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Pro - more living space inside. BUT! You are outdoors . . . IN NATURE . . . and should be maximizing your time outside, so what does the extra space matter except being able to sleep 1 more person? Not much. Cons - Significant increase in weight, wear on TV, limitations on maneuvering into parking or many campsites, lessor quality of build inside and out, factory support?, all the problems inherent with slide outs (leaks & mechanical failures), huge hit in mpg, how well will the interior hold up after 100,000+ miles of towing? (the Ollie will still be like new). Multiple exterior seams which will leak over time, delamitation, as opposed to a solid fiberglass mold . . . yada yada yada. Hey, this is an Ollie forum, what did you expect?

January 5 2018 I bought my Oliver for work. I live and work from the Oliver 3 to 7 days a week. February 2018 a horrible smell develop, and I discovered a small leak from the joint at the connection next to the black tank; just a drip. Called Rich and Phil about my problem, and they said they would call me back. When they called back, Rich and Mr. Oliver where on speaker phone, and said "How can we make this right?". I said "I want this fixed with the least inconvenience for me as possible". Rich said "We can bring you an Oliver to live-in while we fix yours, or put you up in a local hotel until we can get yours back to you". I realized at that moment why I bought an Oliver. 1 year 5 months, 10 years to go. Dr. Donald C. Neal with no mechanical skills what so ever.

We have been contacted by Lake and River boat company to offer boat rides on Lake Guntersville for the Rally. The capacity of the boat is 19 and the cost is $20 for an hour tour, if the boat is full. If not, the cost is $25.00. The times are 10 AM and 4:30 PM Friday. If interested, PM me , Hardrock Coy see boat details at the website below https://www.lakeandriverfun.com

Come on down! As more of us get on the road to the 2019 Rally, please be careful out there on those roads. Can't wait to see everyone. Bill

All packed and ready for the long trip ... this picture was taken this morning. I am sure glad we are heading south where it is warmer, see you all in 10 days

VALVES-Combined-Water-Systems-Diagrams.pdf Sure. Attached is a single page .pdf of Cedar Forks three files. Makes for a nice one sheet reference.

I don't view the Oliver models as "Stay and Play" travel trailers, where one wants all the comforts of home in a mobile package, but rather more of a unit that can provide a good level of comfort, versatility, and utility, in a size that fits in almost any place one has a desire to go - backcountry and all. I agree the former would drive new larger models engineered from a different perspective, but I believe Oliver has so far decided to stay in their original lane. I understand new models represent a large capital expense for Oliver, not to mention all that goes into the engineering, design, and manufacturing processes. At some point Oliver may decide a new model would be revenue positive, but I doubt currently they are working that hard on a new model - perhaps- but given the current backlog - making the adjustments would be a monumental effort - especially for a smaller organization like Oliver. As I think about this, and consider my own experiences with my EII, there are a few things I believe could be improved/rethought which would drive additional revenue for the company, and represent more options for the consumer. Think convertibility, multi-use design type improvements. Sort of a "transformers" frame of mind set. If it were my decision - I would look at the opportunities for improvement with my current models. As an example - I would like to see some more versatility in the interior layout. There should be a option/process to cleanly convert the twin beds to a "queen" and back again -similar for the dinette area. (I have my own conversion process - but I digress). Wet bath - fine - then develop a better shower curtain - the current one just doesn't get it done - I have jury rigged mine to work better - I'm working on a better solution(Or I guess just don't worry about it....). Given the time I'd bet a focus group of current and former owners would come up with some great ideas. Some basic options that should be considered/offered - DC compressor refrigerator/freezer, factory rear mud flap, factory frontal protection package (think Airstream), additional exterior storage solutions, and on... Seems to me Oliver is leaving a lot of money on the table here - and where's the branded clothing, hats, gear. But I'll return to my original thought - if indeed Oliver started out as a solution to what the Oliver brothers found lacking in an RV that met their outdoor lifestyle needs, perhaps the move to additional larger models strays to far from that vision. All in good fun and thought, RB

The Northwood is everything Oliver has improved upon. The Northwood is cookie-cutter, RV industry standard wide, tall, heavy, high maintenance, stick built, 5 year life span for 40% less cost but 90% less quality. This is the kind of run-of-the-mill RV that Oliver owners are running away from.

