Initial questions for prospective Oliver Elite II owners

[Oliver Tigers]

Hello everyone. We are long time motorhome owners preparing to make the jump to the travel trailer experience. This will be an incredible downsizing experience for us. We typically do not go to the local campground a stay for a few days like many campers. We are traveling campers, usually gone for 1-4 months, with overnight stays from 1-10 days at each stop depending of the location interest. My wife is a reader and enjoys journaling. I am a landscape and wildlife photographer. We enjoy a mix of national and state parks, county parks, and some private campgrounds. We will stay at a KOA if we need full hookups and nothing else is available. We are impressed with both the build quality and design of the Oliver Elite II. This comes at a high price when compared to the cost of other travel trailers. We will be towing with a 2024 Toyota Tundra with minimal payload capabilities. Question 1:  Do you recommend using a weight distribution hitch on a trailer this size? Yes/No ? Andersen? or Blue Ox? and why?  Issue 2: Best advice on how to manage food with the ittty-bitty fridge. Question 3: How do you best manage clothing with available space?  Which floor plan, options, and modifications have you found to be useful? We are thinking twin with most options and platinum package and 640AH batteries. We do not want the compost toilet. Your thoughts and ideas are appreciated. We are really looking forward to this change.

[Cameron]

I think size/space will be your concern. You're accustomed to the size/space of your motorhome, so downsizing to the EII will be a challenge. You may or may not be able to live with less space. I'd recommend renting a small trailer (smaller than the EII) and taking it out for a week or two to see if it feels too cramped. I went from backpacking, to small car camping, to pickup camping, to the Ollie, so from my camping perspective it has tons of space. I think that boondocking is really where the Ollie shines. If you plan to be in campgrounds with partial or full hookups you might be better off with a Jayco or something like that at much less cost. The higher cost of the Oliver is really in the build quality and components that are best used when you're out in the middle of nowhere  down a dirt road on a cold night. In that application, there's nothing better.

Regarding your tow vehicle (TV), check out the GCVW on the door sticker to make sure you're safely under the limit once to add in all the stuff you'd be taking with you (including all the options you want to get on the trailer). Many people recommend the distributing hitch, but I don't use one and have never had any problems that made me think I should get one. 

Regarding food and clothes, I think you'll find your experience in the Oliver similar to your motorhome experience. I've never had a problem with either. You can always make adjustment to adapt to the fridge and closet space. But if the trailer is just too small, well, you can't change that. 

I'm a big fan of the composting toilet and have found it very easy to use. Any concerns anyone has are very much outweighed by the freedom from the black tank. I don't have to dump, I don' t have to look for a dump, I don't have to pay for a dump, and I don't have to tow the weight of a full back tank.

[mossemi]

There are a lot of subjective questions which I choose not to answer and I think you will figure it out on your own.  I do have a pretty strong opinion on the twin bed option for two adults.  Our's was a full bed originally and later converted to a twin.  It was extremely hard to make up the bed each morning and leaving the full bed in place everyday really makes the LE2 interior small, as it amounts to about 40% of the interior floor space.

Regarding the weight distribution hitch, I think it is a must for any 1/2 ton pickup or SUV available.  Your owners manual should stipulate the allowed trailer and tongue weight with and without a WDH.  Ultimately the choice is yours, as is the liability involved!  

I do not know of any LE2 using anything other than an Andersen WDH.  The fiberglass on the front A-frame presents a mounting obstacle.  I’m pretty sure it could be done but I can’t think of any benefits of using a bar type WDH.

Mossey

Edited Saturday at 04:12 PM by mossemi

[CRM]

2 hours ago, mossemi said:

There are a lot of subjective questions which I choose not to answer and I think you will figure it out on your own.  I do have a pretty strong opinion on the twin bed option for two adults.  Our's was a full bed originally and later converted to a twin.  It was extremely hard to make up the bed each morning and leaving the full bed in place everyday really makes the LE2 interior small, as it amounts to about 40% of the interior floor space.

 

Totally agree. We recently converted to a twin and absolutely love it. Feels like a completely different camper and is much more "livable" now.

[Steph and Dud B]

Hi. My wife and I downsized from a triple slide fifth wheel and now have a twin bed LE2.

We find we can fit enough clothes in the trailer for about 2 weeks of warm to moderate temperature travel. A little less if the weather is cold. 

