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I am a retired lawyer. I concur with John Davies' statement. In contrast to the "recommended" language in your Ram 3500 owner's manual, my 2019 Tundra owner's manual states that for trailers over 5K lbs., weight distributing hitches are "required." From a legal standpoint, the difference between those two words is huge. As an illustration, if I failed to use a weight distributing hitch on my Tundra when towing an Elite II, I would expect that failure to be considered negligence per se. As a result, I would likely be held liable, per se, in an accident where I lost control of the vehicle/trailer. If you choose not to use a weight distributing hitch with your Ram 3500, any plaintiff seeking to prove that your decision to not use a weight distributing hitch was negligent would be looking up a very "steep cliff." Night and day difference in a courtroom. If I had a Ram 3500, I would not use a weight distributing hitch towing an Oliver Elite II.

Hello Richard - We just sold our 30’ Airstream Flying Cloud and purchased an Oliver LE II. Unfortunately, it won’t be ready until March 2023. A few points to share. First, tongue weight. Are you saying your Airstream has a 1,000 pound tongue weight? Our trailer had a GVWR of 8800 pounds and 10% would have put us at 880, we never got a over 600 on the 30’ trailer. I am looking forward to a lighter tongue weight though my truck can handle more than an Oliver can throw at it. Second, wet bath. 4 years ago I wanted an Oliver and my wife couldn’t get past the wet bath so we went to Airstream, After more than 400 nights (we full-timed for a year) she was frustrated with the lack of insulation in the trailer. We joked it was a 2-season trailer. She wanted a 4 season trailer. While browsing through a travel magazine she saw an Oliver ad and asked, did you know Olivers were 4 season trailers? LoL - we sold our Airstream in 10 days. She now embraces the wet bath, and as @Mike and Carolmentioned, cleanest place in the trailer! Lastly, the fridge. @Kirk Peterson mentioned having a second portable fridge in the truck. We plan to do that as well. However, the 2023 models will have the Isotherm AC/DC fridge (no propane) which is a 4.5 cu ft model and is actually very roomy. This is the same model in the Kimberly travel trailers and my brother has one on his 41’ Cruisers Yacht and loves it. After full-timing for over a year, we don’t think it will be an issue. Hope this helps a little. Welcome to the forums! There are so many people here with much more knowledge and experience than I have and they are always willing to help. Brian

"Recommended" and "Required" are two entirely different things. It's similar to an engine should use 91 octane for best performance but it is fine with 87 octane. It is up to you to decide, but personally I think it would be crazy to use an Andersen hitch with your heavy duty truck. Any decent defense lawyer would immediately show that your Ollie is perfectly fine with a dead weight hitch. I do recommend that you make sure your tires and brakes are always in good shape. That will have more effect on any possible accidents than the kind of hitch you are using. Your English is fine.... John Davies Spokane WA

Hi everyone, We’re from Eastern Canada and new owners of an Elite 2, #1120 and towing with a RAM 3500 Laramie Diesel, SRW 2022. We are snowbirds, and we travel, each winter, across USA for 6 months and we just downsized from a 35 foot Fifth wheel to an Oliver. We read many topics on towing and the WDH required or not and noticed that most of the owners of 3/4 or 1 ton trucks do not used the WDH. When i look in my RAM owner manual, they « recommend when towing a trailer over 5k pounds, to use a WDH « . I know that » recommended « is not « required » but i would like to have your opinion or advice on the liability in case of an accident that we can be involved in USA if we are not using the WDH when RAM recommended to use it? I know that it will depends on how a lawyer will present the case…… but we are struggling if we’re gone a use it or not! Sorry if there are typo, i’m french Canadians! Thanks in advance for your advice. Roger,

@Katjo, I assume your question concerns longer term storage. I recall your trailer has Lithionics batteries. LiFePOH do not need to be kept charged up like AGM’s. From what I’ve read on this forum, Lithionics batteries have a switch that can be turned OFF, therefore no parasitic draws to deplete your batteries. Consult your manual for details.

