SeaDawg

Our 2008 came with the original single step, and we used a stool as a second step for several years. My short legs, and one flip of that sturdy stool, for me, at a crazy hilly campsite in Tennessee, prompted us to upgrade to the double step when it came available. It's a bolt on. A great "upgrade" for us, standard for all the new folks. Best double step in the marketplace. Superbly constructed. Way overbuilt, but that's the Oliver way.

They're really tricky to use, in my opinion, and it barely does the job. Best use is level pavement. I've discussed it a number of times in various posts. Ours is an older model, and they may have made some improvements, I think, over the years.

Yes. We move the front at an angle. We probably parked it really close to the house that time to have better access to the roof or the streetside, for a project.

A,spare, for me, trailer or truck, is a "get me home," or get me to the nearest repair facility. We also carry a tire repair kit/plug kit (and a tire pump) . We don't carry a bunch of spare parts, but that's important.

It's backin, and it's not really a lot of fun. But, we have it down to a science, manageable with just the two of us. We often use my Silverado to back the trailer as close to, or into the 8 ft gates to the 12 ft side yard, as possible. Then, we use a parkit 360 , and plywood, to get it the "rest of the way." It also means moving lawn gear, and boat trailer, out of the way, before we back in. Driveway has a 6 ft 8" rise, in a short distance, from the street, and a drainage area, maybe 12" deep, at the curb cut. It's definitely a process, but when you've done it a bunch of times, it does get easier. 😀 I've seen worse. And, managed worse. Ps, the big white vertical drain pipes you see are our rainwater collection system. Our neighbors on that side have no windows on that side, save a 20 x 20 in a half bath, and that window looks out at vegetation, only, so we elected to install major piping, etc, where no one would see visual clutter. We love our neighbors, and would not ever want to offend them.

That's true, and degradation/depletion is extremely minimal, with lithium ion in storage. I'm thinking of people like me (still on agm) who leave the fan on low, and both vents open somewhat, to circulate air. My FanTasic fan uses .5 amps on low, thermostatic regulated, so not constant, and we've narrowed our ghost draw to less than .4 amps, so solar keeps our agms up, just fine. But, agm batteries like being 100 per cent,,and lithium don't. Since we don't have lithium batteries on the boat, either, I've not checked to see if we can adjust charging level for storage. Wete it me, I'd like to be able to leave the minimal draw of a fan, on low, and ghost draw active, and not deplete my lithium batteries. Just my (probably off the wall) thoughts.

Almost 16 years, @Patriot. We brought it home, February, 2008. I'll look for a few more. You can see my trailer in every update post we do. These are from 2020, I think. You can see the yellowed jack head. My bad. We should have covered it.

I think I may have posted this before, but @John E Davies is absolutely correct. Walking down any marina pier, anyone with the victron app can see everything on those folks with victron gear, who don't change passwords and rename network. One of my friends in the marine industry jokes about it all the time. He sees it often, as Victron is so very popular in the marine world, and so few bother to change the initial password. Change the name to something innocuous, as John suggested, but even more unidentifiable, imo. (My battery monitor, or my charger, or the digits and a few letters in your home street address, etc.) I wouldn't identify my type of unit. I certainly wouldn't put the word "lithium" in there, ever.) And change that password!

It would be super nice if lithium controllers gave you the choice to charge only to a certain per centage in storage, like Tesla cars, and our Samsung phones and tablets. I have all our phones and tablets set to charge only to 85%, to extend battery life, and watch depletion during the day.

Our 2008 Oliver has been outside its whole life, 24/7/365, never used a cover, other than a cover for the a/c, and wires screens (camco) for intakes and outlets, and tire covers, for uv protection. Our Florida sun can be brutal, but we wax with a quality product 2x a year, as we do with our boats. I should have covered the front jack head, as that plastic has yellowed with age and uv, and the uncovered original dometic a/c shroud deteriorated in the sun after ten years or so (that's why we cover the new Houghton, when parked for a long time.) Oliver uses a marine grade gelcoat. Take care of your quality stuff, and it takes care of you. Having a pole barn, or horse barn, even with a dirt floor, would be awesome, to help keep it clean and protected from leaf and pollen buildup, etc. We run our tires up on 2x 6 or 2 x 8 planks , and put more pt boards under the jacks, rear and front, to keep them out of the dirt, and many other reasons.

@mossemi, in some cases, with Victron, it's a waste, in others, its totally incompatible, and can cause issues. Victron is far from "plug and play." It's pretty sophisticated, components based, which is great, in many respects. Replacing a $40 component, vs a $400 component, or more, is great, imo. The list is somewhat "dizzying, " imo. I also have no idea which Victron components come standard in the newer trailers. My experience is limited to our boat, with Victron gear.

