Overland

That's a nice setup. I actually have the parts in hand now to do something similar with mine. I bought this shower valve and this faucet, and I'm pairing them with a stainless vessel sink that I found on closeout. Oliver sold me an uncut vanity top to use with the sink. Right now I'm debating whether to mount the shower valve centered over the shower caddy, or on the closet wall. My wife prefers it on the wall, as do I, but of course that leaves exposed plumbing in the closet. But I think I could protect it, and don't really travel with anything in the closet that might damage it. The only potential problem that I may have to solve is that the shower caddy might interfere with the drain from the sink, since I'm pulling the sink forward. I think it will work though, and if not, I may ask Oliver if they can ship me a shower caddy without any holes drilled in it, so that I can mount it upside down - for some reason, the bottom of the caddy had more clearance than the top.

I don't really know anything about them, but they look solid enough and the attachment method seems reasonable. The only thing that catches my eye is that the hole spacing says 3", vs 3 ½" on the Ollie. Maybe they could make one with 3 12" spacing for you? If they could, then those would definitely be easier to install, and cheaper by a good margin.

I ran into the same problem when I replaced mine. You can read through this thread for a description and link to the adapter I used, but I'd honestly just recommend that you replace the entire faucet.

That looks like a better solution than the progressive industries version. I might have to upgrade. My ideal setup would be to have the portable version, but mount it in the trailer next to my MultiPlus, keeping the plug connections. That way, I could easily bypass it if needed, and even keep my current PI portable as a backup.

Ideally*, I would recommend an extra 180-200W of portable solar and an extra 100Ah of battery storage if you add a fridge. That's based the two rules of thumb that guided our solar and battery selection, which I've found to be quite accurate in practice: 1) assume ~20 to 30 Ah per day for each 100W of panels. 2) your battery bank's usable Ah should be sized to ~½ of your total solar wattage To that, I'll add a third rule of thumb for Ollie users, which comes from both personal experience and reports here from others, which is that the typical battery usage for an OE2 is ~70-80 Ah per day. That includes some inverter use for hair dryer, coffee machine, etc. And I guess a fourth rule of thumb would be to budget an extra ~50 Ah per day for a compressor fridge. Mine draws ~2.5 A running, which would be a max of 60 Ah if it ran 24 hours. On good days, it will run ~50% of the time, or 30Ah, plus some for the extra draw when starting. So I see ~35 to 45 Ah on average, which makes 50 Ah a pretty good budget. We've had very good luck with our electrical, having based our solar and batteries on the above, even though we only camp in the spring, fall and winter. Apart from twice when our trailer was indoors at Oliver for service, I've only had to plug in once when not running the AC. That one time was in November, camped under trees, with no sun, and using a toaster over for 30 minutes a night. Even then, we lasted three days. So anyway, if you start with 75 Ah of base usage per day, and add 50 for the fridge, that's 125 Ah. 125 / 25 * 100 = 500W of solar. 500 / 2 = 250 Ah of usable battery storage, which would be 500 Ah of AGM batteries or 275 Ah of LFP batteries. *There's a big caveat to my recommendation, however, which is that Sherry gets by with far less solar and far less battery capacity in her OE1. I'd love to have a long conversation with her one day about how she does it. Part of that is probably that since I do have enough solar and battery capacity that I rarely give a thought to conserving (which is how I got into trouble that one time). But then if you go way, way back to my original post on sizing my solar, my goal was to have enough solar and battery that I don't have to think about it. For the most part, I'd say we accomplished that - and we still don't have, nor want, a generator. So if you run the numbers from above with more optimistic assumptions, say 60 Ah typical usage, 35 Ah fridge usage, and 30 Ah per 100 W of solar, you get 60 + 35 = 95 / 30 * 100 = 317 W of solar, and dividing by two, 160 Ah of usable battery life. Or pretty much a typical OE2. Maybe 80% of the time, that's fine, and an extra 100W portable panel might get you to 90%. At that point, it would depend on when and where you camp, how much of an electricity hog you are, and how much margin you're comfortable living with. Three cloudy days, and I bet you'd want that generator.

Looks great, Chuck.

