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Owners: Mike and Carol’s “Battery Box Separation” thread well addresses the battery box structural securement to the frame and hull. My intent of this post is to re-look at the battery tay and straps and their securement. Despite our OEM straps being VERY tight, twice I found one of them had gone slack and come loose from the tray hook hole. Not good. I am starting this separate thread to focus on how to ensure that our OEM tray and batteries “stay put”. So basically, I would like to learn more about how the tray is mounted and then how to super contain our batteries in the tray. I would very much appreciate your sharing your thoughts on how the battery box embed plate and straps do their job. Some questions follow: · How is the battery box embed plate attached to the structural member below? · What’s you guess as to the dimensions of the embed plate? · Are all battery sliding tray fasteners buck-stopped by the embed plate? · I assume that the embed plate is aluminum. Can it be tapped for additional hold-down bolts. If yes, what bolt length will work best? · Can you share your DIY solution? GJ PS: As far as the tray slide coming open, I like Horace's (Hull 93 Maverick) Dec 17, 2020 idea. A couple of these would increase security and would prevent movement should the slide fail. My upgrades to his idea would be to use a Riv-Nut in place of the nut and washer. Maybe also pop rivet the aluminum angle to the tray sheet metal. Combined, less parts to get lost when doing battery checks and service. Thanks GJ

@David and Gail @jd1923 or anyone who fixed their own battery box - have you put significant miles on their Ollie and re-inspected your repair work on the battery box support? I will be doing nearly 1,000 miles in the next two weeks going down to Silver Springs for another Egg rally. I'll try to remember to inspect my own handy work to see how it holds up. I tried marking the wet bolts with a metal market, but mostly just made a mess. I will still be able to peak down and see if anything moved. Cheers,

We only recently upgraded our springs and we’ve been at 50psi in our tires for many years. I think the heavy AGMs and many miles is at the root of this issue. There are a number of rivets all around the box that were all popped/damaged/pulled out. It doesn’t seem that that could happen all at once, but probably happened over time and miles. Our lithium batteries, installed 4 years ago, are 1/3 to 1/4 the weight of the AGMs. The Oliver response to my trouble ticket was to check and send pictures of the brace inside the trailer. I did and the response was that I could probably use a good adhesive to repair it since the brace holding up the box looked good. I didn’t like that answer so I asked to be sent over to service for some advice. Mike S in service said they use rivets to repair and also inspect the support bracket. I’m debating whether to try this myself or just make a trip to TN. Unlike Galway Girl, my bracket only has one bolt and it is in an adjustable slot. Other side: It’s interesting that the box is leaning out from the trailer and the bolt is at the bottom of the slot. When I pull the battery tray out, the box moves out more but every so slightly, less than 1/16”. I would think that the sag would be the other way around, leaning into the trailer since the weight is over the support more than 99% of the time.

A thread on "cracks" at and/or near the battery box was posted a number of years ago. But, as I recall, these cracks were generally in the exterior hull right at the corners of the battery box. Have you looked at the "support post" that is between the hulls directly under the battery box (approximately in the bottom center of the box)? Bill

Have use my honda generator to chargé our batteries 2 times nów, today being The second Tim’e, disconnected from generator, went inside to verify they full charges, and no Lightning or Power to anything on The master control at The door. Went inside when i initialy starter generator and had Power at than time. My FIRST attempt about a month Ago , same routine and no problem. We had our trailer winterized when we picked it up SO no experience with it SO far other than using generator to keep batteries chargéd. Recommendations when to start looking.

