. We accumulate 94% of our miles getting from Texas to the far west to be in the mountains. Where there the roads where we fly our paragliders and hang gliders are all.... wait for it.... in the mountains and where we go I rarely travel roads that is not gravel, mud or worse. Point is, saying from your perspective using an AT for places we find ourselves every summer "is overkill for a tow vehicle period", and we buy our tires because they look pretty... just does not wash with this member's, and likely more than a few other member's reality. GJ

We're in Paducah, Kentucky and this RV park is full. Somehow I thought it would be empty. We're only traveling because we're heading to Hohenwald for its first service. Lots of big Class A's. John

I agree and we do. However, lead acid batteries take a long time to fully charge. Our fridge can run forever on 60lbs of LP, so the generator only comes out for the AC. If I had to deploy it for the batteries every day that would get old quick.

Unless you plan to plug in a lot, I'd say your assessment is correct. Or. Simply carry a small generator. The dc / danfoss fridge needs 24 to 27 ah power, in our trailer, overnight. Each night. X 2, with no solar, portable or fixed, or no hookups, you'll need more batteries, or more solar, or a generator.

Lots of good advice given so far. I like the base model for everything I buy. It’s the way we ordered ours and I haven’t regretted it for a second. Having said that, with the new fridge being installed and always draining on the batteries, I feel the solar/lithium upgrade is a necessity now.

Yep - the pic above really doesn't do the tailings justice. They are higher, wider and longer than I ever expected. Basically the dredge did what it was designed to do - look for gold - but it basically destroyed a beautiful stream in getting that job done. Strange though that the area was still beautiful even before some of the restoration. Hopefully over the past 5 years the fish have now returned, there is less flooding and the landscape is even prettier than before. Bill

You know, @Trailblazers, I think they're working on making the Oliver experience more widespread, and just as special. But, small centers outside of hohenwald. We'll see what happens. No matter what, our Olivers are very special indeed. I wouldn't trade my 2008 for anything else in the market, today.

To directly address your question Steve, I would recommend closing the trailer up tight if you are using moisture absorbing packs. If you leave the vent open, whenever the humidity level outside rises higher than that in the camper, new moisture will be introduced into the camper which the desiccant will have to absorb. These packs only have so much capacity. If the camper is closed tight and the humidity level is brought down, the camper should remain dry after that until it's opened up again.

D&M, Oliver is our first TT, as soon as Maggie found it online, and said she wanted it, that was good enough for me. We placed our order in May '20, went to the factory for a tour and to see the various options in person. We would have added the Lithium package if it had been available at the time. We picked up in August, and were on our way. We have had it 3.5 camping seasons with about 40k camping miles, see our map. After we bought a new "TRUXEDO LO PRO TONNEAU COVER" we found out this summer travelling hundreds of Km's on dirt roads up in Canada, we had a lot of dust & some moisture in the bed and settle on the contents. I did have a towel to stop dust from coming up & in from the bottom of the tail gate where it hinges to the bed. We also purchased a rack which "shares" the bedrail along with the Tonneau cover to carry Kayaks, his is 12' hers is 10', not sure how long I will continue to enjoy loading and unloading them. The bed rail rack, may have something to do with Tonneau cover's inability to hold out the dust. My solution was to cover with a tarp & tuck it around the contents before closing the Tonneau. In closing, let me state what others have not... "You will find a way to fill up the bed of your truck"... Regards, Bryan, Maggie & Willis (aka Kamper Kat)

Good photo of some of the dredge tailings. What has stuck in my mind is that those mounds of tailings go on for miles and miles as you travel up the Yankee Fork.

In order to replace a broken cord you’ll need to remove the shade and put it on some kind of work surface. I used our kitchen bar area. Look at the back and you’ll see that the whole thing is held together by some screws. Once removed you can pull the frame pieces apart. Check the diagram by @rideandfly on the first page of this thread. It’s what I used for both shades that I did. Once you see how the cord is routed it will make more sense. It’s important to get the tension right when you tie the new cord to the spring on the bottom of the frame, too tight and it’s hard to move the shade. Too lose and the shade won’t stay up. I had to re-tie both of the ones I did, one was too tight and the other too lose! Good luck - Mike

Your 2022 Elite II should have a large red solar panel cutoff switch in the overhead compartment just aft of the pantry. In addition to cutting solar power, you should remove the CO/LP detector fuse before replacing the detector. That 1-amp fuse in your 2022 Elite II should be accessible through the forward panel under the bed on the street side. Just replace the fuse once the replacement is complete. See photo below.

