katanapilot

Can't speak to everyone that has converted to the Houghton, but here are a few of my reasons - 1. The noise from the Dometic is intolerable. You can't hold a normal conversation with it running on either high or low. I actually enjoy talking with (and listening to) my spouse over a meal without having to suffer through heat and humidity with the A/C turned off. 2. The cycling of the compressor is very noticeable, especially when trying to sleep. I'm a light sleeper and it would wake me up frequently. 3. Current draw of the Dometic is considerably higher than the Houghton. For those with lithium, you can probably run the Houghton (or the new Truma) overnight on battery power alone. Doubt that is possible with the Dometic. 4. The Houghton has three fan speeds with a real difference between each and a dehumidify mode. It also comes in a heat pump version (which we installed) and will allow us to heat the trailer in mildly cold conditions versus running the propane fueled Suburban furnace. Other than that, not really much going for the Houghton 😉

I would love to have a Land Cruiser and wish I had bought one before Toyota announced the end of production for the U.S. market. That being said, I think my 2011 Tundra is probably a better vehicle for towing our Elite II - better towing capability and capacity, plus more room for storage. I've upgraded the Tundra with a Magnuson supercharger, EBC brake pads and cryo treated rotors, OME shocks/struts and springs. Given how overbuilt Toyota trucks usually are, I think we have a pretty capable package for towing the Ollie - even if we end up being a bit over the published payload numbers. Would a big diesel provide better towing and payload? Absolutely, but I'm not unhappy with what we have (and it's paid for).

Glad your installation went well. I believe that due to the low amp draw of the Houghton, you will not need, nor will you want to install the easy start kit.

If you have the stock Dometic Penguin A/C - it will be noisy. Quite a bit of discussion and some solutions posted in this lengthy thread I started a couple of years ago - https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/4517-got-earplugs/#comment-45539

I just replaced the bearings two days ago. On my Ollie, the Dexter axle nut was 1 1/2”. No cotter pins on mine - Dexter used an axle nut clip that is reusable.

Glad you were able to get your trailer fixed. Sorry it has been such a source of frustration and disappointment. Faulty main ground wire - it’s almost always the ground in a DC circuit!

I haven't taken the time to read all of the responses to your original post. A couple of comments - Have you looked in your area for a mobile service technician? They are frequently more responsive than RV dealers - since repair is their only business. As several others have suggested - in a DC circuit, 9 times out of 10 (at least in my experience) - the trouble is on the ground side of the circuit. I have to disagree with you somewhat - the unfortunate reality of owning an RV is that if you aren't mechanically inclined - it can be a frustrating experience. I have suggested to several friends that aren't so skilled - to skip buying an RV and just rent for those occasional trips. These things aren't Toyota reliable - even as good as the Ollies are in comparison to many other brands.

Same here. Very popular in the aviation community, I assume because they are built like Toyota LC’s and the dual action is pretty benign when used properly. Not sure I would recommend one for occasional use on an Ollie due to it’s weight. However, if you want to buy something that you can pass down to your kids or grandkids (and assuming the new owners are still building them to the same level as the older units) - they are great polishers. Lots of attachments available as well.

Have to say I’m a bit disappointed that I was censored several months ago by moderators who claimed my comment about “the greenies” was political and in violation of the forum rules - and yet these hardly covert comments about “energy independence” , etc. - go unchecked. Double standard, I guess.

Can’t really help answer your question, but we will be pulling our Elite II to Alaska this summer (with a 2011 supercharged Tundra). We may go as far north as Coldfoot, but will likely leave the Ollie in Fairbanks and just take the truck. Don’t want to chance it with the Ollie on the Dalton Highway. Thread drift - did you by chance fly the Otters and Beavers out of the Gastineau Channel in Juneau? If so, we might have ridden with you over to the Taku Glacier Lodge. Our son flew C-207’s and 208’s out of JNU for Wings of Alaska one summer. I rode with him for a day and VFR in Alaska was eye opening to me.

