Ollie-Haus

If you're going to tow, then obviously get a vehicle equipped to tow. It's all about the numbers, tow capacity, cargo capacity (payload), gross combined weigh capacity, and even tongue weight capacity. Point being many vehicles are well within their overall capacities or ratings to haul an LE2 around the country. Like others have said it needs to fit all your needs and requirements. If you are getting a tow vehicle to primarily serve that purpose and the other needs are secondary, get plenty of truck. Ease of towing and handling the weight of the trailer will make the overall experience more enjoyable. Also with plenty of extra capacity the truck doesn't work as hard and will last longer between service intervals. The harder your tow vehicle works, the more you will have to attend to service needs. Lastly, once you are into a full size truck, the size of the vehicle becomes a moot point. A short bed crew cab half ton sits in essentially the same space as a short bed crew cab 1ton. The half ton will be a little more nimble driving around, but the 3/4 or 1 ton will be more nimble with the trailer attached, and won't require WD hitch system. And the heavier trucks will not work as hard and will have much more cargo capacity, something you will realize at a point is very much needed for most folks. My tow vehicle of choice is in my signature line. It was purchased specifically for our LE2 adventures.

I sure made it sound like that didn't I. No we will travel seasonally for longer stays and probably do lot of local camping in Indiana and the surrounding states for shorter durations. We are finishing up a total remodel on an 1100 sq ft house to retire to out in the country, with the hopes we will free up a lot more time to travel with less home to tend to. Keep us posted on your progress and your time line, and enjoy the anticipation!

Hi Mark and welcome! We are picking up our LE2 in just over a week. The time between ordering and delivery day seems like a long time, but it goes really fast. We ordered in late October and are so excited to get to "move in to our new home on wheels". If you need anything just let us know.

Happy Easter/Resurrection Day, Grace, mercy and blessings to all. 🙏🙏🙏

@Wandering Sagebrush, we are taking delivery of our Oliver LE2 in eleven days. We have two Border Terriers that are each just under 20 lbs. We are very attached to our dogs and put up with them in the house pretty well, but they will definitely be under foot in the camper. Our dogs are pretty well disciplined and well behaved so it's not hard to get them to settle out of the way when busy in the house. I'm hoping this will be the pattern in the camper when they have to be inside with us. Typically ours will quietly pile up together on a couch and I could easily see this happening in the Ollie. If your dogs are used to laying in their favorite spot while you cook and take care of chores in the camper, I think it will be doable. But as others have stated, you'll have to look at an Oliver and figure out how that will play out taking into consideration your experiences with your dogs in your current camper. I picture our routine being one where I take care of feeding and exercising our dogs while Stacie is preparing meals. She prefers minimal distraction when working in the kitchen and the dogs will definitely require an amount of time for their care that I'm used to doing. When I'm cooking outside they'll just be in a pen adjacent to where I'm working. We'll definitely have to develop a system that suits us both and keeps the pooches happy.

A little along the lines of my previous suggestion, perhaps Jason could talk a little bit about custom items being installed after manufacturing, in the service department prior to delivery. I know they used to do customer requests but have moved away from that as far as building the camper. Is it possible to work with the service department after the order process to arrange for specific items to be installed, such as plugs, switches, lights, brackets for medical devises, or galley/bathroom/closet storage items? Other service installed options could be a frame mounted mud flap system similar in principal to those posted in threads by current owners, and paint protection film on the front of their camper for stone protection. Would the service department be able to do this type of work prior to delivery? For folks that don't have a shop or the tools and skills, it would be very attractive to have these type of mods/additions done in a seamless process before delivery. The process of finding a shop and scheduling work after taking delivery can be quite daunting and costly, plus the long lead times to get into another service facility.

Being new to all this, I have recognized that folks with older models do have upgrades installed occasionally. Perhaps Jason could speak to the process of upgrading items on the camper as newer appliances or systems become standard. Also maybe tie in how a buyer's decisions when having their camper built effect the ability and or cost of future upgrades.

