Steph and Dud B

Nope. Down on floor level like the current 3-ways.

I asked Ryan about the Elite 1 redo but he didn't have any info. Didn't ask. Didn't peek underneath. Was just wandering around the showroom/lot while they were working on our A/C issue.

"Eggcelsior" is home and soaking in a CT rainstorm after a week-long odyssey in 90+ degree heat following our delivery last Monday. We arrived on time for our delivery Monday morning (Steph was worried we'd hit "rush hour traffic" in Hohenwald, LOL) and were met by Ryan, who did our walkthrough. The walkthrough went fairly quickly, both because we were experienced RVers and because we had studied so much about Olivers on this forum and Oliver University. The only issue we spotted in the walkthrough was a blemish in the gelcoat on one countertop - which they addressed immediately. We then moved to the Oliver campground for the night. The plan was to run with shore power and water connected until the evening, then switch to boondocking mode for the overnight to test all the systems. While in the Oliver campground we met the new owners of Hull 1149 - who were camped overnight, too - and the owners of Hull 77 (Kathy and ? - forgive me, there was a lot going on...) who were there for service. We found a few more issues with Eggcelsior while we camped. We had a bad 30A shore power cable (it wouldn't twist into the locked position) which Oliver replaced. We also had a jumper set wrong inside the Xantrex unit that caused a 5 minute delay in delivering power to the camper after connecting to shore power. That was fixed onsite. Finally, the toilet was rocking on the flange. That which was fixed onsite, too. The next day we moved to David Crockett State Park. The site we chose (Campground 1, Site 1) would have been impossible for a larger rig, but the Ollie and our big dually were able to squeeze in. That night we noticed our air conditioner short-cycling so we filed a repair ticket and returned to Oliver service the next day. Jason was unable to replicate the condition after a morning spent in Service, but I think we found the issue later. The details are here: The next stop was a KOA in northeastern TN. (We booked commercial campgrounds for the entire trip home just in case there were any systems issues that would interfere with dry-camping.) The trailer pulled very well behind our 3500 gas dually, as expected. Steph did some towing driving for the first time in many years (she wasn't comfortable towing the fifth wheels), which was nice. Towing mileage ranged roughly from 9-12 MPG, typically around 9.5 at 70+ MPH and 10+ at around 65 MPH. The next day took us to MD. We have the Lithium Platinum package and ran the fridge on DC while travelling. On a full-sun day we saw the batteries drop to 99% after 7 hours of travel. On a partly cloudy day they were at 97% after 7 hours. On a 4-hour cloudy run we saw a drop to 95%. The third travel day brought us back to CT, where we experienced the worst traffic (and drivers) of the whole trip. (This is our usual experience when we come home.) A quick run to DMV the next morning to get registered, then the truck and trailer got a bath and we loaded up the rest of our stuff for our next trip. All in all, the staff at OTT were excellent and it was a successful venture. A few other observations: Tanks: The trailer is happiest slightly nose high with a slight tilt up on the curb side. After one day with no sewer in the state park, including 2 showers, the black read 19% and the gray 25%. Smart TV: This is really nice. We ran it off my 4G tablet's hotspot and it worked pretty well. There was a some buffering, but the signal strength wasn't great, either. Brakes: Braking was good, but one brake seems a little more aggressive than the other three. Something to watch.

We got a good look at some 2023 Elite 2 demo units while we were at the mothership last week. On the outside you can see that the solar panels aren't as wide (it has been reported that OTT is switching to more powerful panels from a different mfg.), there was the optional Truma A/C unit up top, and there's no lower vent panel for the refrigerator. The latter is because OTT is switching to 12/120v compressor fridges, and the reason for that is that they can't source new 3-way fridges in that size anymore. I did ask Jason what impact that would have on battery life and he said that their tests showed good performance, even with AGM batteries. The lower fridge vent panel has been replaced by a cool flip-up table which we liked a lot. Inside, the compressor fridge itself was deeper, with more fridge storage, but a smaller freezer than our Norcold 3-way, which we didn't like as much. The Zamp solar controller was replaced by a Victron, of which we're jealous, and the furnace was different, too, with smaller registers in the cabin. I think the furnace was a Truma as well - part of the optional Truma package. Otherwise, we didn't notice any other major changes from our 2022.

Ah, memories. My dad had an International Travelall that we used to tow a 27' Holiday Rambler travel trailer. I remember "vapor lock" well. It was my Dad's nemesis, much like the furnace was for the dad in the Christmas Story movie.

Man in this case, although Stephanie was the one who noticed it was still short cycling so she gets some credit, too.

Just got home from OTT with Hull #1150. Noticed that one brake is more aggressive than the other three - locking up before they do. These are the Dexter Nev R Adjust brakes and, from what I've read, there is no manual adjustment to back them off, only to tighten them during the initial install. I don't think it's actually dragging - the drum temp was consistent with the other axle throughout the trip (per IR thermometer) - it just grabs harder than the others. I did notice that overall braking of the trailer was getting stronger throughout the trip - had to back off my brake controller twice. Looking at how these brakes work I'm wondering if the other 3 were set looser at the factory and are now starting to catch up as they auto-adjust? Thoughts?

