Frank C

Sounds like you have a good idea of what RV life is like. And here’s the link to the Cruise America travel trailer rental options. https://www.cruiseamerica.com/rv-rentals/our-vehicles/adventure-travel-trailer-rental

Welcome to the forum, and also welcome to potential Oliver ownership. If you’ve never camped with an RV or trailer before, you may want consider renting an RV or trailer from a place like CruiseAmerica to see if you’ll really enjoy the trailer life. CruiseAmerica rents both travel trailers and RV motorhomes. Very doubtful that you’ll find anyone willing to rent you their Oliver. The Oliver is a big investment (along with a tow vehicle) and there have been a few owners who sold their Oliver soon after purchase when they discovered all that is involved in trailer life (hitching and un-hitching, campground setup, emptying holding tanks, sanitizing the water system, troubleshooting issues at campgrounds, general annual maintenance, repairs, problems on the road, storage of the trailer when not using it, etc.). Some of their (mis)adventures have been very interesting to read. You mentioned you’ve done backpacking so you at least have some idea of what’s involved in camping. We spent 3 years car camping before moving up to an Oliver. Now in our 4th year camping with the Oliver Elite II and we love it, and it’s a perfect size for just me and my wife, but it is a lot of work and expense compared to just checking into a hotel. But we love the freedom of travel and having all of our own stuff with us no matter where we travel.

Thanks for the very detailed write up! Nice job! 👍🏻

Note that as you compare “work truck” versions of any given truck brand/model to the loaded “Platinum” or “Limited” top end full featured versions, you’ll find that all those features on the top end loaded models typically means you’ll lose some payload / cargo capacity of the truck for what you can carry in the truck bed. We’ve seen Oliver owners buy a fully loaded luxurious high end 1/2 ton pickup only to find out the payload/cargo rating barely covers the trailer tongue weight plus the driver and one passenger. My F-250 is an XLT edition “work truck” version, reasonably equipped and comfortable for long trips (but certainly not luxurious), but it has an insanely high payload/cargo rating of 3,334 lbs. so I can pretty much carry anything I want in the truck bed, even while towing. Look for a truck based on towing capacity, tongue weight limits, payload/cargo limit, 4 wheel drive, a heavy duty towing package, and a TRAILER BRAKE CONTROLLER. Not all trucks have a trailer brake controller (as some owners have discovered).

I’ve had the RockTamers on all of my tow vehicles. Our first tow vehicle was a Ford Expedition that had the exhaust pointing straight back under the rear bumper. I installed the optional heat shield that RockTamer sells (see first photo) and it helped a bit, but the rubber behind and around the heat shield STILL showed signs of overheating and partially melting. The Expedition is gone now, currently towing with an F-250 and the exhaust points out sideways behind the rear tire (second photo) so no more heat shield now (and I did put on a brand new rubber mud flap), and no problems. I’d recommend seeing if you can have a muffler shop fabricate a curved tail pipe section so the exhaust is out to the side away from the mud flap.

I’d clean out the old caulk and recaulk the exterior vent flange/hull connection. The interior joint where the black pipe goes through the interior hull should never see any water, since ideally you want all water being stopped OUTSIDE the exterior hull. My roof vent has always had really heavy caulking around it. Doesn’t look the greatest but it’s not something that noticeable since it’s on the roof, and it’s never leaked (knock on wood), (or is it “knock on fiberglass” for an Ollie?).

We have it and use it all the time while towing. It’s not just a “backup” camera. It’s a rear view camera. You’d be amazed at what can be hidden in the blind spot behind the trailer while you are in traffic if you don’t have the camera. I have the factory installed large extended mirrors on my F-250 and there is still a blind spot behind the camper that the camera gives a good view of. The camera is very helpful for lane changes, etc.

Does anyone’s Oliver actually have the gray tank drain located as shown on that schematic (red circle)? Mine is located properly directly at the outlet of the gray tank (red arrow). Having it located as shown on that Oliver schematic would let black water flow into the gray tank when the black tank drain valve is opened.

