Ollie-Haus

Yep that system swung west of us and wrapped around us to the north about 75 miles away. We were 68 yesterday and 66 and bright sun today. Looks like we'll be staying above freezing for the most part all the way into March. Strange winter.

I've been putting together an on board tool kit for our future LE2 and I'm including in that kit spare fuses specific to our build. For anyone that needs spares or wants to do the same and put a kit together, a good source for high grade UL rated fuses at reasonable prices and quick shipping is McMaster-Carr. Most come in multi packs of 5pcs. Also I've found they usually ship within 24 hours. I usually receive items I order within 3 days. Here are links to pages for various fuses that would apply to our campers: Time delay fuses: https://www.mcmaster.com/products/fuses/time-delay-glass-tube-fuses/ Fast-acting fuses: https://www.mcmaster.com/products/fuses/fast-acting-glass-tube-fuses/ Blade style fuses: https://www.mcmaster.com/products/fuses/automotive-fuses/ Blade Style circuit breakers: https://www.mcmaster.com/products/circuit-breakers/blade-style-dc-circuit-breakers/ For those unaware McMaster-Carr is one of the largest industrial supply companies in the US and carry substantial inventories of hardware items, industrial components and materials. And they sell retail to the general public. They aren't the cheapest, but you will find almost anything you would ever need in their warehouses ready to ship.

We have good friends that live in the Sun City area that we plan to visit once we get settled with the Ollie. It would be great to meet up with you when we head west.

Back when we first visited Oliver in 2019 they had about six campers in the lot outside the old sales building. I think orders have just been strong enough that we've gotten used to no time to schedule stock campers. Regardless it's nice for anyone that wants to move a little faster.

Just a few days ago there was only one LE2 listed as inventory. They may have been able to fit some inventory builds in between customer orders due to slower orders. It is nice that they can have some for immediate sales. Some folks who would otherwise pass up Olivers due to lead time may jump on a stock trailer since there's no waiting.

Hey Rene, I don't have any doubt you will pull it off with a flare. Patience is on your side. My wife and I knowing we were just a few years away from retirement started working our plan a little more than three years ago. It was an elaborate plan that has been adjusted a couple of times, but we have stayed the course. We started out by selling a piece of vacation property that we decided we weren't going to develop, and used that money to buy a small fixer upper for retirement. We pulled that off and 3 years later I'm finishing the total remodel and we are ready to move in in a few weeks. While all that was playing out we knew we wanted to travel in an RV and had to narrow down the type and brand/model that would be the mobile half of our retirement. Long story short after waffling between a couple options we settled on the Elite 2. All the time we were whittling down our RV choice we pulled the trigger on the required new tow vehicle. We settled on a Ford F350 with a gas engine and placed an order in Jan. of '21. The plan was to get it paid off as quickly as possible and then place the order for the Oliver. With the housing market at a peak we decided last April to place the current home we had been living in for sale and use the proceeds to pay off the truck, and all other debts and order the Oliver. Everything was falling into place. We rented the house next door to the remodel, I retired from my job to focus on finishing the remodel as quick as possible, and move into the retirement "cracker box" just in time to pick up the Ollie. Well as you can see, sometimes things fall into place. We are scheduled to pick up "Ollie-Haus" on the 18th of April and I'm hoping we are moved out of the rental and settling into the house by then. I'll need some vacation time at that point for sure. You have a lot of ambition and a plan you are developing, and I have no doubt as I said you will pull it off. Bide your time, make informed decisions and do everything you can to knock the debt down to a minimum and you will be there before you know it. I like your enthusiasm and can't wait to read about your milestones on the way.

One thing to keep in mind regarding pickups. Regardless of 150/1500 series all the way up to 350/3500 series, the overall size or footprint of the truck is essentially the same. You will have small variations in overall length depending on the size of the bed and some cabs are slightly shorter or longer. Point being they are all full size trucks so regardless of capacity, they are all basically the same size. Also as close as you can get as far as on board features when comparing, the prices are relatively close as well. A well equipped F150 with V8 engine and towing packages, will not be much less than an F250 with similar equipment and a gas engine. If payload is important to you, it's better to look the direction of the heavier series trucks as opposed to just getting by with a half ton and limited payload for nearly the same money in the end. Just trying to throw out thinking points since you are at the decision stage right now. You know your budget and comfort level best, but it's most economical as you know to do this once and get it right rather than revisit the TV purchase process a year into owning the Oliver.

