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No question - covered storage is the best! Having that kind of storage at your home has to be absolutely wonderful. Unfortunately, I've got neither close to me. However, several years ago I found a place 10 miles from the house with fenced storage and 24 hour camera for $200 per year! The CalMark I bought for the Ollie 8 years ago is still going strong. Can't complain too much. Bill

We store ours in an old warehouse, converted to RV and boat storage. Paid $90/mo in 2022 and $100 for 2023. Just had it washed and coated with Magiar's ceramic coating. I can plug in to keep the batteries full, and the battery warmer on in the winter. No room to build and strict HOA rules

Two summers ago my wife and I took a trip back into the Green River Lakes area of the Wind River Range in Wyoming. This is the headwaters of the Green River that connects with the Colorado River further south. Had a great time, gorgeous place comparable to anything else in North America so we just had to endure the trip again a couple of weeks ago. When I say endure, its the road into this place, calling it a rough ride would be an understatement and this year was no different considerably worse in fact. Literally took us just over two hours from where the paved road ends and the dirt begins to arrive at the USFS campground. Figure about 10-12 mph the entire way in. As one local puts it, "what isn't tied and strapped down will break". Knowing what we were getting into this time we came better prepared. At the end of the paved road we deflated the tires by some 15 PSI on the Ollie, took the window shades off and laid them on the bed and made sure everything else was secured and shut. Yes the shades came off the windows on the previous trip among other things. I purchased a portable battery powered inflator for the return trip out to inflate the tires back up to their normal highway pressures. Money well spent, but one wouldn't confuse one of these devices with a real air compressor by any means but it works just takes extra time. Posting a few photos below, hope everyone can at least vicariously enjoy the trip, even if you never decide to embark on this journey. We took our kayaks this time, those lakes are just too irresistible not to paddle them. Thanks for looking. Paddling the lower Green River Lake, fortunate this morning to have glass smooth conditions, such a treat. My wife Trudi, cutting a path to the beach on the south end of the lake As we approached the south end of the lower lake a view to the east at Clear Creek Canyon comes into view Incoming, low flying clouds once we hit the beach on the south end of the lower lake, time for a quick lunch before hiking down to the upper lake further south Once we beached our kayaks on the lower lake we hiked up to the head or south end of the upper lake. This lake is much different in color due to the glacial silt and yes it really is this color but maintains a somewhat milky appearance. From the head of the lake you can attempt to summit Square Top Mountain seen in the upper left corner. Maybe someday but not this time around for us. On the return trip back to camp on the lower lake there are some dramatic cliffs on the west shore that come right into the lake. The boats were disrupting the reflections though. All images (except the upper lake) from an iPhone 13 Pro, using RAW capture mode for those interested in hobby, upper lake from a Nikon Z7 & 24-70 F4 lens.

Try THIS stuff from WalMart. Either order and have it shipped to a store near you or shipped to your home. Its good to 50 below! Bill p.s. another hint - in order to keep your toilet seal from drying out (assuming that you have the standard toilet) pour a couple of cups of this stuff in the bowl and then use "plastic cling" material (Saran Wrap) over the top of the ceramic bowl to keep it from evaporating.

Forgot to include one image of our Ollie in the campground, so it's attached below with Osborn Mountain providing the backdrop. BTW the campground is actually fairly nice about 35 or so campsites, each one spaced far apart and some of them quite huge by comparison to many other public USFS or BLM campgrounds. In two different years of being in there I am fairly certain we have not seen it fill up and this in mid July. Suffice it to say the road in is a deterrent but make no mistake RV's are in there everything from 5th wheels to tents.

John D. Thank you for the above response. Great to know that there is a path forward. GJ

JD, that’s a deal compared to the Portland area. In the little town of Aurora, we were paying $380/mo for two covered back in open spaces. I’m so thankful we now have our own storage barn.

If you are thinking of adding a shower curtain as seen above, I just installed the rod like described by Overland but used 3M VHB tape to secure to the wall. I cut the threads off the screws and glued them in place to make it appear to be screwed to the wall. Came out real nice and the wife is pleased, so I'm happy.

