Leaderboard

I haven’t posted for some time but felt I should share a couple of things I’ve done since my last post. I’ve shared that I’m a caregiver, but now full time, for my wife who’s now in late stage Alzheimer’s. Our 2022 Elite I makes it possible for travel still, otherwise it would just be impossible. Since she can’t help in anyway getting prepared and on trips, I’m always looking for ways to make it easier on us. Her mobility has also worsened and though having our toilet with us is a must, it has proved more difficult for her with this loss of mobility. I installed handles and new raised seats on our home toilets at the recommendation of an occupational therapist. Today I installed LianJindun Toilet Safety Rails around the Ollie Toilet. I had us do a test sit down and I could not believe how much easier it was for her and me too. Never thought I could be so excited about toilet rails, but with this disease, you learn to appreciate those little victories. After seeing more notes on the Forum about Lagun table use, I installed one so that she can remain in bed each morning and have her breakfast as mornings are generally difficult. It also provides great counter and prep space and we can both use it. I had new mattresses made last fall by Southern Mattress Co in Rocky Mount NC and they are just like the ones on our beds at home. They split them so I can use them as a full bed or as we do now a single across the back for her an one on the side for me. The Lagun allows us to just leave them in place an use as couches. In the photos, it shows it used with the full bed and the single bed across the back while by girl has her breakfast. Again, the mattresses are from this Forum. I also built from scrap lumber a prototype “loading and storage cart”. Almost all gear I carry on trips that I load into my Subaru Ascent fits on the cart. I wheel it out to load and when back home unload and push it back in. I also purchased a great dolly/cart from DOD that I use for anything else, protecting the old back. This sure has speeded up loading and unloading and made it so much easier. Sadly, I had to cancel our Rally reservations a few months ago as it has just become increasingly difficult for us to take part in the activities. I will miss it. I hope everyone there has a great time. Regards, Ron

For those who could not make it to the rally. Here are some Apex shots up close. I had very little time to slow down at the rally and dig in deep into the Apex, but here are some very quick shots under the dinette and driver's side bunk, dust and all. Also attaching some exterior pics, including the single 48v Ecoflow battery. Sorry I don't have better info. EchoFlow 48v Battery https://us.ecoflow.com/products/lfp-battery-for-48v-system?variant=40520684765257

We just had a freeze last night. My preparations were: turn on the "antifreeze" function for the water, disconnect the hose (we currently have fresh water hookups), "argue" with wife about the setting on the heater (she prefers 62, I prefer 60). EZPZ In my previous post I ignored a "feature" of the Ollie that I have found MUCH more challenging over the last 2.5 years: the CO alarm under the table. The Ollie seals up so tight that you could easily not use the heater on many freezing nights. Body heat is absolutely trapped. It's the perfect tent. So perfect, that certain gases accumulate and alarms get triggered. 😂 So, venting is required. Too much and you might as well be outside. Especially if it's raining. Too little and alarms will wake you up repeatedly. Last night we got it just right: Max air vent open, but off; heater ran intermittently, but never labored, no alarms. Comfort and safety. Check.

With a tandem axle trailer and a heavy truck you can have a catastrophic trailer tire failure and not even know it. You won't feel it. With the TPMS you know right away and can start reacting, minimizing damage to your rim and trailer and reducing overloading of the remaining tire on that side. That's what happened to us. Our TPMS went off and we got away with only a broken mud flap and cosmetic damage because we stopped with most of the tire still on the rim. You could also have a fast leak from road debris. It could go flat without you feeling it, then chew itself to bits on the rim before you knew you had a problem. Our TPMS also alerted us to a catastrophic trailer brake failure. One wheel started running much hotter than normal. We pulled over and heard noise from that wheel. Turned out the brake assembly had come apart inside the drum. So, yes, I consider TPMS a crucial safety feature.

