SeaDawg

You have indeed had a busy Minnesota winter. And it's only January !

Mike, way back in the day, we looked into shipping our trailer to Europe, and buying a Volvo on the buy abroad program, or leasing a car through the French Peugot/Renault program. The modifications (including different safety regulations) were extensive, but not insurmountable, if we lived on solar. I'm pretty sure I still have that yellow folder somewhere upstairs. I saw it a few years ago when I was purging files.. Our biggest issue was finding insurance for the trailer. And, of course, the time. The smaller Elite is heavier, but not larger than many of the German trailers we've seen on our trips. Still would want to carefully plan trips, as so many old roads are soooo narrow. We've honestly found cabin camping and minivan camping to be more sensible for us, abroad.

I got the manual for the 9500 (Houghton 2801) today. Looks like it should work very nicely in our limited rooftop real estate. I can't seem to find a way to post the pdf on my phone, but if anyone wants to see the whole Houghton manual, you can send me a pm. The rep added me to a notification list for new inventory of units with the white shroud. 😃 I think it will look great on the roof, if they come back in stock before camping season for us! Thanks again, @Katanapilot. And Overland. Sherry

Nicely done!

Welcome, Paul and Mary. I still have a lot of family in the beautiful state of Minnesota. Love your photos. Hope you'll share more.

Thanks for the link, Henry. I'll try to send the author of that article a note. I don't think I've ever seen even a used Oliver for $20k. The last one I saw under 28k was a 2008 Legacy, with no solar. Unfortunately, I don't know of any travel trailers using diesel as a fuel for furnace and stove. Some of the even pricier overland vehicles offer this option. Maybe one if the Aussie import trailers, but they're not likely in your stated price range, either.. NuCamp does use the Alde heat system in their trailers and the Cirrus truck camper, but it's fueled by propane and electric. Here in the US, you may find diesel in van conversions. Good luck in your search, and keep checking back. Maybe a great early used Oliver will pop up for you. Sherry

FrankC, I too was mystified. Maybe looking at a different currency? But then, even the smaller Elite I starts at top end, around 40, 000 gbp.

I see you've already owned and enjoyed an outdoor room, so you know what it takes to set it up. I don't know if Girard offers something similar to the Thule room. Or, if they can leave the standard awning off,, for a credit, so that you could install the Thule you like. That's a good question for your Oliver sales rep. I've known a few people over the years who had the outdoor rooms, mostly people who full-time or stayed in one location for a long time. They're obviously most useful on the curb side. My sister had a different brand on her rpod, and used it once. Way too much work for a long weekend. So, she got a popup awning,, instead.

I spoke with a customer service representative yesterday. She is going to send me a copy of Recpro's installation manual for the 9500, hopefully today. Unfortunately, white shroud is unavailable right now in the smaller size 9500, and they don't do backorders. Black, however, is available.

I doubt it, too. I don't think there's that much difference in the price per amp hour across the range of available vendors. I haven't spoken to anyone at Oliver, so my guess may just be wishful thinking. Since lithionics builds custom batteries for various OEMs, my hope is that they'll build batteries that will fit the smaller Elite tray. There has been an increased interest this year in the smaller Elite, and Lifeblue didn't have a product to fit that tray.

And, it looks lovely!

Thank you for finding that! That's awesome, and opens up possibilities. Since dometic is only planning to open retrofit on the freshjet with 13,500 btu, this is a better alternative. We don't have to make a change this year, as we never use the ac other than testing, but, we're tiring of taping the cracks in the old shroud of our (ancient) dometic. Certainly, if we swap it out, we want something quiet. And more efficient.

Paul and I have been looking at drawings and dimensions. On our small trailer, I don't think either unit is a good fit, using existing cutouts and wiring, as we'd of course want to. Though the 9500 is a small footprint, the majority of the outdoor unit sits forward of the cutout (if I'm reading it correctly.?) That would put the unit too close to our maxair cover/fantastic fan over the kitchen aisle. Recpro lists another Houghton, high profile, 13,500 unit, rp-ac3501, no heat pump, but it sits ridiculously high, at 13.5 inches. It would fit our trailer, but I would hate the additional height of the unit. We can barely get ours into the garage, now, with a 10 ft. side door. I hope recpro will show these at an rv or marine show near us. I'd love to see and hear it in person, and confirm mounting and dimensions. The problem for us is our (sidemount) solar panels, and the location of the fan. Maybe for you guys, it's better.

Sher, I sent you a pm.

Looks like the Dometic Freshjet may finally be coming to the US market, as well. https://www.dometic.com/en-us/us/news/us/dometic-introduces-next-generation-rv-rooftop-air-conditioner

Katanapilot, how does the Recpro Houghton unit compare in size to the Dometic you have installed now? The 13500 recpro has a larger outdoor footprint than the older Duotherm we have on the roof of our 2008. The 9500 btu has a bit smaller footprint, and a much lower profile, which would work great on our roof. 9500 btu is surely more than our Elite I would likely ever require. And priced even better. I like the dehumidifier function, too. I'm wondering if the drain can be attached to Oliver's internal drain, or if yours will have to drain down the outside? I've already seen some good reviews on other sites. Looking forward to yours.

Can't wait to see/hear your video. Great price for that unit.

Seriously, those 99 cent ikea mats do last. I have one that's five or six years old. Getting thin now, but you can't argue with the price. I've bought them for the Alaska deliveries. Doesn't bother me at all to leave five or six behind. At the price.

I'd add another "rug" to the mix, if you haven't already. A walkoff, or welcome mat, before the trailer steps can grab a lot if dirt. Even if we don't put out the big rug, the walkoff always gets deployed.

Mossemi did a diagram for another person with the same question about the aisles: As far as the outdoor rug, several places, including camping world, sell woven outdoor rugs that fold. We have an old one from ikea that rolls up, doesn't fold, same type of woven plastic. We throw it over a ladder and hit it with a hose to clean it.

Agreed. Non ethanol is all we run in all the lawn equipment, generators, etc. Back a decade ago,, we used to drive halfway across the county to a Sunoco to find it. Now, I've found a greater number of stations, including many of the big chains, selling non ethanol these days. If we're on the road, I sometimes use this website to locate non ethanol. (This is crowd-sourced, and far from complete, but usually accurate.) Or, just Google non ethanol near me on my phone. https://www.pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=FL

I totally agree Most good outcomes depend on prep, and process.

Mainiac, I agree. I also think, with the many nooks and crannies on the shower mat, timely recoating with the original product (outdoors) would be my choice. We use aqua teak on our indoor shower, and the boat teak mats. Doesn't need refreshing, often. As in, I can't remember the last time we did the boat (teak) mats. In the house (ipe) is almost six years.

Personally, I'm very happy that all of you Mainers are looking forward to a rally. I hope it can happen. Even happier, for the big Ollie population in such a small population state . We have a couple cousins up there. Could we become "unofficial " dropins, someday? Another year, when there are fewer restrictions. Sherry

Btw, did you get an answer? For my outdoor teak and eucalyptus furniture, we scuff up and recoat once a year. The ipe shower mats haven't needed anything, in almost 6 years.