SeaDawg

We've had both the dual gas/ electric 6 gallon standard (original), and currently a Girard tankless. We had hoped to have Oliver install a Truma when our original 6 gallon died, but they hadn't quite worked out the final arrangements with Truma. Hence, the gas only Girard. Pretty sure we were the first tankless ever installed by Oliver. The changeover was pretty seamless, as all the tankless models are made to fit in the same space, or usually much less space, than the originals. They're both good. Since we almost always camp without services, the 6 gallon was probably a better and cheaper choice, in retrospect. We used to just fire it up long enough to get a decent temperature in the water, and run hot only. The 6 gallon limitation helps remind you to conserve water, as it starts cooling off after you've used a few gallons. For those who camp with full hookups, the tankless provides those "endless" showers, with the grey valve open to the dump. The advantage to the 6 gallon is that you can switch to electric at full hookup campsites. It is true that the 6 gallons in the water heater can only be accessed by draining the water heater into a container. But, that reserve of six gallons is six gallons, if you really need it. It's also about 48 pounds of extra weight to drag around in the trailer. I prefer a five gallon jug in the pickup bed. Sherry

Wow. That is very strange. Thanks for the update.

As above, but I'd throw a coat of wax on that roof. We do ours twice a year.

Well, I'm going to start spring cleaning and checkup on the camper tomorrow. I'm going to be ready to go, when we can. 😃

Topgun2, that's a good thread over on fgrv. Thanks for the link. Patriot, I don't know why a search on "first aid" comes up with nothing. Didn't work for me, either, in various combinations. Here's a link to an old thread on First Aid kits that you may find useful. I, too, think it's helpful to build your own, but a small commercial kit isn't a bad place to start. We have several kits we've built, in various sizes and complexity, that we carry, depending on the trip. Red cross is currently offering a small discount on many of its online classes in first aid and cpr for anyone who wants to take a refresher course, but doesn't need a card. https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class/online-safety-classes/all-online-classes And, American Heart Association sells a cpr home training kit, complete with Mini Anne dummy, online. https://cpr.heart.org/en/cpr-courses-and-kits/cpr-anytime Thought I might mention these, since some of us have some time on our hands these days... Sherry

Dennis, you might want to start a new thread with this question. Or, i could split it off for you. Last year, I test drove a Canyon Denali, though not the diesel. I was disappointed in the availability of safety/tech features. The truck rode great in my test drive. Seats, visibility, stereo, all good. Just seemed defeatured for a 2019 vehicle, from a tech and safety angle. I'm hoping gm ups the game for 2020. It has the potential to be a great daily driver, and possibly a good tow for an Ollie 1 like mine. I put a deposit on a Cybertruck.

Clorox is available online at walm art . Com, btw.

We've used Purogene instead of bleach for years. It's more expensive, but I have some issues with chlorine. But, honestly, if you don't drink from the holding tanks, if I were you, I'd up the concentration of your "expired" bleach, sanitize, refresh, and go camping.

Giddyup49, the Tundra is due for a refresh. Might be coming late this year. I'm with the others who say there probably isn't a bad truck out there. Buy what feels like a great drive to you, after you've tried them all. Are you planning on an Elite II, or the classic (smaller) Elite I? We've towed our Elite I with a Volvo xc90, a Silverado 1500, and the current 2008 Ram 1500. Sherry

Btw, didn't " build a box" for the microwave compartment. I painted the fiberglass and plywood sides that we added, and covered the bottom with Ikea shelf liner. That's a 6 or 7 dollar walmart wire shelf that helps keep my cabinet organized. Sherry

Here you go, Josiah. We cut down the bottom drawer front. Raw edge ( painted) is on the bottom, factory edge up. This ledge could be made to drop down, but I like it the way it is. So, it's fastened in with a couple screws. The Ikea high gloss white is fairly close in color to the Oliver gelcoat. I used the Ikea hinges, could have used Blum minis, and the Ikea Blankett cabinet handle.

Four seasons for us, since 2008. I will say, we don't intentionally camp in the snow, but it can be beautiful. And, it does require extra precautions. I wouldn't want to overwinter in Fairbanks, either, in the Ollie. Not even in a cabin. But our 2008, with less insulation than the newer models, has been fine into the teens. Surprise overnight snow, in late October, 2008, was our unintentional introduction to winter camping in an Oliver. It was quite pretty, actually. And not terribly cold, maybe into the twenties, but we were snug and warm.