I have been following along without anything to add, but I now have a few thoughts. The fresh water overflow discharge port is, in the words of Google: So it looks like a 2 piece fitting that requires access to the inside and outside of the hull to install, service or remove. So the next step requires a modification to the floor below the bottom drawer below the sink. This picture of the area below the sink without the drawers in place. The blue square surrounds a cutout in the rear wall that OTT provided for access to the refrigerator 120V outlet. The red square surrounds a cutout in the floor that I made with a router, using the walls as a guide. This access was needed for a prior plumbing modification. It may also provide access to the freshwater overflow port that would be needed for the installation, removal or repair. Both of the access ports are normally covered with a thin piece of plywood. My MOP for sanitizing the freshwater tank in hull 193, begins by mixing several ounce of chorine or a quart of hydrogen peroxide in a 5 gallon water jug and using the boondocking port to pump it into the freshwater tank. I then fill the tank using a hose at the freshwater fill bib. I am generally in the area of the Ollie while doing the sanitation job, but I do not monitor the amount of water going in, I just wait for it to overflow. And I do use a pressure regulator set to 40 lbs. whenever connecting a hose to the freshwater tank or city water bibs. Mossey

Yes, for sure anything prolonged at 32 degrees is 4 season and I'm not interested. For us the 4th season is - go south young man, go south - a little farther, perhaps. Now to be clear, we have spent a few nights in freezing temps at elevation (10,000) and all was fine and toasty. As we are outdoors folks, and generally the really cold temps preclude outdoors - usually. I'll take a south Fla beach, or the Texas gulf over the snow and cold any day. Waking up at 30 degrees, in a tent in Yellowstone was great. It's better in the Ollie, trust me.

Bandit’s Roost COE Wilkesboro NC, we like the lake and mountain drives, too.

I can see OTT not wanting to facilitate private sales of used Olivers. It's not a good business model. On a personal basis, we're never buying or selling another Oliver, so who cares? I would think this is true for most of us. The Oliver is a life trailer that most of us buy once and keep in the family. What would be helpful is a classified section for unused Oliver parts. I've sold my Calmark cover, sold my bike rack, sold my original 2KW Xantrex, all just from slight mentions in my mod posts. But it took 2 years to do so and an Oliver Parts sales section would be great (not a vendor space, just for owners). I'm not using our Andersen 2 5/16" WDH or brand new Nev-R Lube hubs. See, I did it again. I want a solid aluminum front basket that somebody here took off to add a locked/covered case. If you've owned an Oliver for more than a couple of years, we all have stuff sitting on the shelf.

Daisy Barn campground just outside of Niagara Falls

Final day in Yellowstone. It has been a great trip. Spent the last week in Slough Creek Campground in the northeast section of the park. Wildlife has been sparse outside of Bison and Pronghorn. 9 days off grid and Ollie did even better then expected. Running the inverter all day during the week to power laptop and Starlink (I know I need to do the DC mod) for work. Batteries are at 70% still (we have had sun most days). And fresh water at 40% with showers every other day! We have been very pleased. @jd1923 Crowds have been pretty good. I have not been here in summer for the peak but traffic has been easy (minus Bison jams of course). The major attractions on the weekends get busy between 11-3pm. But outside those windows they slow down. After 5 parking lots a near empty. We pulled into Old Faithful area on a Thursday 15 mins before she was due to erupt and walked right in and got a seat on the bench. Lots and Lots of international tourists. We had fairy falls all to ourselves for about 30 mins on a Friday.

Still heading towards rally. Visited Yellowstone and Grand Teton , now in Custer SD. site at Legion Lake CG

2026 Maine Trip - Sunset Point Campground - Lubec, Maine. The West Quaddy Lighthouse Beautiful Scenery during our Hikes \ Quick Trip to Eastport for the afternoon Campobello Island - NB This time we took our passports FDR summer home Short stop over in White Mountains of New Hampshire Cog Train - Mount Washington Alittle bit Windy at the Summit Shawna relaxing in the clouds This was our second trip to Lubec Maine and our first exploring New Hampshire on the way up and back. We are already planning our 2027 trip.

Picked up our Apex two weeks ago and have been in it every night - so far, so good. We planned to spend 3 weeks straight to learn and work out any bugs (very minimal issues so far) Pros - A dream to tow & bike mount has been solid/Eco flow display easier to learn that anticipated/battery re-charge amazingly fast/Houghton AC quiet and have ran all appliances (simultaneously) and some “faux” boondocking on the 48 volt DC system w/ no issues. It has been wonderful to arrive at the campsite with 98% battery every time. Overall love the attention to detail and quality of the design. Dinette cushions (backs) could be improved and wished they would have included the solar suitcase connection. Cons: Black/Gray tank indicators don't really warn you of a full tank, but the toilet gurgling and the shower backing up are sure indicators 🙂 I haven’t attempted filling the fresh water tank yet (to be honest I am intimidated by the multiple valves under the bed - wish they were labeled but thankful for the poster size diagrams on the compartment cover. Our background: Previous tent camper, then a Casita circa 2000s, and Airstream owner. So far impressed with the Oliver overall operation (Airstream could learn from Hohenwald orientation and pick up) and while tempted by the new Casita double axle trailer (significant price difference) the Apex is a well designed trailer and we have no regrets.

