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To get all of the chips out of the frame box beam, particularly one which is open only on one end, Oliver would have to turn the finished trailer on end and shake it in order to get the machining debris to fall out. That or try to snake a vacuum hose past all the through bolts, etc that intrude on the interior of the box beam. This metal debris is likely largely 6061 aluminum and unlikely to cause any harm if left in place. I would not worry about it. As a side note I have seen this often during the fitting out of aluminum sailboat masts. Every fastening operation will drop a bit of debris in the mast interior which is virtually impossible to remove except when the mast is hoisted vertical when being stepped in the boat. At that point the crane operator can give a few shakes and lots of metal debris will drop out. Upending and shaking your trailer may be less practical.

My husband has gotten so skilled with the truck backup camera that I almost never participate in the hitching up process anymore...

Those are the things that have the most value! You can replace pots/pans/gizmos. My hiking hat and well worn boots would be missed. They could steal my TV and it would be no big deal, it hasn’t been watched in a couple of years. I should just take it out and sell it! Mike

If you haven’t been to Amber Falls Winery near Hohenwald, you should go. Good wine, friendly folks. We camped there with HH for the first time this year although we’ve been visiting and buying their wines since the fall of 2015.

You can go to a CAT scale, and take two measurements. Or,,find a friend with a tongue scale.

Many people mistakenly attempt to lighten tongue weight by loading their trailer toward the rear. This is a recipe for sway. Stay with Oliver's tongue loading recommendations and you will be very unlikely to see any issues, however, if you heavily loat the aft end of the trailer your potential for severe sway increases greatly.

I’ve got 12 years towing with two different Oliver’s and with four different tow vehicles. I have never had a weight distributing or anti-sway hitch with any of them. Even during the most violent evasive maneuvers I have never had any sway whatsoever.

This is Bishop’s Orchards and Farm Market Winery in Guilford, CT. RV parking was a field behind the market. The market was similar to a Whole Foods, we were able to stock up on some essentials. It also had an ice cream stand selling their own ice creams made in the market.

A growing source of Boondocking or Dry Camping (no hookups) is Harvest Hosts. The past couple of years we’ve camped at about a dozen HH locations, mostly wineries and farms. Sometimes you’re in a parking lot, sometimes just a field and sometimes out in the middle of the vineyard. We enjoyed camping at Amber Falls winery just outside of Hohenwald. We’ve camped next to a barn on a farm where we had chickens and horses all around. We’ve never had any hookups, although a winery in PA offered a 20a electrical hookup which we didn’t need or take advantage of. This is at Leyden Farm Vineyards and Winery in RI. Great spot and nice facilities. We enjoyed a glass of wine (or two) on their patio overlooking the vineyards.

I figure if someone wants in my trailer a decent crowbar will do the trick. Why mess around with trying to figure out which key is right? Brute force is quick and effective. Not something I spend much time worrying about. Mike

For those who are new to dry camping and wonder why folks camp without hookups let's post some pictures of places we've boondocked to give and idea of what we're talking about. This is Agguire Spring Campground outside of White Sands NP. It's a BLM campground at about 6K'. You can see WSNP about 20 miles in the distance.

Many truck stops have CAT scales. Try to go mid day, when they're not busy. That's what we've done. It's not difficult. Look up instructions online, and you're golden.

I think I need the Anderson hitch on my 2017 Ford Expedition from what I have read so far. If I had a tv like your current one I would be OK. Thanks for your comments.

I’ve got 5.5 years and 60,000+ miles towing my EII and have never had a sway issue or any other misbehavior. That’s towing with a 2012 Tacoma, 2016 Ram 1500, 2020 Ram Rebel and now a 2020 Ram 2500 Diesel. I used the Andersen hitch on the first 3 trucks. I do not use the Andersen on my new 3/4 ton. Mike

Mike, Nancy, routlaw and Steve- Thank you for your responses. Sounds like with a back up camera I should be fine. Read

Like Mike, same here with the backup camera assist in our truck its piece of cake really. I've also done many solo trips several hundred miles away with no issues so far and I am not alone in these type of endeavors. There are many RV'ers doing the same.

