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Well my Xmas starts tomorrow when I pick up my new Oliver II ! The day of reckoning has arrived. The only thing that has bothered me reading thru all these month the various posts is the water issue that Reed Lukens has experienced. Hope I don't have that happen to me as I would be an unhappy and soggy camper . I have a loaded Ford F150 loaded with new toys and a lot of my tent camping stuff that I will try to fit in the Ollie. My plan is to head south to Gunderson State park for a few days and then go to Gulf Shores, and make my way up to North Georgia. That should let me do a nice inaugural run before the temperatures come tumbling down

We dropped our trailer off at the factory this afternoon for some Christmas upgrades. Dexter EZ Flex, fresh tank fix and accumulator, AC easy start and some minor maintenance. Christmas for us is at the Ryman Auditorium tomorrow night for the Vince Gill/Amy Grant Christmas show. Will head home Friday. Mike

I do have to watch out for the basket as it is lined up with the bumper and I do make some tight turns at times that makes me wish that the basket wasn't there. But you can watch the trailer and the basket through the trucks back up camera. If I had it to do over, I would buy a trailer tongue box like Mike's. I would not buy the basket now that it has made backing in without full range an issue but... I have it and it does hold enough to still make it really useful, so I watch it in the camera and take it to the edge too often :) Reed

There seemed to be a fair amount of discussion on another thread (tailgate clearance) about truck bed covers, truck bed lighting and truck bed liners. So, I thought that I'd start a new thread to cover this type of thing. I too thought a long time about a topper (shell) or a tonneau cover for my new F-150. I decided on the tonneau because: I liked the look better, I didn't need a shell for storage (however, as Reed mentions, it would have been nice for those rainy times both setting up and fishing to be able to stand under the rear "door/hatch"), a shell would need to be removed when I hauled my motorcycle or anything taller than the shell, a shell is harder to see through both when towing and when not, and, generally a shell is more expensive. I wanted a "hard" tonneau cover because I felt that it would be more durable than the fabric ones and would look better too. Also, I could put or lay things on it without worrying they would make it sag or poke a hole in it. However, I didn't want one of the solid (one piece) tonneaus because it would have to be removed in order to haul my motorcycle or get a load of mulch or ... Most (if not all) of the tonneaus that I looked at required you to open the tailgate of the truck in order to close the cover, but, I found Bak-flip that had a model not requiring this - the Bak-Flip MX4 - Besides the tailgate feature, this model allows me to be able to haul the motorcycle or a load of mulch without having to remove the cover - just fold it up to whatever is necessary. And this folding can be done from either inside or outside the truck bed. Unfortunately, these things are not inexpensive - $750 - $900 depending on size and where you buy it. I also bought some rubber gasket material to help seal around the sides and bottom of the tailgate of the truck. This helps keep both moisture and dust out of the rear of the bed. Like Try2Relax, I bought a knock-off brand of Bedrug just to put on the floor. This allows me the ability to easily remove it if I want to haul that load of mulch. Also, it is much easier on the knees, helps pad the things I put in the bed and slightly reduces the amount that these things slide around. Finally, just yesterday, I added some additional LED lighting. The Ford comes with two LED lights near the tailgate of the truck. But with things loaded in the bed, dark nights, and/or the cover in the down position, it was difficult to easily see where things were up near the cab. So, I got "truck bed lighting" at WalMart (about $20) and installed it along each rail. This is a big improvement. If anyone is interested in doing this - just drop me a PM and I'll describe how I did it. Bill

The tank wasn't installed in that photo. I tucked it all the way forward in the water control area, it rests directly against the plywood wall of the drawers, so I screwed a tie down on either side and strap it in. I believe it would also fit in the rear access behind the furnace, the space is there but I'm not sure about getting it in there. These only have a single connection, so they are just a pressure bubble in the system, just like if you have a well system at home. I can get an entire shower 'Navy style" with one running off the pump to pressurize the system. The other nice thing to having a larger size is it stays pressurized so if you stop for lunch you can wash your hands and other things (like flush the toilet in the middle of the night) without having to run the pump and eat up battery life.

So far, under the tree includes replacement firestarter butane lighters. And, a lithium battery rechargeable vacuum to help collect the hair of our adorable, but super shedding tiny camping dog... Often, the camper gets more gifts than either of us... On the Ollie wish list is a DC Danfoss compressor refrigerator. that also may be under the tree. What's on your Ollie's list? Sherry

These water containers will likely outlast me. We always carry two along with up to four of the matching fuel containers.

The hydroller fits in the outside storage

Scotty - You might want to try one of these if you get tired of the plastic bag and rubber band deal. https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Hitch-42251-Trailer-Cover/dp/B000CO61X4/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1511975087&sr=8-6&keywords=hitch+ball+cover Bill

I too have a Kaito weather alert radio on that list along with: a five gallon Solar shower bag, and LED lights for the basement. Got an early present a couple of days ago of LED lights for the bed of the truck - I slaved them off the two lights that can stock in the truck bed and they work great. ShallowGal - be careful of that 5 gallon water bag. I've never had one that didn't leak after a short period of time. Primarily these leaks occur from the corners where the bag gets folded over and over. If you have the room to store it, I think that something like this makes better long term sense: https://www.amazon.com/Reliance-Products-Hydroller-Wheeled-Container/dp/B001QC78GK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511965013&sr=8-1&keywords=8+gallon+water+container Bill