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Happy Easter everyone! Bill

Just jumping in to say I'm also doing an upgrade to Lithionics GTX 315 Lithiums in May. I"m going big and doing dual Lithionics GTX 315A Batteries. These batteries are currently deployed into motor homes, and designed to fig in wheel wells of Winnebago's and a couple other Motorhomes. 2 Fit Perfectly in the Oliver EII battery tray. I thought about just doing 1 (which is close to 3 battleborns) and my wife encouraged me to go big...so I decided not to argue. I know there will be issues with enough solar to fully charge in one day, and needing to install a DC/DC charger...I've decided to GO for It. We will install added portable solar arrays, upgrade from the PD4060 Converter to a Xantrex XC 2000 Pro charger/inverter, and add a Victron DC/DC charger. The thread for the upgrade is over here it you want to follow along. I've completed design and am now ordering all the surrounding components I'll need. My batteries will arrive in late April. By Mid May the install will be completed and I'll do a complete post. Craig Short Hull 505

How about a return to a classic - at least for a certain age group. This version from Hell Freezes Over is even better than the original in my opinion:

Happy Easter! He is risen!

We visited the Washington Scablands, pre-Covid, in 2019. Our interest in the historic Missoula Flood prompted our visit (Google Harlen Bretz). We took a roundabout route from Oregon, north into the Yakima Valley, then NE into the Grand Coulee area, spending several days at Steamboat Rock SP hiking (Steamboat Rock and the Northup Canyon), biking (there are paved bike paths connecting the different areas of the campground), and kayaking. It's a beautiful park situated on Banks Lake in the Coulee just below the Grand Coulee Dam; the campsites are irrigated lawns and very spacious. There are three areas of campsites, connected by paved paths. Two have plenty of trees for shade; the other is more open. I give the park 5-stars! From there we went north to the dam and circled back to return south to Oregon along the east side of the Coulee. This entire area is full of unique and stunning geologic features, if you enjoy that sort of thing. On the return trip we stopped at the amazing Palouse Falls. We hope to return, this year, to the more eastern portion of the Scablands - the Palouse, on our way north to Idaho and Montana - this time with our Ollie! We were there the end of September, middle of the week. As you can see, it wasn't crowded and the weather was gorgeous. A view of the campgrounds from atop Steamboat Rock. We had some amazing sunsets just outside our campsite

Living in the cloudy-wintered northern latitudes on the wet coast I see going with this scenario for part of my camping year. I'm hoping that the 400ah factory lithium option on hull #709 will mostly suffice for me though I did get a generator for topping off if needed on longer winter outings. I don't want to feel compelled to top off daily though but would rather run a reasonable daily deficit in the wet season here in the PNW.

It's a lovely Easter Sunday here in the southeastern part of Virginia.

Smart kids! Happy Easter everyone!

It's always best to do what the wife says 😇

That's part of the beauty of lithium. Not only is it ok to run with partial state of charge, it's recommended for battery life to NOT top off to 100 per cent every day, by most manufacturers. (Totally the opposite with lead acid.) 400 mostly usable ah would give me days of camping, even with the electric fridge, with our habits. For you, with a three-way fridge on gas, and moderate use, much more. Solar can possibly offset some, even on cloudy days .

Not a VPN, but it acts like a really strong ad blocker - doesn't reveal anything to web sites, accept cookies, keep track of history, etc.

Since it's Safari, I'm going to guess that the problem is either a content blocker or private browsing. I just tried logging in with a private window and got the same email, but no issue with a regular window.

I'll pass this along to the admin. This may be related to the new "member+" group. Notice that your username now shows in bold lettering. Sorry for the inconvenience. Is everything else working ok for you on the forum ?

Don’t know, strong competition from this version -

Susan, I thinkthat would work in an Elite. I'd just hang the suction hook from the ceiling, as we don't have the cabinet over the window. (I have a hand towel ring hanging from the ceiling most days, and it works fine.)