The only thing keeping gases from venting into the cabin is the standing water in the two sink traps and the shower trap. If that water evaporates you will get smells, so make sure to add some (or antifreeze) before storage. I get smelly burps regardless of water in the traps due to really massive elevation changes, like 5000 feet in fifteen minutes. When the grey valve is closed the tank doesn’t vent properly. To the best of my knowledge the vent in the bath area is the only grey vent.... other than the sinks. John Davies Spokane WA

Has anyone done this or thought about it? I have these heavy steel rollers on my wish list. https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B071RVYCSK/?coliid=I1A99Z99XZLVXI&colid=1X5H11EH41351&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it I have only dragged the frame one time on a steep paved driveway, but it was loud, jarring and a little frightening. Thankfully nothing was damaged except for the last frame cross support, which lost some material on both ends. Those rollers are 3” wide, you could have them welded to a thick steel plate and bolt it to the bottom of the frame rail. It would not be a difficult mod. Cost would be under $100 unless you could weld it yourself. An alternative would be a smooth flat steel skidplate that would just slide without getting trashed. The rollers are far more elegant, tho they would need an annual shot of grease. Any comments? Have you dragged hard enough to damage the frame? John Davies Spokane WA

Hobo: I remember it by thinking about how I OPEN the dump valves (Gray and Black). They have to be pulled out, else wise you can't close the hatch. Likewise you have to pull out the handle by the toilet for the valve to be open to allow your feet to stay dry. Or, you can just wash socks. :-) Have fun.

Push in for towing, pull out for running the faucet. Pushing in moves the other end of the cable further, causing the blade in the valve to move closed. I actually labeled my shower wall with a Sharpie. “PUSH IN FOR TRAVEL” It’s easy to verify, just run the sink and if your socks don’t get soaked, it is in the normal operating position.... you learn fast after that happens. John Davies Spokane WA

We camped at Shenandoah Crossing Gordonsville VA earlier this week while visiting family. It was a fine camping trip. While camping we visited Montpelier, James and Dolly Madison's home: Also visited Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home:

That’s just a easy way to remove an attachment that you don’t want after posting.

Mike, Nice shots! Thanks for posting about this COE campground. Hope to camp there later this year.

On our way to the rally. Spending a few days here at Daingerfield State Park near Texarkana, TX. [attachment file=0276C1B6-9B51-4D48-A6AB-2559A90A13BB.jpeg]

Those tanks are long in length, narrow in width and short in height and the sensors are at the rear ends. You can be easily fooled by the readings. You will become accustomed to what you are putting in them and how often you need to dump and the display will mean nothing. Have fun. If grey water is not coming up through the shower drain you are good. Just be sure to close the valve beside the head before you move.

Yesterday I stayed one night at my favorite COE campground, Hunters Campground on Lake Roosevelt, in northeast WA. Cost was $9 with the Geezer Pass. I got site 22 which is one of half a dozen right along the beach. The place was practically deserted, due to chilly temps, school in session and a huge Spokane fun run scheduled for Sunday (the Lilac Bloomsday Run) which has kept a lot of folks near town. Up to 60,000 folks will run, walk or roll in a chair, not me, but my wife has entered..... https://www.nps.gov/laro/planyourvisit/cg-hunters.htm I found another use for the Stone Stomper. It keeps the doghouse off the ground. John Davies Spokane WA

I could not do it in the way you described. That's how I wanted to do it, but the seals were glued in and extremely hard to remove. Next time will be easier since I didn't glue them back in.

