GAP

Sooo, different folks with different features can have different cold weather experiences. As outlined earlier in this chain, we spent months winter camping in our Elite 2, carefully tracking temps of pex lines in between shells, primarily with our unit winterized. 2021 with that era's furnace. While we stayed toasty warm down to negative teens, there were areas, primarily rearmost pex lines behind garage and lines feeding the exterior shower under the streetside bed, that would drop below freezing in temps around low twenties. After making outlined modes, which were extensive, the lines were good till mid teens. Had we been non winterized, running our Truma water heater, it would have made no difference as that system in the Olivers is a non circulating system so the Truma stays at temp where it is sety but the warm water does not make it to the taps unless they are open. To those that do not camp in freezing winter conditions, this is perfectly acceptable but if you camp where it can often drop below freezing you are likely to run into nightime temps that would expose lines to freezing. Especially true if daytime tempos stay below freezing. In single digit conditions, we would burn through a 30lb propane tank every other day which is both pricey and labor intensive. We loved our Oliver for the superior build quality, great ride, and comfy layout but so much of our camping was in full on winter conditions so we decided to move on. It sold, just yesterday and we have bought ourselves a Winnabego Ekko RV which is truly a 4 season unit. It was quite manageable camping in a winterized Oliver, using containerized water and our composting toilet (great) but our eyes are set on multi week ski safaris so the occasional shower is really a necessity. I've noticed that over the last couple of years Oliver has upgraded to a Truma heater and made some of the mods outlined here so I would assume the stock units can survive unwinterized to the lower temps I laid out above. Anyhow, that's my $02 worth.

I'm sure this has been covered but cannot find the answer in search engine. Wondering what it would take for an individual with modest skills to replace a composting toilet with a standard one on a 2021 E2. We loved how our composting toilet worked and enabled much better dry camping situation but have put our trailer up for sale and have been asked about the conversion process. Looks like the black tank and water source is super accessible. While on the subject, where to source a replacement toilet? Thanks much.

Just put in the order. Cost about $100 with shipping to Connecticut. Ordered in black for longevity. Any of these sort of plastic or vinyl bits that are on the outside of a vehicle can be treated with 303 which is an aerospace UV protector similar but better than armor-all. I'm thinking the black will never show the fungus stains. Thanks much for pointing me in the right direction.

Forgive the question which has been asked before but could not find the answer in search engine. The exterior, removable window trip has gotten soooo0 stained and ugly that I am looking to replace. Bleach soak and cleaning product scrubs cannot get the grey fungus stains out. Does anyone know where to source replacement trim, what the specs are and if it's available in black?

Much appreciated Patriot. I tried to give you a call and will follow up soon. Sounds like I simply need to switch the unit out so have ordered a couple from Oliver and looking forward to getting a peek behind the curtain from you.

The touch activated LED puck over our sink is pulsing pretty badly. Uneven blinking as if there is a short but does not seem to react to rocking the trailer. Currently still works but feels like it may fail sometime. Has anyone had this issue and, if so, how did you fix? It is pop riveted into the underside of the cabinet so I'd assume that switching the unit out is going to require some drilling?!?

I used a Chevy Colorado to tow my E2 for thousands of miles. Eventually switched up to a Ford F150. the Chevy was rated to 7000lbs towing and the Ford is 11,500. While the Chevy got the job done, it felt very much on the edge. Transmission ran hot, was super slow to get up to speed and, biggest concern, the brake, suspension and tranny systems were not designed to be able to pull that weight with any safety margin. t's likely that the Jeeps are in the same boat. If you can tow something with a vehicle that is barely rated for it does not necessarily mean you should.

Just a guess on my part but it's possible that as the company has grown and to producing more trailers at a faster rate, that some items fall between the cracks. Our E2 (hull # 701) had quite a few problems that were caused by less than perfect installation. Similarly to ScubaRx, we've been able to straighten them all out on our own but it's taken time and a bit of frustration to get there. These include unsecured wires in the neutral and grounding blocks, antenna mast hanging from it's wires, a window missing it's butyl tape, inverter with incorrect settings, lube bolts mounted with wrong orientation, to name a few. When I asked about our belly band coming loose, I was told the surface must not have been properly prepped during installation. As far as I can tell, Oliver has far superior quality control as compared to the rest of the industry. For comparison, check out the Airstream forum which is rife with sloppy manufacturer mistakes. Bottom line is that these are complicated systems and a one-off craft build so a bit of missing the mark is to be expected.