As for food, the pantry and fridge are big enough for about 2 weeks of food. One thing to note: the new fridges have more fridge space but less freezer space then ours, so you may be more limited on the frozen side.

We have the standard black tank. 3 days if you're using it exclusively, but we've gone several weeks by using bathhouses for everything but those early morning/late night calls from Mother Nature. Expect over 2 weeks on the gray tank if using max water saving measures. If using for daily showers, etc., then probably 3 days.

You'll need an Andersen WD hitch with your truck and an LE2. We have a lot of stuff in the bed of our truck: Clam, chairs, mats, griddle, table, etc., etc. so watch your cargo weight.

We have the Platinum lithium package and love it. It's the saving grace of this trailer. Haven't used our generator for 2 years (we don't use the AC much). We also love our additional street side awning. It's one of our favorite features. Keeps the cabin much cooler and gives you shade all day long.

One final word. We may be an outlier but our 2022 Oliver has not been without issues. Some were not Oliver's fault, some are. Most minor, some major. It's a good design using good materials but, in our case, it has certainly not been trouble free. In fact, we have a cosmetic fiberglass issue right now. Maybe we got a bit of a COVID camper, maybe just bad luck, but I want to be honest about that. Thank goodness the Oliver service team is generally exceptional and none of the issues seriously interfered with our plans. We still like our Oliver and find it very comfortable and easy to find sites for.

[Boudicca908]

As @mossemi noted, some of these questions are really subjective, and I agree that you will figure them out. That said...

My tendency is to camp for long durations -- 3 or more months at a time. My longest stop in one place is about 2 weeks. This year, I boondocked continuously for 5 weeks, hooked up at a campground for a few nights during the extreme heat wave, and then boondocked for another 4 weeks. There were small towns with laundry facilities, grocery stores, fresh water, fuel and propane refill options. I have a composting toilet; @Cameron summed up the benefits.  I'm very frugal with short showers and efficient dish-washing. I've never run out of water. I carry a 3rd 20# propane tank and that has been helpful.

Space has not been an issue for me, but I converted from bicycle touring so I'm used to paring down to essentials. I carry clothes for all seasons and find that I rarely wear some things. I can go for about 4 weeks without the need for a commercial laundry. My shirts and socks are merino wool; they air dry in an hour. That's a trick I learned from bike camping. About 90% of my clothes live in the bulkhead on the rear end. I have the twin bed model and love it. 

Food is subjective, and relates to how you like to cook and eat. I love to cook and don't eat processed foods, with few exceptions. I carry my freezer full of meat, and cheese, milk, eggs, veggies and cold drinks in the refrigerator. I never feel shy of food space. In the pantry I carry dry goods (beans, rice, dried fruits, nuts, spices, oils, canned fish, paper towels). I have a stove-top pressure cooker and cook batches of stew, chili, soup or other meals that make several meals. In my tow vehicle, I carry extra food, and plenty of bottled drinking water. I probably carry too much food. My dishes and cooking pots all stow in the drawers below and the cabinets above the kitchen area. Some Oliver owners have devised clever ways of stowing things in their front closet. My closet is a catch-all and is not very efficiently organized yet. 

If it fits your schedule, I would suggest that you attend an Oliver rally, where you can tour Olivers that are set up in different ways. There are mini-rally gatherings in different parts of the country; I think one is coming up in Texas. 

[Tom and Doreen]

Toyota requires a weight distribution hitch for your Tundra when towing an Oliver, we use the Anderson hitch. As you've mentioned your payload will be limited with the Tundra, visit a CAT scale and check your weights especially the weight on the rear axle.  If you have the air bag suspension the truck will trim out nicely when towing the Oliver. The Tundra tows the Oliver very nicely and with the Tow+ mode and the twin turbos you'll get good performance.  I've noticed no sway whatsoever with my setup and gas milage is reasonable at 13 mpg typically when towing  ( 20mpg when not towing ). 

We have the composting toilet and are glad to have it. We can go  three weeks between changing out the compost which is easy to do. You'll save a lot of water by going with a composting toilet and not have to deal with other peoples messes at the dump stations. 

Twin beds are the way to go with the Oliver. 

Water conservation is key when boon docking but you can easily add portable jugs of water to the system if you need to by using the Olivers boon docking configuration. 

The platinum lithium package is wonderful. 

The pantry can hold a surprising amount of food.  

We went with the 30lb propane tanks, they are heavy but came in handy for winter camping.