Ollie-Haus

It's a confusing world these days with mergers, buy-outs and contract manufacturing. I'll muddy the water a little more with my first hand knowledge. My wife used to work for Federal Mogul as a buyer. Federal Mogul used to be National Seal. Even though Federal Mogul manufactures seals today, they can have several names on the packaging. They may be labeled National Seal, or Timken. Federal Mogul was acquired by Tenneco a few years ago and I believe changed the name of the Federal Mogul division to DRiV. For that reason their seals may also have this new name on them. To add to the confusion, Timken also contracts with other manufacturers to produce their products. The point of this is that you likely do have in your possession actual Timken parts. The problem is that it's well documented that Amazon is very unreliable in their sourcing and for that reason everyone has learned to be very cautious when there are discrepancies in packaging. If in doubt you can easily return. The problem is, unlike OEM manufacturers and OEM suppliers, Amazon has zero quality assurance process or supplier verification. Their buyers simply shop price and supply.

Anybody that has been considering a portable cooler to carry in your tow vehicle, Amazon has the Truma C73 marked down 35% currently. They are pretty expensive regular price but this discount makes that model about the same price as the Trumas half that size. It's a very high quality unit, made in Germany, not china, and has real nice features just like the Truma appliances Oliver is putting on the new campers. Bluetooth control, auto voltage monitoring and shutdown, low current draw, temps adjust down to -6f. If you like Truma and have been considering a cooler this price is as good as you will ever find. Link

I've read that the Oliver plays well in our favor when finding camp sites. The larger sites are always gone first, but the smaller ones that the LE2 still fit into are often left available for obvious reasons. Also you can call the campground directly and check for cancellations. It's very common for folks to reserve just in case and cancel at the last minute. I don't remember who said it but they said they never make reservations months in advance and have never been unable to find a spot on short notice. I'm sure the very popular destinations are an exception but otherwise that's reassuring.

I can't imagine

That's awesome. Thanks for sharing. My plan is still in a state of flux. With time I'll better know what our needs are and come up with a well thought out method that's sort of in budget I hope.

Agreed, I don't even know if they will be needed for the camper, but what started my thinking was the need for a solar/lithium system on my truck for the portable cooler that will live in the truck. That's the primary reason for the added solar, but while I'm at it, it would prudent to make it compatible with the Ollie's charging system to boost the charging rate under certain situations. Like you say, we'll have to define the needs based on usage.

If you hover over the activity button in the nav bar at the top, you will have a row pop up that has "unread content" in it.

Hey Brian, based on the equipment manual on Oliver University, the 2023 has 200 watt 24v Newpowa Solar panels included. I'm looking into buying 2 more of the same exact panel and installing them on the camper shell Yakima rails and doubling my solar capacity in the combined rig. I'll have to figure out the charging system and connections once I move forward with the project. I like what you are trying to do with the supplemental solar panels and the Ollie.

ready or not

After a long day together with the whole family, we made it home a short time ago feeling good about the time together, and being able to strengthen each other with positive thoughts, funny stories shared, hugs of comfort and just listening as each person felt like expressing how they feel, their fears and doubts and hopes. My sister in law is a roller coaster but she seems to be developing a focus on moving forward. She's not seeming so overwhelmed and expressing plans and ideas going forward to restore continuity and a feeling of security for the kids. Everyone is beginning to recognize they have a role or part to play to help their mom and take the burden off her. The older kids are already planning how they can share the day to day work load with mom. Lots of positive things happening already. Again thank you all for your much needed support and encouraging words. You truly have helped me to better help them. Our faith is strong, but our pain in separation is what we must learn to manage and slowly overcome. In the grand scheme nothing is really wrong, it's just an unexpected change we all will learn to work through. Blessings to you all for your support.

Thank you. The logistics are going to be a little fun now with the new pick up schedule. Now we pick up the Wednesday before the rally. We may be picking up and then heading to the rally. That'll be fun and a steep learning curve. Regardless, baring anything unforeseen, we will come to the rally and celebrate every day we have. Can't wait to meet everyone.

