Leaderboard

While at the factory last week, Tommy told me he would be leaving Oliver soon as he and his family were moving to Ohio to be near his wife’s mother. He did not know who would be taking his place. Let’s all wish him well in this new chapter of his life. Phillip Andrews, one of the fine employees of OTT had an apparent heart attack this past weekend. His facebook posts indicate that he did not have any blockages and won’t require any stents. This is good news, but remember to keep him in your prayers. You may not know Phil, but he is one of the finest men I have every met. If you’ve picked up an Oliver trailer lately it’s likely that Phil applied your graphics as he is a Graphic Designer and member of the Quality Control Team at Oliver. Get Well Soon, Phil...

I have always put clear water in my tank, about half full, on my way home on the last trip of the year. The water splashing around seems to rinse it very well. Also during use we use Eco-Save as a tank chemical. It is antibacterial and actually feeds on waste. They don't recommend you put it into the tank until you have waste. It can freeze and still works next season. If no blue waste carrier, you can always empty tank into a 5 gallon bucket and empty into the toilet at home...

As long as you are monitoring the trailer OFTEN, there should be no problems doing this. However, I suggest a backup electric cube heater set to a lower temp than the main thermostat, to act as a failsafe in case the propane tanks run dry or the furnace fails to light. If the trailer is close by your residence, you can install a remote thermometer and keep an eye on the interior temp from your house. I think going away and leaving your trailer at a remote location while relying on the just furnace to keep it from freezing is a HUGE, possibly expensive mistake. RV systems are simply not as reliable as residential units. BTW, if you park your Ollie beside your home, can you run a propane hose from your big propane tank to the trailer, using a quick disconnect fitting, so you don't have to worry about the little tanks running dry? That would be a neat mod, as long as you remember to disconnect it before leaving! John Davies Spokane WA

Mike, With regards to Buzzy's water heater issue I would think that it would be fairly simple for short term "winterization" to simply use the by-pass (winterization) valves to by-pass the water heater, pull the anode rod/drain plug to empty the water heater and then, as you suggest, simply heat the rest of the camper. Certainly this would be fairly easy assuming that you store your Oliver at home or at a place that has electric. With regards to the outside shower - it is already inside two doors, but I would still pack that area from the outside with a little bit of insulation. Just to be on the really safe side you might also want to leave open the dinette "hatch" and the curbside rear "hatch". Bill

As John said, sounds like the check valve might be reversed, remove the cover under the forward dinette seat, the check valve is the grey piece right before the tank, it's about 1 1/2 inches long. Funny, I just happened to check mine 2 days ago.

I like Airstreams. I like what they've done with the Basecamp, some nice features. If Airstreams were made with the attention to detail as an Oliver I would be inclined to give them more consideration. I don't know how you do that with as many as they produce! Even so, Airstreams are timeless and grab attention as they go by. Of course, we get tons of comments and questions about our Oliver (even from Airstream owners). We made the right decision. Mike