ScubaRx

We pulled our former Oliver Elite Hull # 026 with a 2007 Tahoe LTZ V8. No Andersen Hitch (don't think it was even on the market back then) and never needed it. We had that combo for 5 years from 2008-2013, never a problem. Then we got an Elite II, much heavier and we pull it with a 2017 2500HD Diesel. A new Elite will weigh around 4000 pounds loaded and ready to travel. Bottom line, your Escalade should do a fine job with an Elite. I would feel comfortable towing with it.

I'm impressed that Townesw has chosen to outfit their 2019 Chevrolet 2500HD Duramax with a custom Turboencabulator modification. I've been contemplating doing the same to our 2017 model.

Malcolm called the other day and told me that he and Ursula had moved on from their Super C to an LV. His will have over 3000 watts of solar on the roof and enough battery power to run one of the two A/C units constantly including a full size residential fridge. The thing is over 30 feet long and weighs 18000 pounds. The company requires you to have proof of ownership of a 1 ton truck as a tow. It sounds nice but for $460K it should be.

You would not have to run the wiring on the outside. Send Oliver the wiring harness and ask them to place it into the belly of the trailer during construction leaving both ends accessable. You can finish the installation once the trailer is delivered. If that fails it is not hard to run the wiring yourself after the fact. I'm assuming the camera receives its power from the truck and the harness, so most likely there will be no need for wiring inside the trailer.

Nancy, you two are about to embark on probably the best times you've had in a long time. Your new Oliver looks great so from Hull # 050 to Hull # 676, Happy Travels...

Good question. As you can see on the map Michigan is not on the way to anywhere. We've just not gone out of out way to go there. We almost did on the way back from Alaska in 2019 (Wow! was that only a year ago?) but didn't. I do want to go out to Isle Royale and that would necessitate going there. No other reason we haven't been.

The only reason to blow the lines out only to refill them with liquid would be to keep from partially diluting the antifreeze. Full disclosure: living in North Mississippi, in 13 years I've never used a drop of antifreeze. I usually do drain the the lines and water heater and blow them out but as we are usually back on the road in mid January, I sometimes don't get around to it. As far as traveling in freezing weather, a full tank of water would take a long time to freeze, I've never worried about it. The pex lines won't burst even if frozen solid but all the fittings run the risk. I do carry pex rings and fittings plus cutting and crimping tools with me.

We have traveled 130,000 miles in our two different Oliver's over the past 13 years. We have always had 3 dogs with us, although only one of our current three has made every trip. Unlike your Oliver you are not dealing with a car or van that will heat up dramatically. If the outside temperature is above 45° F and under 85° F, the inside of the Oliver will be very comfortable for them. If the temp is toward the upper end we will leave the Maxxfan running and the windows open a bit. We always leave plenty of water. Our personal rule is that if the temp is above 75° F we will not leave them in the truck. If it is extremely hot (>90° F) we will leave the AC running on the generator. The longest we've ever left them was about 13 hours while we rode the train from Williams up to the Grand Canyon and back. They were fine and very happy to see us and ready to go pee. Usually, it's not more than 2-3 hours. This issue has been cussed and discussed several times here and in other places through the years. As technology has progressed there probably have been some electronic solutions, I'm just not personally familiar with any good ones. Please follow up with your findings.

To the best of my knowledge, there has never been a "standard equipment" inverter. However, I do believe at one time you could order just an inverter, there as a choice of 600 watt and 1000 watt (I think). It was so much simpler when we bought Hull # 050, there was no option list. As a consequence, I had to install all the stuff that are options now. One thing we do have (as a holdover from our earlier Oliver) is a motorized RV Power Cord Reel. It has never been offered as an option.

Here again, I'm confused. I think you're referring to the Progressive Dynamics Hardwired EMS-HW30C RV Surge & Electrical Protector. This is still not an inverter rather it's an Electrical Management System (EMS). It is located under the street side dinette. There is also the Progress Dynamics load center that contains all your 110 VAC breakers and the 12 VDC fuses as well as the onboard charger for your batteries. As I stated previously, the onboard inverter, is a piece of equipment that changes (inverts) 12 VDC to 120 VAC. It is usually located under the bed on the street side.

We've been to over 250 of the National Park units from every state including Alaska. I've sometimes had to have help (Chiricahua National Monument) but have never been unable to get into a campsite with our LEII (2014 Hull # 050). From 2008 to 2013 we had one of the original Elites (Hull # 026). From a height standpoint, the LEII will be a better fit for you tall folks. From our experiences, the Elite was a little small for two adults and three dogs, the largest one at about 100 pounds.

