SeaDawg

Karen, as I recall the backing was quite stuck to the product. Sherry

That's all good,and a nice mod, but honestly, we've never lost one of those original plastic/ nylon fasteners in almost 100,000 miles of towing, 12 years. I will add. We have a 2008, original equipment. Things may have changed. Sherry

I don't know. Southern comfort makes custom mattresses for many trailers, if Oliver doesn't offer one. One of our members, Hardrock/Coy, had Southern Comfort fabricate a split mattress, 1/3, 2/3, to provide easier access to components beneath the benches. If I were ever to consider a mattress, that's what I would order. A full size mattress is really bulky to move around in a small space. Sherry

My husband and I are the happy owners of an early Elite, bought back in 2008 when the smaller trailer was the only option. Since then, we've towed the trailer close to 100,000 miles, and many times spent upwards of 60 days together camping in the small trailer. We're still married. 😄 There are certain advantages to the smaller Elite. Fits in even smaller spaces than the II, and opens up a wider range of tow vehicle selections with its lighter weight. Two tires to replace, (three if you regularly replace and rotate the spare) ,one axle to maintain. It offers less storage, but that helps keep the weight down, too. You won't be as tempted to carry a lot of stuff you don't need. Both campers live really big on the outside, which is where we spend the majority of our time when camping. It can become a little tight if you encounter a string of crummy weather days, and have to be inside a lot. If we can't move on, my husband usually sits and works at the little dinette, and I tend to read on the bed. The bed in the Elite is also smaller, more like a queen length full size bed. Frankly, I would love to have a slightly larger bed, but it's doable. We're not exceptionally tall or big people. I believe there is a bit more headroom in the larger Elite, as well. That would be important to some. We leave the big dinette set up as the bed. I'm not really sure where the table leg is anymore, it's been so long since we've used it. This arrangement gives me room under the bed to store three large crates of extra bedding, supplies, coats, and clothing. If we have a group over for dinner, we eat outside. There is a little more prep, work, and storage space in the larger Elite. That, too, would be nice to have. We replaced our defunct microwave a few years ago with a big storage cabinet, so I am ok without the pantry. (I only used the microwave a couple times in ten years. We mostly cook outside, unless the weather won't allow it. I even like to prep and wash dishes outside in a dishpan when camping, so it's again only an inconvenience if the weather is poor. The bathroom and closet are pretty much the same size in the I and II, as is the fridge and cooktop, so no big advantage or disadvantage there. Except, I think there may be a little more headroom in the EII bath. Again, unimportant to us folks of average height. We usually travel with one small dog, sometimes two if our daughter's dog comes along. I wouldn't want to share the trailer with a big dog, though others have. Some make up the small dinette as a sleep space for a larger dog. Two couples I know have even fulltimed with two (or more) dogs in the smaller Elite. There isn't a huge price difference in moving up to the larger Elite, and I think that drives the choice sometimes. For us, the smaller trailer has been a good choice, giving us a great camping experience for over 12 years. It's a big decision. If you have any specific questions about camping with the smaller trailer, I'd be happy to help. I hope you hear from other Elite owners, as well, though we're a much smaller per centage of the group. Sherry

Back in the day, Airstream sold some pretty cool wooden "Legomatic" folding chairs for their trailers. I still see them once in awhile on ebay, etsy, and some mid century resale sites. They would probably fit in that aisle, as they have a fairly narrow seat and footprint. They fold flat to something like 18 x 6 x 16. I use mine as extra chairs when we have a big group for dinner at home. Never tried it in the trailer. Mine are still rocking that 60s gold marble look vinyl seat upholstery. 😄

We have an older LE I, with the firm cushions. We used a "down alternative" thick topper for 8 or 9 years, and changed up to a 1.5 inch memory foam topper a few seasons ago. Great sleeping with the firm support, plus memory foam. If I ever have to replace the cushions, I'll probably do what I did with the boat cushions. They're three or four inches of firm foam, with a one or one and a half inch layer of memory foam glued to the top. Best of both worlds. No topper, comfortable seating, and comfortable sleeping as well. Sherry

Have you tried calling Jason in service? It's possible they have a used one. I've also had some luck with adventurerv dot net finding some odd bits in the past. Good luck. Sherry

Might want to remember that his trailer was transported quite a distance . What worked in Honenwald, may have had an issue along the way. Seriously, do you think Oliver would load a trailer for delivery that didn't have working lights? I don't think so. Knowing they'd have warranty issues? I don't think so. It's life. Stuff happens. Let's jelp with troubleshooting, and move on. Sherry

That's really nice of you. Thank you.

I bought a "bed extender" for my short bed, regular cab Silverado for hauling plywood, long lumber, etc. It attaches to the hitch. I also used it on Paul's truck, which is a 4 door, short bed ram 1500. Worked well for us while building our home. I did a lot of lumber runs. I would not want to drive an extended or crew cab with a long bed in city traffic. Not for me. Sherry

A number of the smaller units are 110, like smaller window ac. Our garage unit is 110.

Whatda, I like your idea. Last year, we installed a minisplit in our garage, and it does a great job. Pretty quiet, too. I've seen youtubes of these retrofitted into big coaches, where they put the outdoor unit in a basement compartment. Where do you propose placing the outdoor unit? Our garage system isn't huge, but I'd guess the outdoor unit is a little larger than a 20 inch box fan. Sherry

I have an indel b fridge made for a truck (Truckfridge brand), so why not have an ac unit made for a truck, right? 😁 My indel b fridge is so very quiet, and energy efficient with the secop compressor, that I can only imagine the ac unit would be very quiet, too. Indel builds a range of Sleeping Well truck cab ac units that are in use around the world, and I suspect one of them could cool my little Ollie, just using solar. Of course, it might mean I'd have to upgrade to Battleborn batteries. They still use significant amps on 12v, three to six times what my fridge consumes, but nothing like a Dometic 110 unit. https://www.indelb.com/products/automotive/sleeping_well Sherry

I'm pretty sure Advanced Rv imports a version of the Houghton Australian ac, reworked for US 110 voltage. I've videos of the Advanced ac installed and running, and you can't even hear it in the background. It's not inexpensive in Australia, either (even taking the exchange rate into account), but it's supposed to also be highly efficient, as well as 3 x as quiet as a Dometic. I'm still hoping that by the time our Dometic dies, somebody will have begun to market a danfoss/secop 12v rv unit that I could run on Solar. I I know there are some available for truck cabs in Europe and Canada. Hopefully, quiet, efficient, and not as power hungry. https://caravanandrvparts.com.au/product/houghton-belaire-hb3400/ The Advanced unit is definitely not inexpensive. I've read that it's around $2800 installed. Sherry

No, sorry. Just means a seadog, sorry. We're sailors as well as campers. Sherry