Rivernerd

When picking up our Elite II after repairs, I asked about adding a return air vent on the street side aft of the Xantrex inverter. Jason Essary advised that Truma "okayed" the idea, but he cautioned to place such a vent far enough aft of the inverter to ensure structural integrity of the fiberglass sidewall is not compromised. I plan to add that additional return air vent after we get back home next Tuesday, to further improve the performance of the Varioheat furnace system. I don't need to do it before then because testing during our return trip back to Idaho has confirmed that the Varioheat furnace, with the new return air duct in the bathroom, has improved air circulation enough to protect the "bilge" area of the trailer down to single digit temps. It got down to 11 degrees F last night in Cortez, Colorado. With the Varioheat furnace set at 70 degrees F it ran all night, but never raised the cabin temp above 68 degrees F. Yet, the monitors set on the "floor" near the Pex supply plumbing under the front dinette seat and the rear street-side bed never read lower than 38 degrees F. This 27-degree F positive differential between outside temp and bilge temp is a significant improvement for cold weather camping.

A "heads up" for new owners (like us) who have the (more efficient) Victron charge controller instead of the older Zamp unit: the wall-mounted Victron BMV-712 Smart Battery Monitor is exactly that--a battery monitor, not a solar charge monitor. Since it is mounted in the same place as the old Zamp display, I presumed it reported solar charge data, like the Zamp did. It doesn't. For solar panel output data, you must download and consult the Victron Connect app, and tap on the icon for the Victron charge controller, not the Smart Battery Monitor. Then you can see not only current, but historical (last 30 days) solar charge data. This is a paradigm shift which confused me until I figured it out.

Truma will not allow an Easy Start to be installed in an Aventa air conditioner. So, you must have at least a 3KW Inverter/generator to run it. One trade off for a quieter unit.

Another observation: I just toured the 2023 Oliver Elite II demo trailers while waiting for service at the OTT Sales and Service facility. One of the Elite II demos has the full Truma upgrade package including AC, water heater and Varioheat furnace. The other has the standard Dometic AC and the standard Suburban water heater, but the Truma Varioheat furnace. This suggests that the Varioheat furnace is now the "standard" on all 2023 Elite II trailers, even without the Truma AC/water heater upgrade. If so, our experience so far supports this product decision by Oliver.

Rodney Lomax confirmed to me yesterday that the vent in the bath below the toilet is a return air vent that is included with the Truma upgrade.

The Varioheat furnace is included when you order the Truma package. We were surprised, and pleased, when we received an updated Deposit Receipt from OTT a couple of months ago which listed the Varioheat furnace as part of the Truma upgrade package. As I advised OTT Sales and Operations manager Rodney Lomax yesterday, it would be to Oliver's advantage to better market the fact that the Varioheat furnace is included with the Truma upgrade package. After using the trailer for 5 days now, we believe it adds at least as much value as the AC and the water heater, making the upcharge much more worthwhile.

We also ordered the Truma antifreeze kit. It was installed by our delivery person from the Service Department. But, be sure to check before leaving Hohenwald that the "ANTIFR" option appears on the CP Plus wall remote control (along with the ECO and COMFORT options) indicating that the antifreeze kit is communicating with, and can be controlled by, the CP Plus. As the CP Plus wall controls are new to Oliver as of last week, our installer neglected to do a RESET on the CP Plus after installing the antifreeze kit, so it did not work. But, during our return trip to the Oliver facility today, that issue was promptly corrected. Mistakes happen, but we are impressed with the prompt and effective response from the Oliver Service Department. They really do care.

We took delivery of our 2022 Elite II last Thursday. Low temps dropped into the mid-20s over the weekend, while we were at David Crockett State Park. We have the Truma AC/Furnace/Aquago package. Concerned about freezing, we placed digital thermometers in the bottom of the service access portals under the front dinette seat and the street side rear compartment near the external faucet. We set the Truma Varioheat furnace at 68 F. When the outside low dropped to 26 F, those thermometers read in the mid- 40's. This suggests that the vulnerable areas on the bottom and outside of the trailer are staying warmer, with the furnace on, than has been previously reported. I believe it is because Oliver now includes a return air vent in the aft wall of the bathroom, with the Truma Varioheat installation, which improves air flow back to the furnace. See page 2 of this thread: The Truma furnace package also includes smaller, but more robust, and better sealed, supply air ductwork. So far, we are quite pleased with the quality and performance of the Truma Varioheat furnace installation, and with our ability to use the trailer in below-freezing temps. But, we must drive home to Idaho over the next week. That process may require us to camp overnight with low temps in the teens. We plan to continue to monitor temps. If the sensitive areas of the bottom of the trailer get below 32 F with the Varioheat set at 68 F, I will update on this thread.

In the trailer you may have parasitic power draws. I would pull them from the trailer ASAP, put them in your garage, connect them to a "regular" lead acid battery charger and monitor voltage with a voltmeter. If after charging for a couple of days they still don't hold a charge, I recommend you take them to an auto parts store for (usually) free testing. These steps will advise you whether they are damaged and require replacement.