All Olivers are weighed at the factory prior to delivery and the numbers for any particular Oliver are posted on a required tag (usually on the driver's side aft of the marker lights. Having said this - most Elite II's will weigh just shy of 5,000 pounds and the hitch weights will be just shy of 490 pounds. With two 3,500 pound axles the result is that most Elite II's will have a load capacity (which includes anything you put in the tanks - fresh water, grey water, and black) right around 2,000 pounds. Fully loaded for a two month trip to include tow full 20 pound propane tanks my twin bed Elite II weighs just a tad over 6,000 pounds. But, certainly we have owners that push that 7,000 maximum weight very hard and others that consistently tow just below the 5,000 mark. No, the fridge size is fixed due to the molds used in forming the fiberglass. However, as Kirk says above, there are a number of owners who carry an extra fridge in the tow vehicle.. I'm certainly more like Mike and Carol in that I can store more than enough food in the fridge to last at least a couple of weeks. As Mike says above - the wet bath is really no big deal unless you are well above what one might call "normal" size. Good luck. Bill

We were a bit wary of the wet bath as well, but it is no big deal. We don’t mind it at all, shower then squeegee and wipe a little with a small towel and done. Cleanest place in the trailer. We find that we can pack the fridge with enough food for at least a couple of weeks or more. When we’re out for over a month we stop by area grocery stores, need to do that for fresh stuff anyway. There are quite a few full timing Oliver owners. Maybe a few will chime in. Mike

Everyone, I received an email from Winegard indicating the availability of a new firmware version following an announcement in August. It is purported to improve the web user interface and enhance the SkyPro functionality. As many of you know, the WiFiRanger has limited use for most of us who don't have seasonal campsites at campgrounds that offer sufficient bandwidth to support potential users. I will be installing the update and will update this thread with my thoughts about the web user interface and any significant changes I discover.

Hi all, we currently have a 2016 Airstream 26U rear twin and our TV is a 2016 VW Touareg TDI, it’s a great tow VH. However, we have only been camping around Ontario (Canada) and want to go semi-full-time when I retire in 2 1/2 years. The Touareg tows like a champ but we are at the upper limits for payload and hitch/tongue weight (1000lbs) with the Airstream. I see the tongue weight of the Legacy Elite II is listed at "approx." 490lbs. I have always loved the clean looks and quality of the Oliver and it was our number 1 pick when we bought the Airstream, however what pushed us towards the Airstream was the dry bath and large fridge. So now that we are revisiting options to downsize from the Airstream the Oliver is again on our radar, our only concern still is the small fridge (when we full time) and wet bath! Any suggestions from full time couples on how you make it work with the small fridge, is it possible to install a larger fridge? Also very important, If anyone has actually weighed their Legacy Elite II twin beds, please share, I’d love to know what are real world numbers are? Thanks! Richard

I’ve towed my Elite II with four trucks. A 2012 Toyota Tacoma (supercharged), a 2016 Ram 1500, a 2020 Ram Rebel and now a 2020 Ram 2500 Diesel. The first three were all with the Andersen WDH. When I got the 2500 the WDH was sold. We’ve towed about 20K miles without the WDH. The 2500 definitely does not need any weight distribution assistance. As far as sway, there has been none. If I had a 3500 I wouldn’t even think about a WDH. Mike

If you have 12 volt batteries, they are in parallel. How many do yo have and what kind? Brian

I absolutely agree and nicely said. I've used a Calmark cover for the past 6 winters on my Oliver without any issues. I believe that many of the problems that people have with RV covers is that they can be ill fitting and/or improperly installed. Since the CalMark is specifically designed to fit the Oliver it does not "flap" in the wind (thus possibly chaffing the finish) the usual problems that owners have with covers are avoided. In addition, if the owner cares for the cover - cleaning it as recommended - and only covers the Oliver when the Ollie is clean to start with problems are severely mitigated. Certainly if I had a a reasonable alternative - such as a garage - I would use it versus any fabric cover. But, from my experience, the CalMark cover certainly does beat (hands down) simply leaving any RV subject to the full whims of nature. Also, I would not agree that the Oliver Travel Trailer Company "often makes mistakes during the build". Yes, these people are indeed human and therefore do make mistakes. But, I certainly would not agree that these mistakes occur "often". Bill

