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Mountainman198
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Everything posted by Mountainman198
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CONGRATS! We took delivery of Hull #898 on Sept 21. 100 trailers delivered in 4 months time! Not bad enjoy your new Ollie.
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Replace AC and fan to lower height?
Mountainman198 replied to Gliddenwoods's topic in Ollie Modifications
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Boondocking in Quartzsite, AZ. Found a nice spot at Hi Jolly and a open mic session broke out on the rear deck of the neighbor’s RV. Its amazing the things you can find away from hookups.
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UPDATE: After having been on the road now since Dec 12, first in NM and now AZ I am happy to report that there still seem to be open spots for those of us who like to fly by the seat of our pants, not making reservations far in advance. We have camped in NM And AZ State Parks, private campgrounds, National Parks and boondocked at our usual spots without having yet been turned away. Asking the Rangers and Camp Hosts about cancellations, group sites, overflow and Un-used camp volunteer sites has worked for us the few times where there were not vacant sites available. Glad to see that at least in the SW the campgrounds do not seem to packed solid this year.
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What a surprise to find four other Ollies at our favorite AZ State Park the day after we arrived. Great to meet new Ollie owners and reconnect with some we met last year, before we had our Ollie. Ollie owners are really nice people.
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Introduction and Camper Recommendation
Mountainman198 replied to Jim and Karen's topic in General Discussion
The Bigfoot 25b25fb has a queen bed, dinette that makes into a queen and a jackknife couch as another bed. This was the trailer which I would have bought, save for tje fack I am 6’6” tall and the bigfoots have max headroom of 6’4”. Before COVID hit this could have been purchased new from the dealer in Denver for $50k. Now, it seems a lot of other dealers are selling these at MSRP+ ($75k). If they can find a used one or work with Trailer World in Denver they might get one closer to the $55k mark. Bigfoot is a nicely built trailer and they will work with you on some customizations (per Grant, the owner). Absent Bigfoot, Lance makes a nice camper, but most have slides. best wishes to them in their search, just stay away from the big three (Thor, Forest River and Heartland) unless they get a screaming deal and treat it as a disposable asset. -
If you go the route of a truck topper, I recommend getting the awning side window option. One of my trucks toppers has the option and the other does not. One makes it simple to access items in the middle or front of the bed without either unloading everything or crawling in the bed and over everything.
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We love the design of the Oliver and being able to back into some great views. What is the view out of your rear window? Please post your pics! Elephant Butte State Park, NM
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Gauging Interest in a 2023 Boondockers Mini Rally in Colorado
Mountainman198 replied to VBistro's topic in Events & Rallies
Love the idea and location. Lack of cell signal not an issue. Timing for us is not good as we will not be back in CO then. Have fun! -
We have the outdoor package with lp outlets and 30 gal tanks. Also have the typical lp firepit. It is ok but not a wood fire. For a bit of a change we also travel with a very small lp firepit I made out of a surplus .50 cal ammo can. It shoots a nice flame and the lava rocks and hose are latched under the lid securely for transport. It is also easy to transport along with a 5 lb lp tank if you want to bring the fire to someone else’s campsite
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I really like the fully painted gunmetal ones, or even the fully painted black ones. Very classy
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Our delivery date remained as quoted by Oliver.
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We love the shiny, white interior. So much so that we ordered ours with white counters. The shiny, white interior provides a wonderful, contrasting backdrop for whatever pictures, etc you place on the walls. Just to be clear, we are coming from a vintage camper with lots of windows with rich, oak veneer ceiling, walls and fixtures. Worried we would miss the warmth of wood, this has been deemed unfounded. We love our Ollie!
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Blow Out Method Winterization!?