Imo, any good -50 pink rv antifreeze is fine. Concentrate may be convenient to carry, but, whoah, that price? Autozone, camping world, even walmart should have it soon. September is winterizing time, in many parts of the country. Autozone often has it year round, near us.

All this discussion about storing our Olivers has me re-thinking things again. For the first 5 years of ownership we kept ours in a covered, not enclosed, RV storage facility until they raised their prices to absurd levels. We pulled out. For this winter I am thinking about leaving our Ollie down in the SW probably Utah. Have a trip planned to rendezvous with an old buddy for some adventurous hiking and just might store for the winter rather than bring it back to MT.

I ordered a decent marine paste wax; I'm waiting on the marine cleaner to wash again. I've been lucky during my volunteer stint with US Fish & Wildlife because the big boys have toys -- I use a wash bay and it's better than my normal situation. However, I'm not allowed on a ladder for the time being (post hip replacement) so... I feel the pain that is expressed by everyone here. I've used gentle methods of cleaning, to avoid taking off the finish, and I do it by hand. It's a labor of love, is it not?

I still wash and wax the Oliver and actually do not mind doing it even though I am old and retired. It is easier cleaning and waxing the Ollie than some of the boats I have had that had serious chalking Gelcoat. I use Boat Zoap by Sudbury Co. I started using it when I was washing my boat when it was in the water. It is a non-caustic cleaner and is safe to use when the boat is in fresh or slat water. It is biodegradable. A cap full of soap and a couple of gallons of water in a bucket is the formula. What makes the washing easier is I use and extendable pole with a soft bristle brush on the end. Had it from my boating days and bought it at West Marine. The extendable pole makes scrubbing down the Ollie very easy and gets the Ollie very clean. I can even get the brush under the solar collector. So that is my procedure along with using Maquires Professional wax after washing.

Gelcoat is fiberglass , without the mat and roving. It doesn't look like it, but it's still porous. And, brittle, without the glassmat reinforcement. As we're aging, I'm also becoming more ladder adverse. I know a bunch of people have opted for the longevity of ceramic coating. I'm still on the fence. And, still on a ladder, from time to time. Our Oliver is 16 seasons young, so.... yeah, we're not as young as we used to be, either.

@Wandering Sagebrush, if I were going to change to a liquid wax, I'd study practical sailor tests, which would probably lead me to a Starbrite, or Collinite, product. I think the woody wax likely requires multiple coats. Since we store outside, I really need the uv protection built into the wax. If you like it, all good. I'm not at all familiar with that particular product. Woody wax for nonskid deck applications is highly rated, on all the sailing forums, where you don't want to slide barefoot on the deck! In 2009 (I know, a long time ago), practical sailor tested both liquid and paste waxes in the florida sun, near me, in Sarasota. I tend to follow their recommendations from testing, as they don't take promotions from advertising. Kind of like the consumer reports, of the fiberglass world.

Old topic, but have to say waxing these things is a PITA especially the roof. Just finished doing mine for the year and each time I do this swear I'm going to buy one of those scaffolds rather than up and down, move, up and down over and over again. At my height of 5'7" it's an almost unsafe stretch at times too. Like others on this thread have spent quite a bit of time looking into the various methods and products but for the last few years have used the Maquires Marine wax. It works but have to admit due to the slow and arduous process for the roof the finish can look less than ideal, sides are fine. Getting the thing chemically clean helps and by that I don't mean the standard car wash. So far the best method I have found is using glass cleaners but not the windex variety, but rather products like Glass Doctor, Invisible Glass and a litany of other companies that produce these streak free glass cleaners. It's almost as though the gel coat allows dust, dirt and debris to become embedded within the surface and a simple wash just doesn't cut it. Surprised to hear some of you do not like the Rejex method and products. Another company is NuFinish with similar system for about 1/3rd the cost. First I've heard of DuroGloss too. Need to look into that one. In the meantime there has to be a better safer way to do the roof area. FWIW have been using the articulated type of A frame ladders, heavy and cumbersome but work for the job.