Yesterday when I was there, they were putting the finishing touches on the Campground such as putting down grass sod. There has been modifications made to this section. Some campsites were consolidated to accommodate large travel trailers and the big pushers by turning those sites into pull thrus. We are in the process of determining how to contact the two Oliver owners that are impacted by this and give them a choice. This area is the oldest part of the state park. I remember camping here as a child. The electrical system needed updating for safety/convenience factors and the end result is this section now is up to date and should be very enjoyable to everyone. Coy

This recent posting details the valve positions Steve referenced above. http://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/alternate-plumbing-diagram/#post-169210

SAKTHORP Welcome to the Oliver Community and Family! Yes, there is WiFi in the park. I was there today and many improvements to the park have been made. I look forward to meeting you and many others for our 4th annual Oliver Travel Trailer Owners Rally. Currently, we have 238 campers registered, 100+ trailers will be attending the rally. Drive safely - See you soon Coy Gayle 2019 Rally Chairman

We live just outside Denali National Park. There is plenty of flat space to park if you want to spend nights with us. PM us if you have any questions. David

Thanks Bill. We did have a great time with our micro rally last year and look forward to do it again. We just need to get the May Rally food service done and we will be planning one again. As far as helping anyone who would like to do this in the west or for that matter anywhere, Mirna & I are happy to help you plan one. It all about a plan and working the details. We know the details and are happy to share them. Feel free to PM us.

No matter what power source you use, 30a shore power, generator or inverter/battery power, you should better understand power management. Your Oliver camper was designed with the 30amp power in mind so your factory installed components are designed to work within the constraints of 30 amps. The inverter option that we currently offer can provide about 15 amps of power to the 120v receptacles before it will max out and shut down. Generators can vary based on their rating but they will be constrained to the 30 amp max that the camper is designed for. How does this impact you or your style of camping? Campground Camping with 30a Shore Power What happens if you go over the 30 amps? The breaker will kick just like at home if you turn to many appliances on in a single room. This situation typically will only occur when you are plugging in high power demanding appliances or devices in the camper. Every appliance that you want to add to your camper should first be checked to see how many amps are required to power it. Many hair dryers can pull 1800 watts of power which will immediately take up about half of your available power. Add in a space heater and it may just put you over the limit. What this means is that you must be conscientious of what is plugged in and pulling power. The worst thing that could happen is it would kick the breaker and you would simply reset it and turn some things off that aren’t being used at the moment. Boondocking with Generator Power When you are connected to a generator power source you are limited within the 30 amps but also the max amp that the generator will put out. A typical 2000-watt generator will only supply 15-16 amps of power so this means the max power is limited to the generator and if you are demanding more than the generator can supply it will kick the breaker on the generator. The generator may continue to run but will not be supplying power into the camper. Some of the components in the camper like the Dometic Penguin II A/C will demand much of this power especially when the compressor engages (Start Phase). The optional MicroAir Easy Start does help to contain this short fast burst of power to about 11 amps but that is about 75% of what the 2000-watt generator supplies. Once the compressor moves into the run phase it requires less power and drops to about 9 amps. The compressor will continue to run until the cabin temperature reaches the requested temperature on the thermostat. The compressor will then disengage or shut down. Once the cabin temperature drops below a certain threshold the compressor will once again enter the starting phase which requires 11 amps of power. This is where you may run into an issue that is normal. You may have a coffee maker running or a laptop plugged in or a combination of any other type of added appliance that under the compressor running stage falls just under the max 15-16 amps provided by the generator but when the compressor re-enters the starting phase it can cause it to jump over the max long enough to kick the breaker on the generator. No worries, all you need to do is practice power management and unplug something temporarily and reset the breaker. TIP: When using a generator, the surge protector may see it as an ungrounded power supply and stop all power from entering the camper. The best resolution for this is to plug in a neutral ground plug into the 120v receptacle on the generator. Boondocking with the Inverter The optional inverter is a 2000-watt Xantrex inverter but it actually only supplies about 1800 watts of power. If you remember from earlier, we mentioned that many hair dryers require 1800 watts of power. Power hungry appliances they are! This means you are even more limited to what you can use at the same time or even by itself. The inverter is connected to the 120v receptacles and also the microwave. The microwave by itself will pull most of the power supplied by the inverter so when running the microwave on inverter power be sure not to have other things plugged in and running. Also keep in mind that the inverter is dependent on battery power. The inverter pulls battery power and converts it into 120v power. So, with this option you must manage both the available battery power and inverter power. For instance, the microwave under 120v power uses 12 amps but the converted rate from 12v battery to 120v through the inverter actually means you are using about 135 amps. Has this gotten a bit confusing yet? Putting it simply, you manage the 12 amps required by the microwave from 120v to the available amps of 15 amps provided by the inverter. With the 135 amps you simply need to know that this is draining the batteries at a much faster rate as they cannot sustain that rate of power consumption for too long before loss of 12v power would occur. However, the inverter will shut down before total power loss from the 12v battery system will occur as it requires at least 10.5v for it to operate. The good news is that the microwave is usually only used for short periods of time. You would however want to apply this way of thinking to other appliances that you may want to use while on inverter power so that you better manage the available power.

