SeaDawg

Love your Chevy. 💜

As far as durability, you can always remove and switch up that front logo. Is what it is, imo. We have a very few stone dimples, over the 14 years. Veteran travel scars, imo. No window up there to crack and break. I'm ok with that.

We've never had a front logo. We thought about it, but could never pick. So, we're still running bare, except for the sides. There are a bunch of folks here who applied their own, several years ago. Offhand, I can think of @Mike and Carol, @bugeyedriver, @dewdev, @Mainiac and I know there are many, many others. I hope many others will chime in. Most shops use similar materials.

@thompsonkd, how did you resolve your issues? Just curious, as someone with a similar date trailer is also having problems. Thanks. Sherry

So, I took a break from hunting down a couple of tiny motors for our solar vents on the boat, and researched your eyebrow board. None of my usual sources have it. One company, that I've never ordered from, and has mixed reviews, suggests that it is discontinued, and the lower control board must also be replaced to function with a replacement board. Plus, disconnecting the igniter, and thermocouple , as they are now integrated into the lower control module?. This company, in Oregon, sells both as a kit. They also charge a big restocking fee, if you guess wrong, at what you need. Because none of my usual sources have the board you're looking for, it may just be true. Maybe Dometic consolidated all the changes across the varying parts/years into a standardized system, changing both boards. I don't know, as I haven't had a dometic fridge in 4 years. If it were me, I'd get back on the phone with Dometic tech services (it can be a very long wait/hold time...) and investigate further. If it's so, perhaps Dometic has both of the newer boards in stock. Or, if they can give you the part numbers, you may find them on Amazon, or Dyers, Panther, or Adventure rv, or even someone local. Make sure you have the model and serial number on hand when you call Dometic. I usually take a photo of the label on the fridge, so I don't transpose numbers writing them down. Maybe you'll get a more helpful tech, this time around. I feel your pain. I've spent probably 10 hours looking for two tiny motors for the solar vents on our boat. I found them, in Germany, but the company won't ship to USA or Canada. I may have to resort to "phone a friend ," get them shipped to a friend in the eu, and pay for forwarding. At least the replacements would be German made. A lot of hassle for 2 parts costing 12 euros each. However, replacement vents would be over $200 each. Marinco doesn't stock or sell replacement parts. They used to, but no longer, and the units are solid, other than the dinky motors.

@Jim Harper, have you seen this thread? May or may not be helpful, but worth taking a look.

It's a bit hard to find on the Oliver home page, @Nan Here's a link https://olivertraveltrailers.com/events/2022-oliver-owners-rally/

That part number looks like it might be missing a digit or two. Edit: thanks for editing the part number.

Jim, it would be a real shame to have to replace the whole fridge for want of a $100 part. I know it was difficult to find five years ago, for me. I think I finally found a beige one on Amazon, then a black one at an rv service center in Arizona. If I remember correctly, there were two different eyebrow made for the same fridge, and which one we needed depended on the serial number. Did Dometic at least give you that part correct part number? We replaced our rm2454 with a truckfridge, about 4 years ago. The hardest part was removing the old fridge, as in the Elites, the space between the shower wall and the fridge wall is too small to remove the Dometic fridge in one piece. Paul had to disassemble it, and take it out in pieces. Otherwise, we'd have had to remove the shower wall and the entry door to get it out. The truckfridge was just barely small enough to get through that narrow space, with maybe an 1/8 inch each side to spare, because it doesn't have the enormous cooling unit hanging on the back. The pros--The truckfridge has worked very well for us. It cools down quickly, and maintains temperature well, and it works consistently! It's maybe .5 cubic foot larger capacity than the Dometic we replaced. It was about half the price of a comparable marine fridge. It fit in the cavity, and I gained a small shallow drawer beneath it. The cons--it uses 60 to 70 ah a day, and we typically rely on solar for our power needs. We've upgraded our rooftop solar to 400 watts, but still have only space for 2 group 31 batteries, 105 ah each, in our Elite. So, I have to deploy portable solar if we camp in the shade, or break out the Honda every few days. I don't think the unit, especially the door, is as well insulated as the marine versions. I can see the outlines of the door shelves in condensation sometimes. The handle is a bit chintz, but it does stay closed during travel. The freezer is really tiny, like a shoebox, but it does make ice quickly. We often camp for six or eight weeks at a time, and if it's humid, I have to defrost the freezer every 3 or 4 weeks. (In all fairness, the dometic freezer iced up, too, over time.) The freezer door is also a poor design, held in place with two thin plastic pins that are the "hinges", which will break if you operate the door with too much ice build up. (I know from personal experience. ) The replacement door is expensive and hard to find, so if you go that route, keep the freezer defrosted! If you have other questions, I'd prefer you ask here, rather than pm me. These questions pop up every so often, and I think it's better to make comments available to everyone. I think the 3way is actually a great boondocking fridge, as it uses so little power and propane when running on gas. But I have to say, I love the reliability of my truckfridge, and its size made it possible for us to do the swap ourselves. An Elite II has a wider opening, so swapping in a new 3way isn't as troublesome.