Here's one that I LOVE everytime I park the trailer: It's a bubble level that I mounted on the face of my basket so I can see it from inside my TV via my backup camera. Makes leveling the trailer (side-to-side) almost a one person operation (except I still need my partner to shove the Anderson wedges under the tires before I let the brakes off.) I did seal the backside of the tubes with epoxy per a suggestion from (I think) John Davies a few years ago. https://www.amazon.com/Camco-25563-AccuLevel/dp/B000EDUTOA/ref=asc_df_B000EDUTOA/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312128189269&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12342072316441648381&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9008247&hvtargid=pla-448524087016&psc=1

No trailer can be everything for everybody. Everything in life is a compromise. The Oliver niche is well established. A very high quality, durable, exceptionally nice looking, easy to maintain, all weather trailer for folks than can afford it. The market is the same for Airstream which has been doing well for many, many years and I suspect will continue to do so even though their quality is lacking. If Oliver is going to expand their product line, they should in fact just make a larger version which will satisfy the younger crowd that have kids and the oldsters that simply want the "best-of-the-best". I expect this is a much larger demographic than those that want an offroad, backcountry capable version (which I personally think are pretty cool myself).

Yes . . . . I've done that on a couple of issues. . . . . the system works well.

The area is in the heart of the Scablands of central Washington and an oasis for migratory birds. Potholes Coulee (NOT my picture!)... this area gets 8” of rain, so without irrigation there would be nothing here but sagebrush and rattle snakes: This is a typical WA state park, nicely laid out, over crowded and a little seedy because of long term lack of funding. We booked three nights ($35 full hookup, including sewer and decent 4 mbps camp wifi). There are primitive sites available but they are tightly packed, dusty, close to the very busy boat launch, and close to marshland (bugs and ticks). The CG swarms with families on the weekends, and lesser numbers of fishermen mid week. The lake is stocked with various game fish, and the area is crowded with fishing resorts. Many primitive camping spots like BLM and Dept of Wildlife are still shut down due to Covid-19, so we picked this location so we could explore the nearby wildlife refuges, looking especially for migrating Sandhill Cranes. Fishing: https://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/locations/lowland-lakes/potholes-reservoir. You can rough camp at any of the unimproved boat ramps, but they tend to be close to busy roads and crowded with fish folk. Not super relaxing, but free. Or you can book a spot at a number of RV resorts. There are a dozen or so rough water access points in the surrounding wildlife refuges, they tend to be very lightly used by fishermen with very small craft, and rather remote. A lively ORV area is located at the north end of the reservoir close to the city of Moses Lake, much of it is off limits during bird nesting season, but from July through September it is wide open sand paddle mayhem. If you want to tool around in your 4wd truck, air down and be sure to wear an appropriate flag if you get off the main routes..... https://www.grantcountywa.gov/SHERIFF/SpecOps/ORV/ Thirsday night the park was half full and dead quiet, by Friday night it had filled up and hordes of young people circulated on ebikes and screamed at each other. Arriving parents tooted their ahoohgah or locomotive airhorns (!!!) to announce their arrival, and set up their party spots. Social distancing and masks were notably absent. We spent a couple of mornings looking for birds and wandering the isolated and rough gravel roads and sandy tracks. No camping allowed in any of the cool remote spots.... We had our two labradoodles along, usually they stay at home. We discovered a vast number of juvenile ticks on them after one hike along a marshy area.... Oh joy. My newly installed iPad Mini BSMS aka battery/ solar monitoring station worked great, but it definitely needed to be powered down at night: This is not turning out to be the greatest of trips, but I really enjoy driving the remote back country. The higher spots, such as lookout towers, are still snowed in under many feet, so a desert destination works best this early in the season. John Davies Spokane WA

Man, I feel like I've made some version of that post 50 times. Probably have. I need a new schtick.