Rally agenda just posted on web site: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/events/oliver-owners-rally/?inf_contact_key=c3e94ab13f84ac5b08816cade135c258680f8914173f9191b1c0223e68310bb1

Several friends and acquaintances here in Indiana have been effected by the tornadoes of the last week. We've heard the sirens go off numerous times already this spring. Prior to Friday's event no serious injuries. A friend of my wife was camping at McCormick's Creek State Park when this happened last weekend. The park rangers were driving through blaring their horns to warn campers to take shelter. Stacie's friend and here family survived by sheltering in the bath house, but lost their camper. The couple that died were in the same campground but apparently chose to ride it out in their camper. It's heartbreaking to hear this kind of news. We used to live near the town of Rossville where they were from. We didn't know the Kincaids, but in that farm community, everybody was considered your neighbor. Prayers for comfort and strength for the surviving family and friends. We have several forms of weather radio we will have along on trips. It's available over Sirius/XM in our truck, and we also have handheld GMRS radios with weather band. Plus if cellular service is available we have several weather apps on the phones to follow. We've survived two occasions while camping when tornadoes came within a mile of our locations. If you hear a warning, head for shelter.

Glad to hear you are taking the time to rest after stressful traffic. I see the campers at the Cracker Barrel at the Greenfield exit now and then and I'm very glad they are willing to accommodate. Never seems crowded and It's well lit and in a safe location. Funny you should mention second guessing ordering your KTT mattresses ahead of delivery. We had them on the list of upgrades on our order and a few days later we decided to back that option out and give the standard mattresses a chance. We may end up replacing them but it was a significant up charge and I figured it wouldn't hurt to try them, nothing lost. After all we've been tent camping on air mattresses for many years. 😄

Have you called the park to ask about reservations? When I was trying to make mine on line they showed almost everything taken way back in February. I called and had to leave a message. They called me back in just a few minutes and when I was talking to them, they said they had a number of sites reserved for the Rally that had not been booked yet. Made it sound like they show as unavailable on the public site but still available to rally attendees when you call.

Congratulations guys, glad you had a fun and safe experience. We're just two weeks behind you with hull 1373, just booked a hotel room in Centerville for the night before we pick up Ollie-Haus. Two nights following booked in DCSP also. See you at the rally!

Hey Steve, Thanks for the fine and interesting introduction. You will be right on our heels as we will be checking out of DCSP on the morning of April 24. Who knows, if we have any unforeseen need to swing back by the factory we may get to meet and get acquainted. I'm like you with much of the tech on board. It will all become second nature but the first few nights may be interesting. But hey, it's all about the adventure, whether sleeping through rough weather like other new owners did last night or dealing with alarms we don't know yet how to cancel. All stories to be told around the campfire down the road. Congratulations and hopefully see you in Hohenwald! Chris Neuhaus

I don't have first hand experience, but I would think a better choice for the Elite 2 would be the Glider 7K. The Boss Torsion has a range from 400 - 1100 pounds tongue weight. With the Oliver running at the low end of the range, I would think the relatively light tongue weight would not experience the full benefit of the flex connection. The Glider 7K with a TW range of 400 - 700 pounds would put you in the sweet spot for shock absorbing effect. A bonus would be the Glider probably weighs in at 30% of the Boss Torsion, and looks to have a more standard mounting configuration as it effects chain length. https://genyhitch.com/product/the-glyder-torsion-flex-hitch/

Welcome to the forum @Bioman. We have had a number of the same horror experiences with the "stick a staple" campers. We've also experienced the generally poor customer service in the typical RV service department. I can attest that the latter problem is a dealership issue and there are good ones out there, but few far between. For all these reasons and more, we have decided to purchase and Elite II as our last RV, which we plan to travel extensively in. At the conclusion of a five month wait, we pick up our Ollie in three weeks. All the experiences that have been shared on the Oliver forum were the biggest factors in our decision. And what locked us in on our decision was our two factory visits to Oliver Manufacturing. I can say from first hand experience that no other factory was willing to work with us directly and only a couple offered very restricted factory visits. They preferred we work first hand through one of their representative dealerships. And we all know how that plays out during and after the purchase. I think any number of current owners can give witness to the outstanding customer service you will receive from the factory. Now if you go to other sources for service for your Oliver, you will be at the mercy of their customer service policies. Oliver does keep a list of preferred service facilities around the country to refer if needed. I'll let current owners attest to their experiences with Oliver Service and Customer Service after the purchase, which I'm convinced is unmatched in the industry. Regarding leaks. Nobody is willing to accept leaks without having them corrected. That being said, leaks will never cause permanent damage of any kind to an Oliver and every kind of leak that's been discovered has always had a generally easy solution. The current situation with the new Truma AC unit is just part of a first run learning curve and Oliver is working on what appears to be the needed corrections. Regarding things falling apart on the camper, there's not much that can come apart as far as structure on an Oliver. Hardware and attachments are of a much higher grade than most typical campers manufactured, probably much more comparable to what you will find on a well built sailboat. Unlike other manufacturers that cut corners and pass problems onto their dealers to address, Oliver makes every effort to discover and address needed improvements continually. I don't know where you would find a better built camper for the money. And again for my money, I think you won't find a company with a higher level of integrity or with better service after the sale. I would highly recommend you contact the factory and schedule a tour. And in the mean time continue to read widely on the owner's forum and learn first hand from current owners, they have shared a wealth of information on this site. Olivers aren't perfect, but In my opinion they are probably the best and most trouble free campers made. Edit: PS I don't know first hand, but I would estimate from what I've learned over the past two years, that probably more then 85% of all 1360 or so Olivers sold to date are still in the possession of their original owners. And by and large the majority of those that have sold their campers receive very close to their original purchase price when they do sell. That speaks volumes regarding overall quality and value of an Oliver in and industry that otherwise retains very little equity in most products, even within the first year of ownership.

