SeaDawg

Looking for our little Ollie twin in your photo. Not there , sadly. Glad to see the progress,though. Great people in Hohenwald. Sherry

I have to add a word here for the RV gutters strips. Applied properly, they really route water away from the window I will have to look for a link, cause it's been a few years. Position the tails away from the windows, and you are golden. Sherry PS. Happy Anniversary !!!!!

In our 2008, we don't have weep holes in the rear window. We have to compensate with Jack adjustments in downpours Sherry

If you get a momentary break in the rain, try this. Jack the front, just a bit, and Jack the driver side just a bit.if that doesn't work, jack a bit more. Worked for us. We often leave our trailer in storage. Little bits, not visible, plug the weep holes When someday we meet around our campfire, I'll tell you the whole story of... Rain in my side of the bed, dog going crazy, poor Paul out in the sudden monsoon rain in the middle of the night. Mountain rain, in NC, remnants of a hurricane further south.... We laugh about it now, but it was really cold. Paul about froze making those adjustments. My fault, really, because the weep holes looked clean from my height.. but, I'm pretty short... And, really,i didn't check them from above, or with a tooth pick plastic cleaner. I was tired. First night back, looked good, yada yada.. Later, we found that our solar panels shunted rainwater directly over the widow Wells. Adjusted the panels.cleaned the plugged weep holes. Done We are also big believers in the RV gutters, applied properly. Sherry

We rarely have hookups, so we roll out, or winterize, earlier than bugeye, as we have the same 2008 not so efficient but still good insulation. Standing still, with a furnace, isn't a big issue for us, into the teens. It's storage, or possibly, transit, in super cold weather. I talked to my friend tonight, (Casita), who camped with us last week, with temps in the twenties A fifth wheel next to her in Kentucky sprang leaks from freezes driving from Michigan, they didn't winterize..... I would have. Walmart pink stuff is 2.75 a gallon. Twenty minutes. Transit thru winter? Winterize. You can still use the toilet, with abundant pink stuff in it, and dump when you get south. Sherry

I can't add much, but ten years, almost 100,000 miles, including many nights without moving, because we own an awesome campsite in North Carolina where we love to spend time. That said, I understand the frustration of anyone who didn't get a proper check at the pick up (and before). You'll always get an honest picture here. Even if it's a rant snapshot. Mods don't delete honest views. Truth is, I would not look elsewhere for another trailer, even ten years later. Customer support has been excellent, even if it takes time to figure out an unusual problem. We go to the Tampa supershow every year. We could certainly afford to change if we saw something better. We have not. And, I'm sure we'd never get the same support we got from the great people at Oliver. Sherry, still roaming the continent in our 2008.

Stan/Commanche, if I were as talk as you, I wouldn't need the step in my little truck. But I know you are at least 8 inches taller than I am. John e Davies, your solution is brilliant,and super safe, and allows me to access the bed if the gate is down.... but unavailable for my older stepside truck. Great solutions from so many. And thanks. My truck is not the primary tow, and I don't drive at night or rough conditions. Just looking for a safe step up to retrieve stuff from the cab side of the bed, and not carry a step ladder. I cut a plank to corral items in the rear of the bed, but I often forget it in the garage. The corner step (Jed),:and the tire step, could be great additions to our primary tow, and I thank you. Sherry

The few days that we actually could use the little heater, I was delighted. No overhead fan, no noise to speak of, etc. You have to remember that we have an older trailer. Even so, if we had electric hookups,. As we don't, (almost never), I would opt for a little , quiet, heater. I still have ours in a storage bin, just in case we actually plug in someday, and it's cold. .. Truth is, I am always awake from even the slightest noise. The little electric heater is virtually silent. I'm a very light sleeper Sherry

Yes, The poo powder I referenced was NOT meant to be utilized directly in the black tank. Ohhh so clog. . I meant using it in a plastic kitchen bag , biodegradable, just situated in the onboard toilet, instead of a tent or other site. It will be in the 20s soon, at night, where we will be. I'd rather have a way bag, and a winterized trailer, than not. In our 2008, we don't have a lot of your more advanced insulation and conveniences. Sherry

You said you left the ac running, as I might do as well if I had a dog inside, and thought temps would rise. The ac takes in and exhausts air. I remember one night when we had the grill running near the trailer, with the back window cracked and the exhaust fan running. The alarm went off in the trailer. When I closed the rear window, the alarm stopped. I wonder if someone near you ran a grill or genset?

