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We've had our travel trailer since January 2019. Other than taking it home (Northern Kentucky, near Augusta) we've never taken it on a camping trip due to illness. We've left it outside since early Spring and we were dismayed to discover black stripes all over, just like Overland showed. We've run through the gamut of detailers, finally settling on Duragloss 923, which removed most of the stripes but still left a feint black shadow. As BackofBeyound reported, none of the detailers were effective in removing these stripes from the white plastic window trim. In desperation I read this thread again and noticed a suggestion by Underdug to use a product called "Roll-Off". I ordered a bottle and it effortlessly removed the black stripes from both the gelcoat and the plastic window trim. I mean effortlessly: squirt, wipe, done.

tl;dr - absolutely buy this, and depending on how you use your kitchen sink, maybe buy this. When we started looking at campers/trailers one of my requirements was that we should be able to go for a full week without refilling our water supply, using an estimated 7 gallons of water per day for both my wife and me, which included a daily shower for each of us. That was ~50 gallons, so we knew we couldn't get that with the Ollie, but were hoping that with some diligence and an extra 12 gallons carried in the truck that we could stretch a calculated 6 days into 7. That never happened, and of course we actually slid the other direction, getting more like 5 days - 3.5 from the trailer tank and another 1.5 from the extra water. I think if we really ran the tanks dry that we'd have gotten 6 full days but we never had a situation to really test that, mostly since we'd start to get nervous around the 20% mark and would go find water. Then last year I replaced the kitchen faucet, and the new one had an aerator that really had no flow restriction at all. It was rated at 2.5 gallons/minute vs 1.5 for the standard Delta faucet Oliver uses. And it also has a short little lever that made it hard to adjust to a small stream to save water. We could do it, but it was a pain. I realized last month though that the faucet would take a standard sized aerator, so I decided to buy a few to test them out. The ones I got were better, but made my cool kitchen faucet seem average, and I couldn't have that. But a little internet sleuthing led me to The Mikado. It restricts the flow to an amazing 0.35 gallons per minute and has the coolest spiral spray pattern you've ever seen. At only 0.35 gpm, I imagine you'd get pretty frustrated if you wanted to fill a glass of water; but we use bottled water and only use the kitchen faucet to do dishes and wash hands, so that low of a flow rate actually works out perfectly for us. We lost the ability to switch between two different sprays, but we never used that feature anyway. With that success, I decided to take on the shower. The highest rated low flow shower head I could find is the High Sierra. It's not a looker by any means - it's downright ugly. But it seemed like anyone who's ever rated shower heads has placed them at the top of their list, and it has a flow rate of only 1.5 gpm vs Oliver's 2.2, so I put my aesthetic sense to the side and ordered it. In its favor, it feels great in the hand - very heavy and solid, and it also has a trickle feature like the faucets Oliver used to use, which is great for keeping the water warm while sudsing up. Not in its favor is that I found it nearly impossible to connect to the hose from Oliver's faucet. I ended up having to order an oddball adapter and then modifying that to make it work. (It would have been easier just to have swapped out the entire faucet, which is what I'd recommend anyone else do.) But even with the adapter, it does slide back into the faucet just like the original, so apart from being a pain to make work, it does work just the same. But I have to say that this shower head is truly amazing. It has a surprisingly forceful stream that feels as if it's using twice as much water as before, if not more. It works so well that I didn't believe it was only using 1.5 gpm and had to test it myself - which made me even more surprised since I actually got a little less. I'm not exaggerating when I say that this really transformed the shower, and I highly recommend it to everyone, whether you're trying to save water or not. But it is ugly. After both of those mods, I thought I'd see if lowering the water pressure would make any difference, and found that 40 psi was about the point that I started to notice some drop off in the shower output. The sink stayed the same regardless what I set the pressure at. In fact it will actually run for a good while with the pump off, just from residual pressure in the pipes. So I've set both the pump and my external pressure regulator to 40 now, which I suppose helps my plumbing and maybe makes some dent in water usage though I doubt much. The result? 8 full days this past trip with both of us taking showers each day, split roughly 5/3 for the Ollie's tank and the extra gallons in the truck. So 2+ extra days of water while at the same time improving the quality of the water at both the sink and the shower and being able to lower the water pressure. Really A+ results. I don't know how often we'll actually need a full week's worth of water, but on this last trip it worked out well for us since only once were we someplace that we could actually hook up the trailer to a hose, which meant a lot fewer trips to get water. Also it means a little less stress and obsessing over water use, which is a good thing. By the way, the replacement aerator may work with the stock faucet, but I'm embarrassed to say that somehow I've lost mine* so I can't check. *Along with the sink. How do you lose a sink?

