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I don't know about you, but my back isn't what it used to be and I'm not keen on bending/kneeling for longer than necessary. Attaching water hoses on the Ollie is a little awkward at best. I'm sure this is not a novel idea but I thought I'd share my new mod that will hopefully be faster and also save that crick in the back. I found a pack of 3 hose quick connects on Amazon and covers/dust caps for all of my hoses. The covers/plugs are actually for tractors or skid steer hydraulic fittings. It took me a few (let's say many) returns to get the right size ordered but I'm pleased with how they fit. We'll see if they stay on to keep the road debris out. The original chain caps can be used to plug the female ends of your basement stored hoses!

We are right on the coast near Pemaquid lighthouse and Beach. Your more than welcome. We can set you up with water and 15 amp electric in a sunny spot. There is a private inside bathroom in the barn with a shower and an outside shower too with a pool. We are about 1.5 hours north of Portland. Mcb is about 15 miles from us. Stop and stay. We have a sailboat and a power boat. We camp in the winter down south because we hate missing out on summer here. We would park you in the driveway in front of the barn. View of the beach and ocean from the pool and picture of the pool. Lots to do and the lobsters are right here. Seriously stop and stay a few days or a week. There is good kayaking here too.

Lamoine State Park is located close enough to Acadia for day trips but nicely outside the fray. Cobscook Bay State Park is way Downeast, and a nice place. If the border is open its close to Campobello Island which is worth a visit. I guess the question is are you looking to spend time along the coast, or looking for forests and mountains... we got both.. New Hampshire is pretty nice too.. don’t overlook the White Mountains.. . We’ve got space a little further north from Mainiac where you could land if need be as well ..

We have been also using Meguiar's products for over 14 years on fiberglass trailers with great results. Last weekend we returned home from a camping trip in the western parts of Virginia. The last campground was Sherando Lake on the Blue Ridge Parkway and we were under trees that liked to dump lots of sap. When we got home I just washed the trailer and the sap came of very easy. Then I polished the trailer with Meguiar's Premium Flagship Marine Wax; looks like new.

Could you share links for the products and correct sizes that you ended up using? Thanks! Cindy

If you end up heading north ( or East) of Acadia, and the border has opened, I highly recommend a trip out to Grand Manan Island in New Brunswick. It’s probably 3 hrs further along to where you pick up the ferry, so it’s not that far. The ferries run back and forth all day ( the trip is an hour, maybe hour and a half) and there are two campgrounds out there... I don’t know what you’re looking for, but there are beaches, whales, birds, rock hounding, endless cliff top hikes along the ocean, the 26 foot tides of the Bay of Fundy to marvel at.... lots of good stuff. it’s a pretty cool place to visit. We may try to make reservations for a week in July just hoping that the border opens by then.

+1 One of my fondest memories of my father ... Parents + 5 kids in a station wagon...just drove in from east jesus for our yearly camping trip...everyone exhausted and ragged...we can see the campsite where we are about to set up our tent...some fancy dude with some giant trailer thing can't get out of the road...what else could go wrong... Dad gets out of the car and just goes all "Ain't life beautiful" on everyone who will listen. "No place I'd rather be!" I was 12 and Dad was cool. There may be no answer when you are the guy backing in. But there certainly is when you are the guy waiting.

Much depends on how much of you there is to squeeze in there 🙂 We have the standard bed setup. I am 5'9" and carrying about 15# too much weight but have no trouble sliding into the dinette area from either side. We recently had six adults around the table for dinner on a windy night in the Steens and there was room for a couple more.

Another good option - posted by Frank C on the Oliver FB page. I just prefer the $4 rubber mat.

BTW I should add that I came to my opinion while van camping and therefore pretty much never being the one causing the wait - I was always waiting. But anyone with even shreds of situational awareness and empathy will just look at their phone or talk to their partner or see what interesting radio stations might be out there to distract their impatient monkey mind for the very few minutes it's going to take.

