Mike and Carol

He made it. The Elite II does not come with this. If you take the surface piece under the pantry, add some hinges and attach it to the side of the kitchen you’ve got it. I think you can buy an extra one from Oliver. I’ll leave the rest to Overland on his mod. Mike

Texas is large and diverse. West Texas has dry arid areas plus mountains - Davis Mountains, Guadalupe Mountains, Franklin Mountains. Up near Amarillo you have Palo Duro Canyon (second largest in US behind Grand Canyon) and Caprock Canyons. You have beaches and saltwater coast starting at Houston going across to Corpus Christi and on down to South Padre Island. Pine woods are in east Texas near Arkansas and Louisiana. Texas Hill Country is where we live, between San Antonio, Austin and Fredericksburg. We’ve stayed mostly in Texas State Parks, probably about 25 so far. Some have FHU, some W/E and some nothing. Some are close to civilization and some in the middle of nowhere. It depends on how you define civilization. Texas State Parks are reasonable, the highest you’ll pay for a FHU site is $30. We stayed at Franklin Mountain State Park for $7/night (no hookups). There are a bunch in between. Caddo Lake State Park in east Texas, near Uncertain, has huge pine trees and lots of water. Davis Mountain State Park is just north of Big Bend National Park and is near Marfa. We liked Palo Duro State Park and Caprock Canyon State Park. It all depends what you are looking for. There are state parks around Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, El Paso, Amarillo, etc.

No 30A plug. I just use the little 30a adapter.

They make custom sheets for Olivers and Airstreams and others. I thought we found the info on their website. It’s been a few years. Mike

ABLifestyles has a website. They make all sizes, you could check there. We like our sheets and mattress pads that we got from them.

Just the box and suspension. Everything else in Los Angeles.

Like Sherry said, you can find some YouTube videos that John is in along with Shane from RVs of America in Salt Lake City. If you’re interested in Black Series, Shane is the guy to talk to. Also, there was a thread on BS in the Overland forum last year that John was contributing to. He’s got a HQ19 that he’s done a lot with, especially making it more of a 4 season camper. Here we are at Quartzsite a couple years ago.

Welcome Ajojo. I’m retired Army too... Hope this forum will be helpful to you as you go through the order process. I’d call the sales office and set up a factory tour, you can’t be too far! Mike

It sounds like you are just starting your research on an Oliver purchase, price seems to be your major concern and discussion point. You might also go over to AirForums and ask the same questions there that you are asking here to get a perspective on Airstreams since that is the standard you are using. There are less expensive fiberglass options if that would be more palatable. There are also some other manufacturers that are making some nice trailers that would be less expensive than a fully loaded Oliver. Check out Nucamp and InTerra. I just replaced my four old AGM batteries with two Battle Born Lithium’s as are other Oliver owners. After looking at practicality and running the lifecycle numbers the lithium batteries were the best option. Mike

I would think that most folks looking at an Oliver decide on options very carefully, depending on budget and camping style. I’m sure a few Oliver owners that are more financially set don’t worry about options and just order the full slate. When we discussed buying an Oliver we started with the base price, not the fully loaded price. We had financial constraints so starting low and adding those options we needed made the most sense. Starting at the upper limit would have been discouraging.

Not sure what your timeline is, but a trip to Hohenwald and the factory might be beneficial. It might take some of the stress out of your situation. Seeing how they are made and getting inside of one might allay some of your anxiety. Mike

We looked at the Tab 400 when they came out. The main issue we had was the bath and the fold down sink. Would be interested in how it worked out for you... We liked the dinette and kitchen and the big bed with skylight!

Axis are bigger and stay out of neighborhoods. The white tail are more like roaming pets. Big deer can be found down around Big Bend and up around Guadeloupe Mountains.

I’ve got a dozen white tail deer sleeping in my front yard right now.... ...and they are cute.

We often say the bathroom is the cleanest area of the trailer. We don’t use a curtain and do use soap and shampoo. No issue with creepy residue, we squeegee and wipe with a microfiber. We do rinse remaining suds down the drain. One or two minutes max, not absurd at all.

The Elite II is 23.5’ bumper to hitch. The living space is about 18’ long (someone correct me if I’m wrong) and 7’ wide. The 23’ Airstream is a foot wider and I believe the cabin space is longer.

Welcome to the forum. Lots of information here for you to use... Mike

We started our RV journey thinking we’d be owning an Airstream, particularly a 23FB. Looked at a number of them at dealers here in Texas and at RV shows. I spent a lot of time on AirForums (still do). While we liked the feel of the Airstream, the room inside of the Airstream and the look of the Airstream, there were too many quality complaints from owners. Owners defending Airstream quality were basically saying to buy it and spend a year or so fixing things and then you’re good to go. Someone on AirForums mentioned Oliver and that started the end of my Airstream plans. After a tour of the Oliver factory, meeting and talking with Oliver folks, we made the decision to go with Oliver. No regrets five years later. It is sturdy, tows well, has good storage for its size and has been easy to maintain. It’s cooler than an Airstream in the summer and warmer in the winter. The wet bath has not been an issue at all. Possibly, if you bought a used 23’ AS the previous owner may have all the kinks worked out. More likely, they are selling because they don’t. They still look cool. Mike

You say you want to secure the trailer while it is still hitched to your truck. What you have purchased will do that. The lockable hitch pin ensures someone can‘t easily remove it. The collar lock ensures someone can’t easily open the bulldog hitch and remove your trailer from the ball. I don’t think your nice rep understood your question. The yellow Reese lock is for when you are unhitched to secure the bulldog hitch. You can use the collar you purchased for both situations, both when hitched to your truck and in combination with the yellow Reese lock (or any number of others) when unhitched. Since you already have a lockable hitch pin you don’t need another one. Mike

3M 303 Protectant. Buy it by the jug. Good stuff.

If you need to change a tire just use the onboard jacks. Put some blocks under the jack to limit the travel and go for it. I just got four new tires at Discount Tire and we used my onboard jacks, one side at a time, to get ‘er done. Mike

I agree with JD on tongue weight. I haven’t weighed but figure mine is about 600lbs. It would be a stretch to get to 1050lbs. I’ve towed with a Tacoma, two Ram 1500’s and now a Ram 2500. The first three trucks used the Andersen and I was always close to the payload limit with what we carry. With this 2500, I don’t worry about payload (2000+ lbs of payload). Also, no Andersen hitch. When I drop my trailer on the hitch the back drops down barely 2” compared to over 4” with the half tons. The big diesel doesn’t seem to break a sweat towing. If you have a choice, go big and don’t worry about it. Mike

Glad you are keeping it! The time spent in our Oliver has been some of our best times. Enjoy! Mike

Finished up mounting the batteries this afternoon. Couldn’t have done it without the help of fellow Ollie owner, Ken Cvacho, @mountainoliver.

Welcome. If you have questions you’ll get answers here! Mike