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Pessimistic thoughts are like cancer. Spouting statements that have no validity do not help. Oliver has a business plan to make them a force for years to come. Instead of stirring the pot with negative comments, it might be a good idea to have all the facts first. This site is a little more open minded, but comments here and especially on Oliver Facebook, come across like the sky is falling. "Oliver will be another Thor, and this will be the end of Oliver". Oliver isn't going to just set up repair centers and spend the money to train personnel. It has to be a win-win-win for Oliver, RV Dealership, and Oliver Owners (Future Owners). There has to be something in it for the RV Dealership and that is having Oliver's on their lots for sale. Someone in Washington State can go to Portland, OR (or wherever the RV Dealership is located) instead of driving 1,500+ mile to Hohenwald Remember, any Oliver Owner or Future Owner can go to Hohenwald to purchase or have service work done. Things will continue for those that prefer the Mothership. Oliver needs our support. We need to let this play out. As locations come on board, and Oliver shares the sales part, and how the repair work will be implemented, we will get a true understanding of the entire plan. We need to stop with negativity and spewing false comments. As I mentioned earlier this site has been a little more restrained. I personally think this is a win-win for Oliver Owners and Future Owners In the meantime Happy Camping.

I do, too, as a Tesla owner, but there are difficulties there, too. Oliver family certainly doesn't have limited resources, but not the virtually unlimited resources of the Elon Musk group. I think they are treading a new carefully vetted path, to offer regional service, and sales. Nothing else changes, from what I've heard. Hohenwald is still the center of the Oliver universe. Let's give it a chance.

I second that emotion. Smokey Robinson - 1968

I don’t think we’ll see any Camping Worlds. They are working with smaller dealers. I know one they are working with in Texas is a small family dealer. Mike

And one looks like it's near Portland, Oregon. That's good news for us! John

They flop around inside the unpainted inner diameter of the axle tube and eventually wear through the insulation. It isn’t anything that you can see without pulling them out completely. If the wires were protected by split loom in there, it would most likely be an OK practice. But not for loose wires… those axles hop around constantly and chafing is the result. Here is one reference. https://www.mortonsonthemove.com/fixing-the-rv-brakes/ John Davies Spokane WA

So stand by everyone, it looks like this is about to get a little more interesting.

I think their plan will have hurdles, but I think it is a logical and necessary step for OTT to be able to maintain their new customer base. Service and sales locations located closer to home will be advantages especially for younger owners and those that may not be as skilled in the DYI and maintenance of our complex machines. Especially the newer trailers with their interconnected electronic systems. The hand writing is on the wall that the need for service depots dispersed across the country becomes increasingly necessary as we are de-graying of the fleet owners. For some firms, the logical business next steps are what worry this owner: Likely down side for existing owners is that the next step could be to reduce their Service Team. That would over time impact our access to the Service Team's tremendous amount of institutional knowledge that Jason and his staff have garnered Doing so will reduce the feedback loop that they provide to the firm in general. Just one aspect of this is the warranty and service info requests likely will have to be routed through the "local" dealers. Feedback filters generally are not real productive.. I am an OTT fan for sure, and I pray that the OTT Management Team is taking some of the above in mind and is working to mitigate them as they move down this path. Based upon my paltry 6 years of relationship with many of the OTT staff, it is my bet that they are. My reason is that they are exceptionally bright and truly care about this company and our trailers. They also know that the forum is one of the higher ranking reasons that they see new owners walking in their front door. We may be a PITA at times, but our love of their product shows in just about 95% of the posts. How many times have we seen a new owner comment about us? Proof is in the pudding and I think it will work out. GJ

Maybe this thread will be of help?

Snapped some pics yesterday while servicing the tires on my TV to illustrate the Anderson conversion and use. If unfamiliar with Viair, they come with alligator clips for a direct battery connection at either the TV’s under hood or RV’s house battery(ies). Prior to the installation of the Anderson at the rear bumper to power a DC-DC charger, I would pop the hood, connect the Viair and stage it on the ground at the front passenger side tire; which made for a long hose stretch to the Oliver’s rear, driver side tires. In using the Anderson, the Viair is now more strategically positioned when servicing both vehicles and much more convenient. However, there may be instances when the Viair is needed elsewhere, so the alligator clips were converted, as well.