I was looking for a unique place to go camping & I found Fort Clark Springs. A calvary Fort until after WWII when the Army did away with horse calvary and went too mechanized calvary. At one time there was 5000 horses at this Fort! The thing that drew me to this place was a beautiful spring fed swimming pool. 68°! Pretty darn cold. But during the summer when its 100°, 68° is not too bad. The campground is not the most beautiful but it’ll do. Lot of historical buildings on this Fort & interesting history.

Found some non-slip tape laying around and applied it to protect the gelcoat (think I saw from John D.) but don't put your spare back on front facing and scuff it up - make sure the front is rear facing. Just sharing one of my many mistakes.

Good idea, thanks. And to add on to you post, I used a Home Depot bucket lid to make a washer for the threaded rod and round nut. Mike

Called Carefree and they suggested to put a small piece of the soft side of velcro along the roller when fully extended. While in the process of doing this I was cleaning the awning and found a fair amount of debris along the top channel of awning. Cleaned out a bunch of leaves and put the velcro piece as well and both sides close flush now!

Yes. I started with a bigger maybe 2 x 4” piece but it brought out the other side too much so I just cut it down until I got it right. Ended up with a small piece on each end maybe one by two. Had to roll the awning in and out several times to check it.

July 18th is the official day Joy and I will take possession of our new Oliver, #501, and hopefully become contributing members of this impressive group of owners. To give you a little background on ourselves, we purchased an Airstream 28 in 2011 which served us well as our vacation home on many wonderful trips. We are not at all opposed to dry camping, but we primarily stay in State and Federal campgrounds. The Oliver first caught our eye two years ago. We paid special attention to the ones we saw in campgrounds and we began reading what we could about them. The intensity built and one Friday in April we arranged to see an Oliver in person. We were so impressed with the quality, livability and the apparent nimbleness that we were on the phone with Rodney Lomax the following Monday. We digested what we learned from Rodney and the next morning the order was placed. Our maiden voyage will be about 2 1/2 months. The furthest destination will be Door County, WI, then drift SW to Bentonville, AR, meandering to the SE and then back to SW Florida by mid-September. It is important for us to get back to help FSU football get out of their slump. Once our curiosity turned to genuine interest, we have been following the impressive posts on the forum. We would like to thank each and every one of you for providing your input to the concerns of others you have yet to meet. Even though we have a certain amount of experience, we have found your input to be very informative - thank you. We will be on the road in a couple of weeks and rather than just admiring your Oliver, we may stop by to say hello. John and Joy

I received my new 2 5/16” head, it is gorgeous but I have questions.... I emailed Andersen for clarification. Is that blue ring the friction cone, or a separate water seal? As delivered, it doesn’t contact the black retaining ring, but with towing use the cone (and blue ring?) will extrude upwards into the retainer ring, hopefully creating a water tight connection. Fingers crossed.... The new whaletail is silver, but its does NOT have the swiveling pin lugs, it is built similar to the old one except the internal diameter of the large hole is smaller. It won’t fit over the tail of my old ball... ??? I also got a new 2 5/16” Bulldog coupler for $88 shipped. I will start a new thread for the coupler and for the hitch when I install them, which will be in a week, as I have a trip to the Wallowa Mountains in Oregon, starting in a couple of days. John Davies Spokane WA

