Steph and Dud B

I wonder if it would be easy to add a switch to activate the white backup lights from inside the cabin?

The Allen screws can be turned in either direction. The plus and minus in the photo explains what happens when you turn that screw in that direction. For example, on the left side of the photo above, turning the Out screw counterclockwise reduces (-) how far the awning goes out. If you turned it clockwise instead, the awning would extend more. You want to turn your In screw in the + direction to make your awning pull in farther. Adjust it a little at a time and try the awning after each adjustment until you get it right.

Based on your numbers I'd say, yes, you could tow an Elite 2 with your Expedition. As you mentioned, your limiting number would be your payload limit. Take 600# off for tongue weight and you're down to 725 for you, your wife, and any cargo in the truck. Should be enough. You'd have to check your manual to see if a weight distributing hitch is required for a 7000# GVWR trailer, although it may not be with those specs (AI says it's not needed until the trailer is over 7000#).

We flew to Anchorage and rented a Class C motorhome from Great Alaskan Holidays. The motorhome was in fantastic shape (current model year) and came equipped with everything we needed except food and some odds and ends (hatchet, bear spray, firewood, etc.). We had it for 11 days and saw Seward, Homer, Talkeetna, Denali National Park, and everything in between. Stayed everywhere from commercial campgrounds to a night in a roadside pullout. Lots of wildlife (had a moose in our campsite), incredible scenery (the drive from Anchorage to Seward is stunning). Fantastic trip. If you want to RV Alaska but can't/won't take your Oliver there, I can't recommend Great Alaskan Holidays enough. Best trip we ever took. Great Alaskan Holidays https://share.google/KQoSc0xsFRph2wLCU

Interesting idea with Father's Day coming up!

Congrats! Alaska next.....

Oliver mounted ours wrong, 90 degrees off, and it pops open on the highway. Follow the instructions.

I ran that list through the Harvest Hosts app. Two are HH sites: St. James Winery Serenity Valley Winery As an aside, we've been using our Harvest Hosts more lately. Works well out east where there are fewer options. Some favorite experiences: TLC Tree farm (with great microbrew beers) Broad Creek Alpaca farm (For Steph's crocheting hobby.) Air Heritage Aviation Museum (For me. Parked right next to a F4 Phantom.) Shenandoah Caverns (Did the cavern tour.)

I hope you all recognize this was tongue-in-cheek. Yep, but come to think of it... How nice it would be to have 2300A of solar available! Plus, you'd have have redundancy if (when?) one of them failed. Now we need a gray water storage carpet to put under the solar awning. And camp chairs that also hold fresh water. We could boondock forever!

I believe twist on wire nuts are not approved for RVs because vibrations can loosen them.

I'd like to hear more about the integrated generator.

I see you can get the solar awning with the Platinum Pro package, too. It looks pretty cool, but I have to wonder if it will fail eventually from being repeatedly rolled/unrolled.

From what I've been reading about 48V systems they are most effective delivering power to high amperage devices like the A/C, fridge, and induction cooktops. With the heat pump, compressor fridge, and an induction cooktop, would there be any need for propane at all in this new trailer? They do make 48v water heaters with 1000-2000W heating elements. Low amperage devices like lights, USB, etc. are often on 12v circuits powered by a DC to DC voltage converter in a 48v system, so there's no real gain there. (It is possible to get things like 48v lights, but they are more expensive.) I wonder what the boondocking sustainability difference would be between our LE2, which has the 640Ah 12v lithium system, 30# propane tanks, and LP fueled furnace, fridge, water heater and stove vs. this new 48v model set up as all-electric? As it is, we've never gotten below 50% SOC while camping in good sun and our propane lasts for weeks. Fresh water and holding tanks would still be limiting factors with this new trailer. I suppose if you had the composting toilet and were camped in a sunny place that allowed emptying gray water on the ground you could stay virtually as long as your fresh water supply allowed, but that's kind of an edge case for a lot of us. On balance, I see the main advantage of the 48v system over our 12v/propane system being increased A/C run time.

