Rivernerd

I believe the drum brakes Oliver is currently installing are mounted on Dexter "Nev-R-Lube" axles. Dexter touts those axles as a "sealed cartridge bearing system," with a 5-year,100,000 mile warranty. So, even though I won't have to annually grease the 8 sets of wheel bearings on the Elite II I am committed to receive next year, I will plan to the pull all four drums annually to check the brake shoes. Thanks for the reminder! That said, I am with John Davies on this one. Having worked on many sets of both drum and disc brakes on my vehicles over the past 40+ years, I prefer disc brakes by a large margin. If Oliver offered them as an upgrade, I would pay that premium.

I have done a fair amount of plumbing, including all of the plumbing in my new home in Idaho. It is my understanding that PVC is commonly used for DWV (Drain, Waste and Vent) plumbing in the Eastern US, while ABS is almost exclusively used for DWV pipe and fittings in the West. If you go to HD or Lowes in Washington or Idaho, nearly all available DWV fittings and pipe, including toilet flanges, are ABS. The only explanation I've heard is that is what the "local" inspectors are used to, and therefore require. Where, per Jason Essary, the two parts are not glued but only pressed into a rubber bushing on the black tank, either a PVC or ABS toilet flange with stub would work.

As one who takes delivery of a 2022 Elite II next summer, I am delighted to hear that report. Now that you have had 10 days with your new Elite II, are your "high expectations" still being "exceeded"?

If it's any comfort, my wife and I have an Elite II "in the queue", and we get the same answer to our requests. We have come to accept it as a necessary result of the present economy. Fortunately, we're happy with the stock LT tires!

John Davies: Did you ever find a solution to extending the tongue on your Elite II? I have an Elite II on order and also would like to find a sensible way to extend the stock tongue, after I take delivery. BTW, thanks for your many informative posts addressing mods and repairs. I have learned a ton from them. Ralph Pond

My wife and I have a 2022 Elite II on order for late summer delivery. The upgrades referenced in your post are much appreciated. We would be thrilled if you offered one more upgrade: a quieter air conditioner. A number of Oliver owners posting on this forum have replaced their stock Dometic Penguin II AC units with Houghton/Rec Pro or Coleman Mach 10 NDQ units. They report that these are MUCH quieter than the Dometic, which has been compared to a "lawnmower in your trailer" or even a "jet engine." If you can find a way to offer a quieter AC unit for a reasonable upgrade price, we want one! Ralph Pond

I am not an engineer, and I am joining this thread many months later. But, I do know that in a house, the purpose of a "furnace grate" is to provide a return air path to the furnace to balance the HVAC system. We owned a large L-shaped, 2-story home in the Seattle area that had only one cold air return per floor, located near the joint in the "L". We heated with forced air gas. The rooms at the ends of the legs of the "L" were always cold in the winter, while the rooms in the center of the "L" were warm. I was advised this is because there were not return air vents in those outward rooms, and so the flow of heated air was not balanced. It was too expensive to retrofit, so we just lived with it. When we built our new home in Idaho, we ensured that the HVAC contractor placed return air vents in every room, on the opposite side of the room from the supply air vent, not just one or two big "furnace grates" in the middle of the structure. We also heat the Idaho home with forced air gas. Even though winters are much colder in the Idaho mountains than in the Seattle area, the outward rooms in the Idaho home stay at about the same temp as the core of the house. So, I expect the purpose of the return air vent under the rear dinette/bed area in an Elite II is to balance the system, i.e., to pull cooled air back to the furnace for reheating and redistribution through the supply ducts into the cabin. If I understand correctly, the return air grill on an Elite II is cut into the inner hull under the curb side bed. This places it just inboard of the furnace in an Elite II, and at least a few feet from the supply air vents. This allows the system to achieve "balance," or more even heating within the cabin. Since the trailer cabin is essentially one "room," it does not surprise me that there is only one return air grill. But, it also does not surprise me that the bathroom, which is the only "room" in the trailer separated from the cabin by a door, would be colder than the rest of the cabin without its own return air ducting. Thus, it makes sense that Mainiac's addition of a butterfly vent high in the bathroom wall resulted in a warmer bathroom. It appears to me that this design allows the space between the inner and outer hulls to act as a return air "duct" for the bath, balancing the flow of heated air into that small, but separate, room. We don't take delivery on our Elite II until next summer. But if we find that the bathroom feels cold when camping in cooler temps, I plan to add a butterfly vent, like Mainiac did. Thanks, Mainiac!

