SeaDawg

Thanks, John . Im Probably heading to HF tomorrow. Glad to know about the 8 guage cables. Sherry

Thanks. We have been down this road many times, but it's been awhile. We're trying to help neighbors who have never experienced a storm like this. And, help our daughter and friends get ready. Paul is at the sand pile with neighbors as we speak. My truck holds a lot more bags than their cars... Thanks for your thoughts. You won't see a lot of me for the next few days. Sherry

I think the keys to successful septic system dump have been outlined by others.. Reed, canoe 12, and raspy. occasional use, ( or use consistent with the bathroom rating of system), no harmful chemicals in the RV black tank, and no huge gush of input to upset the tank balance. The Ollie black tank, though sufficient for many days without hookups, is not that big, honestly, in septic tank terms. We discharge to septic on our camping property. I grew up in the country, on septic. We're careful about introduction of harmful chemicals, and non-friendly paper products. No issues, in nine years. At home, a sewer clean out/rv dump next to the garage is a great feature. We have super picky plumbing inspection here, and the issue never came up in our build. Everyone needs clean outs...right? Sherry

Thanks for the videos. Quite interesting. A foldable tiny house on wheels. Love the beautiful helical wind generator. We looked at helical, but local availability, and practicality,in our location, was outweighed by increased solar for our home. Not crazy about the rotating home on a track... Reminds me of the old restaurants at the top of Hiltons.. I found this electric camper in a link below. I think it is also a prototype. All electric camper covered in solar I think our Olivers are pretty green, as well. We offset some of the travels with long time in some places, and power almost exclusively with our solar. The durability and longevity of molded fiberglass also contribute. Molded fiberglass from the seventies are still on the road... Camping requires us to be aware of our environment, and our smaller trailers require us to use our water and power resources wisely when off the grid, especially. Sherry

If you are logged in, you should see something like this above each post. If you are not logged in, your black stripes above post will look like this If you are logged in, and only see a black stripes like the second photo, something is wrong with your account permissions. Contact one of the mods, and we will help you fix it. We want you to be able to enjoy the whole forum experience. Sherry

John, thanks for the post. I don't have any advice to offer. However, just tonight our neighbors called us with a dead battery. We knew our two jump boxes were old and marginal, though Paul had just charged one. Neither worked. Had to use the jumper cables to get their car started. So, we'll take a close look at the HF Viking. I, too, started researching the many li jump starts, and the variety makes my head spin. HF many reviews are mostly very positive. Biggest complaint is tiny clamps. Anyone used one?? Sherry

Is Hehr still in business? Have you tried them? Pretty sure the new Oliver door windows are double pane. The early models were single. You may have received seals, etc, for a double pane window? Good luck. I know there are companies that rework old windows. Jrbirdman found a good one, but I don't remember the name. You could try to message him. Let us know what you find out. All of us with the older style door will look forward to your solution. Hope you get it all figured out in time for your next great adventure. Sherry

Which water heater you choose has a bit to do with your camping style. My pro and cons list Original 6 gallon heater.. cons: haul six gallons of extra water, 48 lbs, that you can never really access, except emergency outside drain. Have to bypass and blow out to winterize. Has anode to be inspected and replaced. Have to heat six gallons at a time to use. (Wasteful). Runs out of hot water at most inconvenient times, due to small volume. Manual changeover from gas to electric outside the trailer. Pros: cheaper, by far. Standard oem for most rvs, easy to find parts. Works on electric only if you ( unlike me) camp with power most of the time, so you don't use lp... Pros: Our Girard instantaneous runs on gas only. And, very seldom. Nice stream of hot water, endless, when you want it. Easy to winterize. No extra 6 gallon of water weight. For us, economical use. Gas only is fine, as we always ran the old six gallon on gas.. almost never have had electric hookups when camping. Works like our home instantaneous water heater. Cons: much pricier. If you camp primarily with hookups, you can probably just bank the extra money for camping days.if you dry camp a lot, shower in the trailer, you may find the instantaneous to be the ticket. Or, you can start with the standard, and change it up when/if the six gallon burns out someday, as we did. We changed up because our inexpensive lp ecotemp lp5 outdoor shower at our property gave us awesome continuous showers with zero hassle or maintenance, other than replacement of the d cell battery every few years. Our home instantaneous is also great. Bottom line, depends on how you camp, and how you use hot water. If most of the time you use cg facilities to shower, either one is fine. Sherry

Never stayed there, but campus Park N ride, according to Google maps, puts you 3 miles and ten minutes from Philadelphias 30th Street station. From there, the Amtrak express train is about an hour from NYC Penn station. Sherry

We haven't towed with a van in a decade, but I can tell you why a lot of people love them, including me. Vans do it all. Tow your trailer. Hide your Christmas presents. Carry just 2, and a cavern of cargo. Or, carry seven people in the same space. Paul loved his 70 something Chevy van. Frankly, so did I. Our first 'camper'. We owned that one for almost 30 years. When I gave up my bronco for a more versatile minivan... well, I had misgivings. But, it hauled one to 7 in comfort. Carried an amazing amount of stuff for my catering business, and was fairly nimble in busy traffic, though fairly unattractive. That is what it is. Vans aren't beauty contest winners. They are, however, amazing cargo and people movers. I actually cried when my 14 year old van was towed away. Never a beauty queen, always a dependable, spacious, out of the rain vehicle. ( My 2004 Silverado has replaced my beloved van.) I can understand why the owners in the earlier post modified their van to suit their needs. Easy to do, economical. I might be tempted to do the same, if I needed extra camping space. Sherry

We've had 2 macerator systems in the trailer so far. Paul is tired of rebuilding puny parts. Our yacht building friends tell us that they do not encourage owners to employ the macerator systems. We've disconnected our second system. We are very careful users. Just done with the headaches and breakdowns. Maybe the new models are better. Our latest,abandoned model is four or five years old.