This is exactly what happened to me. Insulation worn, wires shorting, no brakes. New wires routed on the outside of the axle solved the issue. Mike

I think the concern for current and future owners is the number of businesses/layers that will need to make a profit before the trailer reaches the end customer. Now the price has gone up substantially over the past five years and another increase will be implemented in a month or so. Along with that the raw costs of building materials have dropped a lot since the peak demand a couple years ago. This has set up probably one of the largest margins Oliver has ever had. However, they need keep volume up in order to keep the total gross growing every year. My rambling basically means they have probably built in enough margin to pay a healthy amount to the dealers carrying the Oliver name. If they are stocking dealers paying for inventory they need probably 30-40% to survive and provide for their own employees. The concern is if Oliver feels they need to level off the price for a little while to keep demand up they might feel the need to lower quality to keep profits up. I personally like the Tesla model of direct sales but with service centers (delivery hubs) spread around. This level of service could be provided by small RV shops without them handling sales. The advantage of this is Oliver could use aggressive pricing (think Tesla cutting prices by $20k plus), drive up demand, and save the end customer money.

I doubt - very seriously - that it is Camping World. Bill

👀 More details to come....

The pandemic drove a lot of new folks to camping and the industry benefitted tremendously and all companies/dealers saw a great increase in sales from that. I know I had to wait almost 9 months on my Oliver Hull 1182. I have seen the wait times talked about from order to pickup on here decrease suggesting that demand has also fallen off some. Once I understood the dealers and service center roles in this I became very comfortable. I see Oliver removing a lot of obstacles that may be keeping potential buyers from pulling the trigger. The ability to touch and feel a new model close to you and also the ability for service closer to you. I also think that it will help with marketing and getting the word out about Oliver. We initially visited local dealers, went to the big RV show in Hersey and looked at everything they had there. I saw where Oliver took a couple models to Hersey this year to display and talk with folks. I also have seen where Oliver has taken trailers to many of these types events and others to make sure people are aware of Oliver Travel Trailers. In the beginning we were looking at airstreams and I was on their forums as well as others trying to learn what I could when I found Oliver. I visited this site, read these forums, joined and learned a lot over a couple year period. I have seen others on here talk about similar experiences leading to them purchasing their Oliver and I am not sure that is the best marketing model for Oliver to have. After a couple years of reading, learning, trying to decide what would work best for us we decided on a whim to go visit Oliver and take the factory tour - about 8-9 hrs drive for us, we scheduled a tour. We had a morning tour and showed up at the office a few minutes early and we saw the new models on the showroom floor. We were invited to go take a look and we did. We feel in love that morning. We took the tour and it only re-enforced what we knew we wanted to do. When we got back I tried my best to have Oliver let me hook up and go but no luck, lol. Best I could get from them that day was a production date so we settled for that, lol. I see all this as a good sign that Oliver sees a bright future and are still willing to invest in that future. Think about what our reaction would be to news coming to us about Oliver getting out of the travel trailer business. As an owner who hopes to enjoy "Discovery" for many years I have no issues with Oliver and what they are doing with this current business model. We have nothing but good things to say about our Oliver and interactions with the wonderful people that work there. We have really enjoyed our experiences camping and meeting some of you - hope to meet more soon. Stay Safe

I've said this before in another post... but at the risk of repeating myself again... Oliver is not a "club" or like most of us, a bunch of retired people who have already accumulated enough wealth to sit back and be philosophical about how we would do it. It's a business that has several hundred employees who come in everyday to the Oliver factory trying to earn enough money to get to the place most of us owners enjoy right now. Warranty work (every dime of it) is anything that fails or wasn't done right the first time... it costs the factory money and is a cash drain. Service work could and probably is somewhat profitable and self sustaining part of the Oliver business, but the real cash cow that the owners and every employee counts on (remember they have their own life dreams too) depends on selling new Olivers. With hull numbers around the 1500 mark they have likely picked the low hanging fruit. Now they need to dig deeper into the existing marketplace to fulfill the burden and obligation to pay for tools, equipment, buildings, benefits, healthcare, wages and everything else that those several hundred people working there are depending on so they can make their house payments, buy groceries and maybe even someday own and Oliver and travel around the country seeing and doing everything we all are doing right now. Growing the business by selling new product doesn't mean forgetting the customers that have already purchased Olivers, rather it is doing both in a way that is fulfills everyones goals. It's not easy. Sometimes feels like a balancing act. There will be the occasional mistake... but I'm counting on the Oliver management to provide that "North Star" to keep the companies core moving in the right direction. We were just recently in the extreme north west and several times had conversations with folks who might have been prospective buyers... they just rolled their eyes when I said you could only buy and pick them up at the factory in Tennessee. All of us need to remember that if we want an experienced service team that is equally invested in our Oliver the factory where they are built needs to survive and grow. Otherwise, "who ya gonna call"?