Thanks for all the suggestions and product recommendations. So here is my update and a product survey of products that I tried and the ones I settled on for removing the water stains on side of Ollie and then waxing. First: Cleaned and waxed the roof - I compared two waxes. The Starbright Marine Polish (left over from my many boating years) was used on one half the roof. The Meguiar's Flagship Cleaner/Wax was used on the other half of the roof. I found the Starbright wax easy to install and buff off (by hand) when dry. The Meguiar's wax was thicker and harder to get out of the bottle. It went on easier than the Starbright wax, and was easier to buff off (by hand) then the Starbright. Both finishes look great. I will see how each stands up to the environment. My recommendation though is the Meguiar's wax. Second and hardest - removing the water stains from the sides of the Ollie (see before picture attached earlier in this post): Washing the Ollie with a good Boat soap removed some of the water stain. I tired scrubbing the remaining water stains using the following products: 1) White vinegar which did almost nothing in removing the stains (maybe I should have used more "elbow grease". 2) White vinegar mixed with Joy kitchen soap which worked about the same as the white vinegar by itself. 3) Bio-kleen Oxidation remover, which was given to me by the previous owner. This would have worked (as reported by the previous owner) but the first try really did little and would have required a lot of "elbow grease" and multiply coats. I was a little nervous that the product might not be a friendly environmental chemical to use. 4) Star brite Premium Cleaner Wax which removed the water stains but some extra rubbing to remove the stain. (5) Meguiar's 67 One step compound. This product was thick and harder to get our of the bottle but I was amazed at how easy it went on and fully removed the water stains with only a little rubbing. The clear winner was the Meguiar's 67 One Step Compound which also had a polish componet in it. After using the Meguiar's 67 One Step Compound on the top half of the Ollie and before waxing, I took a picture of the side of the Ollie to show everyone. You can see the water stains on the lower half. Imagine these stains going up to the roof line before I removed them with the Meguiar's 67. With removal of the water stains and two coats of Meguiar's wax my Ollie now looks likes brand new just like fresh out of the factory. With this spring cleaning and waxing and washing throughtout the summer, (and washing and waxing before the winter layup hopefully the water stains do not reappear. Thanks again for everyones helpful suggestions. Richard

Unable to find a previous thread about what books you listen to on the road, I'm starting another. Please share any audio books you recommend to help make those long days on the road fly by. Here are some of our favorites, most of which were suggested by fellow Ollie owners. (Thank you!) Ordinary Heroes The Boys in the Boat A Man Called Ove Michener's Alaska (especially if you're going there) A River Runs Through It Beartown Girl with a Dragon Tattoo The Way I Heard It The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared Floating Twigs Where the Crawdads Sing

After recently upgrading to new 30 gallon LP tanks I decided to add a thin piece of rubber door mat to the shelf that the bottom tank rings sit on. I simply patterned it and cut it to fit the shelf. $4 for the mat at Wally World and 15-20 minutes to install. This should help prevent metal on metal corrosion from forming between the bottom of the LP tank ring and the metal shelf. I lightly sanded and cleaned the shelf, taped it off, and shot it with a rattle can coat of flat black rust preventive paint. Happy Camping!

Yeah, fast, easy setup at campgrounds is one of the keys to making things more enjoyable. I did the same as you and added quick connects to all the water connections. Got mine at Lowe’s.

Will Prowse posted this youtube this morning, reviewing Renogy mppt controller/b2b charger.

These are the products I used but the quick connects can be purchased anywhere. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SKKV4GB/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_6AHW2GN7VSF5S5HBG8PZ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 And https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MY68JKD/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_05TBWQ6KRM244F20J1B3

IL_Travelers, several owners have replaced the Dometic with a RecPro Houghton unit. There's a pretty nice thread with a lot of information in it on the model numbers, noise levels, etc.: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/search/?q=earplugs&quick=1 We have a Houghton and it's very quiet. Haven't used it a ton yet, but so far so good.

Pennie Hi csevel! My apologies for misspelling your name. I need to be more mindful. Pennie

So we have an interesting long term experiment now. Patriot with the mat, I have the halo rings, and Russell as the control sample with neither a mat nor the rings. Now we just wait and check back in on an annual basis to see which option works. 🙂

Krunch and I nearly finished "Where the Crawdads Sing” on our way home from Illinois this week, about 2 hours to go. I have some audible credits to use so I’ll check out the books mentioned in this thread. Unlike RB, I don't listen to anything heavy while driving. If I miss something in a non fiction book, it’s too distracting for me to find it while driving and fiction allows me to fill in the blanks instead of going back. I like pure entertainment whIle cruising down the road. And real books always put me to sleep so they take forever to finish and it’s much easier to find the place I reached before I feel asleep. Anything by W.E.B. Griffin, Lee Child, Michael Connelly fills my time while driving. While Ken Follett has some very good historical fiction books. And Sherry, I do believe "historical fiction" qualifies as an oxymoron. Mossey