Mossemi put me onto a series of audio books by C.J. Box. The main character is a Wyoming Game Warden by the name of Joe Pickett. These are easy listening and if you have ever spent time in and around the Buffalo, WY area you will recognize a number of the places. I've tried to listen to these books in order but there really is no need to do that - each can stand on its own. Bill

Looking for wax, I found this… Cheap at twice the price…😳

We live in Carmel, IN. The storage place is up I-69 in Muncie, IN. This was a very lucky find. There wasn't one open spot come winter. Also, you can't just come and pick-up or drop-off your trailer. I text the manager a couple days ahead and he has the bay doors open and is waiting for me. I can have it at home for a few days before or after a trip. The hour drive each way is a bit much, but I would be paying $300+/- for just a covered roof and no shore hook-up.

Where do you live, and how far a drive? That price is crazy cheap compared to major cities. That looks like a really nice facility. I assume it has security cameras? One reason we added an RV bay when we built our house seven years ago was the cost of secure INSIDE storage. It is $350+ here. I figured the bay paid for itself already, it was a $30k option, but that charge included fully sheet rocked walls there (and in the garage at no extra cost.) Add the cost of fuel and lost time in traffic for going to a storage place, those factors can really hurt. Thanks, John Davies Spokane WA

@topgun2 Thank you!

David & Paula - I'll add another "thing" to watch for: If you use a USB stick for music (and I assume for video), the older units are limited to something between 2 and 6 gigs before they can no longer handle any greater capacity. Yes, you can still use a larger USB stick, but, you can put any more than something between the 2 to 6 gig on that stick and have it work/load properly. To help get around this issue, I bought a bunch of 8 gig USB mini sticks (like THESE) and placed different types of music on each one (i.e. country, pop, classical, movies, nature, spa, etc.). Depending on my mood I get the music stick of choice, put it in and then hit the random button and rock on. Bill p.s. larger amounts of data will not actually "hurt" anything - they will simply not load thus leaving the player and TV just sitting there looking at you until you take that USB stick out.

We use the cube style boxes from kleenex expressions tissues for our grocery bags. They get stored in the upper cabinets at the back curved section of the roof line. I start the summer with three full ones and add used ones every shopping visit. GJ

As I get close to 70 this is sounding good to me. Washing and waxing is the maintenance I don’t like to do! I’ve looked at buying some portable scaffolding. Right now I climb the ladder, clean, climb down, move the ladder, start again.

Thought I would add my completed curtain rod project. I used Overland's style so the rod would be a little higher to decrease the chance of another mark on my bald head. I drilled a 1/16 inch pilot hole, used a countersink to smooth hole to a little bigger that 5/32 inch. Then drilled a 5/32 inch hole in center of countersink. 5/32 inch is the suggested pilot hole for a # 10 machine screw. Sealed everything with 3M 4200. The machine screws worked perfect with no cracking of gel coat and everything pulled up tight.

This is what we installed. It has worked out very well. The wife is happy so I am happy. Hope this help. Greg

My wife and I rarely use the Jensen TV and DVD so we have learned about it as we experience issues along the way. I have a couple of things to share with the group. Most of us have had to use the reset option on the Radio/DVD to correct anomalies. We recently ran into an issue with play back of a DVD movie, actually two movies. We set the source to AV on the TV using the TV remote and we had sound right up until we hit play on the DVD menu. After trying multiple times, and trying another DVD, we finally remembered to do a reset of the Radio/DVD player and Voila, everything returned to normal except I lost all AM/FM presets and the time setting. Another issue I ran into awhile back was not being able to scan for channels. After much trial and error, I realized that the source needed to be set to TV before that item on the menu would be available to select after hitting the menu button on the TV remote. Finally, I sleep on our twin bed with my head adjacent to the aft. The TV power LED is always on when the TV is off if it has power. The blue LED is quite distracting so we simply unplug the power cable on our TV and only plug it in when we need to use it. I shared this with an Oliver owner at the Maine Oliver Rally in this year and discovered on the older units that have the Jensen TV, the power is on the back of the lower right of the TV as opposed to our TV where the power cable can be accessed on the upper left of the TV. One less suggestion, the Omni Antenna isn't only used for the TV. It also improves reception on FM on the Jensen Radio. If you get an intermittent weak signal, and can afford the power usage, turn on the Omni the attic and see if it improves reception like it does for our 2019 LEII.