We've never wanted a basket, for tongue weight, and also this . You can jack knife, without the basket, and still dimple a bumper, imo. Far easier with a basket . That's why someone is backing, and someone is watching. I'm ok without the extra hassle. We carry what we need in the truck bed.

When you can come south, make reservations. Florida is very full, even now. That snow is pretty, but just a "dusting," in Minnesota terms. My old home. Then again, it's why I live in Florida. 😉 I love looking at snow, especially out the window, with a cracking fireplace. I hate driving in snow.

With the right adapters, its not a big deal My advice would be to wait and see if you actually need anything, at all. Zamp is a big cost difference. And 46 vs 16 pounds is huge, at least, for me. Portable solar is the easiest add on, ever. See if you actually need/want it.

I will say this. The Blue sky gear is more complicated to program than Zamp, and more old school than victron, but it's been pretty bulletproof, for us. 14 seasons of mostly solar only. And, Ryan in customer/technical service is amazing. So down to earth, and very patient, and helpful. Explains in layman's terms. While you are at home, check out the videos on the blue sky website. And, read the manuals. It will definitely help you.

And, the bigger tray in the Elite II allows that configuration. It's really nice for you elite ii owners to have all those amp hours available.

That's interesting. Just guessing they didn't just happen to capture a 2 second display. Maybe a storm caused a power outage? Display froze? We normally charge our batteries from solar only. We lost power from the solar, just one time, this past summer, when we were away. Fortunately, we got back in two weeks. Battery voltage was down to 12.3 on the seelevel, 12.4 on the ipn proremote. The storm had apparently tripped our solar breaker. It never happened before (in 14 seasons), and not since, so guessing lightning, quite close by.

No, it doesn't. I looked it up. The bluetti power bank, which the portable system is designed for, has its own controller. So, yes, you would need a controller. Looks like a nice, light, system, and they claim really good productivity.

Looking at your photos, it would "appear" that your solar panels were charging the batteries. (See the green light on in the photo of the blue sky remote), and possibly in bulk state, unless you were lucky and just captured that photo on a blink. But, the 12.1 on the seelevel gauge means it wasn't really charging, (should read 13.4 or so in bulk), or you had some huge power draw going on, like the 3way fridge running on dc. The Dometic 3way never defaults to 12v like the Norcold. It has to be set to dc, but it can be done accidentally. Your solar panels would not be able to keep up with that big draw, especially in cloudy weather. The other possibility is that the panels weren't actually charging the batteries, at all. We have about a .35 ghost draw in our trailer. In 3 to 4 weeks, that would draw your batteries down to 50 per cent. Do you have a breaker near the pd charger/converter to cut the power from the panels? We do, but I don't remember if we installed it, or if Oliver installed it, back in 2008. @ScubaRx would probably know, as your hull numbers are only 17 apart. If you don't have one, you can cover the panels with a dark packing quilt so they won't be making power, and I'd suggest you do that when you reinstall the batteries and connect the cables. I'm also curious about the message on your display. Mine never shows "blue energy v4." It always shows whatever setting i was last looking at, instead. Maybe this is different in the newer remotes. Again, @ScubaRx or one of the other owners of newer systems may see that. I don't know.