Attached is a photo of what I believe to be a bathroom return air vent in our new Hull #1291 Elite II. It is on the back side of the aft bathroom wall, right above the black tank flush/check valve, and therefore accessible from underneath the front dinette seat. The second attached photo is shot from the bath side. I suspect the return air is expected to make its way back to the furnace through the area under the floor. You will note that the forced air vents are smaller than in previous models. I believe this is because we were the third Elite II upgraded to the Truma AC/VarioHeat furnace package. The air ducts are smaller diameter, but much more substantial than I have seen in photos previously posted on this forum. Maybe Oliver added return air vents as part of this upgrade? For what it's worth, a cold front moved into Tennessee last night. It has been in the high 30's today, with lows for tonight forecast to be in the mid-20's. We have run the furnace most of the day, with the bathroom door closed, yet it has been only a bit cooler in the bath than in the main cabin. I suspect that small return air duct has helped balance the flow of heated air to the bathroom.

We took delivery on an Elite II yesterday, with the 2-5/16" coupler upgrade, towed by a 2019 Tundra. I installed a 2-5/16" Andersen hitch today. Why? We figured the $250 for the 2-5/16" coupler upgrade, combined with $0 more for the 2-5/16" Andersen WD hitch vs. the 2" (which was purchased online and installed by me to save some $$$$), were sensible insurance against the ball wear issues John Davies reported on this forum some years ago.

Thanks for the "heads up" about the gelcoat on the roof. We took delivery of Hull #1291 yesterday. Our preliminary inspection has revealed generally good attention to detail so far. But, a roof issue surfaced today. It rained in Hohenwald last night. We found a water leak near the air conditioner onto the bed after driving to David Crockett State Park. As we had not used the AC yet, we figure a sealant failure around the AC unit allowed residual rainwater to leak through the hulls during the drive. So, we will be back in Hohenwald on Monday to get that leak addressed. I begin a more thorough inspection, including the quality of the gelcoat and sealant application on the roof, tomorrow. Any additional issues revealed by this weekend's inspection and continued systems testing will be added to our service ticket for Monday. I plan to open a new topic recounting our delivery, quality inspection and remedial service experience within the next week.

We take delivery on Hull #1291 tomorrow. I plan to conduct a thorough inspection and test all systems over the next several days. It will be interesting to see if the many service tickets reported by all of you helpful forum posters have caused Oliver's production quality control to improve enough to provide us with a flawless trailer. Stay tuned.

That is a 4" drop/rise version. It works for most, but not all, tow vehicles. It is also the 2-5/16" ball version. 2" ball is more common. Oliver installs a 2" coupler unless you upgrade to the 2-5/16". If your coupler is 2", you must get the 2" ball version. How much drop or rise you need depends on the height of the receiver on your tow vehicle. There is a good set of instructions for measuring on the Andersen website. Check that out, do the measurements and you will know which drop/rise you need.

Does the owners manual "recommend" or "require" a weight distributing hitch when towing over 5000 lbs.? There is a critical difference between those two words. Good luck proving that "Nissan didn't think I needed sway control" in court if your owners manual says differently.

Where we live in central Idaho, the saying is: "There are two kinds of people here. Those who have hit a deer, and those who are going to hit a deer." I am in a third category: those who have hit at least 2 deer!

I got mine from Amazon for $10: https://www.amazon.com/Optronics-ACP7S-Trailer-Harness-Protector/dp/B089N62GHN/ref=asc_df_B089N62GHN/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=532535399205&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13502820704720952598&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9029558&hvtargid=pla-1425403121436&psc=1

A 4" deck plate hatch is available from Amazon for about $12. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08VJ1S1KC/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=A2QJ57U0XMN4Q0&psc=1

Thanks for posting about this (hopefully rare) defect. We pick up our Elite II in about 2 weeks. I now plan to verify proper operation of the emergency egress window! Your post suggests you are fairly "handy." Did your evaluation of the rear window assembly reveal how it is installed in the Oliver? Since reputable RV repair facilities seem to be hard to find, have you determined what would be required to replace the rear window yourself, maybe with help from a friend? Jason Essary's video on window shade removal, available through the link below, shows what the windows look like with the shade assembly removed. It makes me wonder if the inside window assemblies are screwed to the outside part of the assembly, and so could be replaced by removing the screws (and, I expect, some sealant), and separating the inside and outside parts of the frame?

Interesting. Radiant heating, rather than forced air, throughout. Thanks for posting the link.

Jason recommends in his 2021 walk through video to turn off the inverter when not in use. Maybe leaving it on will wear it out sooner?

If I were traveling alone with just a small dog, the smaller Legacy Elite I would be my choice.

Thanks for the very informative post. It is particularly useful to know that the "stock" trailer will protect the water systems from freezing down to 25 F, and that you burned about 15 lbs. (3+ gallons) of propane per day when nighttime lows were in single digits. Please forgive me if this is a dumb question. But, if you kept all water systems winterized the entire time, using only containerized water and your composting toilet, what would it matter if the external shower was exposed to freezing temps? The winterizing process should have filled all of your Pex lines with RV antifreeze. What am I missing?

Placing electrical connectors in inaccessible areas is not a good practice. I am disappointed to learn that Oliver does it. I presume you opened a service ticket, as you spoke with Jason. I hope that will help Oliver learn from this experience, so the manufacturing teams will no longer place the fan wire connector in an inaccessible area.

I expect it has happened, else Jason Essary would not explain in the video linked below, at 1:29-1:30, that the purpose of the Progressive surge protector is to "sacrifice itself" in the event of a large power surge. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=2021+Oliver+Elite+II+delivery+walkthrough#kpvalbx=_PxxUY6j5IIyF0PEP1oKlsAY_33 One consideration we took into account when deciding to invest in an external surge protector: if an external unit gets "fried," replacement is "plug and play." Not quite so easy with the internal unit.