When fiberglass boats are made, the hull and deck come out of two separate molds. The seam, where the two parts join, is sealed with fiberglass tape both inside and outside. The outside seam seems to be taped in and there is a raised ridge of fiberglass all around. I think John is probably right that the inside seam is secured with some sort of pins. Not sure if there is any sort of aluminum framing between the shells but the pins must secure the top to the bottom and the inner to the outer shells.

I've used a bolt on steel 2" receiver on the back "bumper" for around 5000 miles so far. Used mostly preexisting holes from the original aluminium sleeve. Got Steel U bolts that were a bear to source and keep them from rusting by spraying a couple of times a year with a can of Fluid Film. Added a 3rd u bolt between the two existing ones as the spacing between the spare tire housing and the rear of the receiver was too close for our comfort so decided on a bit of overkill. As mentioned above, we use a layer of very thin but fairly rigid rubber matt between the receiver and bumper surface which I expect to switch out every couple of ears. We carry two beefy fat bikes (= heavy) on a tray style bike rack that speaks to a 2" receiver and is "RV rated" whatever that means. Been solid as a rock.

HOLY CRAP!!! As usual, John is spot on. I had always assumed that Nev R Adjust meant never needing adjustment. Inexplicably, while our trailer always felt like it braked well, neither pushing or pulling, the brake controller on our F150 had to be set to 10 (= 100%) to get there. Our E2 only weighs 1/2 of the towing capacity of the Ford but we didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth so let it be. The last time I lubed the suspension, while I had the trailer jacked up, we ran an informal test by spinning the tires and applying the brakes. Two of the wheels could still be spun with difficulty but not dead stopped by the brakes. Followed the process John laid out for adjusting the brakes and found that those wheels were wayyyy out of adjustment. Re-tested and all good. Have not towed yet to see where the new brake control adjustment will end up but having super limited braking on two of the wheels goes a long way towards explaining having to set the controller higher to do more work. I am super over due to replace the assemblies all around which is suggested for every 12k miles. Will either be upgrading the system to disks or dumbing it down to go with a Dexter manual set up on the next round Thank you all for the discussion.

Good suggestions on how to apply tape over pre-existing tape. We preferred to start clean as we have a dog who has black hair and were concerned that two layers of foam tape would allow enough of a slot for har to collect, sticking to the tape edges. Tried acetone, paint scraper and elbow grease which worked but was super labor intensive and would have taken hours. John's suggestion above to use adhesive cleaner would have probably been more efficient. In the end, we did the entire job with a belt sander with 80 grit paper. The best technique we came up with was to put the vinyl band face down on a towel and start at one end working towards the other. Held the sander at an angle with the "fresh tape" leading edge lifted slightly. This would heat up and push the gumpy residue towards the direction of travel. When enough of a sludge line was formed, would "jelly roll" the sticky material with finger tips and remove. Was able to do about a foot at a time. Blunt force instrument but did a great job. Cleaned the edges (which are translucent) and prepped the surface with acetone. Will reapply using two 1/2" strips of 3m double sided tape, leaving the paper on the outside of the tape which can be slid back as we go when reapplying. Had we known about the Gorilla tape, would have used that but had already ordered the 3m stuff which, for better or worse, was what Oliver used on the original job. Spoke to someone in the shop there who thought it was likely that the surface had not been properly cleaned before original application. Will prep the surface on the trailer with denatured alcohol before reapplying - then cross our fingers.

ScubaRX, it's hard to tell from the brief description on the order site, are these nuts bulge acorn style? My '22 E2 must have aluminum wheels

Sounds like really good ideas John. As far as the sandpaper wheel goes, would that work with truly gummy tape? Not sure if Oliver always uses the same product but the tape left on the band is super gummy

The belly band in the rear of our E2 that wraps from the galley to the pantry, over the twin beds, started to come off. The adhesive tape is intact so my guess is that the gel coat surface was not prepped well. I decided to remove the band to clean it up and prep for reinstall. I'm looking for input on how to remove the two 3M lines of tape that held the band in place. They are stuck on the vinyl and are too sticky to peel off. Have tried using a razor blade and putty knife, have put it in the fridge to help firm up the tape and also tried a heat gun hoping to soften enough to slide off. Neither Goof Off or alcohol would loosen it either. Any ideas?