That's great news, and I'm glad you'll check everything. Zamp port +zamp panels "should be" plug and play. But, if never used, I'd check. As you may have noticed, I often play "devil's advocate " and sometomes ask perceivably "dumb" questions, because I know our posts live on, for a long time. I have seen posts where folks considered "reversing wiring" to compensate for zamp's port reverse sae polarity. For anyone buying a used trailer with a zamp port, I'd check it, before use. Fwiw, my husband and I make some mods, but we label everything. Not everyone does. I'm glad you are following a prudent path, @Wandering Sagebrush.

This is an excellent thread on "how to weigh." Do note that @rideandfly purposely put his Ollie on a severe diet, and you won't find many (or possibly any other) e2s under 5000 pounds, loaded for camping. His trailer weighs just a bit more than my elite 1, and I thought we were minimalists. 😀 (Hat tip to @rideandfly) Most e2s will likely weigh in north of 6,000 pounds, or more, loaded for camping. Many discussions on this on the forum, over the years. Here's one.

@Brian and Brandelyne, what other gear are you communicating with in your Oliver? I know Oliver changed up this year from some other brand components for various functions. Folks who have added, or have, certain victron bvms and other gear, should definitely read the compatibility, in the link @Brian and Brandelyne included. I'm sure you read them. Others should, too. This would not help us in our boat, because of other victron gear, but it may help some of you. I do love the Victron components, and their communication capabilities. But, their array of components can be dizzying.

@Wandering Sagebrush, the zamp port is wired "backwards" from sae standard, ostensibly to protect folks from a nasty shock. Do you know if Oliver installed it originally, or if the previous owner installed? Since this is the first time you're using it, I'd probably check the polarity. If it Checks out wired to zamp standard, you need to use a zamp wired panel for "plug and play, " or buy an adapter to reverse polarity from the panel. Other brands don't wire the same way as zamp....

@Sully, thanks so much for sharing your wonderful photos and comments. Its been a great joy, "traveling" along with you!

Perhaps @ScubaRx will chime in. He knows the early elite 2's better than most. Or, send Oliver service a message. Til then, a larger tire may fit, if you have the original smaller spare tire cover, partially deflated, but, who wants to travel with a deflated spare? A smaller tire will, at least, get you to a repair facility.

I'd call that seriously off the grid. Congratulations! One of the best things , for me, about camping is minimal impact. We make our own power, mostly solar. (As we do, at home.) The return to a simple life is very rewarding, to us. And, it "grounds" me, and my husband. We are happiest when we have just the woods around us. The songs of the birds, and just the quiet song of the trees moving in a breeze, restores my inner peace. Restorative. Energizing, in a calm and good way. Letting go of "everything else" leaves us with heightened awareness of the goodness and greatness of our surroundings.

@MAX Burner, did the stand come with the Berkey travel?

@MAX Burner, I really like that mod. You've done a great job upgrading your bath_shower. Overhead light with the upgraded Maxxfan dome with light, and creating more storage with the hatch, and the Scandvik mixing valves.

I am not a fan of unvented catalytic heater, as they spew so much water into the trailer as a combustion byproduct, not to mention the co and/or oxygen depletion issues/dangers. The only true vented catalytic heater I know of is the Platinum CAT, pretty much made to order, in Washington state. Very pricey, from what I've read. I wonder if anyone here has ever used one, as a backup?

Unfortunately, Thor bought airxl/Suburban a few years ago, and Dometic owns Atwood. So, Im not looking for any major advancements from either of those sources, until they get many more complaints. Between the two, they've pretty much had a lock on RV furnaces for a very long time. But, I do believe there is a high altitude kit for the Suburban . How the retrofitted furnace would work in lowlands, I have no idea. I've yet to see complaints about the Truma varioheat at elevation, (and I've Googled it a number of times) but there aren't really that many out there in the USA yet. It's certainly a more efficient furnace, with more electronic controls. It will be interesting to see what kind of anecdotal reports we get from varioheat owners who live and/or frequently camp at higher elevations.

Hello, @Bobby and Nadine, and welcome! I think "13" will be your lucky number, from now on! Thanks for sharing your great experience with Truma service, and we'll look forward to more posts about your travels! (Hint, we all love photos.)

Thanks for the photo, @MAX Burner. My memory failed me on that one. 🙂 I'll edit my post.

@Alberta and Randy, ours is a 2008 , but in all likelihood, everthing should work for you. Please keep us posted. I'm still super happy with my original ScandVik equipment. And, the ScandVik replacements on our sailboat, 15 years in.