I posted recently in the thread about the generator ban in California. Apparently one of the moderators was offended by some information I stated about lithium batteries, coal fired power plants, etc. so they removed my post and closed the thread. Stating that the post was “political” was disingenuous in my opinion. I really thought this forum was different, allowing contrary views and opinions. I guess it’s not. Reminds me of the SOB forum I used to belong to - posts that didn’t praise the brand were often removed or the poster was pilloried even if they had a bad experience with their motor home or trailer. It’s been enjoyable being here until now. Thanks for all the good information, advice and opinions you have shared. Given that I don’t share the view(s) that one of the moderators insists upon, it’s time to move on…

We had the curtain, used it for one trip and then took it down. We have not used it since. For us, it got in the way when you are showering, makes the bath area feel even smaller and then was difficult to get dry. The toilet getting wet is not a big deal. As others have mentioned, a squeegee and microfiber towel works well.

Thanks John. I just bought a set for our Alaska trip next year. Appreciate the link.

Several of us took the initiative to replace the noisy Dometic with a RecPro/Houghton. I believe that all of us that did that are happy with the upgrade - I know it's the best modification we have done so far to our Ollie. Even if you can't do it yourself, there probably is an RV service center that will. I don't think offering constructive criticism of a noisy a/c (backed up with actual sound level measurements) is the same as calling a trailer a POS. Clearly, the Ollies are one of the best built (affordable) fiberglass trailers. However, they can be improved - also backed up by an entire forum category on "Ollie Modifications".

Really nice work. Did you CNC the aluminum brackets or use a milling machine? I love working with sheet metal almost as much as woodworking, so this would be a great addition for our trip to Alaska next year.

I'm a huge Michelin fan and when we first started looking at Ollies, the sales brochure stated Michelin tires and Trojan batteries. When we visited Hohenwald and ordered our Ollie, I was very disappointed to find out the tires were Coopers and the batteries were some Chinese made no-name (BrightWay). I must admit the Cooper tires have been just fine and it sounds like most folks have had similar results. The batteries - well that remains to be seen. The tires were changed because Michelin no longer made the LTX tires in the required size. The batteries, I can only guess it's because the BrightWay batteries were a lot cheaper. I'll still only put Michelin tires on my trucks and cars though...

I'll respectively disagree. The Atwood Air Command unit that John Davies has in his Oliver was factory installed some number of years ago. I don't know how or why that was done, but clearly Oliver knew about these very quiet Australian made units some time back. Unfortunately, Dometic bought out Atwood and it appears they have shrunk the variety of models available. Hopefully they won't buy Houghton as well.

You can have the spray on liners color coded and my intention would be to have it match the gelcoat white.

Thanks for the information on the spray on film. We may go with the Rhino/Line-X.

Has anyone used the 3M Paint Defender spray? We were considering Rhino or Line-X for the front of the Ollie for our Alaska trip, but this (coupled with a Rock Tamer) might be just the ticket.

Just saw this short article which was complementary of the Oliver Elite. https://www.autoevolution.com/news/legacy-elite-travel-trailer-is-americas-little-known-weapon-in-rv-world-game-171724.html

I am also skeptical of the Made In China bearings, but has anyone had an actual failure of these bearings when properly maintained?

What is the concern about using propane to run the Norcold fridge? The propane usage is minimal, based on our experience.

Replacing the Dometic CT thermostat with a simpler one would allow removal of the control box that must be stowed somewhere in the plenum of the new A/C. In hindsight, this would have been preferable to the control box mod we did simply to retain the CT thermostat. If you are considering installing the Houghton, I would take a look at what type of thermostat is required to run the Suburban furnace and to verify the wiring from the CT thermostat. If the wiring is compatible, then ditch the CT and it's digital control box and save yourself a couple hours of work.

I’m excited about the new Tundra. However, I’m going to wait for a couple of years to let them get all the bugs worked out and to get some of my investment back in the supercharger and OME suspension upgrades on the 2011.