Mattnan
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Posts posted by Mattnan
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Just arrived back in Maine after leaving Nashville on Sunday. The Ollie is back in its barn! 4 months and 12,000 plus miles without incident. No issues with the Ollie in temperature ranging from the mid 90s to 5 degrees. Elevation from sea level to over 8000 feet. We saw and experienced a lot. We have achieved what we set out to do when we purchased the trailer.
Our plans were fulfilled. We will begin preparing for summer on the coast of Maine.
We will be making some changes so we will be following our original plan and listing the Olliver for sale very soon.
This was our plan all along after this trip. We will be including some extras that will be helpful and cost saving for a new owner. Oliver provided full service on the trailer in December. Keep your eyes peeled in the classifieds on this forum and on the Olliver Facebook forum. We expect to be listing the trailer soon!!!
Thanks
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The fitted sheets are from AB Lifestyles. We have them on our Southern Mattresses. That said, I do exactly as Boudicca908 does. My wife has also converted to tbis method!!
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2 hours ago, Rivernerd said:
I have owned a Tundra with 5.7L V8, 6-speed auto transmission and trailer package since 2008. First a 2008, and now a 2019. They both have the "Select Shift" feature ("S" on the gear display below the "D") which allows you to manually control the transmission with a thumb wheel on the gearshift lever. I have towed several different trailers ranging from 3K lbs. to 6K lbs., sometimes with passengers and a loaded pickup bed, up and down the mountains of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana during those 14 years. I have been able to sufficiently control my speed with the thumb wheel going down steep hills, being pushed by the trailer, that I rarely have had to engage the brakes.
One of the reasons we bought the 2019 Tundra when the 2008 got old (in addition to our love of Toyota reliability) is this feature. I find it remarkably useful when towing in the mountains.
We still have a 2008 Tundra set up like Rivernerd's with 110,000 miles. We have been on the road for almost 4 months. We get about 12 mpg on the flat roads in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. We average 9 to 11 in the mountains going up and down. The old Tundras are notoriously gas hogs and I only get 14 mpg in daily use. I would suggest investigating the new Tundra but based on gas mileage on TFL, they are not getting much if any better towing. They are in daily use. Our Mountain experience is primarily in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. I operated the truck and transmission exactly as Rivernerd described. We did have one instance of a 6 mile 6 percent down grade where I had to use the brakes on the truck and manually engaged the trailer brakes too. This was the only time I felt the need to really use the breaks. I am very conservative and most of the traffic passes me. We seldom exceed 65 mph. The Tundra has plenty of power up hill. Up hill has not been an issue. I think with the exception of a couple of times when I needed to accelerate to merge or pass going up a hill the engine seldom exceeded 3200 rpm. All this said, if I were going to tow in the mountains the majority of the time, personally I would go for the diesel because of the exhaust brake. I am leary of the increased purchase and operating cost of the diesel. I would purchase a 1 ton as the price difference is minimal. There may be one other solution. I believe there are some half ton diesels. I am not sure of the payload or capabilities. Our boat builder, who is in his mid 70s purchased a new Ram 1500 in 2019 with diesel and he has been very happy indicating over 20 mpg. Good luck in your search and decision
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15 minutes ago, Mike D. said:
Oliver should provide you printed and bound copies of the exact same docs that are in the Oliver University. I received 3 booklets: 1) Owners Manual 2) Standard Features Guide and 3) Optional Features Guide. You’ll notice the individual components manuals are from the OEM and usually mention the warranty. I personally have downloaded .pdf of these on several devices, along with many other OEM technical manuals in my offline library. I don’t bother to carry the paper copies in the trailer, prefer to use my iPad.
We received the same 3 manuals in hard copy. My wife combined them into 3 sections in a single binder as the originals were starting to come apart. I like paper and we do bring the manual with us.
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We also use Andersen levelers and the bucket for the front jack.
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This is the $20 Tractor Supply model. I give up for some reason all my photos are rotating today.
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Also not the best because it got flipped again. Sorry I tried to fix it until today I didn't have this issue.
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Thanks for flipping my last picture. Not sure how that happens. It has warmed up to 34 and that will be the high for the day. Down to the mid teens tonight. We got some melt. Not the best photo with this very old android phone but I bet few have seen Monument Valley like this.
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I would agree that I wouldn't feel comfortable for an extended stay below 5 or so degrees for an extended period of time and at those temps would just pump a little antifreeze into the water ports. Just make sure you bypass the water heater when flushing the inlets. We tend to be conservative and if the temps are dropping below 28 for the evening we run the propane furnace to keep the basement warm. If under 15 degrees we will open the basement door. None of this is scientific. Just what we do. Our vornado gave out on us so I picked up a small ceramic heater at tractor supply for $20. It was physically smaller than the vornado but same wattage. It works great!!! Pleasantly surprised.
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We made it to Monument Valley on Tuesday after a quick stop at 4 corners on our way from Moab. We were planning on leaving today to start to wind our way slowly home to Maine. Well we woke up to 4 plus inches of snow and it is still snowing. I have no intention of pulling the Ollie over mountain passes in snow so we are staying an extra day. The forecast called for flurries and a dusting of snow. The folks in the campground office said they have never seen this much snow. It is suposed to drop to 11 degrees tonight. A neighbor needed to borrow my ladder as his slideout awning was binding up with snow. He helped me sweep of our Ollie solar panels too. It worked out well for both of us. Hopefully we can head toward Maine with several stops on the way tomorrow!!??
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As we say in Maine when folks from away ask for directions, Can't get there from HERAH!
