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If anyone is interested in a soft case for storing their Garmin 890RV this one seems well made, and well padded. A Velcro side pocket for the change cable. Search no more! Happy Travels!

I will probably get scolded for this... JD - do you have one of these yet???

Run Ollie's Dometic 13.5K AC with a 2000W Honda gen-set that puts out 1600W continuous with the Micro-Air 364 Easy Start unit installed. Used this gen-set/AC combination up to 3700 feet above sea level without issues, have not needed Gen-Set/AC above that elevation, normally have shore power during most camping trips. Used same Gen-Set to operate the Suburban 6 gallon electric water heater at 5000 feet above sea level without issues. Installed a Micro Air 364 on Ollie's Dometic 13.5K AC following their installation instructions, may have emailed their service representative during the afternoon installation. https://www.microair.net/collections/easystart-soft-starters/products/easystart-364-3-ton-single-phase-soft-starter-for-air-conditioners Here's Micro Air's RV installation video: Here's Micro Air's service/sales representative installing a 364 Easy Start during an Oliver Rally:

Just go to Amazon and type in the search box Lacdo 8 inch tablet sleeve OR go HERE

Good point on the bedding compound. Masts, booms, whisker poles & other common high-load components in sailboats typically use 6061 T-6 alloy. Fasteners used to attach hardware is typically 18-8 stainless. An anti-sieze compound such as lanolin applied to the threads can go a long way toward keeping bolts free and preventing snapping off of fastener heads ... a stainless fastener can become extremely difficult to impossible to remove if installed dry into aluminum with no anti-sieze.

Douthat State Park in VA, is an outstanding campground; we have reservations for a few day in May. There are several campgrounds associated with this park, we like the Whispering Pines it only has 22 sites and they are very large all back in sites with water and electric plus a double dump station when leaving. You will need reservations, not much chance of getting a site in Whispering Pines without reservations.

Not sure if it is NE enough but we stayed at Douthat State Park in VA . Great hiking, more than one campground area. We didn't see as much of it as we wanted, it is on our list to return to. Paula

We chose Ultra-fabric for durability. We had the same in our camper van and it does live up to the name - "Ultra". My only complaint is that I tend to slide off the cushions as opposed to fabric upholstery, but the ease of cleaning is more of a draw for me. The rolled front cushions in @SeaDawg's photo above would eliminate the sliding. Maybe a future mod?

LongStride, My intention was not to question the overall design of the suspension system as Oliver has been making these trailers for several years without a bunch of complaints from other owners out there. When we bought ours, we realized we were not buying an overland rig to take to the "outback" so to speak. Like you, my wife and added the options needed for us to take some off the beaten path to boondock from time to time. We have utilized our trailer for multiple trips and have not really had any major problems with any suspension systems other than a squeak we developed after traveling through a rain storm one day. Some dry lube and addition of grease solved the problem. I have bumped this question to Jason to see if it is common across all newer LE1's or something might be incorrect with ours. I will report back when I hear back from him or the Oliver team.

Your cushions look great! We're really happy we opted for the Ultrafabric. I was initially worried about the overall quality of the cushions in addition to the material itself but I'm happy to report that the fabric is great, the stitching is great, YKK zippers were used, and the foam is surprisingly comfortable. Your comments made me pull the trigger so I owe you one! Actually, I'll owe you one every time someone spills anything on the seats! 😁

@Jairon We took the boat on a little trip this past week, and I thought about your Brisa questions. I took a photo of one settee's salon cushions, which are now 9 or 10 years old. They're in remarkably good shape, I think. A bit of stretch, as would be expected, especially with the rolled front edge for leg support when seated. I got all the tiny spots out. There's one tiny snag in one seat cushion, probably from someone sitting on it with a tool or something sharp in his pocket. Or dropping something like it. 🤔 As per instructions, I clean only with water or a mild soap solution, and don't treat them with anything. The main salon is favorite sleeping spot for off watch crew. (Least movement, center of the boat.) We do take them off the boat in the off season, and store them in the garage.

18-8 is a good choice for that environment, and any anti-seize or thread-locker will help to interrupt the conductive path that causes the galvanic reaction. You mentioned lanolin, and like every other subject on the internet, you can find pro and con arguments about lanolin as a anti-seize/corrosion inhibitor. Here's an example from the sailorsolutions.com website, for anti-seize products. One brand (teflon based) of course mentions that the use of lanolin in a competitor product is not ideal: "Tef-Gel® is a US Navy specified non-lanolin synthetic formulation. Lanolin, (an extract of wool) used as the base for the popular anti-seize product can absorb small amounts of moisture which will allow for corrosions and seize your stainless steel to aluminum joint after a few years. The paint will blister in the surrounding area.' But lanolin has a lot of history to back up its use, and the marine world is a good example to follow with the Oliver. The Ollie is built more like a boat than a typical sticks and staples SOB trailer.