Roger, I agree with @John E Davies and others here. As a former Law Enforcement officer, you should be more concerned with things like overloading, bald tires, lights not working, etc. If you are involved in an accident, regardless of fault, Law Enforcement and your insurance company will look at those things, especially an improperly loaded trailer. US Law Enforcement is sometimes more reactive than proactive when it comes to trailers but I have seen many accidents where the trailers were grossly overweight and had other faulty equipment and the operators were cited heavily if not taken into custody (in the case of injury or fatality). With your experience towing a 5th Wheel and your 3500 truck, you should be more than prepared. You won’t even know the Ollie is back there. Hope to see you on the road sometime. Travel Safe! Brian

Are you sure you are reading your specs correctly? 5,000 lbs seems like a very low number for a 3500 (1 ton) truck. My F-250 SRW (a 3/4 ton) can tow up to 12,600 lbs without requiring a WDH per the specs in the Ford towing guide for my truck.

Welcome, Richard We have Hull#996, twin beds, optional aluminum tray on the tongue and the standard ceramic toilet. The only thing we use the tray for is to store chocks and hoses. As full-timers we are pretty well loaded up and sit at 6800 lbs with a 675 lb tongue weight. We started our journey after many trips to the CAT scales to make sure we were legal. We are just below our truck's GVWR, by 150 lbs, after taking 120 lbs out every time we travel and putting in the Oliver, which takes the Oliver to 6700 lbs. And that's with empty tanks! But with everything we need including a full fridge and pantry. That does leave us the opportunity to fill the fresh water tank before heading into boondocking territory. Pretty much we now have to get rid of something to get something. I think you will be getting the newer 2 way fridge. We have the 3 way and, although small, it suits our needs. We saw the 2 way at a demo during the Oliver rally this year and saw the size of the freezer in that unit. We did not like it for sure....way to small for us. So I would definitely be in the market for a portable freezer. Then again, we full time. You might not need the room. When we started looking at buying a trailer, the wet bath was a no-go for us but we couldn't find a dry bath trailer to suit us. I found the bigger trailers were nice but we would need a bigger truck. We gave up looking for a while and then started looking at fiberglass. Long story, we bought a new Casita, with the wet bath of course, and just hoped it would be ok. The Casita bath is quite a bit smaller than the Oliver. We were definitely fine with it and I laugh at myself now for so much worrying about it. Don't hold me to this but I think you would get your investment back should you decide you can't live with it. Best of luck with your decision. John

Hello and welcome Richard! We have an Elite 2 on order for an early December delivery. We have had other campers. It has always been easy for us to keep a portable 12V fridge in the truck. We have an ARB Element and it has worked perfectly. We also have a small Dometic fridge we have used on occasion for a freezer. Good luck, Kirk

Welcome! See this post from earlier today with specific weights. Truck Tow Rating Explained

I'll do the same,,if we think we'll hit iffy weather. I love to cook outside, but not in rain, snow, or heat.😏 I freeze chili or gumbo, and it lasts in the fridge for a week. Keeps us going,,on cold nights

This is not campsite cooking but recently we have been camping when it was in the upper 90s and didn't feel like cooking. We have a trip coming up next week so I have been cooking and putting up meals in meal prep containers and freezing them, individual containers. Made meatloaf, pork tenderloin and navy beans so far. I think this will help.

We just did our first CAT scale weigh in this past weekend. I've attached a pic of a spreadsheet I use to see what was going on. Where does all this weight come from LOL! We do not use a WD hitch, given that our vehicle does not need it as defined by the Ford's RV and Towing spec sheets. Finding this fine print is not the easiest thing to do!

Just made a weight sheet from our visit to a CAT scales today. Have about 75 pounds of food & clothing to add in the TV back seat area before the next trip. This is how I like to be sure we're under maximum weights.