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10 hours ago, John Welte said:
Congratulations! I always say that money is just paper with pictures of dead presidents. I might feel differently when I send in 40k on the first payment. That will be in August.
It only hurts for a short time. You will forget all about it once you start using your Ollie. And less expensive than a BOAT. Break out another thousand!!
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I'm the same height as you. No biggie on the height. Guess I would start worrying about this if you're taller than 6'5" or if a traveler wears heels!!!😀
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There is a very cool Harvest Host site in Tallahassee just of I 10. It is a collectable car museum. They have much more than cars. We did this and would do it again. A bit loud at night due to I 10 and busy intersection. Nachez Trace is cool and you can find camping off of the Trace if sites are closed. We did a section in December and you could still park and get out to see the sites. If you do it from end to end consider a stop in New Orleans on the way to Florida. The WW II museum is amazing and is a must see there is a city campground in the French quarter. Noisy but close to everything. We did a swamp tour and has a blast on that.
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We arrived in Moab Tuesday afternoon. Yesterday we did a 2 hour guided off road adventure in a Hummer H1. Wow, this is our first time doing anything like this. So cool! These vehicles seem to go straight up and straight down sone very narrow rock faces. Yesterday afternoon we toured Arches national park and were there for sunset. Just amazing.
Heads up if you're going to Arches after April 2. The park is implementing a reservation system for entry to the park. This is a good time of year to visit Moab. Not too crowded with temperatures in the mid 50s to mid 60s during the day and 30s at night.
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It seems like you got a deal on your solar. Seems like the awning might be in your future?
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2 minutes ago, John Welte said:
What year is your Ollie?
2019. October delivery.
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We have the factory camera. I use it primarily as a rear view mirror during daylight hours. It is too bright at night for me. The resolution is not the best. I have it placed in the lower left hand corner of the windshield. I use it to also see my wife's hand instructions while backing up.
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We went to Valley of Fire State Park today. Just an awesome park and the largest of Nevada's state parks. We did see an Oliver Elite II with a Utah plate parked in the Arch campground. What a beautiful spot!!!
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To avoid some very cold temps and a winter snow storm at Zion, we headded to lake Mead and Boulder Dam. We stayed 3 days. We decided that we would move 50 miles north of Law Vegas to Moapa. We are at Palm Creek RV Park about 8 miles west off of Route 15. This is a small family park with only 12 or so sites and they are a bit tight. Very friendly family, clean facilities. What makes this special beyond the family, is the fact that the stream that runs through the property is fed by a hot spring 1/2 mile up the road. They have beautiful property and access to the 80 degree stream.
We are going to visit the source spring and near by and Valley of Fire State Park. This place is a gem! In the summer they have almost a private beach set up with picnic tables and 70 smoker grills. They get 400+ guests on the weekends for day use. We are going to stay 3 nights and head to Moab over 2 days early next week. It is still cool here with lows in the low 30s at night. It beats 10 below in Bryce Canyon.
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20 minutes ago, Mike and Carol said:
9F is cold. I would winterize for sure. We’ve traveled when the temps were high 20s for a few hours, just left the furnace on set to about 50 and we had no problem. Mike
We have been doing the same.
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We have the manual drain valve and like many others have forgotten to open it once or twice!! It is on our check list now. The manual is easy to use. Automatic won't solve the problem of forgetting to open or close the valve. I have to agree manual in this instance makes sense. One less thing to fail for whatever reason, and reallocating those funds for tpms is a terrific idea.
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On 2/21/2022 at 4:06 PM, SRLAPATX said:
Thanks to all for the valuable thoughts and feedback.
Mattnan - might you share a picture of your side mount Lagun table?
Steve
Hi Steve. You also pm me with this request and I responded via pm with the pictures. You can do a search and find not only my pictures but Overland's full design and his table as well as others that contributed to the thread. Sorry I'd look it up but I am a bit technology challenged. Overland's idea and execution is pure genius. Thanks, Matt
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2 hours ago, SeaDawg said:
Anyone been to a boat show lately? Everything in the fiberglass world has seen enormous increases. Much of it, because of huge increases in materials cost.
We've been looking for a few years at a possible replacement for our 18' sport boat. This year, we had a few problems to repair. But replacement cost ( much more than twice what it was new) led us to repair it, instead. Hull is good, 3.0 mercruiser engine runs great. We'll fix the rest. Investing in a solid older boat is far easier than hunting down a new one, for us.
Beyond inflation, take a look at fiberglass price increases.
I know it's a big jump. It will scare some folks off to something else. Honestly, I don't know what else they could do, beyond scaling back some of the luxury "standard" items included in base price.
I'm sure the pricing decisions were difficult for them, too. Everything has been so volatile this year.
Sometimes rehabbing something old makes sense. Boats and perhaps in the future fiberglass trailers? In 2011 we purchased this old 1977 fiberglass downeast boat. The hull, engine, and transmission were in good shape. The topside decks, electric, plumbing, steering, and electronics were shot and rotted The boat was basically gutted from the main bulkhead back and the decks and wash rails. Saving the fiberglass hull and drive train and making the upgrades to our specifications was significantly much less expensive than buying new. We had a professional downeast boat builder do this for us. At this rate a well cared for Oliver "hull" will be well worth it. You can always upgrade the systems!!!! They will eventually need to be replaced any way!
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Beacon on the Road.
in Campgrounds & Parks
Posted
Thanks that was the plan when we purchased the trailer. We are a year late due to covid. We have a new grandson and hopefully we will do some international travel. So glad we purchased an Oliver