After purchase of our OE II, I realized the first thing that I wanted to add was a cargo box for more external storage. Based on various posts in this forum, I decided to go with either the Arksen 29” Diamond plate (4.3 CF) or the Dee Zee DZ91717P (5.4 CF). While the Arksen has a look that more closely aligns with the Oliver, I chose the Dee Zee because of the larger capacity. As I will explain later, this turned out to be a problem. With regard to any modifications to our Oliver, my goals are to (1) minimize any drilled holes and (2) try to be consistent with Oliver installation techniques. With that in mind, I decided to use the same U-bolts that Oliver uses to attach their aluminum storage basket and purchased two of them from the factory (part #10839). This had an additional benefit since I only needed to drill two holes through the fiberglass (near the tongue jack) - the other U-bolt would be fastened at the tongue. Also, when it comes time to sell, it should be very easy to replace this box with Oliver’s basket should the new owner want to do so. Instead of buying the U-bolt plates from Oliver, I cut and drilled some old garage door hardware that I had laying around (apparently DW is right when she says I never throw anything away). To avoid the possibility of galvanic corrosion I placed pieces of vinyl siding between the steel plates and the aluminum tongue. Positioning and drilling the holes through the fiberglass was a little trickier than I had anticipated. They say measure twice, cut once. Not wanting to screw it up, I think I measured it six times. There isn’t enough space to get a drill directly underneath the fiberglass so I had to use a ¼” x 12” bit to drill the first hole, enlarging it to 3/8” from the top side. Once that hole was drilled, I used the U-bolt to determine the position for the second hole and drilled that from the top, first ¼”, then 3/8”. I then used my Dremel with a pointed abrasive cone to slightly taper the holes as others on this forum have advised to prevent cracking of the gel coat. Now comes the problem with the Dee Zee box. As you can see from the photo, there is an indentation in the rear of the box exactly where the rear U-bolt needs to be! (What did I say about measuring twice?) After considering other fastening strategies, most of which included drilling many more holes, I finally relented and decided to go with the Arksen instead. I trimmed a piece of interlocking foam utility mat (Designer’s Image 765-5058, 0.43” thickness) to use as a cushion between the box and the fiberglass. As luck would have it, I happened to have four 4” x 4” x 3/8” rubber vibration pads (UPE Group) laying around (did I mention that I never throw anything away?). After trimming to the width of the tongue with a razor blade knife I stacked the four pads and secured them to the tongue with 24” long cable ties. The ribs on the pads allowed them to interlock and stack nicely. And four of those pads adds just enough height to make the box level. To beef up the bottom of the cargo box, I added a piece of ½” plywood. To minimize moisture entry from the bottom, I used gasket cutters to make tight-fitting washers from 1/8” rubber packing sheet and placed them on the U-bolts between the plywood and the interior bottom of the box. The U-bolts were then fastened down with the steel plates using SS nylon-insert lock nuts. Permatex nickel anti-sieze was used on the threads to assist future removal, if needed. Overall, I am quite happy with this install. Special thanks to MAX Burner for giving us a tour of Casablanca at the rally in Alabama, including his own Arksen cargo box.

Not sure if this is of any help, but I have attached the dimensional drawing for the Oliver front box, FYI.

What are you plugging into? I assume it's a campground 30A receptacle, right? If it's only a household outlet you could easily be overloading it with normal Oliver things like the water heater, fridge, battery charger, etc. But this did happen to us once at a campground. We had a loose connection at the water heater. Don't know why it blew the 30A breaker at the pedestal and not the 20A breaker inside the trailer, but it did. Anyway, check everything mentioned above first. If you don't find anything wrong in the shore power connections as mentioned above try this: while unplugged, turn off every breaker in the Oliver breaker box under the dinette, then try plugging in again. If you blow the pedestal again you've got a short in the cable connections or EMS. If the pedestal breaker didn't blow, turn on the 30A main Oliver breaker. If that's ok, keep turning on Oliver breakers one at a time until you find the one that's tripping the pedestal.

Update. We got the Sierra EV last August, and picked up the Oliver at the factory in March. You can read a trip report here of our 6k mile trip https://www.fiberglassrv.com/threads/meet-sparky-the-electric-oliver.2190937/ There were some sharp opinions here about EV's, you can read the details over there that it far exceeded my expectations. Zero problems. We drove for hours through wilderness with no infrastructure and boondocked - not an issue (somebody here had some weird theory about that). Even I had trouble believing how well it worked in these conditions, in fact it liked the (slower speed) backcountry better than, say I40 in a windstorm. It's the regen you see, but surprisingly it regenerated (captured) more energy than I'm used too - all that trailer energy too, backcountry across the Sierras, it just gained so much energy on the way down from the peaks. It just drove, and drove and drove ... not to mention, while the 'generator symphony' would start up in some campgrounds, we silently topped off from the truck. I've towed plenty with ICE, and between Supercruise, the torque, the power, the spare campground power, the silence, I'll say EV towing is now better than ICE towing. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it, but to each his own. But enough of the drive train - who really cares? Pick your poison. The trouble was all with the Ollie. Us getting used to it that is. The composting toilet took getting the hang of (you can read the details over there). The Xantrex was a bit of a learning curve, because there's so many generations. The present generation can't be reset if you put a bad setting in. But the tech support at Xantrex was great, it was easily fixed by simply plugging into shore power. Oliver owners are indeed very friendly in person, but Steve if you're out there, sorry we couldn't chat but ya gotta appreciate, it was getting dark and the we just got the thing and needed to set up! 😅 Mark and Sandy - enjoyed talking to you, hope you're making good use of the carrier. Finally, of interest to this group; I have precise information about the Oliver aerodynamics. It isn't marketing fluff! In good conditions (no wind etc) I get a 35% towing loss @60 mph, this is phenomenal. And reminder; towing loss has NOTHING to do with the drive train. It's exactly the same for EV versus ICE. So you piston pounders are also getting this same loss. Otherwise, we love our Ollie. Even my skeptical family. Sure bigger would be great, but that's a slippery slope.