On a recent camping trip, I observed our campground neighbor empty his black tank, and after emptying, he then proceeded to insert his FRESH water hose very far INTO the open end of his SEWER hose, and turn on the campground fresh water to rinse out the sewer hose, then reconnected his fresh water hose back to the fresh water inlet on his camper. 🤮

What I find odd though is that there are a lot of other flaws in the gel coat around that cracked area. Little craters and ripples that look like manufacturing defects.

Had my first chance to do a long range experiment of gasoline vs. E-85 in my flex fuel F-250. Recently towed the Ollie about 1500 miles so I had a chance to compare mileage over several tankfuls each of both gasoline and E-85. I typically get about 11.5 mpg towing the Elite II on regular gasoline (which can still contain up to 10% ethanol). On E-85 the mileage dropped as expected (due to the lower energy content of ethanol) to about 10.0 mpg. But now to look at $/mile, with gasoline at $4.49 per gallon here in my area of PA, and E-85 at $2.99 per gallon. So on gasoline it’s costing me about $0.39 per mile. On E-85, it’s about $0.30 per mile. So the E-85 wins on cost per mile, but a downside is the loss of range of about 50 miles on a full tank. I’ll keep using E-85 when it’s available, but now that I’m looking for it I did discover that it’s hit or miss at gas stations if they have E-85. It’s nice to have the option of both though. We can have a separate debate about the environmental impact, the government incentives for ethanol blending, etc. 🙂.

I use a bleach & water solution as described in the Ollie manual. I use this for sanitizing all of the Ollie fresh water system, my fresh water hoses, and my portable containers. I use the large AquaTainer portable container as the reservoir of the bleach & water solution for drawing it into the boondocking port during the sanitizing process. It’s worked well so far to prevent any problems.

We carry one of these 7 gallon AquaTainer containers for extra drinking water. You can get them from Amazon or at Walmart in the camping section. As far what type of plastic, just make sure it’s a container specifically labeled for use with potable (drinking) water. Do not use plastic gas cans for drinking water! As far as your mention of plastic to avoid, you may be thinking of the concern over the chemical BPA (bisphenol A) that is present in some plastics used for drinking water, usually in polycarbonate bottles. I had to deal with this issue with regard to plastics in medical applications in my career before retirement. The AquaTainer is labeled for potable water and also labeled as BPA free. Reliance Products Aqua-Tainer 7 Gallon Rigid Water Container https://a.co/d/ezSC0A6 Here’s an article on BPA. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/bpa/faq-20058331

The black tank drain valve and gray tank drain valve both share the common drain pipe in the Ollie. The drain valves do not seal perfectly, so there’s a risk of cross over leakage/contamination between those two tanks. I wouldn’t use the black tank for fresh water unless it was completely isolated from the gray tank. And on Olivers with the composting toilet, I’m not sure if Oliver still cuts the hole in the top of the black tank where the toilet flange is installed with the flush toilet option. There may be a 3” diameter hole on the top of the black tank, even with the composting toilet, since Oliver does try to make it easy to switch from one toilet option to the other.

I can vouch for that. We just went camping though South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana a few months ago. Very empty states!

We have a shade screen but only use it on absolutely dead calm days (rarely). We have the power Dometic awning, and as John mentioned above, you don’t want the awning trying to auto retract when the wind comes up if the awning is staked to the ground. So when we do use the shade and have the awning staked down, I shut off the awning power at the switch on the interior cabin control panel. And I keep a close watch on wind conditions, and take off the screen and the staked support poles at anything stronger than a mouse fart gust of wind. The outer aluminum extrusion of the Dometic awning does have a slot running the full length that the awning rod slides into (see second photo).

A bit more info or a picture would help to troubleshoot the issue. As Mossemi mentioned, does the sliding collar on the Bulldog coupler slide freely all the way back when you lift the latch lever? And does the Bulldog coupler pop open? is it still stuck on the ball even with the coupler open? Do you still have the Andersen chains attached/tight between the trailer and the Andersen hitch on your tow vehicle when you are trying to get the Bulldog coupler off of the ball? The chains should be loose, or better yet, remove the whale tail bracket holding the chains to take any loading off of the ball.