I'll be the devils advocate - I prefer open area below the tanks - keeps the trash flowing through, moisture dries quickly, and when secured properly doesn't move a bit. After 20K miles my 30's are fine, and no problems. to each - their own. RB

I have been enjoying just about anything from David Baldicci or Sandra Brown. I just discovered both of these authors. For our trip to Hohenwald we listened to It’s a Long Story by Willie Nelson which we both enjoyed very much. I also love historical fiction so lots of different authors I like in that genre. Cindy

Ordered a set thanks FrankC! Between the rubber mat and the rings I believe I got it covered. 😊

This is the way to go! I like the 3M Perfect-It line of cutting compounds too!

We stopped over at Great Basin NP on our way home from Utah last week . . . . . mainly because it was half-way between Cannonville (our last Utah stopover) and Lamoille, NV (where we were meeting one of my HS friends), but also because the sites were FCFS (until Memorial Day weekend). We chose to stay at Baker Creek. There were several sites available, but we had a hard time finding one anywhere near level. As it was, we had to jack the Oliver's front up quite a bit. The sites were all gravel, which is fine, but apparently the NP system doesn't understand the need for levelness. We tried two pull through sites, entering from both directions before we found an orientation that sort of worked. Some of the problem is that our SD longbed crew cab is hard to maneuver into pull-through sites that have a good curve to them. Before leaving, we drove up to Wheeler Peak and checked out both of the Lehman CGs. I thought the Upper CG was better than Baker Creek as the sites were all paved and appeared to be more level; it looked well maintained. Lower Lehman seemed a bit neglected. We did enjoy the change in scenery, after nearly two weeks of desert, canyons and red rocks; the wildflowers, at the campground elevation (7,500') were fantastic - there were meadows full of Sunflowers, Lupine, and Indian Paintbrush. We also had numerous encounters with marmots, deer and a variety of birds. We also met a couple (ironically from Bend, Oregon) who asked how we like our Oliver. They had a shorter version Lance, but with a slide out and way more room than they need, and Oliver is at the top of their list. They were thrilled when we offered them a "look-see" (the wife confessed that she had adamantly told the husband "not to ask for a tour"!) As an aside, we found S. Utah to be overwhelmed with campers; too much for our taste. Fortunately we had made reservations because everything was full, including the popular boondock sites. We didn't even attempt to see Arches or Bryce Canyon; we did spend a couple of days at Capitol Reef, which was not too busy. All of the trailhead parking throughout the entire southern region was full and overflowing; we inquired at the Escalante visitor center where a ranger gave us some suggestions for hiking areas that are less frequented: The Red Canyon Arches trail was awesome. Additionally, the state parks (Dead Horse Point and Kodachrome were not crowded, if you got there early. We drove several scenic routes along the way - Colorado River Hwy 128 (again, all the campgrounds were full); Hwy 313 to Dead Horse Point, and Hwy 12 from Torrey to Cannonville. We were able to drive through the Cedar Breaks (the road had just recently opened) and we drove out BLM road 500 from Cannonville and hiked through the Willis slot canyon; the road was decent and had been recently graded. After returning to pavement, we decided to drive the 11 miles out Cottonwood Canyon Road to see the Grosvener Arch. The road was terribly wash-boardy; it took us nearly an hour to reach the arch, but it was well worth it; again, not many people there. It seems that getting off pavement is the trick to avoiding crowds. The final leg of our trip was spectacular; we took Hwy 50 from Utah to Ely, NV, then through the Ruby Valley (east side of the Ruby Mountains), over a pass, and down into the Lamoille Valley. Such a beautiful place; I've been wanting to visit since my girlfriend moved there a few years ago and so glad we did. We spent the night at Thomas Canyon CG (USFS) - yes, we had reservations. Our only disappointment was the last day on the trip home when we decided to spend the night at Virgin Valley, NV. My husband usually stops there when he's passing through on his motorcycle; there is a "warm spring" with a pool and always on warm showers - free camping in the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge. FCFS (always) and rarely more than a couple of campers. However, being the Friday of the Memorial Day holiday, it was full - and, again, way too many people. We spent a quiet night at the rest area just west Virgin Valley. We are home for a time, now: with grandkids graduating, family commitments, physical therapy (long story), and garden planting. Have you tried purchasing raised bed soil this season? Yet another Covid shortage. I guess I'll have to resort to using our barn compost and deal with the weeds. Or, perhaps I could sell it on Craigslist 😎

Anchors up!