Thanks for the education. I had only seen it in white until now.

My undergraduate degree is in Economics. Your use of the term "price elastic" makes perfect sense to me in this context. As does the Idaho State Parks policy. Washington residents are not paying Idaho state taxes to support Idaho state parks, so it is fair to charge Washington residents more to use them. I was a Washington State resident for 35 years, but now live in Idaho again, so I have experienced both sides of that issue.

That "wye bracket" looks like a Let's Go Aero Bike Wing. How is it mounted to the trailer?

https://www.nrs.com/ethafoam-blocks/pxkv?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=1672873107&utm_content=68835701990&utm_term=&gclid=CjwKCAiAp8iMBhAqEiwAJb94z0uouUdxPvFm7ihNxq3GIntqQBJiImQQFLgVrm7c6Ds00S4PuKipBxoCYU8QAvD_BwE Available in 1" or 2". The 1" thickness should work, as it is much more compressible than HDPE, and so would compress enough to leave about a 5/8" gap for the drain hose once the top and bottom parts of the unit were secured using longer screws.

We have an Elite II on order for delivery in 2022. I emailed our sales rep, Anita, asking if Oliver would install a Houghton/Rec Pro AC unit in our new Elite II if I purchased it from Rec Pro and had it shipped to Oliver. I noted that this would save Oliver the cost of the Dometic unit, which could be installed in a different Elite II. This is Anita's response received today: That is apparently something done after the units were picked up. Th guidelines we go by would not allow us to install something that hasn’t been approved. So, this is something that the owners are doing themselves. I will send the email to upper management to see and send research and development on engineering side can look into it. So, the answer is "NO," but Anita did copy me when she forwarded my message to "Rodney," apparently with Oliver's R&D team: Hi Rodney, I know that this is something that we can’t do, however advised the new owner that I would refer it to you. That maybe research can be done. So, the AC upgrade request has been delivered to Oliver's R&D folks. I expect time will tell if Oliver presently has the inclination and the resources to adapt to customer requests for product improvement while struggling to make trailers for a lot more buyers, like us. Many thanks to Katanapilot, NcEagle, Minnesota Oli and others who "blazed the trail" enabling this upgrade with your informative posts on this thread. Whether this upgrade will ultimately be done by Oliver, or by us after we bring our Elite II home next year, remains to be seen.

Follow-up: I emailed Anita to ask if, despite the reported standard practice, the production folks could be asked really nicely to record the model and serial numbers of installed appliances just for us when they build our Elite II. She chose to call me with the answer. Anita reported that Oliver now uses what she called the "IDS" system, which digitally records model and serial numbers, by hull and VIN number, for appliances installed in trailers now being built. She advised that serial numbers can be retrieved from the IDS system by Oliver service techs upon request. She suggested I call Oliver's service department to request the model and serial number should any installed appliance ever need warranty service. As I told Anita, I plan to ask for a printout of that IDS data when I pick up our Elite II. The take away: open a service ticket, and call Oliver service to request the serial number, for any installed appliance which requires warranty service. If any of you actually do this at some point, I would appreciate a report via this forum on how it goes .

I have an Elite II on order. I asked our sales rep Anita via email if the production folks could keep a record of model and serial numbers for third-party appliances installed when they manufacture the trailer, and give it to us along with the other materials supplied at delivery. Here is her response received today: I asked service and was advised that the serial numbers are on the component. In the Oliver University is the model numbers as well as telephone numbers for the company that manufactures the component. The Truma tankless water heater has an extended warranty and we register that before you take delivery. The number for it is on the outside of the component. The plant doesn’t keep those numbers since they are on the component. I’m sorry. Apparently, it is too much to ask when you buy a trailer for $70K plus.

During my 35 years of law practice I did mostly litigation, including defense of product liability claims. IMHO, any "fear of liability" defense to providing owners with electrical diagrams is baseless. If an injury occurs and a product liability claim is filed, any available wiring diagrams must be produced through the formal discovery process. Since they can't be hidden during litigation, refusing to provide them to owners makes no sense. If Oliver management is monitoring this forum, I invite them to reconsider their position, and to resume providing wiring diagrams to owners. Surely Oliver has something their production and quality control employees follow when doing the wiring, to ensure it is done correctly. As a future owner taking delivery next year, I'd like to have one included in the owner's manuals with my 2022. It doubtless would prevent some warranty service tickets and calls, and so would reduce Oliver's service department costs. Given Oliver's commitment to the exemplary customer service so frequently described on this forum, it seems strange to refuse to provide wiring diagrams to owners, at least upon request. Oliver, your response?