Thanks! That’s the kind of input I was looking for to help in the go/no-go decision on this project. I do have extra screens added on all of the sink and shower drains to keep as much debris as possible out of the grey tank, and we are careful to not any put cooking grease, etc. down the kitchen sink drain, but soap residue & fine food particles could still be an issue. So that brings up another modification, anyone modified the black tank flush line to add a tee to that line to do a grey tank flush? 🙂. This potential grey water project seems to be expanding in scope and budget. 😂

Anyone modified their Ollie to use grey water to flush the toilet? I’ve seen this on a few RV forums as a way to avoid wasting precious fresh water from the fresh water tank to flush the toilet. The attached link is a video showing the mod. Plenty of room under the forward dinette seat of the Ollie to run a PEX line from the grey tank, mount a separate filter & pump for the grey water and access there to run a PEX line to the toilet. Would install the pump switch on the inside partition wall next to the toilet. Considering this project (and before anyone says it, NO, I don’t want to install a composting toilet). Have to think through some of the details yet though. Would have to add a valve system if I still wanted the option to flush from city water when available, and I’m sure there are other details haven’t thought of yet. https://www.rvrepairclub.com/video/rv-grey-water-system-101-and-benefits-of-recycling-kit-007916/

When I first bought my flex-fuel F-250 in early 2020, gasoline was relatively cheap so I didn’t use E-85 then. All our trips with the Ollie had been done using gasoline. Now that gas has gone way up, I’ve switched to E-85, but haven’t done any towing trips yet with it. Only $2.99 a gallon for E-85 here in my area. With gasoline I was typically getting about 11.0 to 11.5 mpg when towing our Elite II, so I’ll see what the impact is on towing mileage/range & performance when towing the Ollie. E-85 has lower energy content per gallon than gasoline so mileage will drop, along with range, but at only $2.99 a gallon (or less) for E-85 it looks like a bargain. I’ll post results after some future trip.

Here’s the Facebook post from Oliver with the actual dates of the rally

For anyone removing the awning seal adhesive or other “sticky stuff” from the hull, here’s a tool I’ve found very useful on the Oliver for removing caulk or adhesive without damaging the gel-coat. Plastic razor blade scrapers. Gets most of the stuff off, then final cleanup with isopropyl alcohol or automotive wax/tar remover. Limited-time deal: Plastic Razor Blade Scraper, 2PCS Scraper Tool with 60PCS Plastic Blades, Cleaning Scraper Remover for Stickers, Decals, Adhesive, Labels, Paint, Glass, Car, Window, Stove Top, Caulk, No Scratches https://a.co/d/4bf3egM

As John said, your #2 item/cracked rubber shock bushings unfortunately seem to be the (poor) industry standard on ALL vehicles to save pennies. Here’s a photo of a shock bushing on my 2 year old Ford F-250, and my Oliver shock bushings look about the same. Seems ridiculous when there are known good alternative material options like polyurethane for the bushings that the shock manufacturers could easily use that are only slightly more expensive. When my Oliver shocks eventually do need replaced I’ll install PU bushings.

I’ve been using this grease from Reese. Seems to work well so far. But any white lithium grease would probably work just as well. Reese Towpower 58117 Hitch Ball Lube https://a.co/d/ijYGGoO

I’ve never heard of any failures of the Bulldog 2” coupler on an Oliver trailer. But some owners upgrade to get a bigger safety margin on the weight rating. The 2” Bulldog is rated at 7,000 lbs., same as the Oliver Elite II GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) of 7,000 lbs. The 2-5/16” Bulldog is rated at 12,500 lbs. but there are other critical parts of the trailer such as the axles that are a limiting factor as well for the GVWR. The Dexter axles used on the Elite II are rated at 3,500 lbs. per axle (see photo of the axle label below), so two axles gives a weight limit of 7,000 lbs. for the trailer. Some owners that travel very heavily loaded have also upgraded the axles on their Oliver along with upgrading the Bulldog coupler.