Could someone attending the upcoming 2026 Oliver Rally ask the Oliver folks: Now that Oliver is back to only selling from their facilities in TN (no retail RV companies), can the Classified section be reopened on the forum to allow used Oliver's to be advertised there,

I have created a Google My Map of known Oliver owner rallies as well as a link to the fiberglass RV Map maintained by another. For that external map, see the RED star icon in the Atlantic ocean. It will take you to the google map for general fiberglass rallies for 2027. The map I created is a private map, and only those with the link will be able to find it. Then again, this is an open forum, so forget what I said. All this info is public knowledge. https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1dsUQmPEsXOhV3KgTIkwI1QzIeWChkCw&ll=38.15274742744178%2C-102.1311338875&z=5 This should be for open rallies only. If you want a private rally, then don't tell anyone you don't want to show up. 😉 A life lesson. Let me know if you want anything added or suggestions for changes.

Thanks to all who have provided valuable insights and photos. As we have had a busy travel schedule on the road, I have not yet had the opportunity to pull the drawers under the sink or to inspect the underside of the fresh water tank overflow tube in Hull #1291. For now, we are carefully filling the fresh water tank when we need to boondock, until our pre-planned schedule allows me time to try to "get to the bottom" of what caused our problem. We will be on the road until the end of October. I hope to be able to investigate once we get back home. I will then report my findings, if any.

We are Alex and Kelly, the new owners (as of June '26) of Hull 1458, or as we have name it, "The Odyssey." We've been looking at Olivers for a number of years and just couldn't settle, I suspect even frustrating Jason somewhere along the line as he patiently tried to help us make up our minds a couple times. As providence would have it, Hull 1458 (which happens to be a special number for us) popped up for sale early in 2026, and we were able to work out a deal with the former owners (Art and Jill), who graciously waited for Kelly to finish teaching in May this year so we could drive cross country from Florida to Oregon, then take about three months traveling back home and taking in some amazing sites in this beautiful Country we call home (video highlights attached)... We're looking forward to the Rally at Lake Guntersville (THANKS Adam!) later this month... See you all there!! Cannon Beach, Oregon 9F255D47-6E77-4EBD-BC48-D587624552CB.mp4

In addition to the Oliver regional rallies, there are also fiberglass rallies with more and more Olivers in attendance. Here in Ohio, the Casitas of Ohio put on a spring kick-off fiberglass rally and a fall rally. This past spring there were five Oliver’s in attendance out of maybe 20-25 total trailers. The Florida Eggs n S’mores fiberglass rally in January had at least a dozen Oliver’s. Hungry Mother fiberglass rally in Western Virginia had five Olivers. And there are similar rallies all over the country.

Very strange! The fresh tank expanded enough to bow the floor. It was holding pressure, for some period of time, long enough to after the fact use the kitchen faucet to release pressure. Water coming out of the overflow seems contrary to this occurrence. Overflow (must have) occurred only after enough pressure was built up to balloon the tank. 35 PSI was enough to balloon the tank but not burst the tank or tank plumbing. If the connection was 60 PSI, like our home plumbing, the tank would have expanded more and at some pressure point the tank would burst or blow off a connected fitting. Of course, this is not normal. Good news is since pressure held, the tank and plumbing should still be good, but keep your eye out for leaking. When our tank overflows, it pours out heavy, measured in GPM like the open hose! I'm always rushing to the shut-off asap, so not to waste much water. The overflow is the only way to know for sure you have a full (small) tank of precious fresh water. You could use a gallon counter at the hose. I've never trusted tank monitors, haven't used our SeeLevel display in at least 2 years. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, but personally I cannot see changing our simple fresh tank filling procedure. IMHO, your tank overflow needs repair or replacement vs. change of process for our community. Anything but waiting for tank overflow would be a once or twice weekly PITA. I would try a flexible scope up the overflow tube. Remove any screen in the path (replace with new) and debris. Is there some kind of nest up there? Our old hull has no access panels under the kitchen drawers (as Bill pictured above). Your newer hull likely does. It would be great if you can reach in and disconnect the hose clamp to the overflow! (Someday I'll likely cut a trench under both stacks of drawers to have such access and replace that awful ducting as far up as possible.) I hope you find the reason soon so that you can get back to life as usual! 😎 We'll be reading!

