ScubaRx

Susan, many of us have chosen our own designs for the front graphic. Ours is the same as our avatar. I had it made locally and applied it myself.

Mac, I was in the middle of writing a response earlier today to the news about your new truck but, in my zeal to show the picture to Tali, I lost the post. I want to say how nice it looks and I know you guys will be very happy with it. I truly believe all your towing frustrations will now be a thing of the past. No more worries about 12,000 foot passes, up or down. Use your exhaust brake and manual down shifting on downhill runs. Don't be surprised if you rarely use your brakes. You're also going to find your maximum torque (910 lb-ft @ 1,600 rpm) will be right where you need it - at cruising speed. Now, you're all set when that OEIII rolls off the line. We fold the back seat 2/3's up for Reacher (our 105 pound Doberman.) He likes to sit in the single passenger seat and look out over Tali's shoulder. We had a cover made for that seat so he won't harm the upholstery.

We own both a Silverado High Country 2500 HD diesel and a GMC Canyon SLT diesel. We love both. The Canyon is generally our daily driver (one tank of fuel since February.) We get about 35 MPG on the highway regardless of speed. The Silverado is our tow vehicle. We get about 14 MPG towing our 7500 pound LEII and over 20 MPG on the highway. Would the Canyon tow the Oliver? Not very well, the trailer's too heavy. Would it tow an Oliver Elite? Absolutely. It would make one of the best tow vehicles out there. I rate our Silverado as A+++.

There will be more to the Lithium package than just adding batteries......

I have given this information to hundreds of Oliver owners over the past 12 years. Don't ever run your jacks all the way down to the ground. Always place a block or pad on the ground and let the jack foot sit on that. We use a 6" piece of treated 4x6 stood on end under each rear jack. This accomplishes two things: # 1 - Depending on the height of the your block/pad, it takes much less time to lower and raise the jack. #2 - When you drive off after forgetting to raise one (or both) the rear jacks it will simply slide off the block/pad without bending the lower leg. Repair will cost you about $500 each and, unless you're pretty handy, a trip to Hohenwald. I made it 10 years before lowering one jack in the rain one night (I have remote jack switches inside) because I was too lazy to go outside and get wet putting the block under it. It was absolutely the one and only time I had failed to heed my own advice and it bit me in the ass the next day when I started to drive off. It is a matter of when, not if. Luckily I was at home when this happened. If I had been on the road when this occurred, I would have been stuck. The leg can not retract when it is bent back at a 45 degree angle and I wouldn't have had a reciprocating saw to cut the bottom off to be able to move on.

Every one must make their own decision about this. Personally, I'd rather know immediately that there is something going on with one of my tires than wait till someone flags me down to let me know that I now only have three tires left.

I would think the decision between the Suburban and Truma water heaters would boil down to the type camping you do (or plan to do) most. The full benefits of the Truma would only be available if you are using full hookups in a RV park. You can't very well have quick/unlimited hot water without having unlimited cold water in the first place and a drain down which to put said water after you're done using it. We spend 95% of our time boondocking so I can't see spending the extra money with our style of camping. OTOH if you are primarily camping with hookups, you could probably forgo the solar/battery package and with the money you save, justify spending it on a Truma.

I've read this entire thread. Based on your posts, if I were you, I'd sell that trailer and get me something I could be happy with.

Wonder if they might be called M-O-T-E-R-H-O-M-E-S ?

That link took me to an E-Bay ad for a 1979 Volkswagen Bus/Vanagon CAMPER

This last month has been a really long year. Gosh, sometimes I find myself longing for those halcyon days when we just fretted about tire pressures, which vehicle was best for towing and whether propane is safe.

Bryan, we live up the road a bit, in Tupelo. We've owned two different Oliver's, a 2008 Elite and currently a 2014 Elite II. We've traveled with three dogs in each of these trailers. Two are small (under 15 pounds), one is huge (over 100 pounds). The doberman minds well and stays out of the way while in the trailer. The two little ones are usually on one or the other of the beds. We've never found them to be a problem. I usually take them outside the last thing at night and Tali usually gets them out in the morning. In 12 years of camping I don't recall the weather ever being an issue to the point where they couldn't do their business. Yeah, sometimes they come in dirty with mud on their feet. They're dogs. One of the little ones is fast, if you're not quick, he'll be inside and on your bed before you can catch him to clean him up. We wipe them off as best we can and clean up the floor later.

It can be repaired without any major renovations. You won't have to remove the shower pan. You'll need a special spanner wrench to reach into the drain and hold the chrome piece stationary while unscrewing the fitting from the dinette access panel outside the bathroom wall. You will need to either grow and extra 8 foot arm or get someone to help with this. This job is so much easier on the Elite II's than the old Elites due to the fact that the shower pan is now raised above the coach floor. It's still not easy, but it can be done. Good luck!

