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We're up and running for online reservations, about 1 week away. This year Jim has offered to coordinate a morning of golf at Capital Hill, which is linked on the rally Website. Early Bird rig fee rates have also dropped from last year, now $8. until Mid-December. As soon as you make reservations with Gunter Hill, register with us and be a VIP! Green Eggs and Ham Website: http://www.rvcompass.com/GEHrally/index.html

Nope, it has been asked for. They should send out a survey asking for feedback and a list of problems experienced, big and small. One month after delivery, then annually: the information would tell them what is happening to these trailers as they age, travel lots of miles and bounce down our aging highways and bumpy back roads... If you do not know what is failing, how can you take steps to improve the build quality? The survey needs to go to every owner, not just the small number of folks who actively participate here. John Davies Spokane WA

The Oliver Owners site on Facebook is fluffier. I like it. It's mostly photos of beautiful campsites & new Ollie owners. For the real meat & taters, this is where I come.

Coincidentally, my 4-year old Labradoodle recently began showing subtle signs of nervousness when it is thundering. My neighbor uses an herbal remedy so I tried it with her & there is great improvement. She's simply chill. I got these on Amazon.

Congratulations Kenny and Penny...there will be much excitement ahead as you await your new Ollie. We pick ours up next Monday and we are so excited to be joining the club. In fact, sleep is now at a premium because we spend so much time planning our trip to Hohenwald, trying to think up "cute" names for our Ollie ll, planning ahead for future trips that are on our bucket list and just anticipating the joy of owning the finest built molded fiberglass camper in America! Good luck and we'll "SEEYA" on the road. Tom and Marie

I would suggest that the white band/seal be removed from the window and cleaned on your picnic table or outside work bench. Then use any product you choose without any damage to the gelcoat. I think a better idea would be to replace the white window seals with a black one like the back/exit window. I recently requested information about that seal from Jason. We will see if it is possible in the future.

Marybeth and Neil, welcome. Looks like we’ve made it into the 400’s! It will be a great Christmas present. We lived in Carlisle and sure enjoyed central PA. Mike

I just changed your display name and nickname to Kenny & Penny. Let’s see if that works. Mike

Hi all, Not an owner yet, going to change that in 2020 with an Elite I. I'm going it solo with 2 dogs. Research brought me here with quality at the top of my trailer list. I like the construction process, seems the most durable by far. Reading about Oliver's customer service is very reassuring, they seem great. Enjoying the forum a lot, nice people and great info. Here's to 2020! Glad to be aboard, Paul

I'm sorry to see this, it makes life with our furry friends tough sometimes. One trick used to condition pups to the sound of gunshot is a loud noise, usually a blank shell, activated at feeding. Perhaps a graduated conditioning with older pets would represent a similar effect. Doesn't have to be a gunshot, a recorded approximate sound. My Chessie, thinks a loud crackling noise is a call to arms - seems the DNA takes over - he looks up - as if a duck or goose is supposed to fall from the sky. he also doesn't know he is 95 lbs., he thinks he is a toy poodle in this respect.

For a large part of my career, an 8 hr. day would have been an "early out", a 5 day week, a holiday week. No complaints, life goes on. Popcorn - the healthy food alternative. PPH =Problems per hundred units - for Oliver PPU (u =unit) is more appropriate. Attribute improvements are not build quality metrics, and as John D regularly points out, the undiscovered defects- i.e. not built to design spec, seem to expose themselves under experienced examination., esp. for a specific build set. Unless I missed it, does Oliver ask owners for detailed feedback on their units, a detailed, segmented, customer satisfaction survey. I do not know.

Small world we live in! 5 miles north would put your brother-in-law in Mont Belvieu, am I right? The school system our son attends is in Mont Belvieu. We did get the solar and upgraded batteries just in case we do need to evacuate because we sit a mile off of Trinity Bay. I haven't actually towed anything with the Titan XD yet. I got it for the great gas mileage and potential longevity of the diesel engine. I think it's going to be more than adequate for pulling the Ollie. There's another gentlemen on here that pulls his Ollie with a Titan XD and he says it handles like a top. Thanks for all your posts on the forum. They've been very helpful as we prepare for the big day!

