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I was at the Mother ship much of this past week and had a chance to take a tour of the plant. While there I snapped a bunch of pictures of Ollies in various states of birth. If you currently have an Oliver in production and wish for pictures of it - I probably have one or two. Just PM me with your email address, and name and I'll send you what I have. Bill

Hi, We bought 007 or the 7th one made. We saw it in Oregon over 10 years ago. It was a demo driving around the country. It wasn't really finished. Lots of wires/etc not in finished places. The Oliver company paid to have it finished here in Seattle. Now 10 years later it is still in mint condition despite living outside in 10 months of rain. The Oliver Brothers started an excellent company and they make the best travel trailer on the road. NB and CJ Seattle

We installed our shade last week. It took a couple of hours, we worked slowly. We are happy with the results. The box from ZARCOR was delivered less than 24 hours after we ordered. It was well packed with clear instructions. Everything was well protected with foam. Two boxes with new gasket material. We ordered the tinted window, they also have clear. This shows the shade and white handle. A black handle is all that is on their web site. If you call you can ask for a white one. The included instructions were very clear and easy to read. As instructed, we taped the outside frame with duct tape. Once the screws are out of the inside frame the only thing holding the window and outside frame on the door is the gasket material. I think masking tape would work just as well. There was no residue left when we took off the duct tape. I should have extended the tape onto the window and then taken both the outside frame and window out at the same time. I removed the 12 screws that are on the inside frame. Both frames and all screws are reused. Inside framed removed. At this point only the old gasket material holds the window in. I’m taking it out and some of the gasket comes with it. As I mentioned earlier, it would have been better to have tape on the window too and then remove both the outside frame and the window at the same time. The outside frame was stuck on the door with the old gasket material. I used a plastic squeegee to lift a corner, then it came off pretty quickly. Here we are putting the new gasket material in. It’s easier with multiple hands. It makes for a better installation if you can get the material into the grooves as evenly as possible. There are two gaskets to apply, one just inside the window opening for the window and one on the outside of the frame that seals the frame to the door. I’m setting the new glass onto the outside frame. The gloves are just to minimize finger prints. The one disappointment with the kit is that the new window is slightly smaller than the original. Maybe 1/8”. On the outside frame there are plastic pegs all around the window opening that should hold the glass securely. I tried to position the glass so that it was centered on the opening and then pressed it into the gasket material. This is where the actual installation pictures stop. We took the outside frame with the glass and put it into the window opening on the door. We thought we had done a great job until the weight of the window caused it to slide down so that it was setting on the bottom pegs leaving a very small gap at the top. We gently pulled the frame back off but some of the gasket material stuck to the door and some stuck to the frame. It was a small crisis. We got it off and back into a horizontal position. Carol reworked the gasket material that was pulled off and I fabricated a couple of very small shims to sit on the bottom two pegs to lift the window 1/16” or so. Once that was all done we put the frame and window back into the door. The shade attaches directly to the window with some heavy duty Velcro buttons. It is positioned over the window then pressed tight. The inside frame is reinstalled and that’s it. Inside with the shades open. They can be opened or closed with the door and the screen door shut. Shades closed. I think we will enjoy being able to look out the door window with the shades open. When the shades are closed you can’t see in at all. The old frosted glass was a little frustrating at times because in order to look outside you had to open the door. Mike

From reading through various things, it seems the only usual regret from those that have left was that they upgraded to a larger trailer, not actually having been prepared for the realistic size of the fiberglass trailers after being overwhelmed with the quality. Most who ended up here, had been looking at Airstreams, as there is no denying their beauty, both to look at and to look out of (all the windows), they just fail in every other aspect. In my personal opinion the quad hull design of the Oliver is what makes it a completely justified purchase, even at today's prices. I prefer the easy to clean "antiseptic" (as some have said to describe it) layout and feel of the Oliver, so many trailers still being built today give the feeling of a 70's apartment with shag carpeting and green, yellow and orange appliances.