I haven't actually seen these with my eyes, but Hull 218 has check valves in both street side fresh water inlets in back. You can tell they are there because when you remove a hose you only get a small dribble of water out, and this design is intended to drain the outer section so it won’t freeze. You don’t see any appreciable back flow. I don’t believe there is one in the boondocking port which is suction only. I like your first diagram, thanks. I actually labeled the mounting board that my valves are attached to, using a black Sharpie, with arrows showing which way the water goes “ To Tank”, From Rear Port”, “To Pump”, etc.... It is hard to work the system without some references. You can also directly mark water lines with arrows showing flow direction, with a double-headed arrow if it is bidirectional. Like a well run ship, we are are striving for this: Not this: John Davies Spokane WA

I have one of the LEII models with two sets of valves. Like CedarForks, I spent time figuring out what each valve does. I made a summary document, which if I uploaded the file correctly, others can download. I have a copy taped up on the inside of the pantry door. [attachment file=Valves JPEG version.jpg] [attachment file=Valves Winterizing Boondocking.docx] Valves-Winterizing-Boondocking.docx

Yes. Visio & Gimp (clumsily).

Springtime in the Appalachians makes me smile. Laurel, dogwood, and early wildflowers.

We got home a couple of days ago with our new Ollie and I thought I'd share some thoughts that may be useful to other prospective / waiting buyers. On factory options: ■ Solar is hands-down the easiest choice. Keeps batteries topped off all the time. Allows you to run the fridge on DC while driving and not run down the batteries. Yes it charges off the tow vehicle wiring, but I doubt this would be enough to keep the batteries charged when also running the fridge. ■ The Lagun table was the worst choice for us. I liked the idea, but in practice the table is too bulky in storage (a 3" pipe sticks out from the bottom of the table, plus the arm is not small either) and we're too worried about scratching the surface. We don't like leaving it up while sleeping, and since we're already converting the side dinette to a bed every night for our son, we don't need yet another daily stow/deploy operation. Also now that Overland has pioneered a better mounting method, I would never order this from the factory; do it yourself and get a cleaner solution. ■ The KTT Latex Mattress upgrade was definitely worth it for us. Very comfortable and slept cool in the warm weather we experienced. Yes we had the AC on but we turned it down (raised the thermostat) for bedtime. Man that thing is loud! Anyway we also bought the plastic looped mat to enhance air flow after following this thread. We ended up buying Hypervent from Defender since it was cheaper and looked to be the same material as Aire-Flow. ■ The WeBoost cell booster was a win. We camped mostly in state parks on the way back, many were far off the interstates. It gave us a functioning connection in several places where we otherwise had none. Sometimes it didn't give us a functioning data connection, but even being able to make/receive calls and text messages was great. However having to hold your phone close to the antenna mounted over the dinette is not ideal. I want to plug the output from the WeBoost into a mobile router to enable our devices to connect anywhere in/around the trailer. One day. ■ We ordered the shower track but haven't purchased a shower curtain yet. Wiping down the toilet seat and area around the toilet is not fun. Plus a lot of water seems to collect there so it really saturated our towel (that we keep only for that purpose). So the jury is still out on the shower track but I don't think that having a curtain will be useless. ■ Truma tankless water heater was great. When on full hookups all three of us took nice long showers and never had to worry about running out. Maybe not "needed" but