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#12 here, picked up in February, 2008. First photo is from April of this year. 2nd is at pickup at the factory. We had the trailer in to a local shop for service in April. There was a line up to see an 11 year old trailer that still looked brand new. We get that comment all the time at gas stops and campgrounds. Yes, we take care of it, wax it twice a year, and regular maintenance. But we don't "baby" it, and it's stored outside. Thats over 4200 days in the weather. We've towed our camper less than Pete, but more than many. Over 100,000 miles . We have in the last few years replaced the water pump, the refrigerator, and removed the microwave. Also replaced the water heater. Added solar in 2008, as 99 per cent if our camping is without electrical hookups. On the third set of tires and batteries. 2nd set of electric brakes. We're confident the trailer will be enjoyed by the next generation when we're gone, or no longer able to go camping. Sherry

Open up the front vent, reach in, and push down on the filter. It will pop loose pretty easily. Then just rinse with soapy water and air dry.

"You must drive the Top of the World Highway," they said. "The views are spectacular," they said. THIS is what we saw for 100 miles.

Registration is now open for the Pineknot Rally to be held October 23-27, 2019 at Salmon Lake Park in Grapeland, Texas. The campground has an old western town theme. The tentative rally agenda will include morning coffee, griddle and Dutch oven cooking demonstrations, trailer maintenance discussion, panel discussion on boondocking (dry camping), swap meet, potluck (Thursday evening), Ladies Tea* (Friday noonish), dessert night (Friday), trailer open house (Saturday), catered BBQ dinner and door prize drawing (Saturday evening). Door prizes this year will include a WeberQ Grill, Blackstone Griddle and other prizes. We will email the official agenda with additional details to all registrants in early October. For additional details and to register go to http://www.mfrvg.com/pineknot . For those of you that are unfamiliar with this rally, it is for molded fiberglass trailers. Last year there were about 90 trailers...Casitas, Escapes, Bigfoot, Olivers, Scamps, and others. Consider joining us for a great gathering.

These are from Toyo but the specs are very similar between tire manufacturers. A Nitto owner on a forum called Nitto customer service to ask about charts and was told to use the Toyo ones. If you run the OEM tire type and size, use the chart glued inside your driver door opening or the info inside your Owners Manual. If you have switched to a different size, or from a P rated (passenger car) tire to a LT rated (truck) tire, you need to study the charts to figure out the pressure you should use. LT tires require more pressure to carry the same load as a P rated tire. It doesn’t seem to make sense, but it’s true. https://www.toyotires.com/media/2125/application_of_load_inflation_tables_20170203.pdf You do not need to know your actual axle scale weights, though that would be useful information for loading your rig and figuring tongue weight. You can calculate, using the charts, the different load capabilities and figure out a good target pressure to run. Example: My 2013 Land Cruiser came with P285/60R18 car tires (31” diameter) at 33 psi front and rear. The truck has a nearly 50/50 front to rear weight balance, unloaded. The Gross Vehicle Weight Rating is 7385 pounds. The P- Metric chart from Toyo shows a max load of 2513 pounds per tire (5026 per axle) for this size at Toyota’s recommended 33 psi. So that is the “target load” that they thought was appropriate. These tires were lightweight for better fuel economy and very squooshy for passenger comfort. They were also fragile and the towing experience was not good - the handling was vague and unsettling. I switched to bigger and stiffer LT275/70R18 mud tires (33” diameter). By studying the LT-Metric chart, to match that same target load capability they need to be at 46 psi. These tires are tough and offroad capable, and the extra ride stiffness really settled the truck while towing. Remember that these are MAXIMUM tire loads for that air pressure. The tire and truck engineers understand that many owners run them too low on air and they supply a good safety margin to allow for idiots. You don’t need to run them quite so high if your load is below that weight. If you have a HD truck and you are really loaded down with cargo, you can calculate a good “in between “ value rather than just pumping the rears up to 80 psi as indicated on the door sticker. Also, a warm tire is a happy tire. If yours is hot, it’s a big danger signal and you need to increase the pressure for that axle. I have been running 42 psi in my LT tires for a couple of years now. They seem happy but the front ones are wearing faster than the rears and I may bump my pressures front and rear up to 44 psi to see how the truck drives. Lots of people who switched tire types are running lower than recommended pressure because of the door sticker. Not good.. Finally, write down the new pressure on your door sticker, so service techs have a small chance of filling them correctly. See picture. More tire tech from Kimberley Caravans .... https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/210453/file-20229690-pdf/docs/importance_of_optimum_tyre_pressure_and_temperature.pdf I hope this stuff is helpful. A truck or offroad forum for your particular vehicle is a good resource, to ask what pressure to run for a particular size. There is also a trick you can do with new tires involving chalk on the tread.... I won’t go into that one. Here is info and a placard you can print for your Ollie tires. .... https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/how-to-tire-pressure-placard/ John Davies Spokane WA

This is our 2009 Oliver Legacy Elite, Hull # 39. We purchased it last Oct from the original owners. It is in excellent shape inside and out and people can’t believe it is 10 years old. We absolutely love it. You can see we store it outside when not in use.