GJ, I am wondering if you could mount one of these to the front of the SeaBiscuit box - https://www.amazon.com/Gallon-Transfer-Storage-Container-Motorcycle/dp/ You would need to purchase the locking mount and likely need to reinforce the box to accept the weight of this configuration. Just a lofty thought. You could possibly use this locking mount- https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0CH355KZX/?_

Hello. My wife Karen and I are purchasing the 2025 Oliver Legacy Elite1. What generator is being used by other LE1 owners, to run the Truma Aventa Eco air conditioner? I have determine the Predator 3500 will not fit the storage basket on the tongue. So I’m open to suggestions. We drive a GMC Canyon with v6 engine. Thank you so much.

Hey @ripple963 I actually own an F350 Super Duty and I can drop the tail gate with plenty of clearance with no interference. I think you would be fine with clearance on an F150 too. You can call David & Kristine Hess at SeaBiscuit and verify for sure. We really like our SeaBiscuit front cargo box. Everything we need to set up camp is ready an immediately accessibility without having to drop our tailgate. It also saves valuable space in the bed of our truck for other camping gear. Just a note, we have never had any water intrusion in this box which is also a win. Everything we need and nothing we don’t.

With the front box installed on your trailer, does the box interfere with dropping the tailgate of your F150?

We're good with just our basket up front since we only store a fire ring up there, don't carry a generator. There are others here who have given this much thought and those who have installed front boxes. One thing that stands out to me re your idea and drawings is the LP doghouse cover. On our older hull there is just enough room to replace the cover getting it by the jack head. It seems to come off easier than it goes back on. You have likely not removed that cover too many times yet. I would take it on and off a couple times and give some thought to required clearance. Have fun on your 2-month trip! 😎

@Olive2Roam Great post and photos! We are big fans of our friends David and Kristine Hess owners of Sea Biscuit. You won’t meet a finer couple who fully support the RV industry with their products. My wife and I have been to their factory where they craft their products. Our front cargo box is has been one of our top mods. We store our chocks, blocks, 30amp cord and all other “possibles” for a quick set up and take down of our campsite. I installed a sheet of XPEL PPF (paint protection film) to the front of the cargo box of XPLOR to keep it protected from the blast zone and road missiles when in tow behind our TV. Your LE1 looks amazing, congrats on your mods! Beauty and the Beast - camped inside Yellowstone NP 🇺🇸

Our original PD ATS went out last year, a burnt wire or two. I decided to bypass the ATS. One cable now goes from the side 30A receptacle to the PI EMS and then to our Victron MP2 inverter and finally to the 120VAC breaker panel. We never use the 30A inlet up front, since we never use a generator. So no need for an ATS! We’ve had 3 RVs and the PD 5100 had failed in all three. If you must have an ATS, it’s time to upgrade to a better product!

During my full-time adventure, I discovered this in the Progressive Dynamics ATR. I was not happy to see that the two connector screws indicated in picture were VERY VERY loose. Had to turn several times to snug them up good. Now I need either a new ATR, or at least figure out how best to change those two half-melted wires. The busbar plate, or ledge (black), is secured to the box with two rivets. Has anyone ever see this before? Also, while looking closely, I noticed the front 30 AMP receptacle on the trailer is not protected by the EMS, only the driver-side 30 AMP connector is protected by the EMS. Any thoughts or teachings on the differences between the two 30 AMP receptacles? Thanks,

Looks like I have been very lucky with this battery box support issue. One, I only have a single bolt with no nut in sight. No real evidence it ever hat a nut, but I'm sure it did. The bolt has been bottomed out on the hand-cut slock for what appears to be forever. From all appearance, from outside and in, the box is still fairly in the spot it was from day one. I see no signs of separation. That is likely due to the fact that the bolt bottomed out on the slot and really could not come out of the hole. I will put double nuts, with Loctite, on the support beam this weekend. If anyone sees any issues I do not, let me know. I downsized the pics, but should be large enough to zoom in as needed. Also, I'm not sure why my pics have been uploading with such crappy quality. It's not what they look like on my computer. Might try another program to edit. PS. Replacing all pictures. \

Well crud... and I got lucky. I just checked my camper for the battery box separation and support issue. The box seems fine, and the single bolt that I do see, upon a quick inspection at night, revealed there is no nut on the bolt. So I will do a detailed inspection in the daytime and find a nut for that bolt. Thanks for posting this information! Great job guys!!!