<p style="text-align: left;">Forgot to add, thank you Reed/Karen, I didn't know about opening the refrigerator vent.</p>

Oh dear. My greatest mistake with our poor shepherd was thinking the big guy would get a kick out of watching fireworks. Every 4th after that the entire night was dedicated to pup. I wish he’d have buried himself under pillows. Instead he chose to rip them up. Did you know that down will expand to fill whatever space it’s given? Sorry, I’m no help other than moral support. Interested in any that others have to offer though.

Because I'm enjoying the handful of blogs I've learned about since joining the Forum a year ago, I wanted to find out what others are out there. After an unsuccessful search for a list (not counting the Blog tab on the Oliver website), I found this thread & decided to resurrect it with the hope that I'm not the only one who loves to live vicariously through all of you. These three are listed in this thread. There are others listed, but I don't think they are Ollie owners. Please correct me if I'm wrong. --> http://mountainborn.blogspot.com/ -- hasn't posted since 9/2016 --> https://peteandthewonderegg.blogspot.com/ - (Peter Marks) Retired blog 7/2018 but is alive & well on Facebook. --> http://freedom2roll.blogspot.com/ (Mike & Gerri Mercer) - Still posting Since joining, I've started following & highly recommend: --> http://supersizelife.com/ (Debbie LaFleiche) --> https://travelswithollie.com/ (Russ & Janie McKnight) --> http://www.twolanetouring.com/ (Dave & Cindy) --> https://www.facebook.com/LucilleTwoOurOliverTravelTrailer/ (Hasn't posted since January) --> https://www.youtube.com/user/ReedLukens (Reed & Karen Lukens) (Hasn't posted in 11 months) Many of you are decreet & quietly have your website listed in your signature. If you have a blog or are aware of other Oliver owners who have blogs or vlogs, please add them to this list. <b>There is so much more to discover!</b> BTW, John Davies really should have a blog. I do enjoy all his posts even if I don't have a clue about what he's writing. ;) Chris

A thundershirt is worth a try, it made a marginal improvement on our Labradoodle Zadie’s “sudden onset” travel anxiety. It had no effect on Zack’s trailer “furnace fan fear”. I think it would be a good first step. Make sure the size is correct, it must fit very snugly to apply chest compression. Over the counter Benedryl also works, it makes them drowsy, but check with your vet first about dosage for such a small dog. If the thundershirt doesn’t work, try this, then progress to a prescription sedative med. https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/health/benadryl-for-dogs/ Good luck, anxious dogs are hard on everybody, including your pet. Not to be negative, but once a dog gets this way it usually won’t go away, all you can do is try to manage it. We travel less with our dogs now, because they are frankly much happier at home with our daughter as house sitter. And we are happier without freaked out animals. John Davies Spokane WA

Not sure where you are but if it is MA, we are headed to RI, Cape Cod, New Bedford and Hingham MA on our way to Maine in two weeks. We travel in an Elite and though there are two of us, we love it and glad to show you our Oliver on the way. Not, of course, to the island! We will be in at Wompatuck State Park for three nights and Sandwich for two.

Welcome, you should have minimal hassles traveling south from TN ... hopefully. We Northerners typically have to park the big pull toys by November. I looked up your town. My brother-in-law lives 5 miles north of you.... The Ollie will make a terrific hurricane bug-out vehicle, especially if you ordered the solar stuff and big battery bank. Have you towed anything yet with your Titan XD? Care to share any comments about that cool new engine? Thanks, John Davies Spokane WA

Kenny & Penny - AND, the fun starts. Congrates and welcome. I simply don't know of a better way to see the USA. Really not much time from now until delivery. November would be a great month to head down the Natchez Trace towards New Orleans while you find your way home. Bill

The improved quality in your trailer if it's over Hull #230± has all of the proof built in. All of the fixes and modifications have been documented with pictures and movies right here throughout this forum with the inverter grounding cable fix being documented as the latest known improvement. A couple of the easily visually seen improvements on your trailers over Hull #195± are 1, the full sized spare tire, and 2, the smooth bottom sewer clean out area. Then as time moves on, the propane area floor encasement and access door that came out this year... and these are just the visually seen exterior improvements... With the water tank pick-up tube, the bladder tank and the inverter grounding cable being hidden under the hood, so to speak. Now the convection microwave, Norcold fridges, and the Dometic awnings will be a big part of the easily seen 2019 improvements. The proof is all documented right here in these pages for all to see for themselves ? Reed

I still fail to see the point of a Facebook group. All it does is siphon posts and solutions from this site to make both less useful.