Update: I think we've identified the problem. The short cycling returned the night after OTT inspected the unit. Immediately after a cycle shutdown I went to the thermostat and shut it down so I could see the current temperature it was reporting. As I watched, it rose 3 degrees in about 2 minutes. An IR thermometer verified the final reading was the actual temperature of the thermostat. Working hypothesis: the thermostat was ingesting cold air directly from the overhead A/C unit, causing an early shutdown. When the cold airflow stopped, the thermostat called for A/C again and the process repeated. Experimental solution: the thermostat has vent openings top and bottom. I placed a folded handkerchief over the top vents to shield them from the cold airflow. Viola! Normal A/C operation for the first time! I was concerned maybe the thermostat needs the top vents to release internally created heat, but that doesn't seem to be the case (because that would cause increasing calls for A/C, which didn't happen). The weather has cooled, so I can't field test anymore. Going to try something more elegant than a folded handkerchief next time. Maybe a piece of felt. I think our mystery is solved, but it raises other questions. Why couldn't Jason recreate it at Service? Why aren't more people reporting this issue?

Our 2022 with the MaxxAir bathroom vent pops open on the highway. An empty plastic water bottle through the handle "fixed" it for now... 🙄

@Time2Go!, did you ever get a resolution to the short cycling? We're at the mothership now after our new LE2 was doing the same thing yesterday/last night. With the fan on continuous Low the compressor would run for 2 minutes, stop, then repeat after a 3-5 minute pause. Shore power was good, temps in the mid-80s/mid-70s. Dropped the thermostat setting to 68 with no change in the behavior. Thought maybe it froze up, so switched to High fan only - no A/C - but saw no drainage from the drain tubes, so don't think it was iced. Right now, OTT can't duplicate the issue in their shop. A mystery...

This just happened to us. The flashing LCD display screen got my attention, then I saw 12U and a blinking red Power LED. It was right at dawn with 0Ah for the day and charging at .1A. I suspect it was just waking up and, like a grumpy spouse, decided to wake me up, too.

I do like the water meter idea as a backstop to the SeeLevel gauge when flushing.

What a nice tribute to your Ollie.

Following @Rivernerd's thoughts, do the problems continue if you disconnect shore power and run only off the batteries with the inverter turned off? If so, I agree with John that the problem is most likely between the batteries and the distribution panel. If the problems only manifest when you're plugged into shore power, the converter/inverter is a likely suspect.

Beautiful!

Well, can't say I'm super impressed with our Diamondback truck cover. The first downpour we had I looked in my truck bed and saw two very fast drips coming in. Later I took a hose to the cover and found that water leaked in at all four corners where the two lids attach to the center panel. With flooding water from the hose they weren't drips, they were streams. Online searching told me this wasn't an isolated problem, either. In the end, it comes down to poor engineering and sloppy manufacturing. The design relies on various pieces of weatherstripping coming together at an angle when the lids are closed. On ours, the weatherstripping was cut too short at the factory. The water coming off the cover would sit on top of the truck bed rails and drain in through the gaps. 😤 From what I read online, replacing the weatherstripping - and attaching it at the exact right points - is a bear of a project. After a few days of messing around with some extra bits of weatherstripping I've got it down to only a drip under flooding water from the hose now. I think that's the best I'll ever get. Pretty disappointing for such an expensive piece of gear. On the positive side, the cover meets its other tasks well: locked security for the bed and cargo carrying capacity on top, so I guess it's OK. Diamondback SE score: Water resistance: 7 Security: 9 Cargo carrying: 10

The lack of a 2" receiver adequate for one of the RV-rated bike racks irritates me as well. (There are no RV-rated 1¹/⁴" racks.) Our Ollie receiver is therefore relegated to a small cargo carrier and our bikes are going on top of the truck.

Congratulations!

I did something similar for dump days. 45-gallon Sterilite totes from Walmart fit perfectly inside. These totes have wheels on one end and I use my collapsible awning hook to pull them to the tailgate for unloading the trash at the transfer station.

What's the wheelbase on the Gladiator? Shorter wheelbases are less stable tow vehicles, regardless of the tow rating.

Last I heard Oliver was installing Cooper Light Truck tires. Perfectly fine tires. Most other trailers come with ST (Special Trailer) tires, often of dubious quality. Google "RV China Bombs" and you'll see lots of horror stories. With our 3 previous rigs, the first thing I did was put quality tires on them. I won't be changing out the Oliver's Coopers.

Most theoretical values hit a wall in real-world applications because they rarely get installed optimally. Even so, R16 does seem a bit far-fetched. The real question: is the Oliver insulation any better than a standard RV with aluminum studs and fiberglass/styrofoam/luan sandwich walls and roof? I'll know pretty soon. Had a few of those "stickie" trailers. This summer will be an Ollie. I know that our last fifth wheel radiated a lot of heat through the slideout walls, which I think were thinner than the "main" walls, and the cabinets/compartments in those slides were always cooler or hotter than the cabin interior. Comparisons with the Ollie will be interesting.

Yes, we have a 2000W Honda that we'll probably carry to supplement the solar. I like the idea of portable solar panels, but we already own the Honda.

So, very rough estimate, the AC used approx. 10% SOC per hour and your solar replaced that 10% the next day. In theory then, someone in similar weather could probably run the AC for 1/2 hour each night to cool the cabin off before bed and recoup that power (and some other power used) the next day. Looking forward to trying this when we get our Ollie!

Diamondback installed, with the Front Runner racks and Yakima bike racks. Just about ready for our delivery date now.