Priced the same - a customer will be able to purchase the camper at either place at the same price. Or, the customer can order the camper at the dealer and take delivery at Hohenwald (or vice versa) at the same price. Yes, this means that Oliver will pick up the tab of getting that ordered Oliver to the dealer where the customer picks it up. At least this is the present plan that came from the "horse's mouth". Bill

I just got off the phone with Oliver. I have confirmed that the first dealer is on board and now has the ability to start selling the Oliver Travel Trailers. They have two locations in Georgia. There are more dealers in the pipeline that will be located in other parts of the country.

A simple galley outlet “hack” which I wont take credit for. Someone on FB posted a photo of this 6” power strip and I don’t recall who. Anyway I ordered one. It just seems a little bit easier to plug in the coffee pot and toaster early in the morning.😴 Just passing it forward. Installs easily with 3m double sided tape sold separately. https://www.amazon.com/GE-Designer-Extension-Grounded-45190/dp/B07P889FHQ/ref=sr_1_8?crid=3EMUX18DKS0D2&keywords=triple%2Boutlet%2Bextension%2Bcord%2Bshort&qid=1702078039&sprefix=short%2Btriple%2Boutlet%2Caps%2C2082&sr=8-8&th=1 Patriot🇺🇸

Do we know, yet, who the Oregon dealer is? As an Oregonian, I'm curious.

Well - the smoke and the smell are a good indication that the ammonia "unit" had nothing to do with the issue at hand. Yes, the ammonia "unit" could still be hot even with the fridge off, but, it shouldn't be hot too long after the fridge is off. Certainly, after an hour or so, I wouldn't think that it would be so hot as to cause the sizzling you heard. Yes, as you have already decided, in cases like this it is always better to get things checked out. Otherwise, you will pay the price of constantly worrying that the problem will reoccur or worse. Bill

The dealer in Massachusetts is Tim's RV in Erving, MA

I remember seeing a YouTube video where the poster did much the same thing as you have done. Nice job! Makes a good product (but expensive product) much more useful and even easier to use. Bill

I am of the mindset that a Critique of the Oliver Trailer is very important in discerning the Failure Mode and effect analysis. John Davies comments provide a wealth of information. The positive and negative information John has contributed to the Oliver community is priceless. As a member of Management at Ford Motor, Critique is a very important tool. Least we forget the PINTO! Very Respectfully, George Bergh

I was browsing the RecPro website the other day and noticed a new addition to their Quiet AC lineup. They now have an AC/Heat pump model with a condensate pump for retrofit installations that have existing drain management to whisk away the condensation. Unfortunately for Oliver owners, the 15K size of the unit is probably too much for the space. It is also their higher profile unit which might not be appealing to some. Perhaps it will be an expanded offering someday in their low profile units.

I went back and re-read this whole thread again but I'm missing where she said anything about washing her trailer with a pressure washer. Was something deleted before I read this thread?

I agree. Have heard many sad stories about there service.

HERE is a YouTube video from a couple called "Changing Lanes" that discusses fire safety in RV's. About half way they mention the Proteng system they had installed. Certainly some good safety info in this vid. Bill

We were going to pull the fuse but decided to try once more to just turn the batteries back on to see what would happen. No more sizzling, everything is operating "normally". I ran the fridge on DC for a couple of hours as suggested by GJ, it cooled down with no issues (I remain absolutely enamored with our lithium batteries - there was hardly any draw down of the batteries during this time!) I think the fuse would have been the more important link to pull, this was only happening while DC power was energized. We discussed that as a possibility but couldn't imagine what other wiring would be in that particular area. I have an appointment to take it to a local service center to get the wiring checked out to make sure it's not a bomb waiting to explode. Thank you all for being helpful and supportive!

Yes, you can. It is my understanding that you simply turn the batteries back on after the BMS turns them off at the RVC level. BUT, that is for emergencies only. If you use the Lithionics batteries for too long after reaching RVC, you can permanently damage them. I would only turn the batteries back on after reaching RVC to run the jacks and get the trailer hooked up to my tow vehicle, then I would turn the batteries off again. I would then tow the trailer to a place where I could fully recharge the battery system. That is one reason I carry a generator when boondocking: so I can recharge should the batteries ever get down to the "shutdown at RVC" point without having to find 30A shore power somewhere.

