ScubaRx

Whenever I'm asked this question, my first response is to ask what type of camping do you plan to do. If the answer is "we plan to always stay in established campground with full hookups", I advise them to go with the least expensive battery system even going so far as to forego the solar option unless they are worried about resale value. On the other hand, if the response is "we want to boondock as much as possible" my answer is to buy the best battery system you can afford and definitely get the solar system. We do a lot of boondocking. If I were buying a new trailer today, my choice would be Lithium. My way of thinking is that I would eventually end up with them anyway so why wait. Oliver offered a lithium option for the first time in 2021 and the majority of current owners never had an opportunity to choose so what we all did is a moot point. Prior to that the best choice was AGM's. Many of our AGM systems have reached the end of their life (ours lasted seven years) and we have switched to Lithium's. If expense is an issue, choose the AGM's, otherwise buy the biggest lithium package you can afford. It goes without saying that in either case you have to have the solar option as well, but I said it anyway in case you didn't know.

The amp draw is determined by the appliance that is being used. If it is a small 12 volt fan it might be taking an amp or two out of the batteries. If you were trying to run a small electric heater using your inverter it might be drawing 100 amps. The batteries will only output what is needed for a given situation. It would be virtually impossible to have enough things on at the same time to draw a continuous 275 amps. I believe the smaller switch would do just fine. And, BTW, don't try running an electric heater using your inverter and batteries, they will be dead-dead in an hour or so.

But it won't decrease the tongue weight as it applies to reaching your max cargo carrying capacity. It transfers part of the weight to the front axle, but the total tongue weight is the same.

All trailers have a "phantom" power drain. There are things that are "on" even if they are turned off. All the little idiot lights on the USB chargers and the radio for instance. Our trailer (Hull #050) has a phantom draw of about 0.5 amps. That means that every day about 12 amps of power disappear from the batteries. In our case, starting with batteries at 100%, 28 days with no power input x 12 amps a day would drain 336 amps from our battery bank. We have 3 x 100aH Lithium's. As you can see we would be dead dead long before 28 days were up. You state that yours started at 35%. What you don't say is the size of your battery bank (number of total aH). But even if you had Oliver's largest system (630aH) at 35% they would have only lasted (using our trailer as an example) 18 days. Luckily, your lithium batteries were not damaged by their lack of charging, AGM's would be a different story. How do you normally keep your batteries charged?

John, don't you just love starting an easy project and then creating more work for yourself...

Based on your supplied numbers, you have the capacity for 368 more pounds of cargo in your vehicle. Be careful, it won't take long to get there. I would not try to shift weight from the vehicle to the trailer since you're already so close to your max tow rating.

The possible addition of bunk beds has been cussed and discussed hundreds of times by both owners and the factory. To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever come up with a workable solution. Personally, I think it is a great idea and if you can figure out a feasible way to accomplish this, I'm sure Oliver would be interested in seeing it.

My father died young, he was only 47. I was 20. He taught me many things that I was not smart enough to appreciate at that age, but something he once said to me has stuck with me these past 50+ years. I was contemplating buy a new tool. The one I wanted was a name brand and was quite expensive. I found another brand that was not nearly as well respected but was considerably less expensive. I weighed the pros and cons of each. Finally, I asked his opinion, should I buy the better brand or should I save money and buy the cheaper tool. He looked me straight in the eye and said, "Nobody was ever sorry they bought the best there is." There have been times through the years that I have ignored this advice and bought some item that was cheaper or lacked all the features I wanted in an attempt to 'get by.' In almost all cases, I've ended up later buying the one I really wanted and ended up with two of the same thing, thereby having spent more money than I would have if I'd just gone ahead and bought the better one in the first place. I just don't buy things that I consider to be disposable. I still have and use that tool that I bought on dad's advice. Can you really afford to buy cheaper items that you will just end up having to replace? "...Nobody was ever sorry they bought the best there is..." James Holly Landrum 10/1923 - 05/1971

Nice work, very impressive. If I'd have known you were about to tackle this difficult job, I would have loaned you my trained octopus. She can reach anywhere from several different directions at the same time.