@Rivernerd Remove the drawers on the left side of the drawer stack under the kitchen sink. Look for a hatch plate in the bottom of the cavity. If you have one you should be able to remove the overflow tube to check for and remove any obstructions. The service dept cut that hole and installed the hatch in May 2018 when I suspected that the hose clamp on the through-hull fitting was loose. I have on my to-do list (still) to enlarge that opening to allow easier access to that area between the hulls. I think the factory started placing that access hatch in trailers built after that. Bill 2018 Hull 313

Wrapping up a week in Grand Tetons. Gros Venture is the campground and the fall colors, even though we were a little late, delivered! Also, thought I would post some solar number as some of these days it was really pulling in some good numbers hitting almost 350w out of a 400w panels one day. Another 6 days discounted, running invert most the day with Starlink and laptop and even some small microwave use. Batteries are sitting at 70% still.

When we first joined the forum and had not yet decided to splurge for a new trailer, the used forum was very helpful. Not only did we see that there was relatively low owner turnover, but also that almost any trailer being sold was due to the owner’s age and/or health problems. Not customer dissatisfaction. That’s built in advertising right there. Plus, you could look at the owner’s previous posts to see in they made modifications, had problems, or complained about quality or customer service. I think having the forum benefitted the seller, the potential buyer, and Oliver’s reputation.

I can tell you that this subject has already been discussed with some of the senior folks at Oliver. The reaction by Oliver has been "mixed" - but - in the final analysis there really is only one person who can make the Classified Section reappear. I'm sure that if a fairly good number of current owners would make it known to the powers that be (email, snail mail and/or personal requests at the Rally) the odds of getting it back would be greatly improved. Bill

Getting closer to the rally. Lake Manawa SP in Council Bluffs Iowa. Clear view across lake to the Mutual of Omaha building.

Hey Everyone, Hull # 145 2016 LE2 Furrion Chill Cube A/C upgrade 10/1/2026 We finally gave the heave ho to the noisy jet engine Penguin 2 air conditioner and installed the Furrion Chill Cube with heat pump. Installation was done at Miles RV in Hendersonville NC. Performed at under two hours of shop labor and included the installation of a Lux Pro thermostat to control the LP heater. When installing the Furrion the heat and A/C will operate independently so a new thermostat will be required. For reasons unknown to me, the Dometic thermostat that used to run both will not work with just the heat. The Lux Pro works fine and shows the current temp in the display. You have to turn the fan from auto to on and the heat from off to on and then control heat with the up / down setting for temp. After that it cycles on and off normally. The Furrion A/C is controlled independently with either the remote or the buttons on the air distribution box. This concerned me quite a bit, but in talking with the shop supervisor, he said his tech guys would have no problem. And, they didn't. Why I chose the Furrion A/C: Two main reasons... 1.) NOISE and 2.) Energy use. The main difference between the Furrion and other units is how the compressor / fan combination operate. The fan is not a round propeller type, it is a cylinder. That may be one of the reasons the A/C is about 4” taller than other comparable units. Our height went from 9'8” to 9'11”.... still under 10 feet but will avoid underpass's that are less than 10-1/2' in height. The compressor is variable speed... that means instead of the compressor tuning on and off when holding temp, it will, well... vary in speed. We are planning on a 900 ah lithium upgrade in November and expect the run time on this a/c to be measured in days. JD has reported on very good run times and I expect the same type of performance. Testing so far has been plugged into a 20a outlet with moderate temperatures. The 20a outlet is not a problem because the Furrion does not require a “soft start” add on. It's soft start by design. It also has what they call a “gear” function that allows you to set the power consumption at 50%, 75%, and 100%. All tests have been done at 50%. There is quite a bit of difference in noise depending on the setting. When the fan is set to auto, and the ambient and set temp are 8-10 degrees apart, it can be loud. The fan has a turbo mode and when that kicks in it's up about 65+ db. However, when you set the fan to low and the ambient-set difference is 4-5 degrees it is whisper quiet at about 52db. Very easy to hold a conversation. We were in the trailer with low fan and the A/C dropped the temp 5 degrees in about a half hour. All in all, I expect that it will be noisy when first turned on and trying to cool down the trailer from high temps to reasonable ones. Then when holding that reasonable temp it will be very quiet. Oh... and HEAT... I set the heat on 85 degrees with the ambient temp at 70. The unit took a short while to start, but when it did, the noise was very low at 51db and the air coming from the vents was nice and warm. The gear function does not work when heat is selected, so I did not leave it on very long. I have carried a ceramic cube heater and a Buddy Jr. heater when camping in cold temps as back up in case there was a problem with the heat. After the battery upgrade, I don't think I will need to do that any longer. There are some other nice features. There is a timer that can be set to either turn the unit ON or OFF. Nice if you are arriving back at camp after a hot day exploring or to set to turn on an hour or so before you arrive at your campsite. Our "Flying Sea Turtle" turned 10 years of age (notice I did not use the word "old") this summer and once we have the lithium upgrade done we will be set up for the next ten. Thanks again to John for his extensive testing and reporting on this unit. Furrion owes a commission on my unit. All for now... Happy Camping, Scotty