These valves all need some sort of regular lubrication. You don’t have to spend a bunch on branded lubricants. A few ounces of mineral oil very few dumps is helpful, to keep the seals soft and pliable. The oil will float on top of the water in the tanks and slosh around while towing. While you have them disconnected at the valves, remove the three inner wires entirely, clean, lube and reinstall. If they look nasty or rusted the entire assemblies should be replaced at some point. Take a look at this thread, your handles may be fine or they may be like mine were…. https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/2577-how-to-fix-your-waste-tee-handles-so-they-won039t-break-off/ Good luck, I hope nothing unexpected pops up… John Davies Spokane WA

Hi Mainiac, This was a quote on the "Ladies on the Fly" website: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover” … Mark Twain

We like Moosehead Lake as a great place. It is away from the tourist areas. Though the pink granite of Acadia, the pounding surf, and fresh lobster are hard to beat. Lily Bay SP is great, but probably all ready booked. We go to Seboomaook Wilderness Campground. 24 miles to the stop sign, turn right at the stop sign and it is only another 12 miles, all on well maintained dirt roads. It is the site of a POW camp for German Africa Corp,during WWII. "Who knew the Army ran on paper and needed pulp?" It is the largest mountain lake in the eastern United States, large Brook and Lake Trout. It is recommended that you stop for the Moose, and wait for them to get off the road. They tend to be quite large. The area doesn't have a large population, and it is a little travel to Greenville, but the have some nice restaurants and ice cream stands. PEI is a nice once in a life time run, and Nova Scotia has some truly quaint spots. Rumor is the border may open to vaccinated folks come July 1rst. We do have a free field with plenty of sun, 20 amp plug and cold well water near Brunswick ( 3 miles from the Interstate) if needed ...

I removed my black valve, it isn’t too complicated and shouldn’t take up too much of your time while camping (a few hours at the most). You could also try just cleaning the one you have to see if you can get the blade to seat all the way down. Like I said elsewhere, after dumping we routinely open the dinette seat and physically push the blade down. Make sure your black tank is clean! Maybe put a few gallons of water, a detergent pod and a bleach pod in before you leave home and let it agitate around while driving, then dump when you get there. Good luck! Mike

Welcome to the forum, and glad you are doing your research. If you’ve never done any camping/RVing, or even towed anything before, and you’re planning on just jumping right into full time 4 season living in a trailer, you really should consider trying a rental first to understand the reality of living in and maintaining a travel trailer. This forum just had a very interesting saga with a member that had never done any RVing before and had the same dream of living full time on the open road with their dog in their brand new Oliver Elite I, and discovered the reality was very different than the dream. They sold the Elite 1 after their very first trip. It made for very entertaining posts on this forum.

Hi Mainiac! Thanks for your suggestions. I've seen a lot of LE's online--along with many, many others that didn't meet my standards. I know the real thing when it comes along--lol...and the LE is it. Anita is trying to set up a local visit and she sent me the brochures and price lists earlier this morning after we initially talked. Thanks again.

We also use the TV as a daily driver. Right now a 3/4 ton TV is not on the radar for us. Put many thousand miles on a 5.7L Tundra towing Ollie around the lower 48. It will be interesting to see the new generation 2022 Tundra's cargo carrying capacity, but don't know if it will still be a 1/2 ton pickup, will see. We travel light with Ollie & TV. Our LE2 (no factory solar system) weighs in at 4940 pounds ready to camp with slightly less than 500 pounds of tongue weight with empty water tanks except for full 6 gallon water heater as per CAT scales last month. Lower tongue weight helps reduce overall weigh of the TV while connected to Ollie, increasing cargo carrying capacity of the TV helping keep TV under maximum cargo, axles, and GVW weights. Used to leave gear in the TV we only used once every year or two, that gear now stays home unless needed for a specific trip.