The 10,000 hour rule is from Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers: The Story of Success , which if you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. My professional background is in manufacturing and quality systems. Twenty-five years+ in the trenches, (10,000hrs) collecting, sorting, and responding to quality data, process data, SPC, voice of the customer, warranty data, and on, gives one a healthy respect for data, statistical data, and a full awareness of how a few customer data points can skew a trend. One customer making 20 complaints about the same issue, in a small sample size - for example . Which may prompt some to state incorrect subjective opinionated views to be taken as fact, when, statistically they are not. That is my Toil. ha ha. That is my reference to Mike and Carol. I have little doubt Oliver quality - whatever your definition - has improved over time - I just can't prove it. But I can find antidotal evidence of customer satisfaction. Have a great day. Edit - As in all things, the devil is in the details. In todays cultural wasteland, the "trend" is to quote feelings as fact, and dismiss reality as something to be ignored. I believe I will move to the sidelines, the popcorn crowd has more fun.

Water pump, AC and Refrigerator are all components used in travel trailers of many brands. It’s good to hear the water pump was taken care of quickly. The refrigerator can take a while to cool down if you are starting out in hot weather. As Reed points out, switch to propane until it gets cool. We leave ours running all the time, even when in storage (we have electrical power in storage). If you can’t do that, fire up the fridge a couple of days before your trip. There are a number of things to check with the AC - temperature setting, fan on high/low/auto, which vents are open or closed. If it is cool around the bed it must be cooling. I’d check the vents on all four sides. We keep them mostly closed on the sides and back and fully open in the front. We were camped in 100+ weather in June and had the fan on low and we were plenty cool inside. There are lots of folks here willing to help when you have issues and questions. Mike

Which refrigerator do you have and what's the temp outside? If your in over 90° weather, then you need to run it on propane if it's not keeping up. Also, you can crack open the outside upper refrigerator vent cover and that really allows the air to circulate. I have a quick wire that attaches on ours and keeps the door tilted open at the top around an inch and that helps a lot. There is a topic on this here in the forum. We were in 110°+ temps a few weeks ago and the freezer was working fine, but the fridge wasn't able to keep up. On our Dometic, there is a lever on the far right in the back that can be set to allow more cold air into the refer area. If you push the lever up, it makes the fridge colder, but at the 110°+ temps, we still needed to add frozen bottles of water to the fridge to keep it happy. The freezer maintained just fine. Your air conditioner has adjustment vents all around it. If just your bed is staying cool, then be sure that the cold air return vent is full open and not blocked. Pull the filter and check it if needed. Then close the rear vent cover and make sure that the front vent cover is full open. We prefer it to be coldest over the bed, so we have the rear cover full open and the 2 sides at 45°. There is a learning curve to everything in this trailer and all in all, you will overcome ? Another big plus is to join the Oliver Owners Facebook page for quick results and answers from other owners. It's monitored at all times. Reed

The original intent for the cargo tray was to store AND run a generator there. That is why the original design was called a generator tray and has a big slot in back for the 30 amp shore power cord to go. But now Oliver is in tune with the generator companies and they caution to keep it far away when operating, to keep from gassing the occupants.... in addition there will be some vibration from the engine, I think. I set my Yamaha on the ground, on a piece of cardboard, downwind next to the tongue, so I can loop the 8’ cable lock through it. I am still alive, so far so good. When turned off and cooled down, I drag the cardboard under the tongue as far as it will go, and secure my disconnected Stone Stomper fabric around it as a disguise. Unless you are up close, you cannot tell what it is. If you put the unit under a tree 50 feet away, it will be very quiet, but you may find it has disappeared as soon as it gets dark. I do think those boxes are great, but my 2400 is maybe a little large for one. A box mounted on the Oliver rear bike rack would be a great setup, look cool, and it would free up space at the tongue for maneuvering room or other stuff, like Overland’s sexy offroad swivel jack. Just thinking... for now my genny travels in the truck. John Davies Spokane WA

I'm not sure what happened. I reset it. If it flips again, perhaps it's the duplicate display name on two accounts? Thanks for your patience... Sherry