Our 2008 is kind of grey white. I would call the original color putty... Never bothered me. Sherry

I'm sort of short. Paul keeps a little Rubbermaid folding ladder in the big truck for me, but I'm thinking about asking for a receiver mounted step for my Silverado for Christmas. We rarely tow with my little truck any more.im thinking about one of those folding steps, hitch mounted. Anyone have a good choice? I saw several online today, like this one.

Winter Camping is an awesome experience. I'd have to say, all our experience is likely different from newer trailers, as we have less insulation. I try to capture grey water, even with pink stuff in the tank. We've camped in Canada where the site services are turned off, but the comfort station is heated,so we can still dump dishwashing liquid, and use their showers, etc. We're so accustomed to camping without any service, that I typically heat dishwater in a tea kettle, and capture the water in a dishpan. That method saves a lot of water, and makes disposal easy in cold weather camping. It's all captured. I also heat water for bird baths in a kettle. You can get clean without a full shower, for a limited time, without using the grey tank. It's hair washing that gets tough. Sherry

Reed, I thought they would. Have you ever tried the gel powder material like this? One trip, a long time ago, we tried the kitty litter and trash bag thing, and it was a HUGE fail. Good experiment, but not my favorite memory... Sherry

So, Bill, I've added another item to the bucket list. Blue fireflies. I read a little. Looks like the Dupont forest in early summer is the place to see them. Our camping property is not that far from there, but we've never seen the blue ghost flies. The yellow white in abundance in the summer evenings. I'm grateful for those. We have none in our part of Florida. Sherry

We bought an inexpensive heater about eight years ago. We used to go to the solar decathlon every other year when it was in Washington DC. It's been moved to California. In October,one year, the campsite was beautiful, but the rain and cold was awful. We bought a little heater because we had power at our camp site. That was pretty much our experience of camping with electricity. I'd recommend this... Get a heater with tipover and overheat protection. Ul. That's pretty common, even in budget heaters. For $40 mol, at Costco, you can get all the above, and maybe a remote, and certainly, a timer. And, ceramic. Which reduces the contact heat ????, and can make life safer for your pets I think the ceramic and oil filled heaters are primarily chosen for safety reasons.. We don't have a lot of experience, as we have about five or six days on electric hookups... But, I have to say, I remember how nice it was to have that heater. .

John, Did you get a stone stomper!? I'm jealous ..

Well, unless you enjoy winter camping, and cross country skiing, ice fishing, and snowmobiling, Minnesota is probably off the radar... My friends had their last sailing regatta last weekend in the freezing temps in the twin cities. The frostbite regatta... The lakes aren't frozen yet, but it won't be long. Sherry My sister's garden a few hours after the first snowfall last week. Pretty, isn't it?

The beginning of the road, lined with miles of smiles, I hope. Travels with our Oliver, and rentals overseas, had opened our eyes, and extended our world. Camping is truly the way to see our beautiful country, meet new people, and just get out and get a new attitude. We're never happier than on the road in our Ollie. Sherry

I would add that camping in the Carolinas and the upper Midwest in shoulder season often brings freezing temps, and below, overnight. We've camped down to around 18 overnight, with day time temps in the high thirties/ low forties, without issue, but it's a lot different when the day and night are both sub freezing, days on end.. The pink stuff rules... In our 2008, in those conditions. Top gun, would the wag bags just fit in the Ollie toilet, instead of a collapsible frame? Never tried. Only times we've used anything like that has been in rental campers without full facilities. Losing the outdoor shower to the freezing temps was our fault. We winterized and went home in the truck... Forgetting about the outdoor shower. Never again.. Sherry Sherry

We chase good weather, but we also enjoy the relative calm of shoulder season camping, even in Canada. Would you share your cold weather ( below freezing) camping tips here, please? If we know we are venturing into freezing temps, we winterize. We lost our outdoor shower once when we left our Oliver in the cold too long in storage without winterizing... Routinely, we winterize if we think we will encounter sub freezing temperatures in our travels. But, we have a 2008... Sherry

Maybe we should start a winter camping thread? What do you think? Good questions. Sherry

You're welcome. I was curious, too, as you showed a valterra handle.. Sherry

Here's the answer to my question on etrailer. The guy actually said he tried it with an m6 bolt. The product code was to the replacement for the old style valterra.

I guess I wouldn't recommend watching Robin Williams' "RV", then.???? Any system can go wrong. Especially if it's not managed or maintained. Composting toilets work for a lot of boaters, where pumpout stations are a big hassle... Sherry