While there are no "bad" sales people at Oliver - if anyone can help you it is Anita. Good luck!

Hi Mike and Carol! Really like your welcome and post. I just spent the past two hours talking to Saleswoman Anita at Oliver. She was marvelous!!! I got so much valuable information from her but what made our conversation so wonderful was her obviously caring personality and the love for her job and the company and it's products and service. During the past two months I've talked to a lot of people in her position in other companies who barely gave a d**n, no less offered me a bare skeleton of time or info. Anita knew from the get-go she didn't need to "sell" me on Oliver. It was obvious that I wanted one. We shared stories that ranged all over the map along with giving me pointers on the website about the videos and University. Thank you Anita!!! It's just a matter of time. Fun facts: I own a 2018 Chevy Colorado Redline V6, 4x4 with their factory installed towing package. So far, I haven't seen my towing truck mentioned in various posts here but it is rated at a 7,000# towing capacity (which I don't want to go near). Curb weight: 4,340#s GVWR: 6,200#s GAWR: 6,700#s GCWR: 12,000#s Tongue Weight: 500#s All of this puts me at the LE rather than the LEII as I can't afford two new vehicles and I really like my truck. It only has 16,500 miles on it mostly due to Covid and sheltering in place for the last 16 months. I know, I could sell/trade it in a heartbeat these days but I really do like the way it handles. As a sprightly late 60's woman, I'm so ready for this. Thank you again Mike, Carol, John, Seadog, and Cindy! Pennie

In my research for the someday upgrade to lithium on the boat, (much larger battery bank than our Elite), I ran across this video from Victron. It tests two types of alternators charging lithium, and possible consequences. And, a short explanation of solutions, including addition of a b2b charger, as John did, at the end. Watching that alternator smoke is a very clear visual explanation of why Oliver disconnects that charging circuit.

It takes a little time to obtain your correct setting for the Andersen WDH adjustment. I have been running for the past several years with 8 treads showing and I think for my set up it is the best. Before I disconnect the Andersen's whale tail I always run the adjusting nut to zero threads showing, that gives additional chain for re-connection at any angle; it only takes a few extra minutes.

Erika and I have been listening to Craig Alanson's Expeditionary Force series (book 12 on June 1st). Columbus Day is the first book. It may seem a bit slow at first (build back-story), but about the time you think the story is over (1/2 way through), you'll be introduced to a VERY interesting character named Skippy. He'll be in every other book thereafter. Joe and Skippy really make the entire series funny. This is a amusing Sci-Fi series, but not too deep nor technical. You won't have to think too hard on any technical terms. It's written for "dumb monkeys", you'll get that reference soon enough. Narrated by R.C. Bray. He's absolutely the best. https://www.amazon.com/Columbus-Day-Craig-Alanson-audiobook/dp/B01MQR08XA/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= Enjoy. Chris

We make it practice to always try and just be patient and just decent. Cooler heads will always prevail. We had a situation last year at a CG where we pulled up to a site we reserved and it was occupied. The couple had just completely set up unfortunately at our site. We greeted them both nicely and showed them our res on our iPhone. He checked his res and said…you are right. The guy was super nice and apologized and I offered to help him move which he declined. We just patiently waited for them to move to their site and actually got to know them a little and really we enjoyed each other’s company. I mentioned to him later that was the quickest most efficient move I had ever seen. We both got a chuckle. I don’t think his wife was very happy with him at first, but it all worked out. I don’t always have the unrealistic expectation that things will always go super smooth, but decency and respect go a long way in my experience.

BTW the impatience is likely to be worst (based on tuning into my own type A - ness 😉 ) in first come first served settings in that period of mid morning through mid afternoon where the rats are trying to find the limited number of pieces of cheese in the maze and they know other rats are already exploring other parts of the maze. That may be a setting in which to more quickly go to the "take another loop and clear your head" move.

dewdev, We use Meguiar's Flagship marine wax for cleaning and waxing. It will remove some stains/spots and make new spots & stains where waxed easy to remove. We had some water spots that could not removed by waxing. Called Meguiar's and they recommended using their #67 one step compound, then using their Flagship marine wax. This process took care of the spots. We purchased Ollie used and now looks better than when purchased.

@Patriot Lookin' good! I know, it has nothing to do with gutters, but what color are your decals?