I'm not sure your're understanding "flattening the curve". This is about utilization of hospital beds and staff. If 500 people get sick in 3 days and all go to a single hospital, it would overwhelm the staff. If the same same scenario were to occur over a 60 day period it would not have the same effect on the hospital beds or staff. I understand your concern for those dying from cancer and car wrecks. But, most of the 1600 people you mention are already in a health care situation so whatever curve is involved has already be absorbed into the daily flow. The "900 deaths a day in vehicle fatalities" are dead at the scene and don't impact hospital bed usage and there is no curve to deal with. If you really want to be concerned about something that could easily be fixed, consider the seasonal flu. Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the flu kills 290,000 to 650,000 people per year. Where's our outrage about that? The CDC recommends getting a flu vaccine and taking everyday preventive steps to help stop the spread of germs such as staying home (sound familiar) when you're sick. In my health care career, one of my job responsibilities during flu season was to ask patients if they'd had their flu shot. Most said they had had or wanted one. But a good number of people would refuse using any number of excuses. I never heard a reasonable one. Anytime there is a new emerging infectious disease that is shrouded in mystery with a lot of unknowns, it captivates people in a way that a regular virus that people deal with on a yearly basis won’t.

I would suggest running a permanent, dedicated line down to the trailer. If you use 150 feet of #6 wire, drawing 12.5amps at the trailer you will have a: Voltage drop: 1.48 Voltage drop percentage: 1.23% Voltage at the end: 118.52 Get one of these to place at the trailer. Make sure the source of electricity at your house is at least a 30amp breaker and you'll be all set. We did this 12 years ago and we can run anything we hook to it, heaters and the air conditioner.

I agree wholeheartedly.

Your trailer can never fall below ambient temperature. Wind chill has no effect on inanimate objects. It will, however, reach that temperature faster with wind.

Sherry, the plan is to mount 2x100 watt panels on the top of the camper shell to charge a 100Ahr AGM battery in the back of the truck. This will be used to power the Dometic full time. I just didn’t get it all done prior to leaving yesterday for Quartzsite. We should have it finished by the rally.

As a "thank you" for helping a friend with a trailer project, I was gifted a Jackery Portable Power Station Explorer 500. I'd never heard of it but it has turned out to be a pretty cool gadget. I'm still playing around with it and to see what its capabilities are, I'm taking it with us when we leave tomorrow for Quartzsite. Initially, I'm going to see how long it will power our new Dometic CFX 75DZW Electric Cooler/Freezer. Tests at home have it working fine, but the problem will be recharging it on the road. We'll see.

What, you have more than one pair of shoes??? At the same time??!!! Oh my goodness, you Oliver people are really rich.

We have camped many times in temps down to what you're describing. We do not have any additional heaters under the floor. In the situation you describe, the propane furnace will provide sufficient heat to keep your inside plumbing going. Do not hook up to outside water and expect it to be running the next morning, even with a heated hose it will most likely freeze at one end or the other so you do need to pay attention to "the outside fittings, ie city water connection, shower nozzle." Pete has "bilge heaters" in his unit. Maybe he'll chime in here. Realize though, you would have to have hookups (electricity) to be able to use them. Even a large tank of water will eventually freeze at 10 degrees but in my experience, simply keeping the basement areas slightly above freezing does the trick and it's not too hard to do. It WILL use a lot of propane so be aware of that. My guess is that if the temperature never got above 10 degrees, the furnace would run pretty much constantly and you could could use up 60 pounds of propane in less than a week. Realistically, probably daytime temps would get to near freezing or above and lessen that propane load. Running out of propane in below freezing temps would not be fun or safe, but that's why there are wheels on your trailer. If you are not trapped somewhere, move.

GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) is usually easy to ascertain for a given vehicle. It's generally on a sticker inside the driver's door. CCC (Cargo Carrying Capacity) seems to be a bit harder to determine. Depending on factory options that came with the vehicle, that value could go up or down. Plus, if you've added several thousand pounds of "permanent" options (bumpers, toppers, bed slides) that comes out of the total also. OK, I think (hope) I already know the answer but here's the question. Wouldn't the easiest way to make sure you're not overloaded be to just weight the tow vehicle in its loaded, ready to travel state and make sure that it's under the GVWR? I realize that tongue weight has to be counted also.

The problem lies with the Progressive Industry’s EMS. A quick work around is to simply turn it off. Then you eliminate the potential that there is a problem within the generators. If everything works as expected in this scenario, it indicates that the EMS is doing its job. I would then call the tech department at Progressive Industry. They will have seen this problem before and know how to remedy it. Hope this helps.

This guy has a lovely wife and a beautiful child. He also has a gigantic heart. Phil is fun to hang with and a great guy to have around if things start to go belly-up. They just don’t come any better than Phil Andrews. Thank YOU, Phil for all you do.

Here's a trick I've used several times. This is not specific to any given area of the trailer. Use a flexible but stiff object such as this to push through the area you want to fish a wire. Attach a length of string trimmer line similar to this (any brand will do) and pull through at least twice as much as the distance needed to go completely through. Attach the wire you want to fish to the center of the pull line and pull through being careful not to lose the lower end of the pull line by pulling too far. When finished, pull the line back and leave a coil of the pull line at either end of the area for the next time you want to pull something new.