Oliver used to offer the choice between a Suburban or Atwood (Dometic) furnace and based on anecdotal evidence here, the Suburban seems to work better at altitude. I don’t know why - it could be the design or it could be that the Atwood electronics are more sensitive. Suburban does have a high altitude kit and it’s probably a good idea to install it if you’re going to be running it for some time at high altitude, to avoid getting soot buildup. I think I read once that the suburban also has a flow valve that can be adjusted. I don’t know if Oliver will still install the Suburban. I believe that it’s more difficult to service since it can’t be removed from the curb side.

Still experimenting. Our cushions are a good bit firmer than what Oliver supplies, and we’ve found them to be great for sitting but a bit too firm for sleeping. They’re very comfortable with a thick zero degree sleeping bag used as a topper, but those are a bit bulky to store. I’ll probably just get some softer foam inserts for the bottom cushions...someday. I think what Oliver supplies is a little too soft, so something in between is what I’d like. You’ll notice in the photo that we had extra back cushions made. Those or some throw pillows are essential since otherwise you lean back too far. You could have back cushions made that are double thick, but we like having one layer of cushions in place when we sleep since the side walls can get cold at night.

When we had mattresses, it did just feel like sitting on the bed, so it was ok but not perfect. Once we swapped out our mattresses for cushions, however, that changed and it feels like true sitting area. It’s a little tight on the street side for two, since the leg of the table takes up some space, but it works. The curb side is fine for two. So I’d say it’s perfect for two or three, a little cozy for four, and doesn’t work at all for five or more. We haven’t tried it, but I don’t see why you couldn’t use a camp chair in the aisle for someone, so long as the chair is tall enough. Heres a photo of how it looks now with the cushions:

It sounds like you've pretty much got it: You need a generator to run AC off the grid. Short answer is yes. If you opt for the MicroAir soft start, then you can run your AC off of a smaller generator or even your batteries for a very short time. You need two 2000w generators if you want to run AC and something else at the same time. It depends on what else you want to run, but I think most people's experience is that you can't run the AC and the Microwave together, for example. I think most just switch off the AC while they use the MW. Some parks won't let you run your generator at certain times. Is this common? Oh yes. So, no AC at night unless you are hooked up to power, Wondering if parks in the warmer climates let you run your generator at night if its 90 degrees? Correct. I can't say I've really paid attention if they have different summer hours. If you are hooked up to a 30 amp. are you using any of your battery power for other stuff. For practical purposes, no. If you are hooked up to 30 amp. and run your AC all night do your batteries get charged at the same time? Yes, the AC will only pull about half the available power when its compressor is running, and the surplus will go to the batteries and anything else you're running. Thinking with today's technology that much of the power identification is automatic but this is all new to me. Do you have to manually flip switches to tell system if its using solar, battery, or ...not sure what you call it, shore power, park power, grid power. The only thing that you'll have to manually turn on and off would be the inverter, which you'll use when not plugged in. But even that will be automatically bypassed when you plug in, so you don't have to worry about damaging anything if you forget to turn it off. Shore power is the right term - we're all sailors at heart, I guess. Can I get by with just one 2000w to run the AC with the soft start up? Yep, that's the main advantage of having the soft start.

True that the maxx fan pulls more air than the bath exhaust, but what I meant to convey was that the trailer is pretty tight all around, so even with the vent, I think you’d want to open a window in the main cabin for makeup air, which I think is what you’re saying. I’ve definitely got this mod on my list. Even if it doesn’t bother me to open the bath window, your idea is a definite upgrade, and my wife will certainly appreciate it.

Lol, someone text this quote to Scott and Jason ASAP.

Our maxx fan really struggles if we run it without a window cracked, so I think that you’d want a window open somewhere with this mod. Otherwise, like whatda said, make up air is going to come from somewhere you don’t want. Nonetheless, there are obvious advantages to not having to open the privacy window and being able to get conditioned air from the main cabin. Personally, I’m fine opening the bath window and running the fan a bit after a shower, but I have a shower curtain for privacy and don’t mind a bit of cold air. But my wife would probably want this if she saw it.

Yep, Calmark is the go to brand. They're not cheap, but the quality is top notch and the sunbrella fabric can't be beat.

Judging by the content of posts from new owners over the past few years, I think Oliver's quality control has been steadily improving since the low point of the 'Terrible 200's'. They seem to have the right processes in place; a very thorough, detail oriented person in charge of QC; and I don't think anyone at Oliver is any more accepting of QC problems than we are. Nonetheless, they're not perfect yet, and maybe never will be, but we can be glad in these cases that the company has always been very responsive in making things right with the owners.