We have the newer lighter weight cover from Calmark which we purchased from Oliver last summer. It is easier for two people naturally with ladders to install the cover. It’s not difficult but it is not a quick on and quick off procedure either, there are some gymnastics involved 😅. We always install the cover on the curb side and sit it on the awning and unravel it from this point. Others may have a magical way, but this worked for us. We used it last winter for the first time when we winterized and stored our Ollie here at our home. We used foam pool noodles on the sharp angled corners to reduce wear and tear on the cover. Corners such as the solar panels, rear bumper, entry steps. We had no visible signs of scratching or marring of our Ollies finish at all. Naturally without a cover you will begin to see some dulling or oxidation of the gel coat and you will reeeeally need to stay ahead of that with waxing and buffing. With the price tag of new Olivers creeping up year after year, we opted to take the best possible care of our Ollies finish. That said and here is another option to the Calmark cover- Last Friday, July 29th after a lot of previous research, planning, and due diligence we had a custom built “RV port” or as we call it an “Ollie Hangar” built on our property in our backyard area and are very happy with the results. We used a local Mt Airy, North Carolina company called - steelbuidlingsandstructures.com This NC company is an engineered certified steel structure builder which meets and exceeds our State and County’s code requirements for wind and snow. It does exactly what we intend it to do- keep our Ollie out of the UV, and elements. The crew installed it in a day and a half so we feel it is well worth the investment for us. We also like the convenience of taking off in the winter months without wrestling with the cover standing on ladders and all the gymnastics that goes with it. This structure is fully covered by our homeowners policy, note - some policies do not cover out buildings. We have 30 amp shore power so no issues with battery maintenance. Just another option. “Ollie Hangar” located on Blueberry Hill Demenions - 13X25X11H “Back Stage” as we like to call it. 😅 Our home LED motion sensor lights put a lamp on our path for a few minutes when we walk out to the hangar.

We are in the process of locating qualified and reputable RV maintenance facilities across the country. The goal is to provide our owner's with outstanding service within reasonable distance. If you have had a good experience with a third-party maintenance shop, please let us know here so we can do additional research and add them to our database. Thanks!

I have a few question for those that have experience with the Calmark cover. We are considering purchasing one but I wonder how difficult is it to put on? We have the solar panels, does that make it trickier to pull the cover over them? With our previous fiberglass camper (AS Nest) we were advised by AS not to cover it as the covers can scratch the gel coat. Has anyone had any issues with the finish on the Oliver marring from having the cover on? Any other pros and cons/advice about it would be appreciated. Thank you

Are our 3 batteries parallel or series?

Like many others here, I have gone through many tow vehicle iterations with our Hull #050. A Tahoe, Sierra 1500, Silverado diesel 2500 and now a Silverado diesel 3500 SRW. We’ve never used a WDH (probably should have with the first two). I don’t know of any reason to have one with your big ole truck. The attorneys that weighed in are reassuring and my opinion is that you’ll be just fine without it. As far as your English is concerned, you’re doing great. I’d like to hear most of us trying French-Canadian!

Our “Ravel Trailer” collector cups 😂 sit fine and stable and were freebies and work great for coffee ☕️ or nectar of the Gods! 🍷

Lithionics are 12v., so certainly parallel. Parallel adds up the storage capacity (amp hours) , serial adds voltage (as in golf cart 6v batteries, wired first in pairs in series, then parallel with two pair .) All our systems are 12v in the Ollie, so that's the voltage goal. Glad you are trying to learn your system. Any other questions?

Thanks Brian!

Looking for the perfect fit containers for your Ollie’s garage storage? Here they are!!

The Oliver Trailer Company is not an ultimate authority, they often make mistakes during the build and they make very odd engineering decisions for no decernable reason, like the infamous 11/4" bike receiver.... The great thing about the Internet is you can go to a bunch of trailer forums, read reviews and comments from actual owners, and decide for yourself if the benefits outweigh all the negatives and increased labor. I would leave "Mouse" out in the open all winter before than I would a cloth cover on it. I am just very glad I don't have to... John Davies Spokane WA

Thanks John!