I'm posting for an anonymous 2017 Ollie owner. This is why we should NEVER leave our trailer with city water on to the trailer. I need to remember this too, or just use fresh water tank with pump off when leaving. He heard water flowing under the bunk when hooked up to city water and found that the 1/2 inch plastic swivel adapter going to the water heater, under the passenger side bunk, had broken off. Easy fix, but only if you had the Pex tools and parts with you. The trailer would have flooded with that much water pressure going into hull. Here are some pics. He also found out why, in his 2017 ollie, he had low hot water pressure (a kink). Time to put a straight and right-angle brass swivel adaptors in my plumbing bag. Spend a few more bucks to save the rig from being an indoor pool.

Bosker and I really enjoyed this year's Guntersville Oliver Rally. Well done Ollie team! Bosker especially enjoyed his cameo on the Morning Coffee at Oliver, with Aaron and Jason.

Having a wonderful time at the Oliver Rally in Lake Guntersville! Looking forward to the livestream Morning Coffee With Oliver tomorrow! @Jason Essary @Aaron Wolters

I will add my own ORF musings! I think we all embrace any technology that is capable of making our lives easier, as long as we can figure it out. My first bite of the Victron apple was adding a BMV 712 battery monitor and I continue to add Victron equipment as I find it beneficial to maximize my battery usage. And Victron’s technical support is truly world class. And if you have any doubts about smartphones making you stupid, just leave it at home when you head out camping! After all, the only phone number I remember off the top of my head is 911! Mossey

Made it to Arches and Devils Garden Campground. First time here and this is a great campground and a stunning area.

Well, I guess I jinked myself, or at least proved why having a TPMS is valuable. On the trip from Utah to Grand Junction (to get us some new leaf springs), our TPMS went off, and my wife said, "One of the tires is down to 35 psi... now 30... now 25," all in the matter of 30 seconds. We pulled over, and sure enough, the tire pressure was dropping fast. The valve stem had ripped and started leaking. We did enough of a patch-and-fill job to get off the side of the freeway so we could change the tire. Glad we had it, so this stayed just an inconvenience! Also, so glad I had done dry runs of changing tires at home so whenever this day did come I was confident we could get it addressed. The next day I went to Les Schwab and got some nice steel stems put on all the tires!

Almost as bad as having a catastrophic blowout in the middle lanes of six on an interstate at 60mph. Use your own judgement. Your mileage may vary...