From what I can see, it's a dolled up LE2 hull aiming to attract the overlander crowd. The 48V electrical system is interesting but would make finding accessories, etc. more difficult and more expensive. Will there be a DC to DC converter and 12V circuits for things like lights, USB ports, and 12V outlets?

THOSE are the windows we've been waiting for.

You've inspired me. The drum set's going in! Just gotta get this bass drum through the door... 😁

We use a WeighSafe 3” aluminum drop hitch on our 3500. Nice hitch. (We don't have a WDH but our dually isn't comparable for that part of this discussion.)

I should also note that I was measuring the temperature between the hulls, in the belly by the water intakes. I wish I had placed a third recording thermometer inside the main cabin to see what the difference was between the cabin and the belly.

Here's some data that I found interesting. Our Oliver is mostly stock, with only a little extra Reflectix insulation added to the external basement door. I have a remote thermometer in the Oliver belly, near the fresh and city water inlet lines, and another thermometer hanging inside the garage near the Oliver. I collected data from a week from both thermometers. The was no heat running in the Oliver. You can see that the average temperatures were only different by 1.1 degrees. There was a difference of 38.1 degrees from the highest temperature to the lowest temperature recorded in the garage: and only a 16.3 degree difference recorded in the belly of the trailer: I couldn't tell you if that's any better or worse than any other RV would perform, but those are the numbers from an unheated Oliver sitting in an unheated garage.

The hose is kinking under the sink when you pull it out. Be careful not to pull it out too far. It only just barely reaches our shower holder. I find it best to turn the faucet toward the shower holder before pulling the hose out.

I like the Lithionics. Just updated mine. I do wish the app provided a change log to tell you what the version changes are.

Absolutely, but warranty work is another matter. (And, to be fair, Oliver has an excellent warranty.)

We just returned from our third trip to the factory service center for warranty work and the same problem presented itself again: poor communication. In this case, they were to repair a gelcoat crack near the water heater and do a visual brake inspection. They had the trailer for 2 days. When we arrived at the factory for pickup at 4:30 on the second day I asked the service writer one specific question, "Did you remove the water heater to fix the fiberglass?" I asked this because it had looked to me that the WH would have to come out to address the crack, but the service writer said no, they didn't take out the water heater. Surprised, I double checked, "I don't have to refill my water heater tank?" Again, he said, "No." When we moved to our site for the night, I discovered fresh caulk all around the water heater and an empty WH tank. This is important because, if we had turned our electric water heater on with the tank empty, we would have destroyed the electric heating element. We absolutely should have been told the tank was empty, and if the service writer wasn't sure, he should have checked with the tech. (The tech was smart, though, and did turn off the WH breaker.) Also, I saw the tech's notes on the counter while we were waiting for our paperwork and he noted that we needed new shocks and bushings. I asked the service writer about that, he looked at the notes, and said it "doesn't mean anything." But, when I looked under the trailer later, the bushings were, indeed, badly cracked. Oliver had the trailer for 2 days. I'm surprised they didn't call and ask if I wanted new shocks while it was in their shop waiting for the resin and gelcoat to set. This poor communication at the shop (communication by email/phone before the visit has always been fine) continues a pattern going back to our first warranty trip in 2023. In that case, we went to pick up our trailer after 2 days and found that one of the major items it was in for wasn't even addressed. Overall, we had become so frustrated with service issues that we mailed a letter to Scott Oliver prior to this visit expressing our frustrations and concerns, hoping things would go better this time. We never received a response. Bottom line for us: factory service is hit or miss. We've had some good work there (the fiberglass repair looks great), but there have been serious communications miscues, too. If you need to get service done at the factory, we recommend you keep careful records of all communications and check and verify all work done and everything you're told. Trust but verify.

Some of mine look like that. There's a couple of threads talking about alternatives to the Monroes.

Not if they had the bathroom drain valve closed.