I'll take the charging network of the Tesla

Looks like the previous owner of your trailer removed the classic molding, squared off the openings, and replaced it with some kind of trim. Like trimlok? Looks great, imo. If you don't like the tambours ( and I can see why, they do take up storage space, and have a tendency to jam), you could easy return to the original sliders. A couple of pieces of track, cut new plexi, drill the thumbholes, pop in the grommets, and done. I actually like our sliders in our 2008. They're smoked plexi, which maybe someday I'll replace with some patterned plexi. And, probably not. When we took out our microwave, we built a new cabinet in the space. We used a couple high gloss white Ikea drawer fronts, and their hinges, and our added blocks. I love the upward opening door. Just like my home cabinets, the door swings up, stays put til I'm done, and closes easily on the Blum for Ikea hinges. You might want to look at that idea. But the sliders would likely be a lot easier, and less expensive. Imo. Congratulations on finding an Ollie classic. We hope you have many great adventures. Sherry Hull #12

Actually, millenials now make up the largest segment of campers, at least according to this article. They don't have the same amount of free time that we do, but it doesn't mean they don't enjoy getting out into the wild. https://www.curbed.com/2019/4/24/18514077/campers-millennials-camping-van-life-glamping Our daughter and her friends typically tent camp. It's affordable. And they have fun. Sherry

GM tried that back in the 70s. I actually drove one a few times (belonged to my boss), and it was a pretty sweet fiberglass motorhome. (It was that lovely 70s harvest gold, like the one in the photo.) https://www.hagerty.com/media/car-profiles/gmc-motorhome-was-brilliant-rv-with-bad-timing/ The original design for the gm motorhome was pretty angular and space age, btw. Sherry

No surprise, there. You know we'd be modifying, too. Good luck.

We do manage to keep the fridge going and batteries around 70 to 75 per cent through the night, with good conditions, and miserly power useage for uses other than our 12v truck fridge. We also have to use a 100 watt "portable" to add to the production of the 200 watts of fixed solar. And, in less than ideal conditions, I chase the sun around the path with that panel. Even then, in low sun, crummy days, we will have to kick in a half hour with the honda 1000, sometimes both morning and night, if it's raining, especially if we have to use the power greedy furnace fan. Unlike many, we have very limited power needs. No electrical cooking or heating gear. No keurig. No induction hot plate. No microwave. Led lights even seldom get used. We charge phones during the day, and often from the truck while driving. No laptops. No tv. Not a lot of streaming on our phones. A couple years ago, we chased down phantom draws on the power, and we're pretty much down to the essentials-- which are mostly monitors and the charger/converter. We use a cooler with ice for beverages. I'm very conscious of where everything is loaded in the fridge, and how many times I open the fridge door each day, spilling cold air. No inverter, either. We used to have one, but with only 2 group 27 batteries, and the very limited storage, that just doesn't make sense. We removed it. I wouldn't necessarily recommend our minimal setup for new campers. It requires a lot of monitoring, (and, a good monitor) and discipline. We're ok with that, but it was our choice. And, we're used to it. We're solar powered by choice, since 2008, and almost never camp with hookups. Power misers by choice. And, we both love the new truck fridge, danfoss/ secop compressor, indel product. Quiet, efficient, even cooling, even a bit more capacity than our old Dometic. No orange lights from the panel at night. 🙃 That said, we've already purchased new solar panels to double our fixed panel production. I would love to upgrade to lithium batteries, but it would be a waste right now when the agms are still working well. That's a someday in the future thing. If we find we actually need them. Sherry

A number of people have changed them up. Just beware, that just like anything else, uv can change the uncovered area to a slightly different white than that covered by the stripes. Solution: slightly larger graphics. Imo.

I know. I've been looking for a cache aerator for a couple of home faucets. Ours are old school key type caches, on a couple of faucets. It would be nice to replace with the coin slot cache type. There is a .5 gpm cache aerator on the website, in the 18 mm size, but not that cool basketball net pattern of the Mikado, which I so love watching. Makes scrubbing your hands for 30 seconds much more enjoyable. I hope that works for you. You found a beautiful faucet! I wouldn't be surprised if Ikea used neoperl to outfit their faucets. Actually, it would make sense. We used that Grohe control valve in a few places in Europe last year. Once we got used to it, we loved it. You'll probably want it at home, too, once you install it in the Ollie.

The Neoperl Mikado .35 gpm aerator comes in a number of sizes now. I wonder if there's one to fit your new faucet? The aerator that's in the Ikea faucet sure looks like a Neoperl coin slot cache aerator to me. But, I'm only looking at a photo. https://www.conservationwarehouse.com/faucet-aerators-35-gpm.html Sherry

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