SeaDawg

And, if the wind picks up, take that awning in. You do not, not not want your awning ripped off in the wind. Sherry

I'd agree. We have been in "gully washers." The whole fam damily stood under the awning, and not a lot of drip. The seal we have, which is what I think you have, is fairly bullet proof. Some corners of chairs got wet. Try that in any awning, in any rv. It's the way it is. I'm happy. And if it's raining cats, dogs, and bulls.... I'm inside, anyway. Sherry

I've been following the Nature's Head discussion for a long time. Paul and I met with a couple with two installed in their houseboat at a boat show a fe w years ago. It looks like a simple operation, good system. The owners, who were working on a per diem basis, loved the results on their boat. Has anyone actually installed one in an Oliver? A year ago, we were camped in the same park as the Wynns (Lake Louise), but too tired to walk and find where they eventually camped. I spoke to Nikki as she drove thru looking fo a campsite for the bus, but..... Composting toilets and incinerating toilets offer a lot of freedom, and little water use. Incinerating toilets use a bit of energy, so we;re evaluatating. On a funny note, one comment on a website said, well, it's funny to look at a composting toilet, but hey, we've all been taught to pee in a bowl of water.... How funny is that? Yes, after 45 days of primitive camping in the Yukon and Alaska, pit toilets kind of rock (from an evnironmental standpoint). Why, indeed, is a bowl of water the preferred place to do business? Yes, it is what it is. Sherry (Paul may not agree)

Thanks, Matt. We can count on you. And we appreciate all your help to keep our sandbox fast, clean,and fun. Sherry

Agreed, Laps. Love the new modern look, and intuitiveness of the new forum mormat. Bringing the old forum to a new home without losing all the legacy posts and photos was a great deal of work for our administrator. I know Matt continues to work on features and efficiency, and he's a very skilled guy. We're still in the infancy of the new forum, so bear with us. Often, I find Matt's on top of an issue before we even bring it up to him. I suspect he's already done some tweaking today. My pages are loading in half the time they did earlier today, on same equipment, browser, and speed. Sherry

I think in deleting my test post, I may have deleted someone else's as well, unintentionally. My apologies if so. It seems to me there were more posts in this thread yesterday. Sherry

Scotty, I just reread your post. We have two 12 volt batteries, and I see you have six volt batteries. I'm not sure what this means in the per centages you are seeing displayed since we have different systems. Perhaps someone who uses your system can be more helpful. Sherry

My edit loaded today, but I still could not find a way to delete test posts. My fiber optic connection is 55 mbps download, 52 upload on this mornings speed test. Asus laptop, using Chrome. Sherry

quite slow, actually, compared to the old forum standards. 15 seconds for me, this time. We just got back from a 45 day camping trip. Hadn't tried too many times to load the page, but had weak signal most of the time.We were in remote areas of Canada and Alaska for a month and a half. I'm sure Matt will work on it. chrome, btw Sherry returning to "recent topics" was way worse. Maybe a minute. Also had trouble editing my posts. Hope you all are doing better.

We don't have the same monitor, so you may want to call a manufacturer rep and see what the readings really mean for you. Our monitor gives us a per centage of remaining power, and how many amp hours to full when charging. We have two agm batteries, and 200 watts solar, running for 8 years. We typically have a "full" reading at 13.2 to 13.4. (Same reading you get when charging with plug in or generator power). We try not to run the battery capacity below 75 per cent. With any kind of sun, we're above 85 in a short time, by noon. A series of rainy days means we use less power, to retain battery power. May seem primitive, but turn off lights, use a flash light at night. We charge computers and cell phones in the sunny part of the day, or on a series of rainy days, while driving into town for dinner because we can't cook on the campfire. Or, give it up, and connect the honda 1000 to charge the batteries. The gas refrigerator won't operate when you draw down too many volts on the battery, nor will the furnace. Our two key pieces of equipment, so we are careful to make sure they can operate. Curiousity... how often do you get a reading of 50 per cent. And what are you running, for how long? Even on crappy, gloomy days, or in mottled shade while camping, we get a little charge, and can go two or three, even four days, before we hit 70 per cent. Sherry

Turn the ac off if you want to use the microwave. The ac draws a lot on startup. Less after, when running, but no reason to push it. Lights don't draw much. Any of us who have had two teenage girls running two hair dryers and two curling irons at the same time on a household 15 amp circuit know how well that works..... Results would likely be the same on a 20 amp circuit with the high-powered hair dryers of today... We rarely plug in, but a friend of ours who does carries a meter and checks each outlet. Not a bad idea. Even a cheap plug in device to make sure the outlet isn't wired backwards is helpful. It's surprising, even in the US, how many outlets are not wired correctly. Happy travels, Sherry