I feel the same way. My Ollie OEM Michelin's still have life and are E-rated. Down the road for OLLIE, I'll likely go with the Defender's light truck E-rated of course. For Ollie, my concern is having long life and low potential for rock chucking. But for our F-150 TV, for us the jury is out for at least 3 years as we run the Nitto Recon Grabbers. When their time comes I'll for sure be revisiting the topic. Who knows, it is possible that our lifestyle changes and we need to go back to the Defenders for the TV. just saying.. .. 🤣 GJ

Thanks. I guess I need to study the manual again (and service videos and Oliver University) to figure out if there’s actually a switch; it would be very convenient if there is one. I’ll look at multimeters when I get home. I think I have one among my fathers toolboxes. Maybe it will suffice.

We lived in Austin and Georgetown Texas for 9 years, while we had our Home in Prescott AZ, driving that round-trip 2-3 times each year. That's at least 20 times the 2200-mile roundtrip. We have many great routes to make this drive without using the Interstate system, unless there was winter weather and then we'd take I-10. Still all paved roads, there and back. Sure, there's dirt/gravel roads where we all camp and more of it out west. But a HT tire is highway tread is an AT tire is designed for off-road use. LT HT tires and all-season P tires have a rib design with multiple rain sipes and 4 main rain grooves, they all do, and AT tires just do not. Just compare the perfect example above, the picture of the Nitto Terra Grappler vs. the Michelin Defender tread. Not saying everybody buys AT tires for looks, but many do. You can read it all over the truck forums, from Dodge to Ford, to Toyota and the others. They buy AT and even MT tires and some never leave the city or burbs. They buy larger tires to fill the wheel well and wider tires with greater positive offset. There was a comment above about 35" AT tires. Unless that size came with your truck, or they installed taller rear gears, it can cause real trouble when towing. AT over HT tires, less fuel mileage. Taller tires, heavier tires, less fuel mileage. Wider tires, less fuel mileage. And if your tires are oversized from OEM, you can have trouble climbing elevation and possible trans failure.

For sure! I spent a huge amount of time there changing parameters to see how their computer adjusted recommendations. Many tire reviews also were helpful. GJ

A moving blanket over the solar panels an easy and effective way to stop the panels from producing any energy, thus protecting yourself and the Oliver. If you have the Lithionic battery package, it may have a switch on the battery that will shut it off. Do you have tools to test 12v volt equipment such as your truck battery? A multimeter is a very useful tool for testing 120V AC and 12V DC. A 12 volt test probe is also a useful tool to verify if voltage is present in a battery or circuit. Mossey

It appears to have been successful for two other respected fiberglass manufacturers, Bigfoot and Northern Lite, that I know of. We'll just have to wait and see how it works for Oliver. I too, wish them the best. I don't see that as a negative, if the chosen dealers are Oliver- specific trained, and dotted around the country (and who knows, maybe Canada?), it could afford many of us a much closer access to Oliver service. We are about a 12 hour drive-time trip to Hohenwald. I can only see that as a positive.

There are a few spaces available here at Torreya State Park, NW of Tallahassee — if that’s any help. Nice hiking trails, bushes bordering many of the campsites. Clean shower facilities. Off the beaten path — yes. That’s probably why I ended up here, instead of a more central location.