I would use Autotrader.com and look nation wide. Only consider trucks that have the price listed. You shouldn't pay more than the sticker price. Some dealers are listing slightly below sticker occasionally. It'll take some work on your part but you can find a descent truck if you work at it. Here's an example of a nicely equipped F250 that would pull and LE2 with ease and no WD hitch required, and it's window sticker below with all included options on this truck. https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?listingId=664480564&listingTypes=NEW&driveGroup=AWD4WD&startYear=2022&endYear=2022&makeCodeList=FORD&modelCodeList=F250&city=Greenfield&state=IN&zip=46140&searchRadius=0&trimCodeList=F250|Lariat&marketExtension=include&isNewSearch=false&showAccelerateBanner=false&sortBy=derivedpriceASC&numRecords=25&referrer=%2Fcars-for-sale%2Fnew-cars%2Fawd-4wd%2F2022%2Fford%2Ff250%2Fgreenfield-in-46140%3FsearchRadius%3D0%26trimCodeList%3DF250%7CLariat%26marketExtension%3Dinclude%26isNewSearch%3Dfalse%26showAccelerateBanner%3Dfalse%26sortBy%3DderivedpriceASC%26numRecords%3D25&clickType=listing https://www.windowsticker.forddirect.com/windowsticker.pdf?vin=1FT7W2BNXNEG40020

My gut said if the thief planned to use it they would get caught. Great news that it's been recovered. I'm sure it's unsettling that these people have abused it but anything can be fixed and made new again. Congratulations!!

X2 on the Collar Lock. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HL2NM0K/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_5?smid=A2IFCPNR1UXA7P&psc=1

I've towed for years and wanted a heavy truck this time around. My former truck which we still own is an F150 with the 5.4 engine and tow package. You will love the 5.0. V8's are great engines and I've heard the 5.0 is really strong. You may like the tow experience better with a weight distribution hitch but I have no doubt you've got plenty of truck. Looks like you are set up for fun times down the road.

Hello Steve, nice to know you are going forward with your dreams. We too have an LE2 ordered, delivery in mid April. We will be traveling seasonally with our pooches as well. Exploring seems like a fun way to meet folks and see all the spectacular places around America. I'm sure we'll cross paths down the road and we're looking forward to every new friend we make in the process. Congratulations! PS - We bought our tow vehicle about 18 months ago, listed in our signature line below. What did you get?

Hi Melody, and welcome to the Oliver forum. Like the others have advised prudently, you will be considerably outside of a safety margin towing the LE2 with your current truck. It's age concerns me on top of it's lower capacities. A few things to help you get started. On driver's door post of every vehicle is a sticker that tells the load capacities for that specific vehicle as it was delivered from the factory. You never want to exceed any of those capacities. And in reality you should get a vehicle that leaves you a safety margin in each category. It's very easy to overload a vehicle's cargo capacity when loading up gear, people and pets on board. Add in misc. stuff in back and then add the tongue weight of the trailer on the back of the vehicle and surprise, you're over weight. Then you also have to determine how much the trailer weighs fully loaded. That falls under the Tow Capacity on the sticker. This is one you can't afford to be close or over on. The only way to get this number accurately is to weight the trailer loaded on a commercial scale at a truck stop. That's not how you want to discover you're 1200 pounds too heavy for the truck you're using. Lastly everything hooked together and loaded can't weigh in at more than the combined weight rating (GCWR) on that sticker. As you can see there's a lot to consider in a tow vehicle when considering a specific trailer to pull. If you are settled on an LE2 than that shortens the list considerably as to which tow vehicle you will want to buy. There are plenty of capable tow vehicles, but those capacities mentioned will rule your choices. There's lots of RV and Truck web sites and Youtube channels that can really get you up to speed on what those choices are today. I will say if not new the lower the mileage the better. Pulling a trailer is a lot of work on a tow vehicle, enough that it's considered "severe duty" by the manufacturers. With that term in mind it's always good to have more tow vehicle than you need. The farther you are from that vehicle's maximum capacities the less wear and tare you will be putting on the vehicle. One last thought. Getting the load going down the road with ease is a matter of comfort and enjoyment. Controlling the load during unexpected maneuvering, and getting that load stopped in an emergency situation depends on your trucks capacities compared to the load it's pulling. Better to have plenty of truck. Keep asking questions if you can't find answers and good luck finding a the right truck.

