SeaDawg

Hardrock, How do you upgrade to a queen mattress? I'm curious. I think our 2008 is just a little wider than a full. I've always used Queen sheets, because it's easier with the length. Not that there's a big difference in width. A full is around 54 inches, standard, and a queen is 60. The length is the big difference in standard mattresses. The nomenclature, and sizing, is all over the place in the RV world. In one class c that we delivered, my feet reached the bottom of the RV queen.. and I'm only 5' 4" I don't know anyone with an original elite who uses an Anderson hitch. I'd certainly agree with you there. We're closing in on ten years, and 100,000 miles on our 2008. We have 2 100 watt panels, added nine years ago, with two agm batteries, and almost never camp with hookups. But, we don't require power after dark for much. Sherry

Congratulations on taking your time to make a good decision for what is right for you. We did a ton of research and looking, too, before we decided on the Oliver almost ten years ago. cant help on axle decisions, but I can speak from experience on agm vs flooded batteries. My vote, and experience, is also for agm batteries. Not just because you don't have to add water. Bulk charging is faster. Discharge more slowly in storage. Don't freeze as easily. Don't leak. The liquid is in the mat. Gases are exchanged within the battery, so, technically, some say they don't even have to be vented. Kind of nice to think that, anyway, since we sleep with our heads above the battery box...Without the gas exchange, I've read there is less opportunity for corrosion at the connectors. You don't have to, and should not, from what i understand, equalize agm batteries. We never ran equalizing on ours, and I think our first set of agms lasted six or seven years. We run almost exclusively on solar. There's not much of a price difference now, as there was years ago. We'll never go back to flooded batteries. Sherry

Aubrey, Pete, is that Lois in #2? I don't think I've seen that photo. I like "flight." Reminds those of us non pilots of beer tasting. Lol. Flotilla? For the sea and land yacht folks??? Sherry

I think I heard that our state had 70,000 out of state workers here, with trucks. Just want to say, Florida folks love all of you unnamed pros who sacrificed time at home with your families to bring the power to our homes, and more importantly, to hospitals, fire stations, and traffic signals. We're all good here. A few cuts and sprains in the neighborhood, from working in the dark, but we really only dealt with first world problems here. Lack of ac and power, no cell phone charging, etc, for only five to seven days for most of us. It's still way worse in other parts of our state, and in the islands in Irma's path. Here, we didn't get the horrible sustained winds that other areas received. My heart goes out to the inland dwellers who caught so much unpredicted wind and rain. And even more to the Islanders...keys, Puerto Rico, vi,Cuba, Barbuda, and so many more. We here at least had messed up yards, trees, but homes to return to. So much worse elsewhere. Sherry

Our county is a mess, but a lot of help from everyone. We saw trucks from Union, Illinois in the parking lot near our inland condo this morning. Since virtually everyone in the county lost power,it was a huge and welcome surprise to see trucks from 18 hours away. Thank you guys!!! We very grateful that our home is unscathed. Trees down, and at our daughter s home, near the neighbors roof. We'll get it done. We're actually home tonight. No power anywhere, but we can deal. our dog is a bit upset with all the moving around. So many people had it worse than us. We're helping neighbors now, and hope to move beyond the neighborhoods when we can. So many places got it way worse than us. Thanks for all your positive thoughts, and prayers. just a mile away, it's far more ugly. I'm so grateful.

Buzzy. I never know what to say when someone has lost the live of his life. .so, I will tell you the truth. I would like to reach out and hold you. Better yet, God will reach out and hold you. Our lives here are intertwined. However, only those closest can be the ones to hold you up. I an deeply sorry for your lost. Love, Sherry

I finally have enough bandwidth to say that we are all ok. The storm moved east late, and we only had force one or maybe two. Not sure. I turned off notifications, and ent with my gut, and the radio. Lots of trees down, including ours, and our daughter and neighbors. We're busy trying to help everyone we can. Everyone is tired. And also grateful that we didn't experience a huge storm surge. No one I know has power. The county is littered with down wires , poles, and major debris and trees, as we expected This morning I made coffee on the camping stove. Another neighbor made pancakes. We'll get on Hoping.g all of those affected worse than us rebound. It's a huge, and ugly, storm. A huge grateful thanks to first responder s and power company employees. We love you,veben though I sit in the dark. It is what it is. Sherry Working off my brick. No power anywhere available. Signing off

Well, looks like it may be pretty nasty in Tampa Bay tomorrow night. Since we may not have power or cell towers for a few days to a bit longer, I'd like to thank all of you who have messaged me, and also ask that you not be worried if you don't hear from us in a few days. I will be in text only mode to conserve power, and we'll rotate whose phone is on, for same reason, after the lights go out. I'm making a similar post on Facebook. Thanks for all your good wishes, thoughts, and prayers. Talk to you later in the week. Sherry

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