Good News! I am happy to report that the auxiliary thermistor I bought from Amazon works as a replacement to the factory thermistor. These two things are critical to the success: locate the new thermistor away from the air distribution box and away from the airflow. For me, this will be around the corner of a cabinet and likely in the same location as the original Dometic CCC2 thermostat that controlled the original Dometic AC and gas furnace. I tried multiple experiments with the thermistor in the same area as the air distribution box with varying degrees of shielding from the airflow. But it just wasn’t good enough to suit me. This would have been the simpler solution and I wanted to rule it out before moving on to something more involved. I think there’s just too much air movement everywhere around the distribution box and it tricks the thermistor into thinking it’s a different temperature than it really is. The test that pleased me the most was when I stretched the cord out as long as it would go and I taped it in a location near where I hope to set it permanently. The cord isn’t long enough to get me there right now. But when taped to the wall around the corner from the airflow the AC set temperature of 70 was reached and three other temperature devices in the RV measured between 70 and 72 in different locations. The on/off cycles were fairly short which concerns me a little bit and I’m hoping this will improve when I have the thermistor in the final location which will be more shielded from airflow and at a more reasonable vertical location. In heat mode this morning, there was a greater difference between the set temperature of 66 and the actual temperature of 72. Cycles were short and I think if I had let it continue the interior temperature would have gone higher than 72. Perhaps this will also even out more once the thermistor is not as close to the ceiling. I’m less concerned about an accurate reading with heat than I am with AC. I use the RV more in the warmer seasons than I do in the cooler ones. Also, when I turned on the heat this morning, there was a great deal of humidity pumped into the living space. The windows fogged and the moisture on the interior aluminum skin (this is an Airstream instead of an Oliver) was visible. I was surprised to see this and I wondered if it was due to residual moisture still on the evaporator fins from the prior day’s AC testing. Overall, I’m pleased with the testing knowing that I can relocate the thermistor elsewhere and get reasonably good results. If I have to adjust the settings to reflect the differences between set temperatures and actual temperatures I’ll learn that over time and adjust. I feel like the two major wins in this obsession of mine are: 1) getting the additional relay installed to allow the interior fan to cycle with the compressor (solves humidity issue with AC), and 2) finding an easy path to get an auxiliary thermistor from the rooftop control board location to the interior sealed area without much effort. For those interested, this is the thermistor I am using right now. It has the two-pin connector on the end that fits the control board. https://a.co/d/dV31de2

Yeah, my brother in Minnesota should get snow this weekend. First snow is so pretty. Quiet beauty. The effects wear off after awhile....as I recall. I have not been north in winter for some four or five years .

If you poke around, you can find sites, especially weekdays. But, it's tough. We rarely camp in Florida in season. Some beautiful state parks, outside of urban areas, may still be available.

@ChrisMI, I tend to agree. From a practical standpoint, solar charges our batteries at this slow, low charge settings, near the end, best, imo. We've had a dc/danfoss/secop fridgefor several years now. 2 x 105ah 12 v agm batteries, 400 watts solar. As I've mentioned before, we do sometimes have to use the Honda 1000 charge. We use it early am,in bulk charger, and let solar do the slower charge. You can add, but not take away, easily. Solar is best add. Imo, batteries can be upgraded. Our agms have been sufficient for us two power misers. We have no microwave, no inverter. Every camping style is different

My brother has Ntto Grappler's on his F-150 (Nitto Ridge Grapplers) and his F-350 (Nitto Recon Grapplers). His recommendations were for me to get the Recon's for our F-150 Crew cab FX4 for towing Ollie and off roading each summer. I did and could not be happier with about 8,000 miles on them. My impression is that the Nitto line up is along these lines: Terra Grappler Almost all highway with a bit off road. Recon Grappler Still mostly highway, but insisting on manners and good off road capability Ridge Grappler is an off road tire that can tolerate on road to a point. His and my experience s that the Ridge tires do get rougher and louder as they age, but if you are full time off road that's the tire for your. About 75% of our miles are towing Ollie on and off road. The rest is fast highway and full off road without Ollie As I indicated above, the Nitto I keep a 100% fuel log on pretty much the same track out west each summer. I also found that the Recon Grapplers E-rated tires reduced our fuel economy 1.2 MPG over our previous MPG. Will have to put another few seasons on them to see how they last and age, but so far they are so much safer, durable and perform much better off road than my Michelin Defender's. Yet on road they handle and perform almost as well. All the above are great Pro's. The Cons are: reduced fuel economy, shorter life, and higher purchase cost. But the improvement is on order with that of a Houghton vs. Dometic Penguin.... Huge. GJ

Finished my 17" brake upgrade on the driver's side today. Chris helped me with bleeding again. She has a strong right foot; from all the brake jobs I've done! Mounted the front wheels and dropped it off the jack stands. Backed out and WOW these brakes are crazy good! I need to stay off any hard braking for 1000 miles, except if needed for emergency purposes. I drove around the neighborhood, getting up to speed and then dragging the brakes gently. When I got home the brake rotors looked perfect. All the black coating had worn off evenly and nothing there but a perfectly flat steel rotor surface. Nice! 🙂

Chip in!