[postquote quote=179913][/postquote] Hi Mirna, Welcome aboard! As John mentioned, please fill out your profile so we can see where you are and more about what you will be doing, or what your interests are. Probably everyone here is biased toward fiberglass, and for good reasons. One very obvious weak link with the Lance is the rubber roof. These are very vulnerable to mechanical damage, will fail over time from the sun, and can cause very serious water damage to the structure when they do fail. Having a slide-out gives a lot of interior room, but can be drafty and make the trailer hard to heat. They also seriously reduce the useful interior space when in. So if you stop on the road for the night, you may have to deploy it just too get from one end to the other. When traveling, that would become a problem. I had one in an "Extreme Edition" Fleetwood and we went through a lot of propane trying to overcome the drafts and stay warm. Olivers are streamlined, the roofs can not fail, they have good insulation. Look where the jack is on the front of the Lance and compare that to the Oliver jack location. You can open the tailgate of your truck, while connected, with an Oliver. Not so much with so many other common designs that use the same jack location, right next to the coupler. Be sure to check the cabinet material. Is is just stapled together pressboard with a friction catch? Or do they have a positive latch? How many batteries are included? Olivers have (4) batteries located over the axle. Look at the plumbing for the black and gray tank drain. Is it hanging down where it can get knocked off on a curb or a rock? Oliver plumbing is all up inside in a closed compartment at the rear bumper. If the cost is helping to drive the decision, look in the classifieds for a used Oliver. I know of at least one in there that is a very good deal. They hold their value much better than a Lance, because they can be used for generations if desired.

Mirna, for its type that Lance isn’t too bad, you could probably get a well optioned one for $40,000, well below the base price of the bigger Ollie. But they are really apples and oranges, the build quality, materials, warranty, resale value and above all customer service are nowhere as good. It does have big tanks, which is good, but that means extra weight to tow. The slideout is a very bad thing for a number of reasons, the optional solar package is too small and the twin batteries are only adequate. The rubber axles and tires are budget items, For boondocking you need ample solar and battery capacity, a composting toilet, enclosed tanks and waste systems, rugged suspension, and ample ground clearance. The Ollie excels at this sort of camping. The Lance could work, but it isn’t really meant for this. No offense, but nobody here is going to recommend a conventional mass produced low quality trailer over a high quality hand built Oliver legacy trailer, which is intended to last decades and be passed onto future generations. I would be surprised if that Lance lasted five years of moderate use. Have you looked at an Ollie in person? That is the first thing you should do at this stage, a half hour of poking around will answer so many of your questions. A F250 will pull either trailer without working hard, no worries. If buying a new one, consider waiting for the brand new 7.3 liter gas engine, it sounds as if it will be great. Welcome to the forum. Fill out your personal details, and tell us where you want to boondock. John Davies Spokane WA

Having picked up our Ollie on 6/24 and spend a week heading home to Michigan I spend a great deal of time cleaning the Ollie and removing the bugs. I have been a fan of the Starbrite Marine polish for years. After getting it clean I applied a coat of this product to the trailer and was extremely pleased with the results. This stuff removed any stains left from the trees and leaves on the fiberglass, and shines as well as any of the other products in this post. Here are some pictures but its overcast here. I think this is as good as the other products in this post and it just give you another option. The application is easier than paste wax. sorry about the pictures Doug

I think your overall question has as many answers as there are owners. Everyone is different. Some people can't live without their InstaPot, whereas I couldn't imagine taking up so much space with something like that. And I have no doubt that people would roll their eyes at a few things that I find indispensable. Basically, figure out what you're going to cook and what you need to cook it. Same with bath stuff, dishes, clothes, etc. I wouldn't worry about weight on your first trip - you'll figure out what you need and don't need quickly enough and can pare down on your next trip. And it will probably take two or three trips to really nail down everything. If you think you're taking too much, then it's probably a good exercise to kind of map out where you're going to store things just so you have some idea if it will all fit. I have heard of some people who showed up with so much stuff that they actually had to drive back home to dump half of it. The Magma cookware is top notch and worth every penny, imo. It's as good as any high end cookware you'd find for your kitchen. But I like to cook and like to cook with good tools - which is why, apart from the Magma cookware, few to no 'space saving' items have made the cut in our trailer; and we've ended up replacing those things with duplicates of what we use at home, regardless of their size or weight.

Tried Meguiar’s Flagship Premium Marine Wax for the first time today, easy on & off. Ollie is looking great!!!!!!!!!!!

Overland, There is a product called "Roll-Off" that is available at RV, Marine supplies and amazon. This stuff is amazing for removing those black streaks . Wet, spray it on rub with a soft brush or microfiber and let sit and rinse. This stuff has been a boaters secret for a long time cleans shines and does not hurt the wax. A quart may save you some elbow grease. https://www.amazon.com/Amazing-Roll-Off-Multi-Purpose-Cleaner-oz/dp/B000FSDZTU/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3MIO9T6WAA6YI&keywords=roll-off&qid=1553953984&s=gateway&sprefix=roll-off%2Caps%2C157&sr=8-3 Doug