Hi, new to forum wannabe Oliver Legacy Elite II (twin beds)

[rich.dev]

Hi all, we currently have a 2016 Airstream 26U rear twin and our TV is a 2016 VW Touareg TDI, it’s a great tow VH. However, we have only been camping around Ontario (Canada) and want to go semi-full-time when I retire in 2 1/2 years. The Touareg tows like a champ but we are at the upper limits for payload and hitch/tongue weight (1000lbs) with the Airstream. I see the tongue weight of the Legacy Elite II is listed at "approx." 490lbs. I have always loved the clean looks and quality of the Oliver and it was our number 1 pick when we bought the Airstream, however what pushed us towards the Airstream was the dry bath and large fridge. So now that we are revisiting options to downsize from the Airstream the Oliver is again on our radar, our only concern still is the small fridge (when we full time) and wet bath! Any suggestions from full time couples on how you make it work with the small fridge, is it possible to install a larger fridge? Also very important, If anyone has actually weighed their Legacy Elite II twin beds, please share, I’d love to know what are real world numbers are?

Thanks!

Richard

[Hokieman]

7 hours ago, Rich.Dev said:

Also very important, If anyone has actually weighed their Legacy Elite II twin beds, please share, I’d love to know what are real world numbers are?

Welcome!  See this post from earlier today with specific weights. 

Truck Tow Rating Explained

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Rich.Dev said:

how you make it work with the small fridge, is it possible to install a larger fridge?

Hello and welcome Richard! 
We have an Elite 2 on order for an early December delivery. We have had other campers. It has always been easy for us to keep a portable 12V fridge in the truck. We have an ARB Element and it has worked perfectly. We also have a small Dometic fridge we have used on occasion for a freezer. 
Good luck, Kirk

[Mike and Carol]

We were a bit wary of the wet bath as well, but it is no big deal.  We don’t mind it at all, shower then squeegee and wipe a little with a small towel and done.  Cleanest place in the trailer.

We find that we can pack the fridge with enough food for at least a couple of weeks or more.  When we’re out for over a month we stop by area grocery stores, need to do that for fresh stuff anyway.

There are quite a few full timing Oliver owners.  Maybe a few will chime in.  Mike

[topgun2]

All Olivers are weighed at the factory prior to delivery and the numbers for any particular Oliver are posted on a required tag (usually on the driver's side aft of the marker lights.  Having said this - most Elite II's will weigh just shy of 5,000 pounds and the hitch weights will be just shy of 490 pounds.  With two 3,500 pound axles the result is that most Elite II's will have a load capacity (which includes anything you put in the tanks - fresh water, grey water, and black) right around 2,000 pounds.  Fully loaded for a two month trip to include tow full 20 pound propane tanks my twin bed Elite II weighs just a tad over 6,000 pounds.  But, certainly we have owners that push that 7,000 maximum weight very hard and others that consistently tow just below the 5,000 mark.

No, the fridge size is fixed due to the molds used in forming the fiberglass.  However, as Kirk says above, there are a number of owners who carry an extra fridge in the tow vehicle..  I'm certainly more like Mike and Carol in that I can store more than enough food in the fridge to last at least a couple of weeks.

As Mike says above - the wet bath is really no big deal unless you are well above what one might call "normal" size.

Good luck.

Bill

[BBL]

Hello Richard - We just sold our 30’ Airstream Flying Cloud and purchased an Oliver LE II. Unfortunately, it won’t be ready until March 2023.  A few points to share.

First, tongue weight. Are you saying your Airstream has a 1,000 pound tongue weight?  Our trailer had a GVWR of 8800 pounds and 10% would have put us at 880, we never got a over 600 on the 30’ trailer. I am looking forward to a lighter tongue weight though my truck can handle more than an Oliver can throw at it.

Second, wet bath. 4 years ago I wanted an Oliver and my wife couldn’t get past the wet bath so we went to Airstream, After more than 400 nights (we full-timed for a year) she was frustrated with the lack of insulation in the trailer. We joked it was a 2-season trailer. She wanted a 4 season trailer. While browsing through a travel magazine she saw an Oliver ad and asked, did you know Olivers were 4 season trailers?  LoL - we sold our Airstream in 10 days. She now embraces the wet bath, and as @Mike and Carolmentioned, cleanest place in the trailer!

Lastly, the fridge. @Kirk Peterson mentioned having a second portable fridge in the truck. We plan to do that as well. However, the 2023 models will have the Isotherm AC/DC fridge (no propane) which is a 4.5 cu ft model and is actually very roomy. This is the same model in the Kimberly travel trailers and my brother has one on his 41’ Cruisers Yacht and loves it. After full-timing for over a year, we don’t think it will be an issue. 

Hope this helps a little. Welcome to the forums! There are so many people here with much more knowledge and experience than I have and they are always willing to help.

Brian

[johnwen]

Welcome, Richard

We have Hull#996, twin beds, optional aluminum tray on the tongue and the standard ceramic toilet.  The only thing we use the tray for is to store chocks and hoses.  As full-timers we are pretty well loaded up and sit at 6800 lbs with a 675 lb tongue weight.  We started our journey after many trips to the CAT scales to make sure we were legal.  We are just below our truck's GVWR, by 150 lbs, after taking 120 lbs out every time we travel and putting in the Oliver, which takes the Oliver to 6700 lbs.  And that's with empty tanks!  But with everything we need including a full fridge and pantry. That does leave us the opportunity to fill the fresh water tank before heading into boondocking territory.  Pretty much we now have to get rid of something to get something.