Great pic - looks like "ad" quality. Bill

Again prior to my last trip my wife 😍 got me one of these (meatloaf and gravy with mashed potatoes). Certainly not the best I've ever eaten, but, surprisingly decent and certainly quick. Bill

Hormel ComplEats: https://www.hormel.com/Brands/Compleats and Barilla microwave pasta: https://www.barilla.com/en-us/home/ready-pasta-hub?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=PastaShapes-ReadyPasta-GenericPasta-Brand-Exact&utm_term=barillareadypasta&ds_rl=1275463&ds_rl=1274610&gclid=Cj0KCQjwldKmBhCCARIsAP-0rfzMGAPP641nZnmYHO-0RD4XqtFZEREUicUtRMCF8aPeLKnE1vl4uc8aAgrXEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I do like to eat - but - I really do NOT like to cook. I fully understand that there are those who get into that cooking thing and I really do appreciate it when they feel sorry for me. My wife found some of THESE (in the chicken flavor) at some discount store. Throw in some hunks of real cooked chicken and its a quick decent meal fast. Bill

"No refrigeration " and "quick and easy" is sometimes for the win! I remember one really cold, rainy, and windy night in Canada, when we tried repeatedly to start a fire with wet pine. It was a no go situation. Although late summer, it was really cold. We had dried soup mix, on the stovetop. Satisfying and good. And hot. I always have some in the Ollie, and I carry it in my luggage when we fly and camp... Iceland, Scandinavia, Australia, etc.. There's always water, somewhere. Stores may not be open. Especially landing on Sunday. Made freeze dried chili in Norway, in a dry cabin, one night, after landing in Bergen, and driving an hour and a half toward my cousins. No real stores open, en route. Good to have, as backup. Not our usual meals, but they are great in certain circumstances. Tonight's camping dinner, everything fresh. Vegetables from my neighbors ' organic garden.

And I've thought for the past several years that I was the only one that was/is so plebian.😊 I swore to myself after the time I spent in the Army that I'd never eat anything freeze dried again (especially eggs). But, these things are actually rather good. Bill

Found that part, Cash Acme 1/2 Inch V-101 Anti-Siphon Vacuum Breaker, Brass Plumbing Fitting, 17383-0000 FYI it is about 6 ounces and designed to attach to rigid pipe like a house hose bib. It should be mounted with the diaphragm (plate) facing up, so water will drain out and not pool. FYI that white check valve will function in any position, but ideally it should be horizontal to rule out the effect of gravity and road bumps. If yours is vertical, you could switch the position of the 90 degree elbow to correct that. John Davies Spokane WA

I suspect that other owners were breaking the old style line by putting heavy stuff in that storage compartment. While you are in the bath cabinet, secure all the other loose parts that flop around. Maybe the next bad roads won’t break stuff. I bet that very heavy brass vacuum breaker doesn’t have a support bracket. https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/9039-how-to-bath-sink-compartment-mods-duct-rework-insulation-disconnect-flush-line/ What tire pressures? I always ask when owners report this sort of failure. I towed over all kinds of nasty roads including British Columbia and never had problems at 42 psi and careful driving (ie slow down for those visible tire eating potholes and whoop-de-dos…) Please post lots of pics, this is informative. Thanks. John Davies Spokane WA

Thanks…after service contacted me they said the new design has hose come in from side port, then all the way up under the sink to a valve. If you have the flush system where the lines run around the front of the tank then it has a vacuum break under the bathroom sink. That is where it is most likely leaking. You would need to remove the bath vanity insert (4 screws & caulk). The system runs up to that break which keeps any tank water from flowing to the inlet. The hose continues as a loop back from the front of the tank back to the flush input as you’ve shown. Vacuum break valve located under sink now used on newer trailers. I’ll tear into this when I get home. took this out our rear windo this am at Meziadin lake PP BC We had been sitting out there the night before!

