STEVEnBETTY

Just make sure you have plenty of propane, your oliver is a true 4 season camper, but it's not as efficient as your "stix and bricks". I'm not afraid to use the onboard water, and we have camped in weather down into single digits, but the area you need to be concerned with is the street side water fills and the outside shower. They have check valves on the inside, but no direct source of heat, if i camped in extreme cold more frequently I would cut in an access port under the street side bed that I could open when it got really cold. Steve

I agree with Randy and Overland, I wouldn't buy anything unless you're sure it can be returned. I tow with an f150 with a ladder rack with 2 kayaks on top, they extend at least 2 feet past the rear of the truck and don't come close to the trl. As far as weight distribution, I would hold off on that too, as long as you don't exceed the rear axle weight rating the oliver will pull fine without it. If you go over the axle rating, too much weight is removed from the front and your steer axle will be too light, hence the need for weight distribution. Air bags will level out the truck but they don't redistribute weight, I use them on my truck. Steve

Steve, please be careful and don't bite that ? planted firmly in your cheek! Lol Steve

There are two cups that the ac condensate drain into, you can see them from the outside on the roof, they're connected together by a piece of hose that goes into a tee fitting and the other hose connected to that drains to the outside like bill describes. All of this is accessible from inside if your drain is plugged, you don't need to do anything to winterize it.

Geo, my elite2 is about the same age as yours, I would advise just checking the caulking around your vent, maxair fan etc... mine is still in good shape even after being outside since I took delivery on 5/1/17. If there are no gaps there is no need to replace it. Steve

Coming up on 1 1/2 years of ownership on hull#219 I have to concur with John, i haven't found any flaws in my gel coat after 4 waxes. A good comparison of quality in fiberglass gel coat is right on your trailer, compare the difference between your entry door ( supplied by lippert) and the surrounding body. Steve

I'm not weighing in on the tow vehicle issue, but having towed trailers many miles in all sorts of conditions, the main thing to keep in mind is timing. Allow yourself plenty of time to wait out the weather, it's been my experience the road conditions improve considerably within hours after a storm passes through, depending on how efficient the road crews are. My 2 cents. Steve

Oops, sorry Randy, Steve

The trek that Pete has weighs 45 lbs, the battery weighs 8 lbs, if you remove it the bike only weighs 5 lbs more than my giant hybrid. I believe bill ( ride and fly) has one of the rad power foldable bikes, he stores it under his dinette table when traveling. steve

That's what I was wanting to hear. I live in Illinois, just east of St. Louis, and for the last 10 or so years the county has been doing a "rails to trails" conversion. We now have over 200 miles of paved bike trails. I've not seen all of it yet, doing so currently would require me to transport my bike, and I like the idea of an assist so I don't get to far away and run out of "juice". Steve

Thanks for the post Pete, I have been looking at that exact bike, test rode it twice now, the cheap side of me is having a hard time pulling the trigger. Just a few questions, it's pretty flat here, does it pull the hills well? Does the battery power last as long as they advertise? Would you buy "that bike" again? Thanks, Steve

John, you have waaaay to much time on your hands. Driving a truck for as long as I did, my wife diagnosed my problem with to much time to think, pretty early on. Both of our sinks drain just fine, and my solution for sewer gas bypassing the traps is to put the sink stoppers in when we are traveling. Steve

Sorry, I was typing, ( hunt and poke) when you posted about your inverter being off. Steve

Just to be clear, on your first post you stated the switch was under the street side bed, subsequent post you stated curb side. The switch that townsew posted is a "sail switch" when it trips a yellow flag pops up, you push it down to reset, it's under the street side bed on the elite 2 with twin beds. I've never had what you describe happen, but I can imagine if you have the inverter on while you're plugged in and your water heater on the ac setting, or any additional devices drawing ac current, when you unplug and your transfer switch switches over to D.C. It overloads the D.C. side and it trips your "sail switch". steve

I do refill mine, although it's not recommended, like bill says, the bottle has to be completely empty and I'll only refill mine 2 or 3 times before disposal. Steve

That's pretty cool, who would of thunk it, comic book writers predicting the future, Apple Watch... etc, what's next, flying cars? Sign me up!

I have to say, Foy, you and mirna are the nicest and most tolerant people I think I've ever met, dealing with yet another issue and you still handle it with class and patience, a lot of people would have already lost their "cool", good for you! Steve

Foy, I just checked mine, no cracks. I imagine your diagnosis is correct, either the mounts are loose or have never been connected. I seem to remember someone else posting about their microwave coming out ( it wasn't mounted correctly) Steve

On our ollie( hull #219) there are two ways two remove power from the D.C. Circuit, in the upper rear compartment there are a set of switches, and under the street side bed ( twin bed) there is a sail switch that a flag pops up when it is activated. But Garryand kristi is correct, even with both switches off there is still a parasitic drain from the co2 detector, the smoke detector has a 9 volt battery in it. Steve

I know you didn't ask, but I have a 2014 f150 5 liter v/8 2 wheel dr with 3.31 rear axle ratio. Our last trip took us over the Rockies twice, we averaged 13 mpg over a 5,000 mile trip, normal highway mileage is 19. Steve

I agree with everyone above, but do yourself a favor and weigh your setup when you're ready to camp, where you need to be careful is with your gross combined vehicle weight, and your individual axle weights, olivers are very well balanced trailers to pull , but you need to keep mindful about how your truck and trailer are loaded. Steve

Mike, we camped at badlands dispersed for 4 days, and visited badlands np, Rushmore, Custer, and wall drugstore, if you don't mind driving a bit it's doable. When we were there it was the middle of "bike week" in sturgis and it was never crowded or noisy.

Mike, 8miles south of wall sd is badlands dispersed, as you're going south look to your left, you'll see cell towers, when you are parallel with them there is a barb wire gate that you have to open and close, but it's a great spot, plenty of room, quiet, and "free". The entrance to badlands state park is a 1/2 mile to the south, highly recommended, and free with the geeser pass. Steve

I don't mean to discourage anyone from a 3/4 ton diesel anything, but we just finished a 5,000 mile western trip, crossed the Rockies twice, with elevations exceeding 11,500feet and anywhere from 5 to 15 percent grades. My truck is a 2 wheel drive 2014 f150 with the 5 liter normally aspirated v8, it has the 3:31 rear end ratio with electric locking differential. There was never anytime when the truck struggled or I felt unsafe at all, uphill or down. Our Ollie is an elite 11 and our loaded weight is 5,940, truck weight 5,980,for a gcvw of 11,920, rear axle weight 3,580. When you spec a truck, payload and towing capacity are meaningless, the towing capacity on my truck is 8,000 lbs, but to get to that figure my truck weight would have to be completely empty, same thing with payload capacity, they just generalize because no one knows how much you weigh, options on the truck etc... The important numbers on weight are the gcvw ( gross combined vehicle weight) and your axle weights.

Fishing not too good eh? What are your expectations 100 per day?!!! Nice pictures, bill.