As owner of Hull number 14, picked up in March of 2008. I've now pulled The Wonder Egg 124,000 miles from Florida to Alaska and California to Newfoundland, including most points in between, I do admit that 2018 Olivers include a more refined bit of quality control "between the hulls", and some cool toys are being thought of (push button awnings). That being said, my venerable Wonder Egg has faithfully provide me with the dream retirement, wandering the roads 4 to 7 months each year and traversing everything from smooth interstate highways to mind boggling frost heaves in Nova Scotia, car swallowing potholes in Newfoundland, and literal hundreds of miles of dirt roads in Alaska and Montana. The trailer's "bones" are sound. Items that have failed over this period have either timed out (10 years for the original microwave and water pump) or been abused by my failure to properly care for the entire mechanical system (because I live in south Texas and was complacent about winterizing). I believe this was causative to one of the internal pressure regulator's failure. Many wonderful changes have been made by Oliver over the years, such as placing a furnace between the hulls to quiet the noise when it is on. But to do this, the power cord reel was eliminated. I do love my 45 ft, 30 amp cord that winds into the trailer with a push of a button. Sure, there were QC issues at the beginning as the company went through the slow maturation process to where they are today. But since the first Ollie graced the roads of this nation, the company has stood by their "Trailer to Last a Lifetime" idea and always made it right for the customer. Even second owners are treated like part of the family. Now, with checks and double checks taking place throughout the building process. They have, indeed, come a long, long way in the Quality Control department. Some owners have minimal skills when it comes to turning a wrench or selecting the right widget for a mechanical job (take ME , for instance) Others are gifted with the ability to discern how something could be improved upon, and have the tools and wherewithal to make it so. Bless their hearts and thank goodness they are out there to improve their rig and help the Ollie be the best it can be. Some of their ideas make it into future Ollies and others stand as examples of how their unique rig has given The Starship Enterprise a run for its money in the "pizzaz" factor. It is apparent that recommendations for improvement are noticed by the company and incorporated when it is deemed feasible to improve the Ollies rolling off the line. But, we must realize not every good idea will make it to the production floor for a myriad of reasons. Ultimately, the company decides. It is nice, though, that they have and will likely continue to listen to us. Keep those ideas coming. Bottom line, to the original post of this thread, how is the quality control of an Oliver Travel Trailer? Has it improved over the years? You bet it has. This opinion is formed from my years as an early adopter of the Ollie and talks as well as face to face meetings with owners all over the country throughout the last ten years. Pete

Ahhhhh, the tropics. We have the same mildew problem & haven't discovered the cure yet. A couple weeks ago our Ollie spent the weekend at the "spa," which was us finding the shadiest spot available at Sanlan RV Resort & washing & waxing our gal. The Duragloss products were a breeze to apply but nothing I applied to the white seals removed the mildew completely. Tried: Awesome, Simple Green, Greenworks, Mr Clean sponge, & Clorox Cleaner. Next time I was going to hit them with something abrasive or SnoBol but will also have some acetone on hand if that fails. My question is, once I get them white again, I'm wondering if Captain Tolleys Miracle Crack Cure would seal them & prevent (or slow down) the mildew from returning. Chris

Bought a new 2018 GMC 2500 Duramax SLT 4x4 today. ~$10K under MSRP. We were just too close to GVWR on the Tundra. Torque and exhaust brakes are definate bonuses too. Hope to hitch her up next weekend for a test run with the Ollie.?

There's a product at the dollar stores called "awesome". In a clear spray bottle, and quart refills. It's a yellow color, in the cleaning section at both dollar tree and dollar general. Walmart has a similar product, but I don't remember the name, and I sent it home with my sister yesterday as it was so successful at cleaning the mildew off her door... Very good at removing mildew. Also removes the wax layers you've built up, so use a towel beneath to keep it from running down the side.... A little softscrub with lemon or bleach on an old toothbrush can also work. Same caveat. Keep it off the gelcoat.. and your wax. Rinse well when done. Unlike John, we're in Florida and North Carolina, and no strangers to mildew..... lol ? Sherry

Actually this is a matter of personal choice. In ten years of towing two different Oliver’s over 70,000 miles, our propane has never been off while under tow. Each owner needs to make their own decision as to which is best for them.

I have personally spoken with the Truma factory about winter camping and was told that as long as the water heater is on with propane running, it is protected from freezing down to -4F. I was also told that for winterizing (having the propane off in freezing temps) if the tank is drained and you remove the water cartridge that it is protected from damage. This method can also be used if you are planning on towing through freezing temps since your propane should be off while towing. -Angela