Another thought, though more expensive than camping, is to locate a motel near the Newark or Iselin station, and stay there. It's still an hour or so to Penn. But you have lots of room and a huge shower, compared to our Olivers. Motels in nj are half or less the NYC price. I like the Iselin station. Clean, easy. Unless something changed, could only buy tickets on the lower floor.

I honestly would not want to stay there, either. Is your cg in Philadelphia anywhere near the train station? And parking. If so, Amtrak has an Express train from Philly to Penn station, a little over an hour commute. I'd stay in Philadelphia, if it were me. All the decent campgrounds in nj I've seen are at least 30 minutes from a train station,then at least an hour to Penn. Good news for you. Penn station reopens to full schedule next week. Renovations should be completed. I'd still recommend Friday to Monday travels.

<p style="text-align: left;">To all our friends in Texas, we hope you ride through the storm safely.</p> Sherry

Too funny, Steve. Bill, already tossed ours. Good reminder, though. False economy to use something past its shelf life. We only get one set of eyes. Sherry

The next total eclipse to be seen in parts of the United States will occur on April 8, 2024. This time, parts of Canada and Mexico will also see the totality. Plenty of time left to plan for this one... http://www.ajc.com/news/the-next-total-solar-eclipse-only-years-away-states-where-you-experience-totality-2024/Lp7LZJsthmohtlUOe74BtL/

Just a reminder, if you are planning to buy your Senior Pass at the $10 rate, you'll need to apply online by midnight 8/27, or purchase one at a National Park in the next few days. 8/28 the price increases to $80. It's a big jump, but will still be a huge bargain at $80, in my opinion. https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/senior-pass-changes.htm

We didn't have a choice in the original, smaller Oliver, but I like the sideways mount. It's not only a splatter guard, but a nosy dog guard. Our little dog would never try to poke around the lid... No big deal to operate the controls from the left side. I would, personally, love to have the extra counter space inches created by the sideways mount in the bigger trailer, with the wider counter. Sherry

Saw a legacy II northbound on 95 today, about 25 miles north of the Florida- Georgia line . Around 3 pm.

If you would like to make the towing experience the easiest, one of the trailers with width around 7 ft or less, like Oliver, is the easiest. Trailer tires and body width closely match the tow vehicle. As far as teens camping with you, I'll share our experience in the little 08 Oliver. We have the little side dinette drop down to a "twin" 24" bed, 6 ft long. Honestly, according to our nephew, it's not the bed size, but the independence of his own tent, that draws him to a tent beside our trailer. Our adult daughter brings one or two friends, who love our eight person tent. I would not consider sleeping really small ones in the tent. But, teens, they'd likely be happier. Beyond that, I'm with John Davies, for the most part. I hate slides.and, I don't like wide trailers, beyond the 7.5 width. Even the Bigfoot and Airstream are pretty wide. Too wide for us, though the extra width allows more floorplan flexibility. I saw that initially you thought 16 ft was long enough. Rent a tiny motorhome or van , or a tiny trailer like a tab on rvshare, and see how it works for you. You don't want to buy a trailer too big, just because you might have a couple teenage grandkids from time to time, anymore than you would want to build a house to hold the whole family at Christmas, to clean and condition the rest of the year. Just my thoughts. 17 ft is plenty for us. Room for one small grandchild, if and when we get so lucky. Good luck in your decision, and happy travels. Sherry

The milepost is good, but devoted to advertising. You will miss a lot if you camp only in the spots listed there. Pick up the provincial/ territory guides at each entry. Use those to supplement. And, keep your eyes open for the local spots. In Alaska, you can camp anywhere no posted. We've spent many nights in turnouts on the Denali, Richardson and other highways, with amazing views, and no fees. ( Obviously, no service, either). Several nights in vacant lots in old Valdez. Much nicer than camping in the crowded municipal campgrounds. We rarely make reservations, but, if you want to camp at Denali, it's a necessity. We've lucked out on last minute, but I do mean lucked. We always have a backup of camping at my cousin's house at the foot. So we can risk it. Sherry

I need to dig out my journals, and share some of my favorite campgrounds. The Alaska trip is beautiful, amazing, and something you will remember the rest of your life. I don't know if we will go again. Three times may be enough. Or, who knows? Campsites like this beckon you back.

Not a lovely day to drive this highway. Some poor motorcyclists were completely covered in mud. We sometimes couldn't see the road after the windshield washer fluid ran out. Beautiful, but ugly, too.

Glad you got a sunny day and fewer bugs at the Arctic circle. We drove up on a cloudy and rainy day, intending to camp at the campground by the monument, but gave it up due to the thick swarms of mosquitoes. Got the photos, youred the cg, and decided to make the trek back to silver gulch brewery in Fox. The road out is awful. Most of the way. Some pavement, mostly gravel, and if it's been raining, really mucky and slippery in areas that collect water. Go on a dry sunny day... Don't do as we did... We followed a heavy equipment trick out, a mile to a half mile behind, and followed his tracks. Twice the speed out as in. I would not recommend taking a fiberglass trailer on this road. Too many rocks flying. Take the TV only, and you'll be happier. Here's one of my happier photos, holding the dog, and slapping mosquitoes. Make sure to wear long sleeves.

Yes, our original Oliver has those storage bins, uniquely formed to fill the available spaces under seats. I'm surprised they no longer make them . Have you checked to see if your trailer just didn't get the bins???