I think you will be getting the newer 2 way fridge.  We have the 3 way and, although small, it suits our needs.  We saw the 2 way at a demo during the Oliver rally this year and saw the size of the freezer in that unit.  We did not like it for sure....way to small for us.  So I would definitely be in the market for a portable freezer.  Then again, we full time.  You might not need the room.

When we started looking at buying a trailer, the wet bath was a no-go for us but we couldn't find a dry bath trailer to suit us.  I found the bigger trailers were nice but we would need a bigger truck.  We gave up looking for a while and then started looking at fiberglass.  Long story, we bought a new Casita, with the wet bath of course, and just hoped it would be ok.  The Casita bath is quite a bit smaller than the Oliver.  We were definitely fine with it and I laugh at myself now for so much worrying about it.  Don't hold me to this but I think you would get your investment back should you decide you can't live with it.

Best of luck with your decision.

John

Edited September 14, 2022 by johnwen
add info

[johnwen]

I forgot to mention we do use an Anderson WD hitch that we got from Oliver.

[rich.dev]

On 9/14/2022 at 9:09 AM, Brian and Brandelyne Lewis said:

First, tongue weight. Are you saying your Airstream has a 1,000 pound tongue weight?  Our trailer had a GVWR of 8800 pounds and 10% would have put us at 880, we never got a over 600 on the 30’ trailer. I am looking forward to a lighter tongue weight though my truck can handle more than an Oliver can throw at it.

Thanks all for the responses! Brian, the 26' has a great layout and tons of storage but unfortunately also a very high tongue weight, I suspect that might be the reason why it was discontinued in 2020. From my CAT scale results...trailer weight = 6820lbs and tongue weight = 1040lbs (15.2% of trailer weight!). I believe I can convince my wife to go with the wet bath, but it will take a lot more convincing her that the small fridge will be ok when we go semi-full time! It is good though to hear some folks can go 1-2 weeks without having to restock the fridge!🙂 

Any comments on the Nature's Head composting toilet, I should probably start a new thread for it?

Thanks again!  

[BBL]

36 minutes ago, Rich.Dev said:

Thanks all for the responses! Brian, the 26' has a great layout and tons of storage but unfortunately also a very high tongue weight, I suspect that might be the reason why it was discontinued in 2020. From my CAT scale results...trailer weight = 6820lbs and tongue weight = 1040lbs (15.2% of trailer weight!). I believe I can convince my wife to go with the wet bath, but it will take a lot more convincing her that the small fridge will be ok when we go semi-full time! It is good though to hear some folks can go 1-2 weeks without having to restock the fridge!🙂 

Any comments on the Nature's Head composting toilet, I should probably start a new thread for it?

Thanks again!  

That might be the reason but 15% is acceptable, although heavy.  There are plenty of posts here on Nature’s Head - do a search, if you don’t find what you want, start a new thread.

Best,

Brian

[Ollietime]

On 9/15/2022 at 2:40 PM, Rich.Dev said:

Any comments on the Nature's Head composting toilet, I should probably start a new thread for it?

The Natures Head toilet is great, not dealing with dumping the black tank is wonderful. Yes, we do carry the pee bucket to the restroom every few days, and yes I empty the toilet into a trash bag on occasion, but neither is a big deal compared to the raw sewage in a black tank.

[Katjo]

On 9/15/2022 at 3:18 PM, Brian and Brandelyne Lewis said:

That might be the reason but 15% is acceptable, although heavy.  There are plenty of posts here on Nature’s Head - do a search, if you don’t find what you want, start a new thread.

Best,

Brian

 

On 9/15/2022 at 3:18 PM, Brian and Brandelyne Lewis said:

That might be the reason but 15% is acceptable, although heavy.  There are plenty of posts here on Nature’s Head - do a search, if you don’t find what you want, start a new thread.

Best,

Brian

We were very uncertain about the compost toilet and now so very happy we have one. It’s very easy to get use to and clean. Saves so much water!  It’s nice not having to deal with black tank dumping. We would never go back to a traditional toilet in a camper. 

[rich.dev]

22 minutes ago, Katjo said:

 

We were very uncertain about the compost toilet and now so very happy we have one. It’s very easy to get use to and clean. Saves so much water!  It’s nice not having to deal with black tank dumping. We would never go back to a traditional toilet in a camper. 

That's good to hear, we are definitely leaning towards getting the composting toilet. We "think" we prefer the Air Head so we have to look at the pros and cons of just getting the Nature's head option from Oliver, or standard toilet and I then install the Air Head.     

[rich.dev]

2 hours ago, Ollietime said:

The Natures Head toilet is great, not dealing with dumping the black tank is wonderful. Yes, we do carry the pee buck to the restroom every few days, and yes I empty the toilet into a trash bag, but neither is a big deal compared to the raw sewage in a black tank.

Thanks! 🙂

[Steve Morris]

On 9/18/2022 at 10:14 AM, Rich.Dev said:

We "think" we prefer the Air Head so we have to look at the pros and cons of just getting the Nature's head option from Oliver, or standard toilet and I then install the Air Head. 

That's our dilemma. Get the standard toilet and retrofit the AirHead, or get the Nature's Head, swap in the AirHead, and try selling the Nature's Head. A real seat instead of that tall uncomfortable lip is the big factor for Deb at just 5'2".  I recall reading that someone tried getting Oliver to install the AirHead for them without success,

[rich.dev]

47 minutes ago, Steve and Deb said:

That's our dilemma. Get the standard toilet and retrofit the AirHead, or get the Nature's Head, swap in the AirHead, and try selling the Nature's Head. A real seat instead of that tall uncomfortable lip is the big factor for Deb at just 5'2".  I recall reading that someone tried getting Oliver to install the AirHead for them without success,

Yup same dilemma here!