You never told us where you store the Ollie, beside your house? At a facility? If snow load is your concern and you only have one awning you can tilt the panel so snowfall will never accumulate, but you still will need to get it off the roof, so you don’t have to worry about freeze thaw cycles making destructive ice dams. https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/2791-how-to-solar-panel-extension-arms/ I have never done this where high winds might occur. I am not sure if it is any riskier than lying flat. A fixed outside shelter is by FAR a better long term solution, if you have a place for one and codes allow it. A fabric cover is the worst solution for many reasons, including how do you clean it properly, to remove destructive grit. It is a truly huge piece of material. Any dirt on the gel coat or inside the cover will cause scratches! I had one long ago and it gave me ulcers. 😬 Never again! John Davies Spokane WA

A forum member sent me a message yesterday requesting info on companies that do the window fog repair. I thought I'd post the details on the other two in this thread to help others looking in the future. Any comments from folks who have used either service would be appreciated. And, please add info for any other company you've used.

No and CalMark will not sew in clear panels or openings to allow the solar panels to do their thing. If you choose to have a cover your choices are either to remove the batteries and store them elsewhere^ or get shore power to where you store the Ollie, or, use a small (25 to 50 watt) solar panel to charge the batteries - assuming of course that this small panel can get sun. Bill edit: ^ of course this pertains to either lead acid or AGM's. Other choices are (perhaps) possible for lithium batteries.

No, I would not clear coat it. Given the wear and tear the hitch gets you are probably going to need to give it a shot of paint every couple of years anyway. Having said this, I would not paint the hitch black in the first place. A black hitch is difficult to see when using those rear cameras in most vehicles today. This is particularly true if the road surface is dark. For the past several years I've used Rust Oleum hammered silver on the front part of the hitch and Krylon satin black on the rear portion. Bill

I wanted to update this thread with some additional information that a couple of us have uncovered. I got a call from Richard Weare earlier this summer when he was having trouble connecting the WiFiranger units to his home WiFi. This was an Oliver that he purchased used from someone who hadn't use the WiFiranger at all. He and I worked through the basics, but he was having issues with connecting to his internet provider. After resolving that issue he was able to upgrade to a newer version of the firmware, but not the latest. Winegard's support org indicated that he had an older version of the SkyPro and it would not support their newer version of the firmware. I had already upgraded my SkyPro 2 to the very latest. The SkyPro is really the most important piece of the solution for extending the range to a campground's Wi-Fi. The latest version of firmware is 7.1.0b12.

Those are terrific (and high quality) fans but they most likely won't last very long, they were never intended for a wet environment. I used one in the bottom of my battery box for cross ventilation, I added drain holes to the hub, so water won’t pool inside and screw up the bearings or freeze, and sealed the wires. The Fridge Defend fans are moisture resistant and have proven to hold up well in this exposed location. https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/5301-how-to-lithium-battery-powered-vent-system/ John Davies Spokane WA

Yes I did, I capped and sealed it. On hull #797, it was a resettable breaker just like on @John Davies. I sent Jason Essary an email, because I wasn’t sure where the wire was located. See the following….. Q: Is the 7 Pin tow connector plug charge wire connected to the batteries? If so, where exactly is that connection made? I've been advised that OTT disconnects the charge wire on the lithium solar options, but don't know that is a fact, or if it is also not connected on the standard solar packages. A: If you ordered the camper with AGM batteries then the charge wire is connected to the auto resettable breaker under the street side bed access panel. It is the breaker to the right of the Optifuse and has a red rubber cap. One connection should be a pink wire for the safety breakaway and the black wire should be the 7-pin charge wire. If you are installing lithium then we do recommend to disconnect the charge wire but they may be dependent on the lithium batteries you get. I have had one lithium battery manufacturer tell me that they were okay leaving it connected. In the photo attached, the breaker and terminal are shown as it came from the factory. The breaker you are looking for is the lower one in the photo. The upper one is the auto-reset breaker from the Zamp solar controller, which you won’t have. FWIW I have on my future mod list the Redarc DC-DC converter that JD reported on. So far I haven’t needed it, but I may some day.

I just spoke to Dick, one of the owners at KTT, he said if you are having issues and are unhappy to call them and they will get you information on how to get the covers repaired or replaced. Brian

Amen. Just like overloading your tow vehicle, failure to use a WDH when your TV owner's manual says it is "required" is negligence per se. Make sure both your tow vehicle and your travel trailer are well insured!