Wow, just checked out the 1up bike racks. Those are well engineered and well made. I'm really just as impressed with their web site and the functions they provide for 2D and 3D viewing. They're pulling at my heart strings! As a CAD draftsman this stuff is in my wheel house. We still have folks at great companies here in America that can design and produce the very best products. This is the way we will be going with a bike rack. With that being said, I'm fully in the camp of less is better on the back bumper of the Oliver. We have two very light Specialized Expedition city bikes. We should be less than 120 pounds including the rack. Thanks for sharing David!🍻

Very nice. You guys are beaming. Should be warming up when you get home. Safe travels!

Wow that looks like a real adventure! We would have to drive almost as far just to get to your starting point. Some day, hopefully soon. 🍻

Under three weeks now. Counting down and doing everything I can to be prepared.

Just discovered a couple that are new Oliver owners that just switched from Airstream. And they have a Youtube channel they will documenting/sharing their Olliey adventures through. Of course this just adds to our anticipation after watching. Don't know if they are on the forum but felt it would be nice to share their story here.

I don't know the exact type of tape that they use, but on fiberglass boats I've seen a cloth tape applied to the raw edges of fiberglass openings. It would need to have a substantial adhesive backing. I'm thinking possibly a fiberglass cloth tape. To find the right thing may be a trial and error process. Quick search found this. It's not cloth but is designed to hold up to moisture exposure and permanent use. https://www.amazon.com/Adhesive-Decorative-Sealant-Bathroom-Protection/dp/B0BC4NL2XJ/ref=sr_1_70_sspa?crid=3QUZHKFMEOTNV&keywords=edge%2Btape&qid=1680097392&s=industrial&sprefix=edge%2Btape%2Cindustrial%2C96&sr=1-70-spons&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExQUEwQzNZWDdBVkFQJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNTU4NTIyM04xMjFYVFI4Qkw5TiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwODgyMTg5MlkzV0lZS0UzNEpXOCZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2J0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU&th=1

Not an aircraft tech, but a machinist and all around DIYer by necessity that has a proclivity for detail. This is the upgrade panel for our retirement remodel we're preparing to move into. My wife giggled when she saw this. The county inspector just grinned real big and asked, "Your work?". My electrician buddy from work just said, "Nice!". The panel it replaced was full of mud dobber nests and looked like a bird nest. I feel better now. 😉

That's a nice demonstration of how not to strain one's back. Very nice setup. Do you know roughly how this effects tongue weight. Some of the comments indicated they were a little bit lite on tongue weight. This seems it would put you up in the good range. Thanks!

In the comments on tongue weight, nobody has mentioned cargo or generators mounted in the tongue storage basket. Are any of the mentioned tongue weights including significant weight in the basket?

Thanks Steve, I didn't get hold of Josh today so I'll try tomorrow. I'll see if I can get an extra night at Oliver. If not I'll try my luck at Meriwether for a night or two. I'm reserved for DCSP Friday 21st - 23rd. From there I will either swing back by Oliver for anything on the punch list or heading north toward home. Appreciate everybody's help very much!