2-3% daily loss seems reasonable to me, given that the only 12V power draw is for the battery heating mat. As the heating mat has a thermostat, and only turns on when ambient temps fall below a preset level, I expect the extent of power draw depends on how cold the weather gets. Per Lithionics Storage Procedure Rev. 7, I keep our Hull #1291 connected to shore power, and perform the procedure for draw-down to Reserve Voltage Cutoff (RVC) every 3 months while in winter storage. I expect your system of draw-down and recharge every 3 weeks or so accomplishes the same purposes (keeping the Lithionics batteries from freezing and periodically "exercising" the lithium batteries), but requires more frequent monitoring.

As Geronimo John suggested, you can still operate the 12V tongue jack from the batteries so long as the circuit breaker to the refrigerator is off. That is the easiest way to operate the tongue jack.

With your propane and the 12V fuse pulled for the refer, and the 120 V circuit breaker off, you have no reason to be worried about the refer causing you any grief. So I would then use the other 12V items, such as the jacks, normally. GJ

Your above statement is part of what concerns me. I started looking for trailers about a year and a half ago as I’m getting closer to retirement. I first started looking at Airstreams and joined many forums and Facebook groups. I quickly gathered all the problems they have, and the horror stories from trying to get them serviced at their local dealerships. That began my journey to look for something more boutique and reliable, and led me to Oliver. I do not own an Oliver yet however, I have gone to Honewald and looked at them in person, and really was impressed! Although I would love to see Oliver grow, there is concern that they’ll lose quality and consistency as they start to try to meet demands. I truly hope that’s not the case and it remains to be an exceptional travel trailer, service and company! I still have about a year left before I actually need to purchase so, I will have some time to evaluate before a purchase something.

I agree with JD with some precautions. Power and propane off the trailer and air hose the interior of the refrigerator cabinet from outside using an air nozzle, typically 30 PSI is the max. Idea is to blow off any moisture that may have spilled into the area. Use towels and dry any moisture you see. Then put a fan on the area from outside and force air to dry out all the refer parts in there. Let the fan run until you are sure it is dry. Then with one of you inside and one outside. Just turn on the DC power. Let it start up on DC power. If no smoke or wierdness let it run for a few hours to continue drying up the machine area. If no weirdness then flip it to propane and let it run for a few hours to further dry out other components. If no weirdness, then fire off the AC power. The above would be a lower risk than just "Smoke Testing It On Full 120 AC. That's how I would approach it. GJ

"A horse is a horse of course, of course" I wouldn't exactly say on a "regular basis". Certainly there are members here that have a much bigger "inside straight" than I do. But, to answer your question, yes, that is part of the plan. Prospective owners will also be encouraged to actually visit Hohenwald for a plant tour and can arrange to pick up their new Ollie at either the Mothership or at the dealer with no difference in price on the unit they purchase. Bill

Bill: Since you and Mr. Ed converse on a regular basis, will the Dealers have an OE2 and maybe an OE at their places of business so that prospective owners can actually see one in person without having to trek to the Mother Ship? GJ

Lest we not forget - The travel trailer "arm" of the organization is just about the smallest in the overall company. Oliver has many years of experience with a number of products (like their walk-in bath tubs) in both the consumer/retail and industrial sides of the business world. I believe that they know much more about their products and the associated marketing of those products than I ever will. Yes, even the best plans just don't work out, but, from what I know about the company they will do whatever it takes to get the job done and done right. Bill

I'm rather excited about it, actually. One of their locations (if it's the dealer referenced by @Ollie-Haus a few days ago) is SEVEN and a half hours closer to me than Hohenwald, and I go past it often on the way to North Carolina, and just about anywhere else i go in the north.... And, they have stellar service reviews. (And decent hotels, and restaurants, and an interesting microbrewery nearby.) I really can't imagine Oliver going into this program without careful selection and deliberation. They have almost two decades invested in establishing themselves as the premiere molded fiberglass trailer. I, too, was very perplexed and questioned the whole concept at first, but if it expands the network of quality, trained service, it certainly has some merit. @John E Davies, everyone is absolutely entitled to their opinions. Let's see how it plays out.

D and I've been talking about this move for some time now. OTT, as a business, does well in their strategic planning, IMO. The move to incorporate selected dealerships appears to be a timely move, considering the current market. Although it was very cool to explain to our SOB RV friends that one needs to buy an Oliver direct from the factory because of the dearth of dealerships, this will now change. No biggie. The Airstream dealership model is similar in our experience. For example, our friends recently had undergone extensive hail damage to their new rig - the local dealer had to refer them back to the Airstream factory because several adjacent panels needed R&R; a job local dealers aren't equipped for. I suspect the OTT dealership model would be similar and the choice to head back to TN for such repairs will always be the owner's. FWIW: we look forward to a full-service dealership (OTT-trained and qualified techs) that's a much shorter run than the 1,200-mile trek from our home to Hohenwald.