Man, you'd think after 11 years that little trailer would have grown at least and inch or two. You must have gotten the runt of the litter :P .

O my heavens, CedarForks --- honestly & truly I just about to submit the same question to the Forum! I am mildly embarrassed to say that I have never cleaned this filter in the 2 years & 10k mikes we have had this trailer! I just went out & retrieved the filter. I had to push down a little harder that I really wanted to but that could be due to non-use. :)) It is a wee bit dirty & will take some elbow grease to get it clean. It will be mentally added to my regular cleaning tasks. Thank you so much for asking this question. ps: does anyone know anything about the foam material above the filter? Seems like it would be a collector of junk. In looking at the air box, I really thought this foam was the filter.

The breaker panel doesn't have fuses that need to be replaced. If a switch should pop, just flip it back to its normal position. Should it do so repeatedly, then you should leave it off until you've identified and corrected whatever is causing it to blow.

I like that we both arrived at this design as the best compromise. Hmmm. I can't get away with anything around here! There are a number of fully articulating designs ranging from some simple farm duty setups, on up through some well thought out designs for highway and off road use. But overall, I really like the U joint concept. And specifically, this automatic plug in design. I saw one some years ago that was a two axis design for one wheel motorcycle trailers. Fixed at the tongue with no ability to swivel there. It caused the trailer to lean just as the motorcycle did and it worked beautifully. The guy could ride the bike as bikes should be ridden and not worry about the trailer crashing, or it's wheels following out of line with his. With the ball, every time I get off road, I worry about the conventional ball getting to it's limit and failing. Not any more. I must admit, one of the reasons I like this design, and one of the reasons for going with the automatic design in particular, is the theft deterrent aspect of it. This is a really nice upgrade.

Mike, I would argue that your 2" ball is absolutely not putting you in any danger. The ball is rated for the full gross weight of the trailer. The 7,000 lb load rating is a working rating and not a predictor of when it will snap off. The ball wear is not indicative of an overload or impending failure. It's a result from the Bulldog coupler having a rough interior and not being perfectly spherical, while dealing with the severe forward load applied by the Anderson hitch. I suppose, if your trailer was loaded to 7,000 lbs, and the Anderson was cranked up to an extreme force on the ball, and you ran into something at a pretty good speed, you might have a failure. But it might have a 4-1 safety margin and nothing would fail. I just don't know what the margin is. I really don't think it is worthy of your concern. I switched mine to a 2 5/16" just because I like that size, like overkill beef, and have other trailers that use that size. Plus, I got rid of that stupid catch that tripped me every time I stepped over the tongue! Next year, to the rally, bring the new 2 5/16' coupler and the ball. We could change it right there. But we might have to act like we knew what we were doing. ?

I've been to this rally several times and found the folks to be welcoming and just plain great. Alas, I cannot be there this year because I'll be in Canada, but would encourage any Ollie owners to go and meet other molded fiberglass trailer owners. Look at how great their 20 and 30+ year old trailers can look, learn the fine art of Dutch oven cooking, make new forever friends, and just relax and have a great time. You can't go wrong. Sign up! Over the last 11 years, I've learned the fiberglass owner community is a family. It is wonderful to meet friends, catch up on their lives, and share your recent adventures. Go . . . enjoy . . .

Certainly your call on the usage of your trailer. We have had zero issues with big rigs, most of the dirt and grime come from gravel roads or construction areas. We have had a lot of both n the 9000 miles we have traveled to this point. But the rocks are mostly from our own truck as far as I can see. We drive slow when we need to and the Oliver has held up more than well under the trip, as least so far. You do have to exercise caution over the various rough roads and frost heaves but, for us, we simply love the scenery, vistas, mountains and wildlife we are seeing nearly every day. Grizzly bears, caribou, moose (four today near Anchorage), lynx, wolf, a host of birds I have never seen before, sea life everywhere and more. We have met some fascinating people and some of the history here is unique with its Russian heritage. Well worth any aggravation or future repairs in our opinion.

I sketched a few options for turning the front bed into a day couch/night bed. This would allow us to keep the rear area, which should have the best view, for hanging out. As a bonus, we could sleep 4-5 fairly comfortably. Obviously I'd need to design bed supports for the part that overhangs the aisle. This would be split into two portions with a wedge shape cushion to fill in during the day. Two split beds, but for us the wife would be even with me if she sleeps in the aisle. This is probably my favorite as of now: the foot cushion (or two cushions) can be folded up or removed for bathroom access. Perspective view of the third option Day mode view of the couch. Middle area could be used for additional storage, or as shown here with a pedestal washer.

The graphics will peel cleanly off with the use of a heat gun or hair dryer.

Ours had no logo when we got it. The previous owner said the original "came off". So I added our "howling at the moon" logo. It's about 12" in diameter. We also have it in about 5" on the back window of the camper shell and near the entry door.