The lawyer at the end of the video explains "Negligence Per Se" or Negligence in and of itself.... Makes the case for being very careful about loading and using the proper equipment. If you are required to use a WDH and you don't use one.... and get involved in a lawsuit. I don't even want to think of the consequences.

I don't get a lot of snow in eastern Washington and it usually melts away during the day but I wonder if it helps if putting one those heating cable on the roof beneath the cover. Of course you would need access to shore power.

@Katjo, I know you're in Michigan, but I don't know where. You might want to talk with @dewdev or @Mainiac, both in Maine, plenty of snow. Pretty sure both store their trailers outside. Snow melts pretty fast, usually, on the darker faces of solar panels. I'd be more worried about snow load and freeze/thaw at roof penetrations. What's your average winter snow accumulation? I have a friend in Iowa who stored hers outside for a few years, without issue. We winter in Florida, so the most snow accumulation we've seen is a few inches, early winter camping. The folks in the northern latitudes can tell you much more.

This is the URL for the new Wi-Fi Ranger firmware https://wifiranger.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/WFR-User-Manual-710b11-09152021.pdf

One additional item to post about the WiFiranger configuration. Remember that if you leave your WiFiranger hardware on at night and are bothered by the status LEDs, there is a configuration option to turn off the LEDs in the Advanced Tab for the configuration. After you change the settings, you will need to reboot the device via the menu or power off/on the device before it takes effect. Warning, never power off the WiFiranger while the configuration is being saved.

Bill, I couldn't agree more about realistic expectations for bandwidth availability of campground Wi-Fi. You know there is a "head end" issue when your performance from the Wi-Fi is better outside of peak hours. Our experience with the Cell booster has definitely been positive. Now on to my update. So here are my preliminary results. First and foremost, you will need to ticket opened with WiFiranger to allow them to evaluate whether the older units, 2019 and before, are able to be upgraded to 7.1... firmware. They will ask for the ID of the unit. This a six digit ID numbers in the top right hand corner of the WiFiranger control panel. They will let you know if you can proceed and point your "Check for Update" link to the correct location in their cloud infrastructure. From here, I can share my experience which was successful. First, when we have our Oliver at home, my WiFiranger will automatically connect via Wi-Fi to my home broadband. I can access the control panel using the local hostname in the URL of Firefox, mywifranger.com on my laptop while connected to the Wi-Fi network I created for my Oliver LEII. The URL mywifiranger.com resolves and redirects your browser to your WiFiranger IP address. If the WiFiranger is connected to a network, it will establish a connection to the WiFiranger cloud and prompt you to Check for Updates. When you select check for updates after WiFiranger support has made their changes, the Check for Update allow you to upgrade to the new firmware. Firefox screen pushed the old menu down the screen and after I pressed the Check for updates link. It reappeared showing the link to the new firmware. When you click on the upgrade, you will be prompted to permit the upgrade to continue. The SkyPro and Core will be upgraded. The upgrade of the SkyPro finished and I received an error when the Core upgrade was about 45 percent complete. The message indicated a version mismatch and the installation aborted. Sometimes mismatches are to be expected with two devices are involved so I tried several more times and finally started receiving an error saying insufficient internet bandwidth. I updated my ticket and then tried using my iPhone tethered to the Core. After about an hour of waiting for a response from support and a lot of wasted time trying to work with the tethered iPhone, I just took a break. About 30 minutes later I accessed the WiFiranger control panel and it showed the upgrade was completed successfully. I posted the update to the ticket and waited for support to respond. They haven’t. I spent some time testing and looking at the software menus. They have simplified the menus and removed some of the confusion. I haven’t noticed any speed improvements.

Can't wait to hear how this update goes. I've always thought that the "old" interface was unduly complicated for most users. As a side note referring to the quote above: I've mentioned several times before that the WiFi booster is problematic when used in a typical campground setting due to the (usual) limited bandwidth of the system that the particular campground is using. However, I've learned that while on the road, the booster is very useful to me in that I can pull into virtually any fast food joint parking lot or Walmart or Lowes or Home Depot or small town library or ....... and not even have to get out of my truck in order to send/receive emails. If you don't have a cellphone or are trying to save cellphone expense, these WiFi boosters are great when used in this manner. Bill