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After what seems like an eternity hull #89 has cleared customs and has joined me as a landed immigrant here in Ontario. A huge thanks for all the help and patience from the Oliver crew who answered a million questions, to Karen Harris 89's previous owner who waited while I jumped through paperwork hoops, and to Danial Jakus of Painted Cowboy transport who helped get "Picasso" to his new home, rolling with the unexpected and keeping it fun! Looking forward to one more batch of paperwork and organizing for a camping trip. The dream is almost real. Anya

I've used this setup in winds strong enough that fellow campers said they were taking bets on when I'd lose my awning. I wouldn't recommend it long term in strong winds just because of the wear on the awning fabric itself, but for borderline wind or if you plan to leave your awning out while away and want to make sure that it's still there when you get back, the poles and straps work. I have a third pole that I use in the center, which isn't pictured. The shade fabric helps to send the wind up and over rather than underneath, but I've used the setup without it and it's fine, just noisier. The straps I have are overkill - 1" straps would probably be fine. The stakes you use are probably more important - I have some 15" iron stakes that work really well. One thing that I don't like about these particular straps is that they expand slightly when wet, so if it starts to rain in the night, the awning will have about a half inch of play and so will make a racket. I've considered threading the top of the poles so that I could secure them to the awning rail with a nut, but then I'd have to worry about the bottom lifting and the pole flipping out from under the awning. The poles are these. I use the 8' version. Three holes drilled in the bottom of the outside rail of the awning accept the ends of the poles and the straps go around the end of the arms to hold the awning to the poles. On our last trip, I tried using just three straps - one in the middle and one at 45° at each end, and it worked fine. I do recommend a center pole and strap since a strong gust could push up the middle of the awning and bend the outside rail. And if you have the new power awning that retracts automatically, then I guess that's a new problem to overcome if you want to strap it down. Can that feature be turned off? I have the Carefree awning, btw. I don't use the diagonal braces when I tie it down, since they're just in the way.

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Hull 505 made the trip from it's birthplace to it's new home Washington State this week. First Campsite and Last Campsite Attached.

Just why do you humans always blame it on the Dog?

I ordered two poles today and we will see what happens, our awing is the Dometic that's what they are using on the new trailers, personally I don't see where it would make any difference on which awing you have, just use the poles and stake the corners down. Our Casita did not have an awing as we ordered it that way, I'm personally not a big awing fan, just because of having to take it down every time we leave the campsite, for obvious reasons. We have only been extending our awing about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way out and even without poles it does blow in the wind pretty good at times. So I will report back in 3 weeks after we see how this works out for us. Thanks to all who posted pics and what you do with your awing. trainman

That’s something about the Fiamma awning that I envy. The clamps on the legs of the Carefree don’t clamp tightly enough to use a strap - unless you set the legs at their shortest position, they’ll just collapse if you tighten them with a strap or anything. Hence the separate poles. I don’t think I’d need them with the Fiamma, though I guess it would relieve strain on the leg joints.

We do something similar. The sunshade provides a good anchor and holds well in up to moderate winds. We have the Fiamma awning.

We do something similar. The sunshade provides a good anchor and holds well in up to moderate winds. We have the Fiamma awning.

For the Carefree and Fiamma owners, another good awning tip is to roll it up like this when leaving. It will withstand most any wind this way, and will provide a little shade and definitely some shelter for the windows in light rain. Plus all you have to do when returning is roll the awning out and reset the arm length. (It looks a little tight in this photo, which is either a mistake or possibly an illusion, as I usually roll it up so that there's about a quarter inch gap between the arms and hull. You don't want the arms touching the hull since they may move a bit in wind and scratch the finish.)

This is the bottle I bought - And here are the streaks and the weirdness with it holding onto water (rejex @ top and bare fiberglass below) - Maybe I got a bad bottle, maybe it needs to be applied under laboratory conditions, maybe it's snake oil. One of those three is true, and IMO it doesn't matter at all which one. There are dozens of other high quality and well recommended waxes out there that don't require a roll of the dice. I had really good luck with the Dura Gloss after I got burned with the rejex, but others have highly recommended the 3M marine waxes, as well as others. The last thing you want to do after spending two days waxing your trailer is to spend two more doing it again. I still haven't gotten around to rewaxing my truck, and it still gets black streaks every time it rains.

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 .

An interesting thing happened at nearly 10,000 feet elevation, cold, wet and drizzling... I spotted an Elite II Oliver southeast of Ouray, Colorado, just off of Highway 550. (Highway 550 to Ouray and keep going south is the ULTIMATE towing experience. Up the Pass or, down.) Bill and Bev were the perfect hosts when a stranger asked through a window if... 'can I look at the exterior of your Oliver'? A voice within said... "sure". After owning and Boondocking with a 23 foot and a 25 foot Airstream over 13 years, one becomes interested in what other trailers are out there that are comfortable, durable and capable of Off the Grid Boondocking. Nancy and I sold our 25 foot Airstream about six months ago and went back to tent camping. Much like going from tent to a trailer was drastic. Going from trailer to tent camping... well, is even more drastic, but we can manage about anything. Was I... impressed. The physical Oliver is even nicer than any photographs. The sleek fit of interior components. The lighting. The very solid flooring. The counter tops. The thought that designed the exterior, suspension, 16" tires, leaf springs... This was the start. Beverly gave my wife the tour of the interior as Bill and I chatted about how each of us felt about our trailers. Bill had fewer issues with the Oliver. Lets leave it at that. For a couple and a dog or two... the Elite II contained everything one would need for an Off the Grid comfort while Boondocking. The double Solar Panels and four marine batteries were... a big bonus as an option. The one 'glaring' issue for Nancy and I were the sliding drawers. Beautiful durable finish, dove tailed, easy glide self closing BUT, like the Airstreams... no secure way to prevent them from opening when rocking side to side. We had to improvise how to secure the Airstreams hinges and drawers ourselves as nothing exists. Although the Oliver has very few drawers... just a button to push to release and pull out would make the interior perfect and secure. The 'piano hinges' were great for larger doors as standard. There could be some changes, how I do not really know at the present, the shower/stool arrangement. Space is at a premium which makes the Oliver unique. Nancy and I showered... often... with the exterior shower. We also had a small shower tent in areas where more than the bear and the antelope are our only neighbors. Those sliding windows... great and double pane. I would not be surprised that Olivers will come in more than... white. Much like Corvettes and Shelby Cobras. A few days camped in an Oliver would provide us with more to comment... but I am sure Bill and Bev would not enjoy sleeping in our Tent for a couple days! No argument there. A wonderful trailer. Wonderful owners. An impressed experienced trailer owner looking over an Oliver. My comparison. Oliver's are the Pearl of travel trailers. Airstreams's are the Platinum. Both occupy #1 OR #2 in the travel trailer hierarchy. Time will tell from happy owners. If I were in the market for a travel trailer for Off the Grid Boondocking or comfortable RV Park experiences... the Oliver II would be getting that second look, after owning the only other travel trailer able to compete for which is best. One has the edge and Bill and I know which...