Tom & Marie - no problem at all. Once I get some time I'll be posting some pics here on the Forum of some of the assembly line just for general interest. I do have pics of Olivers that had the names Bass, Freeman and Gossett on them. If they belong to you and you would like copies, just PM me with you email address and I will get them right out to you. Bill

Hey Jeff, there is a little gap at the top. I think I could have mounted it a bit higher, it’s as far down as it can go. Once the sticky part of the Velcro hits the window there’s no repositioning. I started at the bottom and should have played with it a little bit before going for broke. There is no gap at the bottom. The small gap at the top shouldn’t be an issue. Mike

No regrets. But being a first-time travel trailer owner was a bit overwhelming to say the least. I am of the opinion that you cannot study, read, and learn enough of everything about travel trailers before making the plunge. But there is not enough time to do it all the way. At some point you must pull the trigger and let the bird fly. The forum here has been extremely helpful and important to me. Oliver's service support (especially Jason Essary) has also been willing to handle any problem in a kind and fair manner. I was warned before purchasing a trailer that there will always be problems. That nothing is perfect. I have found that to be true. Oliver Travel Trailers factory is not exactly easy to get to or even a smart idea as a service center for probably most of us who own one. That makes learning how to do the maintenance and simple repairs even more important. I believe I can handle this. Because we sold our home in Florida and our cabin in northern Michigan, all I have to take care of now is this trailer. We built a garage/base camp in the panhandle of Florida and are heading there now. I look forward to washing the Ollie, waxing it, and learning how to do the basic maintenance required to keep things running smoothly. I also have to replace the water pump (I am not a plumber) due to a problem of my fresh water tank filling up when on city water connection. I opted to just replace the entire pump instead of fooling around with check valves, cleaning, flushing, and whatever else is necessary. I am hoping that afterwards I will be a water pump expert with pics to prove. We love our Oliver. It is our new cabin on wheels.

No regrets here. Money well spent. We like the reliability and company support. We’ve come to really appreciate the capabilities and amenities our Oliver brings to our travels and camping. Mike

Hi Tom and Marie, Judy and I will be picking up Hull #381 September 19 and our first trip will be the Jacksonville FL rally October 8-12. We scheduled a factory tour in January after seeing a you tube video of a fiberglass trailer get together out west and saw a tour of an Oliver. We started camping together 32 years ago. Bought a Coleman popup and enjoyed it for 14 years before upgrading to a HI-LO which we just sold last December. The Guntersville rally really cemented the deal with access to the factory demo units which we sat in for a long time and finally came to a floorplan decision. Meeting everyone at the rally was really frosting on the cake. It is really a special group and reminds me of my Experimental Aircraft Association local chapter. Good luck with your camper and we hope to see you on the road. Ken Huth

Well, I'm an idiot. The wife and I specifically made a stop to buy an adaptor in the middle of NM, and I found one supplied by Oliver in the back. The bad news is that it is just that, an adaptor, not a complete solution as I had to turn off the EMS as instructed above. The good news is that I have two adaptor plugs and the ability to run the AC if need be. We are gong to run into Moab and see if I can pick up the full time solution mentioned by John above. Moab is what it always is! Amazing! It's my third or fourth time, and the wife's first. She finally gets what I have been talking about for the last couple of years. Oliver has made the whole experience better as having a shower every night and a nice cool reprieve from the heat is a real recharge so to speak. It's my first time not on a bike, but the side by side is a nice compromise for the wife and myself--two up on the BMW might not go so well on some of the trails. I have stayed at Ken's Lake the last two times, and am never disappointed. It is a bit south of town and has a lot of space and access to trails. There is a water fall and hiking as well. It's a all in one solution--good views, well spaced camping, and easy access to all. The trade off is that it offers no hook ups, but that really is the Oliver's specialty. The solar is doing amazing and really has made the last two days without the generator possible. Thanks for all your help guys--I really don't think I could have asked for better and quicker service! I'll try to get some pics up this evening. -Alex