We happened to be camping at Stone Mountain SP NC a few weeks ago when the Carolina Casitas were having a gathering, they invited us to join their Facebook group, so we did! Nice group of folks. Hope to attend Eggs on the Hiawassee River GA gathering held during June. They also have a Facebook group. We attended a couple of Hungry Mother SP VA Fiberglass gatherings attended by various fiberglass owners including Ollie owners. If I remember correctly one of the Oliver owners attending had a hand in making Peach and Cherry cobblers, too! 🙂

I have been making my way east towards the rally, and visiting a few lakeside and riverside campgrounds. West Rolling Hills campground on Milford Lake, view from my campsite in Loop A West Rolling Hills is an Army Corp of Engineers cg located alongside Milford Lake, Milford SP, Milford Wildlife Area, Fish Hatchery, Nature Center.... https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/233608 Milford Lake is huge (I think over 15,000 acres) fed by the Republican River. Lots of fishermen, and I saw photo evidence from the camp host of a massive 54 pound catfish he caught the day I arrived. I didn't use any services there, but will attest to the friendliness of the host and other campers, and the clean conditions everywhere around the lake. A beautiful campsite. Sunset from the Prairie Meadow campground in Elk City State Park Elk City SP is west of Independence Kansas. This was a late arrival and early departure for me, but I enjoyed this sunset when I went walking after setting up. The campground overlooks Elk City Lake. There were lots of birds, including Barred Owls and Screech Owls near the campsite! The Current River is lined with vegetation, but walking trails provide direct access from some campsites in Big Spring cg Big Spring Campground in Ozark National Wild & Scenic River is also very pleasant. I've camped there a couple of times. It's a bit of a thrill (rollercoaster) driving to the campground along a narrow winding rolling road, but the campground and the river are beautiful. They have separate buildings for hot and cold showers, and offer other amenities. sunset from my campsite in Eureka Campground, Kuttawa KY Eureka Campground in Kuttawa KY is along the Cumberland River, overlooking The Land Between The Lakes. This is another ACOE campground, and another great location for fishing. The sites are mostly spacious with picnic tables and separate fish-cleaning tables at the site, fire pits and direct lake access from the campsite. There are tons of things to see and do near Land Between the Lakes. I plan to come back to this area. Oh! And about that 54 pound fish.... here's the camp host Tony with his catch at West Rolling Hills cg in Junction City KS

Well I just crawled under there to get a better understanding of the drain port. Ours is in the form of a plastic flanged bulkhead fitting that appears to extend about four inches up through the bottom hull just off the aft corner of the fridge compartment. It’s ID is about 3/4 inch and upon shining a light up inside, there is a fine mesh screen at the upper end and it appears to have a black fiberish filter material on top of the screen. There’s board dividing the fridge compartment from the galley drawer space, so no access to the drain from the outside fridge access panel. My guess is the mesh and what appears to be a filter material are there to prevent anything from getting into the freshwater tank through the drain. But this also would restrict the flow of water during the filling process. Sounds like there’s a few questions for Oliver service to better understand the principle of design and of course what to do if this filter/mesh becomes clogged over time.

Edit: @Steve and MA was quicker on the keyboard than me but I will leave additional thoughts below. I've always monitored the fresh overflow and fill rate closely when filling and flushing the fresh tank. I make sure my fill rate is very slow as the overflow is nowhere near large enough to accommodate a high fill rate. As soon as water starts sputtering out the overflow I shut the supply off. If I want to flush the system for and extended period, I reduce the flow to a fast trickle and monitor while working around the trailer. The holding tanks are not pressure rated, and even at a relatively low supply pressure such as 25psi, a fill rate say 10% faster than the overflow rate would slowly "inflate" the holding tank. It all depends on the overflow capacity to keep up the the fill rate. A strong stream at the overflow in my mind indicates a pressurized system and needs to be shut down immediately. Related to jd's comment above, I just happened to purchase a smart phone borescope earlier this morning on Amazon for other reasons, but realize it will be perfect for inspecting various concealed and hard to reach spaces on the Oliver. This may be just the tool for @Rivernerd to purchase for his evaluation, and keep onboard for future inspection needs. https://a.co/d/00rWQwkn

Reading through this thread, something that hasn't been mentioned as a possible cause is the flow rate of the water filling the tank. Though a water pressure regulator will inherently slow the water flow due to its restrictive internal passages, it's meant to restrict pressure (PSI) not rate (GPM). If water can enter the tank faster than the overflow tube can purge the excess, then the flexible plastic tank would have to expand until it had enough back pressure for the regulator to stop the flow. The point being that a regulator may be of little benefit when filling the fresh tank.