Thanks everyone for your kind words and support. We are all doing the best we can considering. Nobody saw this coming, totally blindsided, and too fast to comprehend. Strange how a moment of joyous anticipation can be quenched by tragedy. My heart truly aches for my sister in law Linda, and her children who have lost their husband and father without warning. The youngest of 7 is only 11, and they were all very close to dad. We will get through this together and life will go on and joy will return. Larry left to join our Lord at about 8:30 pm today, and did so very peacefully with Linda and children by his side. I will spend the next few days helping them cry a little and hopefully laugh a lot at the unforgettable person Larry was. Many wonderful memories will be shared in the days ahead of a life and person whom we all loved. My part as the remaining patriarch of our family will be a source of strength and reassurance to those who are just learning about the hard part of life. I will do my best to be strong for them even though I'm crushed by the loss of my only brother. Our very frail mother will be burying her youngest, I know she struggles to understand why she has lived to endure this. But she is also thankful to be able to console the grandchildren. Larry is also survived by two older sisters that share in our loss and grief. We are a strong family and we will all work through this process together. Sorry for spilling my feelings here on the forum, but I'm truly crushed and leaning on you all for the moment. Again thank you for all your kind thoughts, words and support. God's blessings to you all.

Thanks so much for that Steve. Our anticipation has been building and we are loaded and ready. Unfortunately an unanticipated tragedy has struck the family last week and just last evening we had to take my little brother off of life support. He became gravely ill without any indication early last week. He was experiencing multiple strokes and multiple organ failures within hours of developing a fever. He is only 56 years old and still has three teen girls at home. We had to wait for his four adult children to arrive to make the final decision. Ours is a hiccup in events, Larry's situation is much worse and the family really needs us for a while. We are now rescheduled to pick up the Oliver the week before the rally. To those that have known and been praying for our family, I can't thank you enough. Everyone is holding together considering the shock we are all experiencing right now. We are blessed to have caring friends that make a difference. Here's a toast to my little brother who's bigger than me, God's speed big guy until we meet again!🍻🙏🙏🙏 Oh and give dad a big bear hug for me. 😊

Hello @HDRider from another rider. We leave to pick our Ollie, God willing, in two days. It was a hard decision for us as well as we had to drastically downsize our home and lives to make this commitment possible. But in the realm of RV life, the Oliver is the only way to go that has any level of financial stability. I don't feel like we are throwing money down the drain. Ollie-Haus will be an investment that will get passed on to my son and his wife when we are done using it and the investment will reward them with great times down the road as well. There's much to be said about the recovery process from a lifetime of working, and there's no better way than reconnecting with your wife and the simple but valuable things in life. Traveling in your Oliver will be very simple and will teach you to enjoy the moments together again no matter where your front porch is sitting each day. Congratulation!

This is pretty neat and reminds me of when my dad got me a Crossman air rifle for Christmas when I was 10 years old, and set up a target range in the basement. It was about a 30' range with a plywood backstop against a block wall. I could staple paper targets on the plywood and practice all I wanted. It was pretty much an empty basement besides boxes of Christmas decorations and some exercise equipment. Couldn't hurt much besides a light bulb or window. Dad was an Expert rank rifleman in the Marines in the Korean war, and carried the BAR in combat. He used to tell me the average life span of a BAR rifleman in combat was measured in hours. He come home alive after nearly two years of heavy combat engagements. Needless to say he wanted me to hone my skills at a young age, and learn to respect the weapon. The rules were simple, never load the gun until I was ready to shoot. Safety on and don't touch the trigger until the bullseye was in my sights. Nobody else besides dad or mom in the basement while I was practicing. And last of all, if anything but the plywood got hit directly by a BB, the gun would be gone. I got the message loud and clear, and didn't want to lose my new gun. Thanks for sharing this John, I'm not an airgunner much these days, except for dealing with the occasional vermin in the garden. But I do love practicing with all calibers at the local outdoor range to to stay competent. I'll be following.

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.

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. 😄

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!