Good idea!👍🏼

Our "real world" test was a success. After resetting the LBCO to 11.5V, as authorized by Jason Essary, we had no inverter shutdowns when boondocking (without shore power, of course) over the weekend. We used the Truma AC, a small 120V vacuum cleaner, a hairdryer and the microwave (one at a time, of course), at various SOC levels, with no inverter shutdowns. I learned from Jason Essary that the origin of the problem may be traceable to a new bus bar that Oliver began installing in late 2022, and then 2023 models, with the Truma AC. Apparently, the new bus bar reduces the DC voltage sensed by the inverter by enough to trigger a Low Battery Voltage Cutoff (LBCO) if the default setting of 12.0V is not lowered. In our case, resetting the LBCO to 11.5V eliminated the annoying inverter shutdowns. Jason advised that Lilthionics has approved the adjustment to an 11.5V LBCO for those with the new bus bar. I chalk this up to "growing pains" incorporating the new Truma components into the Oliver electrical system. To his credit, Jason Essary kept conducting tests, and working the problem, until he found the solution. So, contrary to the suggestion in the initial post in this thread, the solution to inverter LBCO shutdowns is NOT a hard reboot, but simply resetting the LBCO to 11.5V. I cannot explain why both the first and second hard reboot produced short-term results. Maybe one of you electric engineers can tackle that question. But for now, the LBCO reset appears to be working. Hope this helps anyone else with a late 2022 or 2023 model that is experiencing LBCO inverter shutdowns.

The fact that a hail storm can total an Airstream was one of the main reasons we excluded them from consideration.

If you choose to head south, we loved the Jesse Owens Museum in AL (we stayed overnight since it is a Harvest Hosts location) Great film and exhibits, even a long jump pit outdoors that you can try out. http://jesseowensmemorialpark.com/wordpress1/

Lonesome Dove while driving around the Southwest a couple years ago… Harry Potter series has been fun to listen to as well, read it to the kids back in the day.. it’s entertaining to revisit it..

Thought about the factory shower rod when we ordered our trailer, but decided to not get it. I put up those 3m stick on hooks in white and just clip on the shower curtain when we use it. I will say here we have just about stopped using the trailer shower and use the showers at the camping grounds, much easier to do with more room and plenty of hot water. Yes, we could have gotten the tankless water heater, but still would have not showered in the trailer. I know many are too private to shower in a camping grounds shower and we all know they have COOITIES. trainman

Jordan, I recently had R-Villa ceramic coated. The work was done locally by an auto detailer / son of a friend. He normally works only on cars and trucks, but did the Ollie as a favor to us. The ceramic finish cost $1,400. The cost to buff it first was $600. Total = $2,000. I must say, his work was spectacular. I thought the Oliver had a great finish right from the factory; it was amazing how much better it looked after this treatment! We just got back from a trip from Illinois to Hohenwald, Laura, Ms, and then back home to IL; the Ollie was really dirty from nearly constant rain. It was amazing how easy it was to wash and especially how the bugs did not stick to the front! Some may say that is a lot of $$$. To me it was well worth it. At age 70, I am not interested in climbing on the roof, making it MORE SLIPPERY, and then trying to get down without injury.

Boys in the boat is a great non-fiction book that’s listed. Another non-fiction book I also really enjoyed was River of Doubt. Teddy Roosevelt’s adventure in the Amazon was truly amazing. Pam

We’ve been listening to Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History podcast series while on the road. Regular books - I’m working my way through “Texas” by James Michener, fascinating historical fiction. The paperback is almost 1,400 pages, so not a quick read. Mike

Susan, here is a photo of the full curtain rod with curtain. In the photo the cabinet door is down to show it opens fine. I installed the rod prior to a recent two week trip In which we only used our trailer bath facilities and it was not a problem. There is a photo near the top of this thread showing an install under the cabinet but I think that might be more of an issue hitting your head getting up from the toilet. As for the adhesive tape it is also used on outdoor applications so moisture should not be an issue. I think the bigger issue might be if I ever wanted to remove it.. With the curved outer wall and the factory installed towel rack it does not provide full protection to the toilet area but is a big improvement.