Here's a 2022 thread about Oliver changing to Goodyear Endurance ST tires:

Looks like they installed a flexible tube and left a twist in it. You might try loosening a clamp and twisting the kink out. Unfortunately that kink could be set and it seems like too a tight bend even for a replacement piece. Oliver should address that despite the expired warranty, it was just a poor installation from the start. Good luck, Geoff

Letchworth Valley Campground, NY

This morning I hit the road east-bound... it's a sad day as I turn around after many weeks of joy in my Oliver. I'm looking forward to seeing many fellow Oliver owners in Alabama. Bon voyage to all who are Rally-bound! as seen on my way to dinner with family last night in Colorado....

Snake Credk Recreation Area in SD on Missouri River. Site 21E on side of lake is Electric only but great view.

Agreed, a screen insert makes sense to keep insects out. Filter material, why? It does look like a filter, but there's no need to filter waste water! The finer the screen or filter material, the quicker it will muck up, and eventually be closed shut. Thanks for the picture! I suggested the scope and now I need to get one! The screen/mesh looks somewhat clogged up. Who knows what has collected above it in your 5 years, our 11 years? Hull #1291 has at most 4 years of use! Could be one of those hole-saw plugs from the tank installation stuck along the path. It irks me how lazy "professional installers" can be. With the right tool it would take a few seconds to retrieve the plugs and a blast of compressed air to quickly clean out the new tank. Fill the tank more slowly? Filling up at Maverick on our last trip, It took over 10 minutes to fill the tank (28 gal on the counter) and the hose had a very good flow rate. Because it's so slow, I now start filling the fresh tank and dump tanks while it's taking its time filling. For me the 1/2" PEX plus the OEM restrictor makes the incoming water flow slow enough. I'll be checking and likely removing this "filter" instead. On my long list is also removing the Fresh and City Water line restrictors (they restrict flow vs. pressure). Everybody in every RV forever has run the hose until the tank overflows. Camping is supposed to be fun! 🤣 Is the "plastic flanged bulkhead fitting" removable, so serviceable? The screen is relatively close to the bottom, so there's hope. Given @Rivernerd's experience, I would certainly try to remove that fitting and see if the screen/filter is serviceable. If not, I would take long auger drill bit and turn it by hand slowly into the screen, trying to grab as much of it as possible for removal. Try to remove as much as possible with the bit, wider bits and other tools. Then use the scope again to see if it's clear all the way up and down into the tank. Finally, take a piece of stainless steel screening material, shape it into a cone and insert it at the very bottom. This screen insert could be removed later easily with a needle-nose pliers. It will be interesting to find out the end result here. I imagine a lot of us will be looking up that overflow tube soon enough!

I removed the access panel on the dinette seat closest to the shower and looked down and right.

Those are probably the emergency breakaway switch for the breaks and the CO monitor. They take a direct feed from the battery.

Bummer! I have seen brand new tires with a "slight sidewall bulge" due to the lesser manufacturing process of some brands. Though I just looked at my flat bed trailer that has the same Goodyear Endurance ST tires, just a size smaller. No bulges on mine and they look to be rather well made tires. They are 7 years old now with likely only 2500 miles on them! I'm not changing them yet since lately we only use the trailer to go dirt-biking once or twice a year. A 12 ft 7K dual axle trailer with 650 LBS of cargo a few miles at 35 MPH, I'll take my chances! Now the Oliver is a different story! Our LT tires are near 5 years old. I never heard 5 years for ST, always seen 7 years. We have 19K miles on the Oliver in 3 years, prior owner had 2 years on the same tires with who knows how many miles, and there is no real treadwear. Every time I talk maintenance, I recommend removing the wheels for inspection when doing anything else! Grease Zerks, torque bolts and spend a few minutes inspecting each tire. I always remove all the gravel, and often while doing so, I have found a screw or some kind of metal in the treads. Wash the tires on both sides. It's easier to see a defect or new damage on a clean tire! Bulge just on one tire, make it the spare for now. Running at 55 PSI is a very good number for low sidewall stress. Could you have any prorated warranty left? (3 years 10K miles) Or if it's truly a defect, Goodyear might cover it anyway. You could drive by a Discount Tire or other Goodyear dealer when you get a chance. They should help to communicate with Goodyear for coverage. It's a shame that OTT installed tires already 1-2 years old, 6-8 months is more usual, less time with the large manufacturing volume of these ST tires. Why did OTT change to ST tires on 15" wheels? Do they make a 15" LT tire? I'm not a TPMS guy either and our vehicles are all too old to have OEM TPMS. I check every time I take a break from driving. Do a full walk around and eyeball all 8 tires before going. I do it with all vehicles, whether towing or not.

