SeaDawg

We carry filtered rainwater from home in several five gallon jugs for most trips. My mom's previous home town had an epa notice on their municipal water. I bought her an Alexapure (much like your Berkey in style/size, but alexapure is nsf rated for the issue her town had, and Berkey was not) and a Pur pitcher for extra filtering of drinking water . Now that she lives in our community, with good water, she just filters drinking water with the Pur. The filters ( the Maxion/lead filter) are fairly inexpensive, for what they do. For on the road, it depends on your source. Zero water is really great for heavy metals, but not bacteria, giardia, etc . Great for extra care on good municipal water, or you can boil after to kill the organisms. Pur maxion/lead does a pretty good job all around on bacteria, giardia, and heavy metals, microplastics, etc. A bit slow. But most of the good ones are . I think a pitcher system, or the pur canister, is a manageable size for a travel trailer, filtering tested municipal water. Unless you're going off grid, using stream or lake water, in which case, you'll need a lot more. And, that's another long story. Sherry Fyi, Our home is solar powered, and our water source is collected rainwater.

Actually, I usually wash dishes outside, if the weather is good. I wash with cold and soap, and rinse with boiled water from the kettle. One tea kettle of hot water is enough for most days. Inside, I use the sink to wash, counter for rinse, small dinette for drying rack, with a towel beneath. Remember, I have the smaller trailer, with the smaller countertop. Sherry

Susan, to conserve water, I carry two small dishpans. One to wash, one to rinse. Stack dishes to air dry on a rack. Sherry

We deliver class c rvs to Alaska. When we come home to our 2008 Elite, there are a few things that I miss. The oven. The bigger shower. The bigger fridge. The onboard generator. A big pantry. What I don't miss, and why we've stayed with our 17 ft 2008: The horrible gas mileage with the typical Triton v10 in the motorhomes. The difficulty of finding small, quiet campsites. With our 4x4 truck, and small trailer we can squeeze into some really delightful, overlooked or unreachable spots. The ability to leave our trailer at a campsite, and explore in the truck alone. Just finding a parking spot to visit a town on a motorhome is far more challenging than going into town with just our truck. I always miss our quiet, reliable solar. Though in a privately owned motorhome, you can have that, and probably do. We've been delivering rvs for six or seven years. We've not been tempted to "change up" our combination of Ollie and truck. I do appreciate the additional room for amenities in a bigger coach. They're just not for us. Every RV, of any size, lives huge on the outside, which is where we spend the majority of our time. Sherry

I should have recognized it. Great products. They make the inner bladder a bit larger. So the stress is on the nylon. Various shapes for odd sized spaces on board. Good choice. Should serve you well. Try to keep it out of the sun, though. I don't know about uv retardants in the nylon, since they're primarily built for below decks use. Sherry

Jarvis, welcome to the group! Sherry

That makes good use of the unused bunk. You still have access to the hatch cover. Do you carry a chair, or is that stand up desk height? My daughter prefers standing at her desk, at least part of the time. Sherry

That looks like the Snow Peak portable firepit, but if it is, what's the extra piece on top?

That looks really nice, Patriot! I think the painter's tape is a good idea for the first day. Sherry

Seymour, do you recall the brand of your water bladder? Looks like a nylon casing? Really looks a lot stronger than our 40 gallon from camping world. Sherry

Mike and Elizabeth, congratulations on the sale of your Oliver, and best wishes on filling the next "bucket" as your mode of travel changes. Of course we welcome the new owners. But remember, you're always welcome to drop by and visit your old friends here. 😊 Sherry

Honestly, none of these are going to be like your home range, where your lowest simmer burner is likely to be 5 to 7000 btu. It's an rv cooktop. I do like the flat continuous spiders, so you can slide pots around. Really nice look. And, useful for larger skillets and pans. Sherry

For those of us who store our trailers in the salt air, I'd stick with stainless. No pun intended. They may very well have two magnets, opposite polarity. But no info I can find on the springs. Nor uv resistance of the plastic housing. I'm giving it a pass.

The front/right burner is almost as powerful as my 2008 smev front burner. The back throws a lot of btu. (Over 7000) My experience is, most people use the back burner seldom, and usually for simmer. And, that's what I'd do, especially if I were worried. The front burner gives plenty of btu for cooking/boiling water. I rarely use my back burner. Mostly for warming, or simmering. I can't say how much extra heat it throws to the fiberglass back wall. But, those who a actually have the cooktop may be able to tell us. It's a good question. Sherry

Not everyone experiences joy through total minimalism. And, that's ok. We all have different styles and goals.

I looked into the Foli door catch. It's marketed in the UK as an exterior door catch, for a number of different brands which I'm not familiar with. (Like Luna) Couldn't find a pound rating on the Foli magnet, anywhere. But, if it's for an exterior door, it's likely too strong for the bathroom door. In white, it's unobtrusive, but there are two things I don't like as an exterior catch. It's plastic, which may yellow, or become brittle here in the Florida sun.. The second is the tiny springs inside that are supposed to adjust for curve. Anything but 316 stainless is liable to rust and die here in Florida, concealed, or not. And there was no mention of stainless in the verbage, anywhere. I'd go with the Sealux catch Overland uses inside if I were going to replace the hook and latch. It has a 9 pound + rating, and most of us wouldn't leave the door open in winds high enough to drive that open. It's marketed to the marine community, where most of us use mechanical latches and stops. I usually prefer Seadog fittings. However, their magnetic catch has a higher pound rating, but uses 304 stainless. Photo attached to see the springs on the Foli catch. Sherry

Is the highest btu next to the wall? In our 2008, it's in the front. What cooktop is Oliver using now? It's really nice looking. Sherry

Jelly Bean looks great, Brandi! Iron horse did a really nice job on the doors and graphics. Did you flip the privacy shades top for bottom, or were they like that when you bought Jelly Bean? Love your red backsplash, as well. Is it vinyl tile? Sherry

Our local camping world was very good to work with when we had warranty issues with our refrigerator.

No joke. The ac is louder than your typical windowshaker ac. Most people leave the fan on all the time. You'd really be best to visit someone in your region to hear the ac. It's the same one used in hundreds of thousands of rvs across the country, but it's also the noisiest item in the Oliver. It is what it is. Sherry

Pete (bugeye driver) towed his 2008 Elite I for many years with a 2008 Tacomah. We weighed our 2008 over a decade ago, on a cat scale, on our way home from a camping trip. So, it had clothes, gear, propane, some grey, black and fresh, but none of the tanks were more than half full. 420 pounds tongue (we don't have a cargo basket on the tongue), 3960 total weight, so around 3540 on the axle. I wouldn't get a cargo basket, if I were you. Does your Tacomah have a tow package? We picked up our Oliver with a Volvo xc90. I think the tow rating was 4900 pounds. But, subsequent trips were usually with one of our trucks. The volvo was really not meant for more than local towing, without hills, imo, with its 2.5 liter, 5 cylinder engine. Sherry

I thought it was the expedition model. Pricey, but very fast, a long lasting cartridge.

Could I ask what you use for a testing system? I'm thinking we'd like to do something similar on our property in North Carolina. We built a spring water collection system there a decade ago, but we still carry in drinking water. We only use the spring water for bathing and toilet flushing, etc. Glad you joined the forum. Thanks for all the photos. Sherry

Looks like a nice setup for boondocking. How do you like the froli system? How are you managing power for boondocking. I don't see the overhang of a typical Oliver solar install, but maybe it's just the camera angle ?

Our Canadian friends celebrated their independence/constitution three days ago, in July 1. Canada Day.🇨🇦 Happy 4th, folks. 🇺🇸 Sherry