I used a NOCO Genius 1100 charger for many years to maintain 12V 34Ah AGM batteries which powered a CPAP machine on extended wilderness river trips. (I now use LiFePO4 [Lithium Iron Phosphate] batteries because they weigh a lot less; those take a different charger and charging protocol). My NOCO Genius 1100 has lights showing 25-50-75-100% charge. The light for the current charging level slowly "blinks." Once the connected batteries reach full charge, all four charge level lights are steadily illuminated. The charger will then just supply the trickle of power the AGM's "like" to stay properly charged. I would not spend the $$$$ on a second charger. If you don't mind monitoring the charging process and switching the charger alligator clips to the other set of batteries periodically, I would put the NOCO charger on one set for 1 week, then switch to the other set for 1 week, then switch back and forth every month while the batteries remain out of the trailer. IMHO, AGMs don't lose charge fast enough to require constant trickle charging; once fully charged. Every other month should be fine. Keep in mind that, like ordinary car "wet cell" batteries, AGM's often sit on warehouse shelves without charging for several months after manufacture before they are purchased by end users. A few months of "standby" loss does not seem to significantly affect the long-term ability of the battery to hold a charge. Overall age, however, is a different matter. Regardless of how well they are maintained, AGMs are good for only 3-5 years after manufacture. The manufacturing date is usually stamped into the plastic battery case, sometimes in code like "1018", which might indicate "October 2018". Check with your battery manufacturer to be sure. When I bought AGMs, I always wrote the manufacture date on the case with a Sharpie. I always replaced my AGMs after year 3, because I depended on them for a good night's sleep on wilderness river trips, with no backup. Now that I use LiFePO4s, which have as much as triple the life (and price!) of AGMs, I plan to replace them after year 9, to be safe. Hope this helps.

Jason's new 2021 delivery walk-through video recommends that tire pressure be maintained at 55 PSI. I expect that's where they are now setting the pressure on new deliveries. Ralph Pond

Jim and Frances: I would love to have a Word version of your delivery checklist. I expect that if you post it on this thread, there will be others who will enjoy having it as well. Thanks for putting it together! Ralph Pond

I did an epoxy repair like John Davies describes to a fiberglass shower unit in a home we own. After the repair had cured for a couple of days, I hand sanded it smooth with super-fine automotive finish sandpaper, then applied 2 coats of Nu Finish car wax. It made the repair almost disappear.

Mike, your post aptly summarizes the reasons we remain committed to finalize the purchase of our Elite II next year, instead of an Airstream. We expect we will not only have the benefit of Jason's exemplary customer service, but continuing access to this forum, with its remarkable collection of knowledgeable veterans who generously give their time to share their experience. That so many of you remain fiercely loyal to Oliver despite the issues with your own trailers "speaks volumes" to me.

As I search this forum for technical advice, I keep finding new threads addressing yet more, and recent, production oversights. This one adds another item to the checklist I am preparing for when I take delivery on my Elite II: "Verify that furnace air flow to all vents, including the one in the bathroom, is adequate." While I laud Oliver for sponsoring this forum, and for leaving exposed errors like this one publicly visible, I surely hope Oliver's QC folks bring their "A" game when my Ollie is built......

Seems clear to me from review of this thread that, to be consistent with Dexter's specs, Oliver should now be using 12 AWG CU wire for Elite II electric brakes, since there are 4 brakes. Thanks to those who have posted here for figuring this out! Does anyone know if Oliver has upgraded the wire gauge for the Elite II electric brakes from the 18 and 20-gauge conductors John Davies noted three years ago, at the beginning of this thread ? I'd like to be assured that when my Elite II is built next year, Oliver's manufacturing methods comply with their supplier's specs, and that my trailer brakes will function as designed.

With all due respect, 90 PSI is too high for any home or RV water system without risking damage to the components. 65 PSI is the usual recommended safe maximum. As Overland points out, around 40-45 PSI is best if that produces enough pressure for normal use. But I would not recommend ever going above 65 PSI.