Carl - just measured the rear stabilization jacks on my LE 1 @ 4.5” diameter. As far as I know SnapPad does not make this size. RBD 2020 LE 1 Hull #643

Based on positive reviews from John Davies who started this thread, I’ve been using the TT600 since May. Works great! I was getting alarms every 1/2 hour or so, so I hooked up the booster, no more alarms. I broke the tiny antennae (my fault) and they sent me a new one no charge. Great Customer Service. I’ve got 6 sensors, using one on TV spare as Geronimo John recommended early on. There are plenty of reliable TPMS available, I’m pleased with the one I have,

Thanks for the replies. Oliver tried to find an owner in northern Illinois, but that didn’t work. I’m trying to prod my better half to take a drive and do the tour at Oliver. I’m sure I’d be sold. I’m a fanatic for quality and craftsmanship. If figure if it’s not as good as I can do, or better, I don’t want it. I can’t do fiberglass work, so Oliver got me. I’ve been telling my wife I’m sure I’ll be overwhelmed with delight just living in quality where I’ve go what I paid for. Knowing every time it rains I won’t be thinking I need to look for leaks. Not having bi-weekly caulk checks, or needing to watch for holes that mice and bugs can easily get into. The Ollie just looks so sleek, clean, and beautiful. Plus, I think I can keep my F-150 diesel to pull the Ollie. I’m already looking into options for sleeping my two college-aged kids or finding a nice used pop-up that my son can drag up. It’s just another campground reservation to acquire when snagging one is already difficult.

The deadbolt in my 2008 is sticking ,again, and I don't want to get locked out. Lubing isn't working. On the list to replace sometime this year. I'll go with the handle lock for awhile. I'd rather someone defeated a lock, than broke a window. I don't have a whole lot of interest to steal, in the trailer, anyway . I'd miss my hiking boots, though. Ten years old, repaired multiple times. Those, I'd miss.

Unfortunately the master key for all door latches is the large crow bar that can gain access to any rv door. Unlike your door at home with a stronger frame. But still can be defeated. The Oliver has a aluminum frame around fiberglass. I like the keypad option. I have the standard lock handle doesn’t cost extra and does the same amount of security for the door.

When we purchased our Ollie, had our bank to wire funds to the sellers bank account. Last time I sold an airplane the buyer wired money to my bank account. You can open an additional bank account and use it once, close it after the transaction so your not giving out your normally used account number. Wiring money with a bank is a small fee compared to the value of an Ollie. Sold a motorcycle last year for much less than the value of an Ollie and the buyer had to take out a loan from his bank and they made a certified check to me. Before the buyer came to pick up the motorcycle, I had him to send me a copy of the certified check, I looked up his bank on internet and called them with all of the check information to be sure it was a legitimate check before accepting it. My favorite way of doing business is with a bank wire.

Thought I would put this up here in case anyone else is having the same issue I had. Soon after leaving the factory, the plastic strip that lines the bottom edge of the tank cover started to come off. It was a very cheap piece of 'L' plastic kind of glued on here and there. Really, it was pretty ugly even when new. So I finally found this very nice 'U' channel on Amazon that fits perfectly. These trims come in a vast variety of sizes and colors. It appears to be a very high quality vinyl compound and has internal fins that grab the cover on both sides, so no gluing is involved. I just set it in the sun to warm up and gently tapped it on with a rubber mallet. Before doing this, I carefully scraped off all the old glue residue with MEK and a plastic razor blade, followed by a light scrub with a 3M WHITE scotch brite pad (love these for tough cleanup jobs on the trailer, no scratching) Then I filed all the edges to make sure there were no sharp edges or bumps in the fiberglass. Then a good wash. Here's the product: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01F9FXQLU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 This looks so much better to me, and the fit is great, better than with the stock plastic trim. It's supposed to be marine grade, so hopefully it will last. My Elite took 5 feet to do. Those with the Elite 2 will need to measure, but the stuff is available in different lengths. It's all in the details! Dave