I've also got three to sell when I can get the time to advertise them and have them ready to sell. Downsizing and consolidating, it's what we do at this stage of life. 😁

Dennis, I know what you mean when it comes to trying to find information about specific vehicles' load and tow capacities. On line factory information is general at best and really doesn't help much with specific vehicles that are on the market. I for one always want to have more tow vehicle than I need. I have a general rule to never tow regularly on the ragged edge of a vehicle's capacities. And when it comes to leisure travel like camping in a travel trailer, leisure is the guiding principle. Having plenty of tow capacity and power makes the driving portion of your adventures comfortable and easy compared to running a light vehicle hard and just getting by. With that said I would say if you are looking at getting an LE2, I would highly recommend a 3/4 ton truck at the least. You won't have any need for a diesel, and even though they are powerful and efficient power plants, they come with a lot of complexity and additional cost of maintenance that you don't need to deal with if you aren't pulling maximum loads regularly. A larger gas engine is more than enough for pulling an LE2. You won't get the best mileage but again, you will travel with ease. For any tow vehicle, be it 1/2 or 3/4 ton, I would stick with trucks equipped with trailer tow packages with upgraded suspension packages. This will help to maximize your payload and eliminate the need to constantly calculate how much gear you can bring along. It's always good to be mindful of what you are loading into the truck, but with a substantial capacity you will quickly get a feel for what you can bring along safely. As others have mentioned, it's nice to not have to worry about needing a WD system to counter tongue weight. Most trailer equipped 3/4 ton trucks will not need a WD hitch. Here's Ford's web site with links to many of the towing guides for their various vehicles. This will provide a lot of research material for specific models. The guides also contain a lot of educational information about towing in general. https://www.fleet.ford.com/towing-guides/ Here is a web site with a tool for looking up the window stickers for available Ford vehicles. You can look up trucks on Autotrader and filter your search for Ford trucks. They list the VIN on each truck add. Copy and paste the VIN into the search box that's about half way down the page, hit enter and it will open another window with the Ford window sticker. You can quickly see if a truck has the payload packages to serve your needs. Also you can see if it's loaded with lots of accessories which will lower the payload capacity. https://lancelhoff.com/how-to-get-ford-window-sticker-from-vin/ I don't know if the other manufactures offer a way to look up window stickers for new trucks, but you may be able to find a web site that offers a similar tool for those brands as well. Good luck with your search.

Hi Brian and Sondra, Chris and Stacie Neuhaus here from Indiana. Exciting to know they are "breaking ground" on your new home away from home. I know you guys must be feeling the excitement build. The folks at Oliver are a joy to work with, almost like family. They make the whole experience a lot of fun. We are feverishly working on a total remodel of a very small retirement home we bought a couple years ago. The plan is to live in a very small house out in the country that will require minimal upkeep and free up time for travel and exploring seasonally. I'm getting to the end of the project just in time to move in and anticipate the arrival of our Oliver. We ordered our LE2 in November and have a start date in early March and delivery is scheduled for April 19. We struggled for a number of years ourselves with the type of travel trailer we wanted for retirement, but in our case we thought we needed room for toys. We've become more realistic in the last year and finally knew the LE2 was really perfect for the type of travel and camping we wanted to do during retirement. Thanks for sharing and we look forward to crossing paths and getting to know you and everyone in the Oliver family in the years ahead.

This seems pretty high risk for a thief. Probably don't realize how rare the LE1 is and that we are a well connected community. It has no scrap value, and using it regularly in public would be very risky. Maybe it will turn up and somehow you will get it back. Unfortunately if it does it will probably be way down the road.

