SeaDawg

@mossemi we have a switch in the kitchen, and one at the outside shower. Since we have an original elite, you can "almost" reach the kitchen switch from the shower 😄, though some early owners added one in the bath, as well. We didn't, so two switches. The main switch, in the panel by the door, turns both of them off, of course. Since we almost never use city water,, any time we leave the trailer, I turn off the main switch at the door. (As those who camp with city water, turn off the faucet at the site before leaving for the day), just in case of a leak or burst pipe. And yes, I used to keep a small bottle of hand sanitizer and a packet of wipes in the cab. Now, it's a quart pump sanitizer bottle in front, and a full sized canister of wipes, front and back .

It's interesting to see what changes are made over the years. Not really sure why that would be eliminated. Somewhat defeats the purpose of "outdoor" shower, when you must go inside?

I didn't know whether to hit the laugh or cry emoji. Major oops!

Btw, your weight on an Elite II approaches that of a bloated Elite. You put a lot of thought, obviously, in what you "need" vs what you might "want".

You've done a great job to customize your Ollie, your way! Congratulations.

Well, that's a crummy (and sticky) situation. I have both adhesive, and non-adhesive, meant to be sewn, velcro in my supply crate. Good warning. I've not had velcro on the walls weep adhesive in Florida, but the trailer is usually only home for brief periods in the hot, humid summers .

On the 7 pin connector for portable- it's probably a decent solution for small panels with a controller. Oliver can also install a Zamp port, which provides a shorter fused path to the batteries, and there are various conversion bits available for other types of connectors to Zamp, so you can use the more reasonably priced renogy or other brand portable panels. Zamp is usa made, great quality, but pricey, and kind of heavy, imo.

No big deal. I read it as 100 per cent fiberglass, versus composite. Gelcoat is basically fiberglass, minus the fiber. It's more brittle than full on fiberglass, but shiny and nice! Oliver uses a great marine grade gel coat, that keeps that shine, if you keep up with the waxing. Holes can be filled pretty easily, with marine epoxy, or a gelcoat repair kit. MarineTex epoxy is fairly close in color, and if it's on the roof, you and a police helicopter pilot are likely to be the only ones to see it, anyway . The mounting brackets that Oliver uses are really nice, and beefy. We were able to upgrade from 2 x 100 to 2 x 200 watt panels pretty easily, with a bit of additional aluminum bar stock as spacers for the slightly longer panels, and new panel clips from am solar. Ours are custom (by Oliver in fall, 2008) saddle bracket sidemount, and have been in place for 13 years, with good backing plates. We examined them, and felt very comfortable reusing them, hopefully for at least another decade. That said, a couple people fashioned their own sidemounts, after seeing ours, in 08 or 09. So, after market install is entirely possible. I think the tough part would be pulling the heavy guage wire through the double hull. Our smaller Elites have a smaller rooftop area available for panels, as you've seen. We like the sidemount solution Paul drew up in 2008, but I suspect the current twin panel flat would be fine, too. Good luck with your decision process. It's not an easy one, to be sure.

I read once about a guy who sewed bolt rope to his cushions, and glued flexible awning track to the seatback of the cockpit. That would surely be a pain to remove and reset any time you needed access to the areas under the seat, but it sure would keep the seat cushions in place. Sailrite photo. Btw, our fabric cushions slide a bit, too. But, a piece shelf liner or carpet nonslip works pretty well. When we travel, I stack the dinette cushions on the bed, in back of the kitchen counter, so they don't wind up on the floor. I don't leave the liner in place, even in short term storage. Even if it says safe for hardwood, I've always been concerned that it would leave a residue on my cushions in the Florida heat and humidity.

Susan, that's a problem for many people on sailboats. When heeled and under sail, cockpit cushions tend to slide off the benches. Ours originally had a shock cord fed through loops on the cushion. We don't use that anymore. Additional nonskid and older cushions don't slide as much. (Seat cushions below have a small fiddle (rail) to keep them in place. Back cushions have some velcro dots) You could try a better quality nonskid mat for the seats. Or, put the velcro on the back short edge of the cushion , so your cushions would still be reversible. I'd put the softer tape on the fiberglass wall surface, and the nubby on the cushions. If the velcro didn't match up, it wouldn't likely mar the ultraleather. If the velcro doesn't want to stick to the ultraleather, you may have to sew it on, or take it to an upholstery shop to have it done. You could also add snaps to the back of the cushion, and tabs. You could buy a kit, or just take them to un upholstery or sail shop. The discs on our boat seatback look like these from sailrite. They're meant to be screwed into wood, but vhb or command tape should work fine. Then cut strips or circles of the hook side, and sew or fasten to the cushion.