Mountainman198 replied to GAP's topic in Mechanical & Technical Tips
This is how I did it. Cheap faucet line from Ace and the cut-off bottom from a antifreeze jug. No squirt, splash or mess to clean up. -
This is what we carry. Does everything we need on the road. Cannot imagine us needing the capacity and volume of a pancake compressor, given what we would need to offload to accommodate the additional weight/space. https://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-Compact-Inflator-Charger-Battery/dp/B08GY93W7H/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=milwaukee+m12+air+compressor+battery&qid=1638370806&sr=8-4
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Black Friday 2021 Deals for your Ollie
Mountainman198 replied to kmoon4545's topic in General Discussion
Wow, that’s a screaming deal. Purchased ours direct from RVLock for $198 and thought that was a good price on a related note, there was a stripped stud on the upper lock mechanism on our lock and RVLock was very quick to respond to my warranty email and send out a replacement part free of charge along with excellent instructions on how to replace the defective part Highly recommend this company -
Welcome to the forum and to your future Ollie. We too came from a 12v compressor fridge background, running a Dometic 35CFX on 100W solar and 160aH of AGMs. When deciding on options for our Ollie I asked but was told there were no 12v compressor fridge options, so ours too was delivered with the standard 3-way. After using the standard fridge on propane I can honestly say I like it. It keeps frozen items frozen and cold items cold and does not use much propane in doing so. We still have the dometic in the tow vehicle, powered by the same standalone solar and battery setup and are using it is a backup freezer. As for additional gray water storage, we carry three 6 gal water jugs in the tow vehicle. Two are marked for gray and provide additional 12 gal capacity where we cannot legally empty to the ground with a garden hose (we also have the composting toilet, so no black water). The third container is for potable water only and is used to ferry fresh water to the trailer where it is added to the fresh tank thru the boondock port at the rear. This Forum is great and we learned a lot before and after placing our order, refining the options we wanted through experience of others and asking questions
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We have the Ollie insured with Good Sam Insurance, tow vehicle is insured by another company. Colorado Good Sam quote was something like $700/yr. Full Replacement coverage. They tried to sell me insurance for tow vehicle and other vehicles in household but I declined. Something is not adding up with the quote they gave you. I hope you get it sorted. If you live in CO and will register the trailer there, wait til you find out how much the State wants for annual registration. That'll flip your other sock.
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What is your Ollie getting for Christmas?
Mountainman198 replied to SeaDawg's topic in General Discussion
She is getting a tow to warmer climates -
On our way out West a couple of weeks ago we stopped to visit friends in Elkhart, IN. For those who don't know, the vast majority of stick built (screw and glue) travel trailers and motorhomes for the U.S. market are built here. My friend works in Quality Control (post-build inspection), covering most of the major local SOB brands (Heartland, Forest River, Thor). From our talks I gathered that the US RV market is unsustainable at Pandemic level and signs point to not only a decline in sales but also many recent Pandemic (NEW) owners exiting the flanks of ownership over the next couple of years. He told me that some of the Mega RV dealer networks he supports are already reporting a return to 2018 sales levels. Many of the new Stick-built units being sold during the Pandemic are being financed for terms of 15-20 yrs, Many of the current Stick-built units are built with a rubber membrane roof, over luan and 2x2 wood framing, held together with lots of glue and staples. Lots of staples. Many of owners of these new stick built RVs are storing their new RVs outdoors in sunny, rainy, windy and hail-prone climates. In Colorado, I see huge RV storage lots popping up along the Front Range to support storage not allowed in the nearby covenant-controlled planned housing developments For the above reasons, I do not see many of these new buyers remaining as campers for more than a few years, or at least until the damage incurred by their trailers from outdoor storage is no longer covered by warranty and outweighs the ding to their credit from walking away from another 13-18 yrs of payments. While sad for these new owners, the indicators observed point also to a decline in occupancy at campgrounds coming soon
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We tend to camp when and where there are not a lot of others with whom to compete for spots. We are mostly dry campers from Jan-Feb-March in New Mexico and Arizona with some trips in the Spring East and then back West in the Fall. Observations from Jan/Feb 2021 in NM are that we always found a place to set up camp, even though the NM State Park Campgrounds were closed. Even with Arizona park campgrounds open there were few nights where we wanted to stay at a specific State Park campground where we were turned away. At least in NM and AZ State campgrounds usually have some sort of overflow, dry camping spots available and if not, it pays to have a plan B and C in your pocket for other spots nearby. Our best tool for finding great dry camping spots is the iOverlander app. From what we have observed, those with new stickbuilt SOB trailers tend to migrate to campgrounds with full hookups and paved parking spots. In the few trips we have made East and then down to pick up our new Ollie we had no issue finding campsites even without reservations, but this was in late September. Perhaps it is the time of year and location where we travel but being flexible, having a few backup plans in pocket and being dry campers have worked well for us even during the Pandemic where State Parks were closed and tons of new people were out camping. Best wishes