Ollie-Haus

Hey John, I think the used RV market is getting flooded based on comments I'm seeing in various places on line. I think a good percentage of people entering the market for used right now are hoping for a bargain. That combined with a general lack of knowledge of the real value of an Oliver may leave a lot of otherwise interested folks scrolling past your adds. As we all know, the typical Oliver buyer is well researched, has a particular attraction to quality and is generally sold before they even see one. With the general slow down in RV sales I'm guessing the serious Oliver type buyer is a smaller percentage at the moment. On the other hand anyone that has their heart set on an Oliver and knows the price of the new ones should be particularly interested in yours. It may just be a waiting game for a longer period than one would have experienced a year ago. Knowing what I do about your camper, I think your price is quite reasonable. But the typical person entering the market at this time may not have that appreciation. If you can, I would recommend getting out and camping in it with a for sale sign on it. There's always a lot of curious folks at camp grounds that may step forward to learn more, and maybe be more than just curious. Just my thoughts.

Very nice! I just purchased this set for ours to be installed with the same concept. I was looking for maximum versatility and light weight. The combination empty on the frame extensions will add about 70# to the back of the camper. The empty tool box weighs about 45# and lifts out easily if we want to just carry something in the tray.

Now I have another test to run in the morning! Never stop learning when it comes to a new Oliver. Thanks for sharing Steve!

In average outside temps and high humidity, our camper get quite chilly in dehumidification mode. It does a great job though. I run it for a while when it feels sticky inside and then switch to night mode. This seems to work pretty well without needing a quilt on the bed.😆 I have noticed that it does seem to reach a humidity set point and the compressor shuts down. Usually comes on and off throughout the night to maintain the arbitrary set point. I'm actually good with it.

Lots of choices on Amazon with quick delivery. You may be able to find them at the local farm store as well. Here's an Amazon choice with lots of good reviews: https://www.amazon.com/Relube-Grease-000-3-Trailer-DC200L-DCRP/dp/B06XCK7ZNQ/ref=sr_1_59?crid=3E365J7L1VP3O&keywords=dexter+easy+lube+axle+caps&qid=1688472325&sprefix=dexter+easy+l%2Caps%2C163&sr=8-59

Regarding this topic, the following video was just posted today.

Our flooring and the surrounding fiberglass had a lot of sticky residue when I picked up Ollie-Haus. The first evening in Oliver campground I noticed my socks were quite dirty on the bottom after a little while milling around in the camper learning the systems. I decided to us a wash cloth saturated with hot water to just wipe the floor down. To my surprise, all the sticky residue came off with moderate effort just using hot water. I don't know if this is the same substance you are trying to clean, but I would start with hot water with a little detergent in it and see if that works before getting more aggressive. Hope this helps.

When I plugged my camper into a 20 amp breaker right after coming home with the camper, it tripped the breaker immediately (installed a 30amp shortly after that). I had not changed the settings on the Xantrex system yet. I believe it is drawing too much power for charging the lithium batteries, even with everything in the camper shut off. If you set it up right, it will charge at a lower rate and not trip the breaker. The inverter will select shore power whenever it's plugged in. I just unplug the shore power when I want to run the AC on inverter in this scenario, and when finished I plug the shore power in to top off the batteries. Others have covered the process for setting up the inverter for 15/20 amp service.

You nailed it Steve. If you stand outside and listen to the difference between regular low and night mode, the outside unit is much quieter, can hardly hear it when the compressor comes on. Night mode I believe is more of a courtesy for the surrounding campers. And yes the unit draws the lowest amount of current while running on night mode. This greatly reduces the work load for a generator. It also allows the AC to run longer on the Lithium batteries if you are dry camping. Of course the AC also has a much reduced cooling capacity on night mode, but from my experimenting with the system, even on night mode the camper is able to be cooled to a lower temperature than I need. As I am typing this comment, the outside temp is 88 degrees in the shade. The temperature on the inside of the camper in direct sunlight is 64 degree inside, burrrrrrr. I have the thermostat set on 70 so as you can see, the Truma can really chill the camper down. The Truma AC unit gives us spectacular options with ample capacity for our campers. I love the fact that I can run the AC all night without being "that guy" in the campground. 😁

We got the Weber Traveler that was offered by Oliver at the time of purchase last month. It's extremely portable and folds up into position in seconds. I also bought the griddle plate for one side to allow making pancakes or anything else that would fall through the grate. This makes the Traveler even more camp friendly. Weber Traveler Traveler Griddle

On the other hand he did indicate that it is very possible to perform a battery and charger system upgrade to lithium batteries, such as folks have done with the Battleborn batteries, but that was normally done by someone other than the factory. It just isn't a fully integrated system like the system currently installed on the new Olivers but it is very much an option for older campers.

Exactly. The only thing I couldn't remember was if he was listing those items' cost and then only indicated the labor would add on top of those costs significantly. It seemed as thought the complete upgrade out the door would be substantial enough to make a person reconsider.