Ours will be sitting outside in Indiana. I'll be leaving the vents closed. I'm leaving a counter top dehumidifier running all winter in the Oliver. I don't think it's going to do much as when the temps drop below the 40 degree mark, it's readout on the front as well as a second hydrometer in the camper usually read a humidity level of less than 45%. I'm also leaving a small electric heater running all winter to keep the inside temps above freezing. This will allow the compressor style dehumidifier to run all winter without low temperature issues. It has a drain hose hanging in the galley sink so it won't have to be monitored regularly. Of course ours will remain connected to shore power throughout the winter storage. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BTBYT96F/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BB725X9J/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I apologize for my shortcomings and I am sorry I forgot about you in Canada! Mossey

From Camping World- NOTE: For those who require a non-ducted heat strip application on the FreshJet 3 AC, it has been approved that you can use the Dometic Non-Ducted Heat Strip Kit (item 72431) installed in the Universal Air Distribution Box (item 69943). Camping World FreshJet 3 Series product info

Be a bit careful when talking to the "locals" up there in that some of these people wanted that "scar" from the dredge to remain as a memorial to the people that worked on the dredge. Yes, there is still some of the "scar" that is left and the scope of it brought home to me what damage we humans can do to Mother Nature. Note in the first picture that all of the rock visible in the upper left is "tailings" from the dredging. The second picture is the dredge. The third picture is a view of the Sawtooths near Stanley. Bill

But, don't tell any of the locals that I sent you there. Last summer I noted a bumper sticker in Stanley that reads: "Stanley Sucks. Tell your friends."

The gold dredge is up the Yankee Fork of the Salmon, which joins the Main Salmon at Sunbeam. There is a commercial hot spring pool at Sunbeam. The environmental devastation caused by the dredge has always been disheartening for me to see, so I, too, am now interested to see the results of restoration efforts by Trout Unlimited. The ghost town is Custer, Idaho, named after General George Armstrong Custer. I would not recommend towing your Oliver to Custer, as the last leg of the road to Custer is quite primitive, and it may be tough to find a good turn around. Park your Oliver at a campground and take your tow vehicle on Hwy 75 to and up the Yankee Fork, then continue on to Custer.

Just a little back story! I purchased Hull 193 in January 2018. Used Oliver's were hard to find in those days and I wasn’t really looking for a used Ollie, I wanted to order one just the way I had been planning to for over 2 years while waiting for retirement. When I found #193 on the Fiberglass RV forums in November 2017, it was by accident, my retirement had come 5 months earlier than planned and I was surfing the net and just stumbled onto it. So I ignored the ad for about a month because I wanted to order my own. So finally thought I’ll just go look at it, it might be too good to pass up, and it was. When we attended the 2018 OTTO's Rally, everyone welcomed us enthusiastically and we then went to Hohenwald after the rally and the Oliver Service Department fixed the fresh water tank pickup tube issue that a few LE2's of the vintage suffered from as a warranty issue. We dropped the trailer off in Hohenwald in August of 2018 and the service department converted our full size bed to a twin bed model. And we haven’t needed to go back since. I don’t know if OTTO's that buy directly from the factory get treated any better than we have been but I can’t imagine they do. Now I’ll give my thoughts on the death of the Classified Forum. 1. I appreciate the fact that OTT's has provided the general public and OTTO's a forum for us to talk about, seek advice and help from other OTTO's in a friendly and non judgmental setting. 2. OTT's has never asked for my opinion on how to run their business, and they don’t offer any advice on how I should run mine. 3. I am happy that they are receptive to new methods of running their business and hope they remain a viable company for many years to come. 4. They recently announced that they are moving to a dealer sales and service business model to supplement their present in house model. This should please owners that do not live in the southeast. I hope this new approach supports the sales and service for present and future OTTO's all around the United States. And if that comes at the sacrifice of the Classified Forum, that’s a decision that OTT's should make, it’s their money in the pot. And I support that decision. After all, my Ollie isn’t for sale! Mossey