That's probably the Atwood. John Davies has one, and I'm pretty sure one or two others. It's supposed to be quieter and a little more efficient, with the downsides being that they're taller, not quite as nice looking, and the condensation drain is external. I could probably live with all of those - I'd love to actually hear one in person to see how much quieter they are. My mod for a quieter AC was a pair of Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones. They're comfortable enough to sleep with.

I'm really happy with my Ford, but if I were looking today, I'd take a closer look at GM since I think they're even as far as towing goodies go. I'm surprised about the blind spot system - that might be a deal breaker for me, too. I also think their tailgate and carbon bed are better than what Ford offers. I've never cared for Rams and there's nothing in their current lineup that would make me change my mind. In the end I'd probably stick with the Ford since I prefer its looks, inside and out. For myself, I'd take a look at the F250 Tremor, and if I didn't go with that, then it's a fair bet that I'd end up with just a newer Raptor.

We can figure this out. How about connecting the AC to the hull with a scissor lift and bellows so that you can decouple the unit from the hull?

Historically, Oliver hasn't been very good at getting the fuse panel(s) labelled correctly. Mine was mostly right, but there are a few that were wrong. So if you've got a fuse tester, it's a good idea to test them all to be sure. Or if you have a handful of fuses, start swapping them out to see. I didn't catch on the OP that some of the lights were working, so my suggestion to check the main breaker probably isn't worthwhile, though I guess it's at least good to know it exists. I also just checked the 2020 Owners Manual and guess what? No electrical diagrams. I really hope that's an oversight and not Oliver's decision to remove them. The 2019 wiring diagram does show a panel in the attic that controls the lighting, and the lighting looks like it's split on three separate circuits: main, cabinet, and courtesy. Good chance then that one of those is out.

Yeah, let’s hear about those upgrades.

If that isn’t it, some Ollies have a 12 volt sub panel in the attic over the nightstand. In the back of the manual, which you can download if you don’t have a physical copy, there are wiring diagrams for both 12 and 120 volt.

No idea on the mystery switch - Oliver has a bad habit of changing around the electrical switching. As for the rest, there’s a main 12 volt breaker under the street side bed, and I’d check that first. If that doesn’t work, post back but I bet that’s it. The breaker is black with a red button and a yellow flag that will pop out if it’s tripped - see the attached photo. Even if the flag isn’t showing, try pressing it in firmly to see if that does the trick.

An empty Yellowstone with snow is my kind of park.

The concept is pretty nice - I took a look at them at overland expo and there are definitely a few things that I prefer over the Ollie. But then there are also some things I don't like so it balances out. On the whole, I prefer what I have. But if they had been available when I was shopping, and I didn't know what I know now, I'd have looked at them pretty closely. At that time, I seriously considered a Kimberley trailer, since they were available here back then. The Kimberleys were fairly unique, though, if more expensive. I don't think that there's anything particularly special about the Black Series - they're just an Aussie style trailer that happens to be sold here. Tougher construction than the average, and a lot more off-roady eye candy, but not unique in any way. There have been other Aussie companies enter the market here, like Kimberley or Extreme (?), and it seems like they last a few years and then quietly leave. Conquerer, from South Africa, comes and goes randomly. Earth Cruiser I guess is the only one that has stuck it out. From what I've read, though, the big problem with the Black Series is that you don't have to wait for the company to exit the market before being hung out to dry. There are some really ugly stories on ExPo about the quality and customer service - to the extent that they say the company has threatened lawsuits against their own owners, and the forums they post on. I can't see how anyone would put up with that sort of clown show, especially after having owned an Ollie. So, my opinion is that if you go into it, think of it like importing a trailer. Assume that you're on your own, and if you have the time, skill, and money to fix things yourself, then sure. But for me, it seems like the sort of trailer that looks great in the brochure but loses its shine in use; whereas I think you don't really start to appreciate the Ollie until you put it to use, and the more you use it, the more you realize how good it is.

Oliver adopted a stronger frame design I believe for the 2016 model year*, so if you're concerned about not having a frame warranty, you might limit your search to the later model. * Would be nice to verify that. I know that the new frame was on the line in December of 2015, so it may have been used on some 2015 models. They're easy to spot since the older frame has the extendable tongue. Another structural change that I'd like to know the date of would be the steel brackets for the rear stabilizers.