I do believe that question was presented during the maintenance/upgrade Q&A during the rally and he said the upgrade to the Truma Vario Heat would require extensive mods that would not be practical. I'm sure anything is possible, but practical was the emphasis. My take was they would not want to offer that upgrade. Similarly a person asked about upgrading an older camper to a full on Lithium Platinum package, and Jason said somewhere between $18-$20K or more depending on the age of the Oliver. He indicated that this would require a complete electrical system swap out including much of the wiring, including both fuse/circuit panels, inverter/charger, batteries, harnesses and solar charge system. I think at a point it would be much more practical to sell an older model and just pay the difference for the newer model with upgraded features.

We also have been using a Traeger pellet smoker at home for almost nine years now. It's obviously durable as we have used it weekly and the only repair has been the little igniter element. We decided to get a more portable pellet smoker for the Ollie-Haus travels because we knew would couldn't camp for long without a smoker. The Camp Chef Pursuit is not a very compact smoker and it is still fairly heavy at around 80 pounds assembled and filled with pellets. It does fold up into a manageable package that rolls around like a two wheeled cart. It does fit nicely in the back of the truck for traveling. Camp Chef From their web site:

These are pics from our back yard at the home we sold a year ago. For being just a short distance east of Indianapolis, we got a variety of large and small visitors. We now live about 20 miles further from Indy and in a more secluded setting. Time will tell what we discover to be our wildlife neighbors in this area. This buck must of felt safe wandering the back yards along our road. He let me get a few fuzzy pics through the back door but when I slid the door open he promptly bounded to the yard next door. Mr. Pileated woodpecker loved the suet blocks I kept in the feeder off our patio. He was a daily regular This little green tree frog was enjoying the shade of our patio umbrella while we ate lunch at the same table.

Hey Brian, nice use of your vertical real estate. I was a production supervisor for a few years at Rohn Towers in Frankfort Indiana. We manufactured thousands of masts similar and of course much larger as well. Seems like a fun hobby and community to be a part of .

It likely needs to "see" the signal from the remote, but I found the remote works fine in this mounted position. The shape of the fiberglass probably works to reflect the signal in a way that both the fan and AC respond when you just push a button while mounted in the holder. Easy to reach and remove the remote if you want it in hand for any reason as well.

Once you get it apart I would clean the fitting and inside the hose end really well with rubbing alcohol, let it dry and then spray both with a little shot of silicone spray lubricant, the kind that dries, to make them come apart easily in the future. This lubricant will not cause the material to swell and seize up like petroleum lubricants will do.

Regarding the remote controls for both the Truma AC and the Fantastic Fan, I wanted to mount the remote holders in a location that was easy to reach, especially while working in the kitchen, that you can operate while in the wall mount without removing them. This location works perfectly every time and is easily reached while working at the sink/stove. I mounted them with two sided tape.

The switch to 15" ST tires happened in mid April. We got some of the first Goodyear Endurance ST223/75R15 that were installed on the E2. Load rating at 80 psi is 2830 x 4=11320#. Obviously we don't need that much capacity so lowering the pressure to 60 psi still gives us more capacity than the GTW, and the tires are not working hard at all. The whole ST tire blowout problem is because so many manufactures are installing the china made junk and passing the problem on to owners, all just to increase profits by a couple hundred dollars per trailer. Also many manufacturers are only putting just enough tire capacity on trailers to meet the GTW on the sticker. The typical camper running down the road is maxed out if not over weight for the tires it's rolling on. Even though Oliver is now back to using ST tires, they have ensured a very wide margin of load capacity for safety and have chosen to supply a much more reliable America tire unlike other manufacturers.

The thing I notice the most between the low setting and the night mode is the compressor seems to start softer and run at a lower level. The low rumble sound of the compressor is much reduced in the night mode. Honestly once the camper is cooled to a comfortable level, the night mode seems to be very effective at maintaining the temperature and humidity level we like throughout the day. Also based on my experimenting with my generator and running the AC, the Truma on night mode never draws more than 1800 watts on the Gen's onboard meter and seems to have very little serge when the compressor cycles on. I really like these design characteristics. I am a little jealous of the those who have switched from the Dometic unit as I have nothing to compare to. Oh the dilemma of only knowing luxury! 😆

I did the same with my factory Ford camera this past weekend. I really don't plan on using the camera while traveling, just when backing into a camp site. Before backing in I will always park the rig on the road at the site and walk the site down before backing it. When I do this I'll make it my routine to wipe off the camera to prepare for backing in. The Ford camera has a very wide angle view so it allows you to see directly behind the trailer as well as several feet on each side of the trailer. That combined with the side mirror cameras you have a complete view when backing into the site.

This thread makes me very happy we opted for the composting toilet. Our last travel trailer 20 years ago still provides "fond" memories of black tank issues.

Yep I'm sure it's fine, I've always been one of those kids that took his toys apart when I got them to understand the insides a little better. Still have that problem. I'll wait a year and then when I take the cover off for cleaning I'll just have to reseal, and not over torque. 👍

Welp, that precludes me from taking my cowling off and inspecting the inside of the AC unit. I just wanted to see if there's anything that needs to be cleaned/debris blown out of the intake screen or coil like most other AC units. Guess I'll deal with that down the road. Thanks for sharing!