I am encouraged by the report that the Georgia dealer is listing the trailers for the same price Oliver is still selling them in Hohenwald. Perhaps, unlike sales of "stick and staple" trailers and most cars and trucks, Oliver dealers will not play the "jack up the asking price, then squeeze the buyer for every last nickel of extra profit" game. Time will tell.

They are working with a number of dealers around the nation, the timeline for each will be different.

Very well stated @ScubaRx on all levels and I agree 💯. Patriot🇺🇸

You're correct, it is a moot point now. So please don't continue to rain down doom and gloom on the rest of us that are still owners. There are still lots of folks that love their Oliver's and many more wishing they could own one. Oliver is working through the same issues that many industries are, but at least they have a long term plan in place that is well thought out, has been years in the making and will succeed. Nobody is being forced to buy from a dealer as opposed to going to Hohenwald. I believe you've mentioned many times about your dissatisfaction of being so far from the factory. These new dealership relations will solve some of those problems. I have an extremely long (fifteen+ years) and close relationship with Oliver trailers as well as the Oliver Family and I can say with confidence that so far, their past business decisions haven't failed them and neither will this one.

Yes...that's it. Just be certain that your new panels have their own solar controller and that the polarity (reversing adapter (if necessary) are there. Bill Just to be safe - you might also want to check the fuse on that Zamp external port.

Another safety addition. There are limited reflectors on the front of the Ollie, just the two amber reflectors on the front corners of the lower body. These don't really delineate the length of the trailer since they're 6 feet back from the end of the hitch. And there are no reflectors on the front of the trailer. Occasionally, we end up putting the nose of our trailer at the front of a site, with the truck behind. We also once had a mechanical failure with a previous trailer that forced us to park it on the side of the road. In those circumstances, I prefer to have reflectors visible from the front and sides closer to the hitch. For $4 I added DOT-approved reflectors on the angles of our front basket. Since their viewing angle is greater than 45 degrees, these provide effective front and side markers much closer to the hitch. 3M 989-74-3 Circle-2 989-74-3 Reflectors, 3" Diameter in Circles, 3" Wide, 3" Length (Pack of 2) https://a.co/d/7EtKpYr

Agree with SeaDawg, don't be too hard on yourself. When we were teenagers, we plugged a home trailer into electric power before putting water in the hot water heater. The hot water heater element got so hot, it deformed & electrified most metal parts on the trailer, making it a shocking experience to touch the trailer. To this day I remember that when ever working with electric hot water heaters. 🙂

Steve's Theorem: Stuff will always expand to fill the entire space that is available.

Hull 275 Oliver ll. this is my story. I also needed to change out my original batteries; Trojan T 105 6;volts , that were the original ones that came with my trailer when I bought it. I finally found them at a golf cart store in West Palm Beach which is a 10 hour drive from Atlanta. So a drove down and bought them. Since I was going to go to Hohenwald on the 4 of December I decided that they could do the installation. Easy peasy. Well it did not turn out that way. I got a message from Jason which said the following: The new T105 batteries have an embedded low profile terminal which is not allowing good connection for the cables. I am attaching a picture of one battery connection to show how the nut is not securing properly on the terminal as well as a picture with a possible solution by using a 4 stud adapter in two locations. If we use the adapters we would also have to rerun a new positive wire in order to rear the adapter. The reason is that there are 3 terminals that are not making good connection at all but I only have 2 adapters in stock. So, what I thought was going to be a straightforward installation, it was not When I picked up the trailer yesterday I noticed that the Hydrolink watering system which I had when I originally bought the trailer, was not installed. it turns out that the original Hydrolink doesn’t work, according to Jason and I need to buy a new one. So now I’m left with having to manually remove the battery covers for each battery and manually fill up with distilled water whenever they get low. BUT they way the cables are installed there are some covers that are below the battery cables and can’t be reached easily! LIVE AND LEARN The adapters are $22 each and a new positive wire run would be $165.00. The only other solution would be to take these batteries back and exchange them for the ones with the longer terminals.The adapters are $22 each and a new positive wire run would be $165.00. The only other solution would be to take these batteries back and exchange them for the ones with the longer terminals.