If you are thinking of adding a shower curtain as seen above, I just installed the rod like described by Overland but used 3M VHB tape to secure to the wall. I cut the threads off the screws and glued them in place to make it appear to be screwed to the wall. Came out real nice and the wife is pleased, so I'm happy.

Starting a new thread since the other one seems flaky. This is mostly for Mike since I can't figure out how to send photos via PM. I'll do a big post on my electrical setup someday, after I've redone a few things and added a different hookup for my portable solar. Mike, this is the inverter itself, mounted under the dinette seat by the bath. You have to run pairs of + 12v, at least 1/0 AWG, in and out and also 120v both ways. And a ground strap to the case, so that's 7 large cables plus a coms cable and a temp sensor wire. I ran the 120v along the side and the 12v, ground and and coms through the trough under the dinette. I plan to pull the inverter and screw down a plywood base to secure it better, though it seems fine as it is, screwed into 2 layers of PVC. One thing I do want to do on this end is to install a manual transfer switch for the 120v, in case something ever happens with the charger. [attachment file=IMG_0078.jpg] The inverter has plenty of space for airflow in there. The only time I hear the fan is if I'm really loading it to the max, or if it's really quiet in the trailer when I just plug it in and it's bulk charging the batteries. This is the 12v + side, under the street side bed. Solar comes in at the top right, + goes to the combiner post, then to the cutoff, then though an 80a breaker, then snakes around into the charge controller. + out goes to the combiner post on the lower right, as does the twin + 1/0 from the inverter and the 4/0 + from the batteries, as well as Oliver's cable to their + bus. The bus bar and breaker on the small angled PVC panel are both Oliver's. I moved them a bit to get the post on there but otherwise, I tried not to touch anything on Oliver's side of the electrical. The battery + goes through a cutoff and a 400a fuse first, which are mounted out of sight on this side of the battery box. Solar negative goes around the back of the charge controller onto a combiner post that's hidden, then around the left side and in. Negative out goes down the open space in the hull to the terminal in the next photo. When I redo all of this, I'll add a much larger plywood base, swap the main combiner post for a bus bar, move the battery cutoff and fuse to the board for easier access and generally tie everything down better. Negative connections are kept away from the + on the dinette side of the battery box. Battery - goes into the shunt for the battery monitor, then I have the charge controller coming directly off the shunt and a short 4/0 jumper to a combiner post. Off that goes the twin 1/0 from the inverter, the ground from the inverter, and Oliver's - cable which goes into their distribution box. I removed the charger unit from their box so it's just a fuse and breaker box for me now. I'll redo this in plywood, swap out the combiner post for a bus bar and secure the wiring better.

I reorganized the pantry earlier this year. Painted the back of the door to make it easier to clean and added a stainless sheet I got off amazon. Then attached a small box from Ikea as a spice rack. The boxes I found at Target and they really fit well - much better than the ones I had before. And I added a LED strip light to the side to make it easier to see. You can't really see it, but I ran a bungee across the top and it's a perfect spot to store one of those folding drying mats. Also, I had some plywood left over from the electrical, so I made a quick shelf to go over the toaster oven (in the microwave cabinet). I ordered a giant neoprene mouse pad off of amazon, and cut it to size to keep the dishes from bouncing around too much. The cabinet itself was just bare wood, and was starting to get dirty, so I sanded it and added a coat of poly to make it easier to wipe out. I couldn't get used to plastic dishes, so I bought a few plates and bowls at Ikea. They haven't broken yet is all I can say.

We asked for the one in front of the toilet but Oliver gave us the one over the door by mistake. So I ordered the parts and installed it myself, and now we have both, lol, though the one over the door just get used as an occasional towel rod. It wasn't hard, but I did have to do a lot of eyeball work to get it lined up just so against the curved front wall. I put mine higher and in front of the cabinet to give more headroom over the toilet and I lined it up with the bottom of the cabinet door so that when open the door sits on the rod at 90° and acts as a shelf. Very convenient. The curtain keeps the toilet area very dry, with just a little splash around the sides.