As to an "overpriced" $40 item, I always try to remind myself to ask whether it's really worth the effort I'm considering to work around just buying the thing that costs $30 more than it should 😉 (that said, in this case I think it would not take long to source a very suitable ~$10 option 🙂 )

One more comment, if you do bolt on an aluminum part to the Ollie steel subframe, use a good bedding/ barrier sealer. While it may not be 100% necessary, it could help a lot. John Davies Spokane WA

I'll have to dig a little deeper but most of the galvanic charts just lump all "aluminum alloys" together, so 6061 probably isn't much different, close to steel and zinc. The use of a stainless screw threaded directly into the aluminum frame could be a long term issue if towing on salted roads in the winter.

I haven’t seen any issues with the Andersen steel frame brackets or with the Oliver galvanized steel subframe for the suspension causing any problems with the Oliver aluminum frame (yet). Steel, zinc and aluminum are all pretty close to each other on the galvanic series chart, which means minimal galvanic reaction (but not zero). This is from my good old metals handbook. The farther apart two metals are on the chart, the greater the galvanic corrosion reaction. This is seawater exposure so pretty much a worst case, but road salt & moisture would be just as bad. The order can change a little depending on the exact environment. As an example, 316 stainless against aluminum is very bad. And the lower number metal becomes the sacrificial material in the pair. It’s why zinc is used as a sacrificial anode in a lot of systems with dissimilar metals and water, like boats and water heaters. A dielectric material barrier between the metals helps, even a layer of paint. And if the aluminum is anodized, that helps as well.

They are not optional, only available aftermarket!

The manufacturer says this warning light system works on any trailer hub/brake/bearing system, and it requires no special skills to install. In fact, people with no trailer maintenance skills probably already have this warning light system installed and just don’t realize it yet. My only complaint is that it’s hard to see from the driver’s seat, except at night on really dark roads.

Yes, if you know the polarity, voltage, size of the little cylindrical plug part, and rough number of amps you can usually find an alternative that will work fine since there isn't a lot of variety with these types of power supply plugs. There are tons of variants on Amazon for instance. I recently went through this to find an alternative to the OEM $45 plug for a kitchen scale whose original plug's flimsy wires had broken. I got a much sturdier one than the OEM version for indeed about $10.

Or just install the centerpoint suspension like I did and be done with it. Takes all of an afternoon. I ended up with about an inch more travel plus the extra cushioning. Of course, you can adjust the height by changing the pressure. It's a good, practical solution.

Jim, I installed a master battery shutoff switch, it is not factory issue. I thought about a simple plug in power supply like that one you provided a link for, but that particular one is crazy overpirced. It is worth about $10. Thanks, John Davies Spokane WA

I’m glad its a no no to talk politics on this forum. I’d have plenty to say about the rise in fuel cost since January

If you aren't taking your Oliver at least once every two months you are missing out . . . . .

Just read about this park. Looks perfect. Have added it as one of our stops. Thanks Paula...

Not to sound cavalier, but fluctuating fuel costs are something I accept. We bought the Oliver to travel, enjoy and camp! 😊 - Patriot

Sure is, I’m a dusty guy.. And I’ve enjoyed cleaning the Mangrove dust from Florida, the red dust from New Mexico, and what seems like about a half pound of the state of Arizona from the inside of our Ollie. It means I’m on the move, and happy for it. I just think, and it is after all only my opinion, that Oliver could deliver trailers without quite as much fiberglass dust....

Just add a big 62 gallon tank like I did recently. Now I bitch about having to put my credit card into the slot twice to fill the tank! 🙂 But deep down I hope that retirement planner app that I'm using isn't lying about our chances to outlive our money. 😬

We have reservations in Section F. Looking forward to seeing everyone! Safe Travels! David & Kathy

As many of you know, I craft custom upgrades for Oliver Travel Trailers. As we head into the camping seasons I have refreshed my catalog to reflect my current products and a pricing increase. If you have an order on my production list or I have sent you a price quote, your price will not increase. You can find my catalog - Foybles Catalog V2.3f below. Onward, Foy Sperring 48ocean@gmail.com Foybles' Catalog V2.3f.pdf

Fuel cost doesn’t really factor into our travel plans. It’s tiny compared to the other expenses of this Oliver addiction. 🙂 The amortized per mile cost of the Ollie itself, the new truck, all the camping gear, meals, campground costs, buying bottles of wine at Harvest Host overnight stops, etc. are by far the bigger expenses. $3 per gallon gas would cost me about $270 for a 1,000 mile trip (I get about 11 mpg, so about 90 gallons for a 1,000 mile trip). At $4 a gallon it would be about $360 in gas for the same 1,000 mile trip. That extra $90 over a 4 day trip isn’t going to make that much of a difference compared to everything else.