At 16 pounds, for 200 watts, they may be less efficient, thin flexible panels. I'd like to see the specs. Our 200w fixed panels weigh 45 pounds each, I think

@Kirk Peterson, if you buy other brand panels, make sure you , or your young engineer friend, check all connections and polarity. Please. It's not super difficult, but it is important. Btw, never heard of Bluetooth solar panels. Was that a autocorrect thing?

Everything changes. Keep an eye out. My brother and I talked this morning. Weather in his part of Minnesota is this year like the "old days," when we were kids. Crunchy snow, subzero. Frozen nose hairs. Always loved the snow view,, but I'm glad to be in Florida.

We've had similar experiences, with gps and Google maps. Each have taken us to places we should not have ventured. I will say, our latest gps is 4 or 5 years old. We still carry paper maps. Sometimes, we even use them.😁

We have one, very much like this one made by @Trainman There are a number of owners who carry flagpoles, and tall telescoping antennas. Not all of them post here .

Our 2008 Elite's tongue weight is 420 pounds, loaded for a short camping trip. That's 70 pounds beyond your specs, unfortunately. Loaded for camping, we weighed over 3900 pounds. Even if you stripped out heavy options, like the ac you probably don't need, carried only one propane tank, traveled with empty tanks, and opted for a single lithium battery, you'd still overload the Subaru. To make camping an enjoyable and safe experience, you'd need a larger suv, or a small truck, at the very least, to tow an Elite. We've towed ours with three different vehicles, the least of which had a 4900 tow capacity, and that was ok on the flats, but not fun in the hills. Tongue weight for a Casita 17 is also too much for your current tow. You need to stay below 350 lb tongue weight, I believe.You might look at an Escape 17 a or b, if you want to stay in the molded fiberglass world. With a single hull, it's a bit lighter, especially if you can live with a portapotty or composting toilet instead of a full bath, in the 17a. Escape offers a winter package as an option. A Casita 16 is an option, if you don't mind the short head height. So is a Scamp 16, if they still make them. Or, one of the 13 footers If you want to go beyond molded fiberglass, you might look at the smallest Lance, without the slide, and option carefully. Or a small Alto condo safari. Be wary of anything that doesn't have an aluminum cage, and a one piece roof. You'll need to be very careful as you look around, as most trailers advertise a dry weight that doesn't include many of the options that an Oliver features as standard. Some don't even include the very basic necessity of a furnace. Many don't include an awning, ac, etc. Every option adds weight, at least 50 to 100 pounds or more, and it all adds up quickly.

Btw, Dometic bought Zamp this past year. I do think zamp quality is great. I just don't want to open the wallet quite that wide for panels we don't always carry, or use. Probably bought by Dometic because so very many rvs have the zamp port installed, across so many brands. Plus the high quality of their (imo overpriced) panels. Plug and play is great. Until it's too pricey and heavy to deal with. In my sister's rpod, we just ran alligator clip ends to the battery itself, with a panel with an on-board controller. No big deal, as she had no other solar, no other controller. She and her husband started their trailer camping and boondocking career with first trip, with us. She's a veteran tent camper.

Zamp uses some interesting verbage, but Overland is correct. Zamp wires the sae connector for their port reversed polarity of normal/standard sae connector wiring. The connector is not proprietary. They just claim better safety wiring different from industry standard, which is actually true. So, you can make up your own cable, if you want to use a different brand portable, or, you can buy a cable with same connector, and buy a reversed polarity adaptor. Plugging in panels without the correct polarity could ruin your panels or other circuits. Or, you "could" reverse the wires from the port... but label it. And whatever you do, check with a multimeter. The zamp port goes through a fused line directly to the batteries, so you need a controller mounted to the panel, which most suitcase systems include. Or, a controller in the trailer. Zamp panels are quality plug and play, but they're quite heavy and very expensive. We have a different brand, my husband made up the connector cable, and we wired up a slave controller for the portable panels instead of using the controllers on-board the panels. (Full disclosure, we also installed a furrion port, instead of zamp, so this is not our experience. My sister had the ubiquitous zamp port on her rpod.) We set up portable when we'll be in the same spot for awhile. It's too much work, as our panels are not featherweight, either, for an overnight stay. The rooftop panels charge our agms fine if we're traveling, so not necessary.