This reminded me of an older thread (see link) that addressed battery box support bracket and bolts. Recommended reading for those that have not already addressed, it might help avoid a loose battery box. In my case, both nuts & bolts of the support were very loose when I checked them, and the holes were drilled poorly by the factory. I drilled a new “clean” hole and installed 3 stainless bolts, washers and nylon nuts. A quick and easy task. https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/6112-battery-box-support-bolts-missing I recommend caution when sliding out the battery tray, be gentle and avoid leaning on the tray. It puts an excessive force on the rivets and support bracket, especially if you have AGM batteries.

@Jls Your question got me thinking. I do that once a month. 😉 How do you place your heat trace within the hull? I might like your idea over mine, but it was fun to research and geek out about. My idea was, at first - WARNING: Lots of bla bla from AI research 😞 I might consider using 12v Ceramic heater(s)? While in my driveway in GA on the coldest of days, I use two of those silver-looking clamp-on utility lamps with 60 watt bulbs in them. On lamp next to the water pump under bunk, and one under dinette facing the front of the camper, or towards the black tank area of bathroom. I've not yet had any issues in the camper. I might consider, and would be geeky-fun to try, using a Kat's Heaters Ceramic Interior Heater with Fan - 300 Watt - 12V, Part Number: KH37500 from eTrailer.com, or something similar. These have a 150w and 300w settings. I asked my uncle AI (Claude) for output estimates since I have four fairly new Lifetime 6v AGMs in my old trailer, 220 AH usable. How long would one of those heaters last on both a sunny day and with no sun. I have 380 watts of solar. Down below, I also asked: Compared to a 60watt incandescent bulb plugged into AC, what kind of heat might that put out? Answer: A 60W incandescent bulb is, in a very real sense, mostly a heat generator that also produces light — about 95% of its energy becomes heat, only ~5% becomes visible light. BLUF: The Takeaway The 150W heater puts out about 2.5× more heat than a 60W bulb The 300W heater puts out about 5× more heat than a 60W bulb A 60W bulb is roughly equivalent to a very modest hand warmer in terms of room heating ability This are some non-verified results: 4 × 220Ah 6V Lifeline AGMs Config: 2S/2P → 12V, 440Ah total 50% SOC = 220Ah usable 60W Incandescent Bulb as a Heater Effective heat output: ~57W of actual heat BTU/hr: ~195 BTU/hr The glass surface can reach 200–260°C (roughly 400–500°F) — hot enough to burn skin on contact The air warming effect in a room is modest, but in a small enclosed space (like a chicken coop or a closet), people have actually used bulbs as supplemental heat 150W Heater Heat output: ~512 BTU/hr Air temperature near the outlet: roughly 50–65°C (120–150°F) Practical use: Takes the chill off a very small enclosed space — great for a car cabin, a small tent, or under a desk. It won't meaningfully heat a room. Space it can handle: ~15–25 sq ft (roughly the interior of a car) 300W Heater Heat output: ~1,024 BTU/hr Air temperature near the outlet: roughly 60–80°C (140–175°F) Practical use: Can comfortably warm a car interior or a small enclosed cabin/van space. Still not enough for a full room. Space it can handle: ~25–50 sq ft Important Notes 12V power source matters: A 300W heater draws 25 amps at 12V — this is a heavy load. Make sure your battery, wiring, and fuse can handle it. Insulation is everything: In a well-insulated camper, a 300W heater can get quite cozy. In a poorly insulated space, even 300W will struggle. These heaters are best thought of as comfort heaters, not primary heating solutions for large spaces. Current Draw Heater Watts Amps @ 12V 150W 150W 12.5A 300W 300W 25A Runtime to 50% SOC Heater Usable Ah Draw Raw Math Real-World Est. 150W 200Ah 12.5A ~16 hrs ~13–14 hrs 300W 200Ah 25A ~8 hrs ~6.5–7 hrs The real-world figure is lower due to: Peukert effect — AGMs lose some effective capacity under sustained load Inverter/wiring losses if applicable (~5–10%) Cold temps — AGM capacity drops in cold weather, which is exactly when you need heat most 🙃 Solar Reality on a Cold Sunny Day 380W rated panels in cold, clear conditions: roughly 75–85% output = ~285–320W realistic Flat roof-mounted panels on a highway aren't perfectly angled to the sun, but clear sky and cool temps largely compensate Call it a conservative ~285W average while moving Net Power Balance with Solar Heater Solar In Heater Draw Other Loads (~20W) Net 150W ~285W 150W 20W +115W (charging!) 300W ~285W 300W 20W ~-35W (tiny draw) What using Solar Means Practically 150W heater — you're essentially running it completely free, and still slowly charging your bank while driving. Nearly a wash even on a cloudier day. 300W heater — virtually break-even. A slight net drain, but so small it's almost negligible. On a really bright stretch you'll be net positive, on a shadier stretch slightly negative. For Protecting Water Lines Specifically This is a low-load task — you don't need to heat the whole camper, just keep the hull above freezing. A 150W heater on low (if it has settings) or even a small 40–60W pipe heating cable would do the job, meaning your solar would be comfortably net positive all day. Bottom Line With 380W of solar on a cold sunny travel day, a 150W heater is essentially free to run and your batteries will likely end the drive in better shape than they started. The 300W is break-even. This is exactly the use case solar excels at — offsetting a modest continuous load during daylight hours.