When you say inverter, are you talking about an inverter generator? If you have the onboard inverter, it is a piece of equipment that changes (inverts) 12 VDC to 120 VAC. It is usually located under the bed on the street side.

If the refrigerator was indeed accidentally running on DC, that may well be the cause of the "problem" with the batteries not charging. They may have been charging normally all along and the fridge was simply using more amps than were coming from the panels and truck combined with the end result being depleted batteries. It can easily draw 16-17 amps. If this be the case, you can claim to be the poster child in the campaign to not ever run the fridge on DC. Most of us have be preaching this for years. If the fridge is operating properly, it will never "default" to DC. You always have to make it go to DC and the AUTO button must be OFF in order to do so. When the AUTO button is ON the refrigerator will automatically select between AC and LP, but never DC.

Just a few thoughts. Have you actually gone out and measured the voltage of each individual battery? Have you checked all the battery terminals and made sure they are not corroded or loose? Are the lights dim? Will the tongue jack lift the trailer when plugged in vs not plugged in? I am not familiar with the current wiring layout, but I believe that the problem will turn out to be a connection issue. This one reason I've never been a fan of the Zamp system. What are the amps doing? With no shunt and no way to monitor anything other than volts, it's very difficult to tell what's going on.

Congrats from Hull # 050. Do not worry about having to learn new stuff. We've all been there and still learning new stuff every day. Feel free to ask away and we'll get you up to speed. Learn from the mistakes of others, you'll never live long enough to make them all yourself!

You might try this if you suspect (or know) the vent pipe is blocked by dirt daubers. Make sure the back flow preventer valve is open. Remove the outside vent cover and stick a hose down it. Flush with a copious amount of water.

You probably couldn't afford or move a generator large enough to power "everything." Our 3000 watt Yamaha will easily run our 13500btu air conditioner with no easy start. Turn on the electric water heater element also and it will shut down. Realistically, you only need one large enough to run the A/C and the charger/converter at the same time. Everything else will be running on propane or 12 volts.

You stated in your original post: “When cleaning our never used Dometic flush toilet....” ????

Yes, we had hull # 026, one of the (very) few twin bed models in the early Elites. It was just as you described it, the second bed was where the dinette is. We ate off the folding table midships. We needed something bigger so we sold it in 2013 and bought the first Elite II, hull # 050.

Very nice truck...

You guys are overthinking this. Pop N Lock. I’ve installed four of these on different vehicles.

I'm unclear on what you mean, could you be more specific about the problem?

Sounds like fun, we're in. I might suggest we have a "for sale" table also. For a higher class of "junk."

Daniel, the first 49 trailers that Oliver built were all Elites. This was between late 2007 and early 2009. As you recall there was a downturn in the economy about that time and Oliver made the difficult decision to halt their trailer production. There was no layoff of personnel. In 2013, they decided to reopen the trailer line but their plan was to only make the Elite II's. After many requests from potential customers, in 2015 they reintroduced the Elite. The general layout and floor plan is essentially the same. In the early Elites, if there was ever a problem with the refrigerator, the entire front wall had to be removed in order to get the old one out and the new one in. I'm not sure if that ever had to be done, but it would have been a lot of trouble. That problem was fixed in the later models. The early Elites had the furnace mounted in the cabinet facing along side the drawers. It is now moved to beneath the forward most dinette seat and is ducted into the cabin and bathroom. The upper cabinets in the early Elites had sliding doors while the later Elites have drop down doors like in the Elite II's. The cabinets are somewhat larger on the latest ones. Beneath the benchs and dinette seats of the older models were custom molded inserts that dropped into these areas for storage. These were eliminated in the newer models. On the current Elites, the suspension has been lowered, the air conditioner is a smaller model, there is more storage (both more drawers and the aforementioned larger upper cabinets), the bathroom window is larger, all lighting is LED and the shower drain system is greatly improved. There are probably more changes that have been made. We owned hull # 026 from 2008-2013. We bought hull # 050 (Elite II) in 2014. Others will chime in perhaps, if I have misspoken anywhere, please feel free to correct me. Happy travels...

What are Oliver Owners called? This was discussed at the rally several years ago. If I remember correctly, "Otters" was the front runner. I believe we said that the Owners rally could be called an OTTOR - Oliver Travel Trailer Owner's Rally. What does everyone think?