Personally, I'd go with option #3. You get the trailer you really want and you get to keep the truck you already own. You will be able to use the combination and see how it meets your needs. If not, then you can see about getting a bigger truck. If I were traveling single with the EII, I would get the setup of one rear bed opposite a sitting area (couch like).

Remember that the weight of everything you've added to the vehicle or put into the vehicle comes out of the cargo carrying capacity (CCC). i.e. for two adults, between 300 and 400 pounds or whatever your actually weigh. The tongue weight of the trailer, easily 500-600 pounds for the EII. Those two things will usually eat up about half of the CCC. Then there's everything else, cell phones, pets, all your camping gear, clothes not stored in the trailer, the hitch and ball you put into the receiver. This includes literally everything that was not attached to the car when you picked it up new.

That's your gross vehicle weight rating and is not the information you're looking for. Look for the tire sticker and it will have a line that says ..."the weight of occupants and cargo should not exceed xxxx pounds" This is your cargo carrying capacity.

My sister in law and her husband had an r-pod. They thought it was cute. Until all the problems started with it. They got rid of it. I wouldn't recommend one.

There is a 2008 model (Hull # 024) being advertised on facebook right now for $37,500, It originally sold for $27,924. How's that for holding its value?

On average, a fully loaded Elite II will weigh in at 6000 pounds or more. Personally, I'd consider a 6600 pound towing capacity extremely marginal. Plus, your cargo carrying capacity would be very limited as the tongue weight of the Oliver will be about 600 pounds. All that said, it would easily handle the weight of the Elite and be a reasonably good tow vehicle for it. Many owners are towing with a 2500 3/4 ton diesel vehicle. Some are even using 3500 1 ton vehicle. At the end of the day, you're gonna need a bigger truck for an Elite II.

We've owned two different Oliver's over the past 12 years. Collectively, we have traveled over 150K miles. I have had one fitting to break and it did cause a mess. I agree that brass fittings are better than plastic and they should be using them. I always carry several feet of tubing, a few different brass pex fittings, and the tools to replace them in case that ever happens again.

This would be a fantastic side trip on our next Alaskan foray. You're correct about the exhaust brake. There are many descents that I never touch the brakes, just coast all the way to the bottom. Sometimes it's miles, feels pretty good to get 99 mpg for 10 minutes or so. Of course, you have to pay it all back on the next accent.

After looking at the videos of the road, I'd go on that trip. I would not want to do it alone but with a few others (for safety backup) along it looks like a spectacular trip. When do we leave?

Spring would not work for a Western Rally as it would conflict with the Oliver sponsored rally that is always in May at Guntersville. There's no sense in making folks have to choose between the two if the dates are too close to one another. We would come to a Western Rally even though it would probably be a 4000 mile trip for us.

I think this is a great idea. Please let us good ole Southern boys know what you come up with. I'll attend for sure.

Oh, I do so miss our old Maverick.

The basket on the Elite II is 26.75" long x 19.125" wide x 7.75" deep The basket on the Elite is smaller. It is 26.75" long x 14.375" wide x 7.75" deep

I doubt Oliver would ever contemplate an Elite III that is only 18 inches longer than an Elite II. Their goal is to build something in the 28-30 foot range and increase the width to 8 feet. They most likely would do away with the trolley top outer shell. I could care less about a dry bath, I'd rather have the storage space. A large front window and sitting/dining area would be nice. We would not need space for more than two people to eat.

This Aventa unit has a cooling power of less than 8200 BTU's (2400 watts). That might work fine for an Elite, I'd not try it in our Elite II. Also, it's currently only available in 230 V – 240 V ~. 50 Hz models.

Go here --> https://www.cortescampers.com/travel-trailer-17-specifications Second Column of specs, click on Central Heating