That’s a smart plan.. And, exactly why I often suggest just solar, not a bunch of upgrades, to people who are new to camping and "think" they want to live the boondocking dream. It's easy to overspend when you have no idea of your real needs.

Btw, I wonder what the fabric content is in the current Oliver cushions. Anyone know? My cushions were custom, back in the day, and my fabric is a polyester blend (with I think nylon, definitely not cotton or rayon) Crypton commercial fabric that repels water and stains. I used a similar Crypton fabric and Ultraleather on the boat, last refit, with a breathable mesh bottom. I do think that helps, too. The Crypton stuff is antimicrobial, and anti mold, as well.

We don't have hypervent on the boat, or the trailer. We do either stack the cushions on end (short storage times, in season) or remove them, out of season. If I notice a clammy feeling or condensation, I prop the cushions up a bit during the day, so air can circulate. And, I don't cover the airflow space with bedding. I've become a convert to microfiber, or at least a thinner cotton poly mix for sheets. They don't seem to transmit the moisture to the cushions, and dry very quickly. Blankets are all synthetic. Waterproof but supposedly breathable mattress pad over cushions and topper. As Jim_Oker said, at least you can see the issue and address it in an Oliver. It is present in all trailers, just hides better in fabrics, carpet, and wood in some others. We've not had a lot of condensation issues, ever. But that really depends on where and how you camp, and weather, temperature and dew point.

Neat. And it uses batteries, so doesn't require a wire run to the lock, like some of them. If the proximity thing doesn't work properly inside the trailer, you could always turn off Bluetooth. Or the app . We have a wifi app for our garage door. It has saved me countless trips back to the house to see if I remembered to close the big garage door. And, love my keyless entry doors at home, too. Even though they require punching a code.

It would surely look much better than my gallon of rv antifreeze that I use as a door stop....

I think Chris/boondoctor would fit right in here with the rest of us solar nerds. I'd love to see his install with the Tesla s modules.

Probably. There are no discounts, other than bundled packages. All the reps work from the same schedules.

We replaced our Dometic with a compressor fridge. We like it, but we also liked the Norcold that came as original equipment (until it didn't work anymore.) The compressor fridge swapout we did ourselves. The Norcold 3way is easier to manage, powerwise, boondocking, than the compressor fridge, as you can run it on propane, and use very little power. The compressor fridge used 60 to 70 amp hours a day, which requires some power monitoring for us, with only 2 group 31 batteries. Try the 3way. I suspect you'll like it once you get used to it.

I had an issue with "dirty" gas a few months ago. Or, maybe a bad mix. Went from just about zero ft elevation in Florida, to 3000 ft in north carolina. Propane mix is also different in different regions. If you had issues with two appliances, I'd be looking at gas, and regulator. Easy to buy a local blue rhino, or refill a tank at a trusted local source, and see if local gas mix fixes the issues. The stove will run on just about anything. Its a big supply tube, and a larger orifice than the fridge. Ditto on the water heater, though more sensitive than the stove But, if the mix is wrong, or dirty, if you pay attention, you'll see some yellow and orange tips on the flame on the cooktop. If it's an airlock, you'll see some sputter. We've had both norcold and dometic three ways over the years. The nircold was more sensitive to altitude change than the dometic, but I actually liked the norcold better. Can't comment on current models, as it's been a long time since we had a norcold

What is 2022 base?

2 x 4 x 8 lumber has seen 3 times price of last year, in my neighborhood.. Plastics and glue, including pvc pipe and conduit are through the roof. I'm actually surprised that 2022 prices haven't increased more, imo. The elephant in the room is what's in the base model. That has changed a lot, over the years .

The bath window is a pita. Yours looks like mine. I have a 2008, but had the bath window replaced several years ago for the dual pane. Wish I had left it original. The "new" window has no seal or frame except the inner silicone, between the panes, and doesn't open as far as the original single pane (non privacy) window. So, it does look like its a fixed window, in the photo, because the lower panes have no frame if their own . Honestly. It's ok. It's the bath, and if it ever leaked, it would leak into a total fiberglass area. Are you sure your fan isn't the leak source? My goofy window has been fine. If I don't forget, and leave it open.😆 We replaced the bath fan during covid lock-in. It was leaking like a sieve, but, it was 13 years old, and, we never even thought about resealing it. My bad . New fan is (so far) very quiet.

The water heater is usually much less sensitive than the fridge Did you use the stove? Sounds like bad gas (rare), or air in the line, to me.

Pretty much irrelevant, unless you have the build sheet, imo. Oliver has always included a lot in the base model, but base seems to grow in features every year.

Our quick connection is in the bumper cavity in our 2008. Last trip, a bird tried to build a nest in the open door cavity. Scared the heck out of me when I lit the grill one day , flying past my ear. Can't imagine how scared the bird was I may go back to the green bottles, like Overland.