We've done three of the 'classic' overland trails since we've gotten our Ollie, and driven each keeping the trailer in mind and whether we could have taken it. The answer in all three cases was mostly no, but never would the suspension have been the limiting factor. On the White Rim Trail, tougher tires would have been needed, but that's irrelevant since the trailer is too long - you'd never make the switchbacks. El Camino del Diablo - tires on the lava section, but the real limits are width and sand. It can also be super muddy at the wrong time of year. That's probably the most borderline trail you could do. If you went slow, did some recon, took good sand mats and an extra spare, and are OK buffing out scratches from palo verde, I think you could do it. Actually portions of that "trail" are a joke (as are the videos of people acting like it's some huge three-day adventure). It was a 4-hour trip for us, though granted we were flying - the border patrol keep some sections super wide and smooth as glass. On the Mojave Trail, the limit is sand, and lots of it in some sections, or mud on the lake bed, if it's rained. I think there's a really steep section, too, that we never found. All the other trails that we went down in Mojave are sandy, but not 4WD sandy; so, easily done with an Ollie in tow, if you're just looking to camp out in the nowhere. And even the Mojave Trail, if it's dry and you want to take your Ollie out on the playa for some instagram photos, no issue. Bring a dog. Playa, trailer, labrador - Instagram? Instagold! Kill me. And I've been on other bad trails and never once has outright clearance been the concern. Even with smaller tires, the trailer has better clearance than most trucks. And if it's bumpy, you just go slower. I think these big suspensions on some trailers is little more than eye candy for offroad nerds. That's not to say that the trailer couldn't benefit from a somewhat softer suspension, which of course requires some additional clearance. But that's a tradeoff, since the softer the ride, the less stable the trailer becomes on the highway. Perhaps a combination of a softer suspension with a few more inches of clearance, plus an anti sway bar, would be the right solution. But, I personally don't see that as a special 'overland' package or anything. I think that it would benefit every trailer and is just something that Oliver should fix. And they should do it in an Oliver way, which would be practical and functional rather than just looking so. All that applies to the Elite 2. If you've got an Elite 1, flip the axle, put on some AT tires, and go. Take pictures. Just don't get mad at me when you get the bill for airlifting your Ollie off a switchback.

I think it's really a tough decision for people, today, trying to complete that build sheet. Back in 2008, we were absolutely delighted to have TWO batteries, instead of the usual one,for trailers our size, in our Oliver. On a sliding tray, no less. It's also easy to get caught up in the dream, and add more than you will ever want or need. And, it's hard to weigh future cost, and advances, on new tech. One thing is certain, everything changes. Like BoB, we may just stay with AGM when our latest set dies. I don't know yet. Paul has this idea to build lifepo4 from cells, for the boat house bank. It will need replacement batteries before the trailer, I'm sure. We'll see what we do. That's at least a year off. The biggest advantage for lifepo4 is weight, on the boat. And, no maintenance. As we get older, passing 70+ pounds each of battery across the gangplank (and water) gets more difficult, and risky. I'm much more comfortable with the 30 pounds or less weight of lithium equivalents. The good news is, latest charger/inverters and controllers can deal with most any kind of battery chemistry. So, we're just trying to second guess/future-proof as best as we can. Learn as we go, and keep life as simple as possible.

One more tiny project before we take the trailer to Hudson on Monday is complete. While I was checking the thermocouples, and cleaning and polishing the stainless SMEV cooktop yesterday (I like Ceramabryte stainless polish), I noticed the spiders/grates were getting some rust spots on the underside. I braved the holiday traffic to get some odd size nuts and bolts for Paul at Ace today, and picked up some high heat spray paint. While I was gone, Paul prepped the spiders for paint. It's matte, instead of the original glossy, but I kind of prefer the look--like super skinny wrought iron. Should help keep the old SMEV in good shape for a number of years. (I'll work on the little bits of rust on the hinges this summer on a rainy day. White vinegar is really good to loosen surface rust, I've found.)

I think it's just typical business hours, M-F 9-5

So true . . . . with average solar exposure, and 400w of Zamp panels, how many ah can you expect to recover with conservative amp draw during the day? The primary factor in the equation is not how much battery capacity you have, but rather how many ah your solar panels will supply. Unless you plan to run solely from battery with no solar; having more more available battery ah determines how long the batteries will sustain you before needing to be recharged, either by generator or shore power. There are so many variables, especially in your electrical demands. Initially it is helpful to keep some record; I would be nice if the system had a means to do this for you. I want to enjoy the trip and not waste time monitoring and maintaining spreadsheets. That is one of the things I left behind when I retired 😊

That also depends. There are people who prefer to just depend on battery, then go marina to marina, or park to park, to recharge. Those of us (like you and me), who depend on solar, see things very differently. I, too, think 340 watts is anemic for 630 ah lithium. But, I know of a guy building a mostly electric boat with 1500 ah of battery, and 300 watts solar. It depends on your goals. And everything else.

I'd think a better option for pee would be to just buy an extra bottle. But we've never found disposal to be difficult. With the kitchen water, aren't you just trading one yucky tank for another? Or realistically, adding a second one? Personally, I think the fewer things to keep clean the better. I still think the best use of the black tank is to cut it out for storage space. No regrets here.

I don't remember where I bought this as we've had it for several years. Hung on the face of the Elite II bathroom cabinet with a suction cup hook, It is perfect for drying small items. When not in use, it collapses into a small size and stores in the bathroom cabinet. Not sure this would work in an Elite.