Congrats! Spend your time learning about your new Ollie so you are all ready for delivery. There is a great deal of information on the forum, and there are great tutorials on the Oliver University website to help you prepare. Be ready to inspect your unit really well at delivery. Production has increased dramatically. In the manufacturing world that often means more mistakes. Don't let that rain on your parade though. Just make certain that you check everything before you accept delivery. Oliver is very good about correcting manufacturing errors on delivery day if you point them out. We picked up Hull # 820 the first week of June. Yours will be ready a year after we got ours. Do the math. 311 new units in one year. Considering weekends and holidays, there are approximately 265 regular work days in a year. That would be 1.17 units out the door every workday. Seeing as they had produced only 820 units over a span of more than a decade when we picked up ours, 311 in a year is a very substantial increase.

Yep, had bugs living in my 7 pin plug . this was the catalyst for me to get a plug storage cover. this option is a no drill solution that installs with worm screws that tighten the bands around your front jack. takes 5 minutes the install. its clean and works well https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MFFC0IU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Click image to open expanded view

Well, since there is a red one and a black one out there, being in the white one certainly narrows the field - 😁

I have a refrigerator smoker painted duck colors with a magnetic Duck emblem on the front. I live in beaver territory, and a few of my friends gave me a hard time about it. So, I put a beaver emblem on the back end of the smoker. I told my friends, if the ducks ever lost I would put the beaver emblem on the front. Well, The front now has the beaver emblem on the front until our next matchup. Hope your trip is going well, Bob

Little BLM campground southeast of Farmington, NM

In between Arches NP and Canyonlands NP there are a bunch of BLM campgrounds and dispersed camping areas. This is Horsethief campground just outside of Canyonlands NP. Nice level sites with at table and fire ring. Vault toilets were very clean. Only about 15 minutes outside of Moab.

Jim, technically you are probably right. A lot of folks use "boondocking", "dry camping" and "no hookups" interchangeably. The pictures I posted are mostly campgrounds with no hookups but some are dispersed areas. I guess the idea is to show new campers the different camping possibilities outside of FHU campgrounds. Mike

Here's a shot of a "dry camp" site at one of the established campgrounds in Valley of Fire State Park in NV. It was really sweet, tucked into a very private alcove with the only sign of nearby campers around the corner being the light of their fire glowing on the red rock pillars as you see in the shot of the site. I arrived at the park early enough on a Friday to get one of the more sweet (for me at least) sites, even though the CG was already well more than half full. I'd just been in some more remote parts of UT so the busy-ness of VoF was a little startling at times though I could quickly get away from all that just by heading out on some of the great trails there, and even more so by going cross country (with GPS app and downloaded maps just in case!) across the lovely sandstone there. This site was also a lovely refuge from the LA crowds.

Gorgeous! Thanks so much for posting these. For those of us who have never boondocked it's hard to imagine what to expect. I thought it was all just dispersed camping but now I see there are real campsites available at some places just no services. This makes me feel better. Although I do look forward to camping out in nature with the great views like you have shown. Cindy & Charlie

This is Gros Ventre Campground in Grand Teton NP. We had nice fall weather for a few days before it got cold.

This is a BLM area outside of Goblin State Park in Utah. We couldn't get a spot in the park, so went just a few miles away where there is a lot of BLM land with free dispersed camping.

This is Red Canyon campground just outside of Bryce Canyon NP. It's a FS campground.

Joshua Tree NP, Indian Cove campground.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is south west Arizona.

Quartzsite, AZ, Dome Rock. In January there is a big RV show in town followed by a Fiberglass rally at Dome Rock. BLM dispersed camping. Find a spot and camp!

This is Franklin Mountain State Park outside of El Paso. There are only 6 sites.