Welcome to the Oliver Forum and thanks for introducing yourselves. We are still in a hold pattern waiting on production of hull #1373, due sometime in mid April. It builds excitement for us each time we hear of a new owner taking their Ollie home. There is a great group of folks here to get to know, learn from and share experiences with and the more the merrier. Congratulations!

@Geronimo Johnyour comments brings to mind what I've always thought about the unique designs of the Oliver Campers. I know folks tend to have a preconceived mindset regarding camper size and especially galley and bathroom requirements. Those of us that appreciate the design characteristics of the Oliver Campers probably recognize the amount of thought that went into every aspect of their campers. They seem to have focused on maximizing the function while maintaining a minimal envelope to attain those goals. Towing efficiency and ease of towing to the destination also seem to be primary goals, hence the overall size and shape. And of course durability is an overriding requirement in their priorities. I don't know if any other company has tried to marry all these requirements to the level that Oliver has succeeded in their trailers. Every aspect is challenged by the cost control piece of the puzzle, but unlike other companies, Oliver appears to try and control costs secondary to the quality component, and the feature component rides very high in that chain of priorities.

These are all great little fixes that I'm sure I'll utilize once Ollie-Haus arrives. I'm OCD about fixing the little things that can be improved for everyday use. BTW I recognized that Springfield Armory pistol lock you used on your tanks immediately!😆 I own more than one version of the XDm line they offer and each comes with the same lock. You've discovered a better use for it. 😉

We had a Jayco Eagle with a single super-slide. The room inside with slide out made it feel very home like as I remember and we really liked that. Conversely, the super-slide was our biggest headache and worry. It was quite finicky opening and closing, was a source of constant water leaks, needed constant attention regarding debris on top when camping in areas with overhead trees, and added a lot of weight to the camper for it's relative size. The camper pulled okay but you had to be very mindful of it going down the road, as in very reactive to side wind and passing trucks. At 34' it was a bear to get in and out of a lot of camp sites. And the last thing I remember was that it was built so flimsy. The walls and partitions of paper thin plywood and staples just felt like they could fall apart at any time with the next big bump. No insulation to speak of and the windows were just cheap. We got rid of it after a few years just to cut our losses before it was impossible to sell. It was a feeling of total relief when the buyer handed us the payment in full. Knowing the history and quality of the Oliver products and the customer service reputation has me very much at ease with this substantial purchase. Can't wait for delivery day! Oh and to answer your wife's interest in the ladies feelings, my wife pushed hard for us to go this route instead of the larger toy hauler. She is most excited to explore the "unknown" to us, in our quaint little camper. She chose the name Ollie-Haus because it will be our home much of the next several years. 😍

I guess at this stage I would recommend shoe cubby. That seems like an option with lots of uses, and you could always convert to a drawer in the future if you feel the space would be more useful.

We also toiled over this topic for several years. We struggled with the "need" of more room inside and also the "need" to bring toys along. We were seriously considering a 25' ATC toy hauler to serve all those needs. Well long story short we concluded with time that where we really wanted to camp was more important than both the need to bring too much stuff along and also the need for extra living space. I'm not necessarily concerned with the smallish interior because we are traveling to enjoy the outside that we are traveling to. We will mostly just sleep in the camper and clean up. But the rest is outside or away from the camper and that's our priority. I don't have to worry about if we'll fit or can we get their with the rig. So to boil it down, where do you want to spend your time camping? Make sure your choice serves that primary purpose first. For our plans the Ollie is by far the best choice.

How about the egress window in the back. Is it wide enough?

I know this doesn't solve your internet needs, but we've been using and aerial for television at home for over 10 years. At our new place we are about 35 miles east of Indianapolis and are able to get around 40 stations. Many of those are high def, but of course any older programming is in lower def. regardless. Programs like NFL, Nascar, PGA, local and national news come in with spectacular clarity. The Menards in Avon, OH has the antenna we use in stock if you are ever interested in making the jump. https://www.menards.com/main/electrical/electronics/antennas/televes-dat-boss-attic-outdoor-tv-antenna/149884/p-1642874256695741-c-1454940301502.htm?tid=5189128745463378719&ipos=18