With management, we can generally go longer (with substantially more small showers during this time) without needing to empty the gray water tank. We extend the gray-water tank in two ways. First, we use a solar shower bag (fill it with hot water from the trailer's tank or with water from campground faucet heated on the stove or by leaving it in the sun). This prevents the substantial amount of water that flows into the gray-water tank while adjusting the shower-water temperature, and reduces the amount of shower water needed. Second, we frequently fill tubs for dishes with hot tank water or heated campground water, emptying the tubs into the woods. Again, these measures extend our fresh-water tank and reduce the amount of water filling the gray-water tank.

We have managed up to six nights camping with no gray water dump. Our first camping experience with the OEII was at David Crockett State Park which has no sewage connection on-site. We've done up to 3 consecutive days boondocking. We avoid making dirty dishes, and wash them outside using two dishpans. The most costly activity is showers, so we do facecloth wash-ups, and hair washes with wetting into a dishpan and rinsing into the sink drain, or use the campground shower if there is one. Soap water goes into the grey tank and some rinse water is disposed of outside. We also have the composting toilet, so no black tank dumps are ever needed.

A "no cook" thing I often do. I buy little bags of avocados at Costco, lidl, or aldi. Homemade guacamole, or smashed avocado dip. Cut the avocado around the meridian. Slice halves with a little knife six times each way. Scoop onto a bowl with a spoon. (Best stuff is closest to the skin.) I add finely chopped onion and jalape, a bit of lemon juice, a splash of hot sauce. Mash with a fork My healthy (😍) late night snack, with gluten free seedel chips.

OK, enough about tires on other vehicles (sorry about the tangent)... Had my new tires mounted on our tow vehicle today!!! Everything worked out better than expected, as I was truly worried (whenever I'm not personally doing the work myself, I worry)! I asked the shop to mount BSW out (I really wanted to mount OWL out this time, since our truck is white, but the white lettering was scuffed on most tires, not like back in the day, when you would read BFG, Goodyear or Cooper clearly). Also, please use tape-on vs. clip-on weights mounted to the rims, and finally please let me know, call me if any wheel needs much more than 8 OZ of weight to balance. Everything worked out great! Today was a very good day. Drove the truck home and right away I could feel that these tires track better. I will need to go out again, when I have more time, to get up to highway speeds, though all is looking A+ positive. I was able to mount the newer model 17" Dodge Ram wheels and mount the original center caps from my 2nd Gen Ram. So, we have 2023 high-end Continental TerrainContact AT tires, on 2010 Dodge Ram wheels, on an older yet amazing 2001 2nd Gen Dodge 2500 Cummins. Ya gotta love it, but what's important is we love it! Two wheels took 8 oz weights to balance. One took only 4 oz and the best tire took only 2 oz - amazing! When you're considering truck wheels, these weighing 56 LB each, 8 oz is .009 of the total tire weight. When you consider the weight of the wheel, the brake rotor and all moving parts, the number would be more like .004! These are good numbers, very good! Before the weekend, I will have the 17 front brakes shown above installed and we are on our way to an amazing tow vehicle. Our 2001 Dodge Ram 2500 was under 20K at purchase and will be under $30K when done, with more improvements to come! I'm very, very happy today after our rebuilt and tested suspension, a well-balanced drivetrain, including these amazing Dodge Ram wheels & new tires! 😆

So, we sadly abandoned the beautiful leaves of the Appalachians, and drove home to Florida today . The migration had begun. So many campers, trailers, and class a's already on the road. Floridians, like us, on the way home. Lots of Canadians (Ontario and quebec plates), and most Eastern/midwest upper states. The folks from quebec seem to travel in pairs, or threes. Two or three similar motor homes, or fifth wheels. Florida folks, be prepared. Camping sites will again be limited, throughout the prime winter season.

At Anastasia state park and the campground is fully reserved but has been 1/2-2/3 empty for the last week. Frustrating. My sense is the demand for reservations is the same, but fewer folks are actually showing up.

No snow yet @SeaDawg where we live, about an hr SW of Toronto. But according to the experts (The Weather Network) that will all change next week!