For the first time since incorporating the two cargo boxes in the Savana 15 months ago, I had reason to clear the cargo bay yesterday to haul a 75” QLED TV. I generally keep one box in the van as a trunk, while the other is stowed at the Cow Barn full of camping gear in readiness. For perspective, distances from the rear doors to the rear passenger seat is 6’ and to the back of the two front seats is 10’. I snapped a couple of pics this morning of the new rubber mat layout and to illustrate the unhindered spacious area of the cargo bay. The second and third 24”x36” floor mats from the rear are positioned in the footprint of each box when carried and fit perfectly atop the boxes for added protection. The aluminum plate is a runway for our folding e-bikes followed by a few extra cargo strap attachment points to secure the Dometic fridge/freezer when camping or other miscellaneous cargo, as needed. EDIT: Went back to the Cow Barn to reload the ‘trunk’ cargo box and snapped a pic of it positioned with the rubber mat on top. Ignore my foot reflection as I lounged in the rear passenger captain’s chair enjoying a beer!

Please do so only with zero 120 Volts in the trailer. No generator or shore power connected. No solar connected if you have it. We have seen several cases where the wires in the ATS have vibrated loose. Your tapping and getting/losing power would indicate a temporary failure. May just be a loose wire in the ATS. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ONLY IN A DIRE EMERGENCY: To bypass all of the shore power system: Turn off your 30 amp main breaker. Turn off any other breakers you don't absolutely need. You want to keep your loads down to under 15 amps MAX. You could energize the electrical system, with some risk, by modifying an extension cord by cutting off the female end, and install a second male 120V plug. Use your generator to back feed power to the outlest by the entry door. I would not suggest plugging it into a shore power source at the RV park as it has even more electrical potential than a 2K generator does. Hence a small generator may short, but it's breaker will likely limit the current flow. Hence not doing this with the power pole at the RV Park. GJ

And for the rest of the story: Replaced the converter, replaced the TOASTED transfer switch, replaced AMG batteries (300AH lithium) and added the dork converter for the Maxx fan. JD, after this experience, I'm not ready to let go of the generator redundancy and we need it for the air conditioner. Love to jettison the generator, we'll see now how it goes with lithium batteries. AND AS ALL OF YOU ALREADY KNOW...... YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU... AND IT'S ONLY MONEY. Now we are good to go.... almost... while installing the new batteries we discovered broken rivers at the top of the battery box... I found an excellent stream with solutions but this will wait till we get home. We'll keep an eye out but the reduced weight of the Lithium (210 lbs lighter than our AGM batteries). 201 lbs, that's a crazy number. Hopefully lighter batteries will be kinder to the battery box. Thanks to everyone's contributed that has helped get us back on the road.

Just in case someone finds this old thread. Many of us have since upgraded to the latest version o fthe Progressive Dynamics Automatic Transfer Relay (ATR) Switch box (Part # PD5110010Q). It can still be found at eTrailer.com (as of December 2025). This new part is a far superior model using Wago connectors. PLEASE GET THE OLD-STYLE ATR BOX UPGRADED IMMEDIATELY!!!!! My #110 is wired differently than other trailers of the time period in regards to the front generator power receptacle, it by-passes the EMS altogether. Other trailer owners have the front shore power line going through the EMS too, via the ATR box.