neither is a $65K camper. We got it for the performance but also the ease of use and maintenance. I found Reed's posts on this topic influential (which of course I cannot find right now). Other noteworthy stuff we bought: ■ 18" milk crates. Overland mentioned this in his Snowball thread. I was excited to essentially have the basement packed before we left home to pick up the trailer. I bought these because I wanted to organize my stuff logically: blocks chocks and jacks went in red, water hoses and filters in blue, electric and gas in green. Black stays in the garage and is where I put the hitch, tow mirrors, etc. Perfect. Except that when we picked up the trailer, there was this white plastic sheeting material closing off part of the basement area so the milk crates wouldn't fit in width-wise. I had to crawl in the basement and unscrew the sheeting from a stringer and then the stringer from the floor of the basement. I re-installed the plastic sheet all the way against the rear of the trailer with duct tape to protect the wires and hoses back there but now the milk crates fit. I can get all three in plus my toolbox and Viair compressor, and everything is so easy to pull out and find what I need. Suh-weet! ■ Water filter. Thanks to DavePhelps in this thread for turning me on to RVWaterFilterStore.com. We bought the two-canister Essential system because it seemed like the best compromise between cost, effectiveness, and convenience. We were very pleased with the results. Always had great tasting and feeling (for showers) water even when the campground water was kinda harsh. When we got home and my wife showered in our house she remarked "Meh, unfiltered water...." Also the build quality is very nice. ■ Bed sheets. After much consternation we ordered custom sheets from CustomLinensDirect. They were very soft, well-made, and fit perfectly. We supplied the measurements 75"L x 29"W x 8"D (this is for the KTT Latex mattress upgrade). We bought the 300TC sheets but they also have 500 if that floats your boat. We also bought a few sets of sheets from two different sellers on Amazon as backups and for our son's bed on the side dinette. They were allegedly 300TC Egyptian cotton but after washing just once (and dried on delicate) they were very rough feeling. ■ Plates. We found Corelle knock-offs called Oftast at Ikea. These don't shatter into a billion little shards like Corelle but are still tempered glass so you can use them in the microwave unlike melamine or acrylic. They're also super cheap: less than $1 each. We switched our 4-year-old to these dishes after we discovered them in February and none have broken yet, other than the two I broke for testing purposes. I also want to thank Reed and Karen Lukens for compiling their Amazon Wish List. We didn't buy close to everything on the list, and sometimes we bought different items than what they recommended, but it was a great resource to see things we might have forgotten or not thought about.

The Thompson's Ollie is at Pulpit Rock Campground near Decorah, Iowa. Great weather--high 60's, nice breeze and sunshine. No bugs here this early in the spring. Decorah is in Northeast Iowa which is part of the "driftless region that includes parts of Wisconsin and Minnesota. The glaciers bypassed this area resulting in a very hilly and interesting terrain. The rivers and streams run clear and many have wild trout. Great bicycling here too. Biked about 20 miles today. Don thumb_IMG_1806_1024.jpg-copy.pdf thumb_IMG_1807_1024.jpg-copy.pdf thumb_IMG_1809_1024.jpg-copy.pdf

This is Mother Neff State Park just south of Waco, TX. It sits on land donated to Texas by the mother of former governor Pat Neff. There are only 16 RV sites, all with full hook ups, tables, etc. It's very nice and not far off I-35. Bill, our shiny new trailer is now not so shiny after 9 days on the road!

Following the Cabot Trail, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia - Summer 2015. Stunning scenery, friendly people . . .