Four season is a squishy topic as its not defined precisely. You can use a canvas tent four season (our boys did it in Korea in hard winters.) It just depends on how comfortable you want to be, and how much energy you have. I'll break it down Cabin heating. Most people focus on this; it just depends on how efficient you want it to be. The Oliver design (double hull with radiant barrier) is more optimized for the heat (desert) than the snow (mountains). But it handles both excellently. My last trip went from the hot desert to the snowy mountains in March, it just took some propane. If you want a more efficient trailer in snow the Bigfoot is probably the only one better, but you're just saving some propane and personally I found it a cramped trailer. Now which do you want to optimize? Actually for heat is better because you need power to cool it down, which is scarcer than propane (unless you have an electric truck bwahahaha 🙂). So I think the Ollie is an awesome choice as it optimizes on the most energy scarce side of cooling. But any small trailer with decent insulation I think is fine in very cold or hot conditions (not Airstreams! There's a reason why they have two AC's and you'd better have full hookups) Humidity This is the more important issue; humidity management is the critical issue. On the Bigfoot (for example), I think its merely OK. Just anecdotal but I followed a couple who had one on the East Coast and dealing with humidity was a big deal. The Oliver however deals with this extremely well. no wood, nothing that can get damaged for one thing. I took it to Lassen the first week it opened. We lived in a deep fog bank for a week. Thick - you couldn't see the rest of the campground at times and it was a cold humidity which is bad. But the condensation was absolutely not a problem. The windows watered up, but as they're the new flush mount its outside the gasket, I just opened in the morning and squeegeed off outside. In the cabinets all the clothes needed to be pulled off the walls - yes. But the condensation just dripped down into what must have been designed in on purpose which is a condensation trip 'tray'. Impressed the hell out of me, Oliver raises the cabinet bottoms with a (honeycomb probably) panel, with a channel along the sides. This means it just drips down and collects there, I would just go and soak it up once a day. Only other thing was keeping stuff off the closet walls. Anyhow when I got it back down it took a day to dry out 😅But there wasn't a single trace of humidity damage or anything inside. Conclusion IMO it truly is four season. No trailer is perfect for all conditions or use cases. The Ollie optimizes somewhat more for hot than cold, but the advantage of is it's cheaper/easier to heat a trailer than cool a trailer. In roasting hot conditions the walls are cool to the touch due to an air gap, no heat channeling and radiant barriers. For condensation (hot or cold) its probably best in the business.

I used Eley Hose quick disconnects. I have used Eley products for around 15 years. They are superb products although expensive. I used the hose leader as shown above to hook to the RV Hose bib. Then the other side is the Female Quick disconnect. I have 3 different hoses of differing lengths with the quick disconnect fittings on them. I have a 2 stage filter with dial pressure regulator and eley shutoff valve and Eley quick disconnects. Finally the city water, Fresh water, and boondock fill all have the Male disconnects on them. I removed the screw in stoppers and connected 1" rubber Chair leg Caps to the chains to seal the male quick disconnects. With all of the disconnects I am able to connect everything up in just a couple of minutes. I do have to lean over for about 10 seconds, but that's it. Sorry for the upside down picture. Just an Eley plug. We have 2 acres, and we bought 2 Eley hose reels with one with 175 ft hose and the other 200 ft. (My wife does want automatic sprinklers) I went through several $150 reels lasting a couple of years each before failing before finding Eley. All of my hoses have Eley shutoffs and sprinkler accessories all have Eley quick disconnects. Everything Eley is 5/8" inside diameter all the way through and my hose bibs are 3/4" with 1' pipe feed from the well. I have never had a problem with any Eley products. In the long run, I have saved money on not replacing hoses and reels on a regular basis.

Thanks for the input. And yes diesel would be nice, but I can't justify the cost of ownership when towing a trailer this size

A foot note about driving 3/4 ton's stiff suspension. When the truck is loaded and/or towing, the truck gives a great ride. The stiff suspension " beats you up" only when driving unloaded. As stated before, a 3/4 is lousy daily driver for two reasons. the suspension can be teeth jarring when unloaded and the turning radius 20% +/- wider. You will either compromise with a 1/2 when towing or a 3/4 ton when not loaded / not towing.