Love the grey truck with the lone star graphic background. Great looking rig. FWIW, our 2008 ram 1500 4 x 4 is going strong with about 150k on it. Keep them serviced, and the ram and hemi keep on running. We expect to keep it on the road another eight years or so.... Congrats, and happy travels. Sherry

We just left the microwave plate at home. Never used it. Micro is a great breadbox for us. Everybody had a different camping style . You'll find what works for you. Sherry

Congrats, and happy camping! Sherry

Awesome. Loved the photos. Give Oscar my love, and a treat. Liv likes pet botanicals bacon.

Dave, I hear you. That's a lot of water that you can't access, apparently, without taking the trailer out of level. I wonder what the difference is in our older trailer. A few possibilities--perhaps our guage isn't accurate, and shows less water than what is truly left in the tank. Or, perhaps the tank is mounted differently , and more of the water can be pumped. I'd suspect the tanks are the same, or similar, as the capacities are the same in the specs. Sherry

Lol. I smell bacon.

FWIW, and maybe not the same in the new bigger trailers, our tank will read accurate till 6 per cent, and not suck air. Also, our bubble has never been adjusted. Don't really care. If the trailer is comfortable for us, it's comfortable and ok for the refrigerator, according to Dometic, and so it goes. If we can't level completely because of a weird campsite, we hope to leave the headboard side of the trailer high for better sleeping, and level enough so the doors swing properly (not too much twist on the trailer.) Most of the time, we're within an inch or so of level, if I just walk into the trailer , feel the level, and walk out and readjust the jacks. The bubble always lies. Not a huge deal. (BTW, you can use a partial water bottle on its side as a level, if you think your level isn't correct. Old school carpenter trick.) We also have a small pencil level we carry with us. To get that last few gallons, just as any other trailer, it can be necessary to jack one side and front a smidge to fill the inlet. We don't usually get to that point. As we normally wild camp, and carry fresh water in five gallon containers to supplement the trailer tank, I do the following to conserve water on most trips: 1. All drinking water is from the five gallon jugs, run into glasses or bottles. Coffee water is run into the tea kettle too. 2 I wash dishes with water heated in the tea kettle, from the jugs, in a dishpan. I can do dishes in a less than one quart tea kettle, by being careful. I also do dishes outside, most of the time, because I like it, and hate being inside when everyone else is having fun outside. I wipe food residue from dishes and silverware with the old napkins and paper plates after meals, save the dishes up, and do dishes once a day. Why waste the water, or the social time? 3. Rinsing glasses, brushing teeth, etc., is also usually done outside, with, you guessed it, the five gallon jugs carried in the truck. And the dog's water is from the jug, too. So, basically, the trailer water is toilet flushing (minimal water), navy shower (if no other facility available), and handwashing. Not much. 32 gallons goes a long, long way if you're careful. With extra jugs, we can go weeks without having to go into town for extra water. We do have a soft bladder that we've used to refill the tanks. It's not a big deal, but an extra trip and time, and I'd rather go hiking. Or go to the farmers' market, cheese factory, or whatever... Every time we come home from a camping trip, I have several thoughts (beyond, geez... all that laundry to do...) Our home is huge (it isn't), we waste a lot of water (we don't but certainly use more than we do when camping) and omg, we use a lot of energy... and we do, but we're careful about that at home, too, but still use so much more than when camping. If we all lived at home as we do when we camp (or as I did as a kid on the farm...)....well, it might be a better world. Camping has helped me reconnect with what is really important. Both our trailer (since 2008) and our home (since 2013) are solar powered. We conserve and collect water camping and at home. Precious resources. Precious world. Love the camping lifestyle, and love our Oliver, which makes it all easier. Sherry

Larry, I still have the little geocache button you sent me years ago, and I'll treasure it always. You and Betty have done so much for all of us here. We wouldn't have our Oliver if it weren't for your cellphone vid we found on youtube, when we were looking at other fiberglass trailers in early 2008. Sorry to hijack the thread, but your friendship, and help, over the years have meant so much to us, and many, many others. Sherry

We've stayed in many Corps campgrounds, and have had great experiences. Don't remember ever having power available, but some beautiful campsites, and of course, water views. Have you seen/purchsed the book, "Camping with the Corps"? And gee, Ridenfly, those photos are just awesome! Look like they were professionally staged. Love the campsite, views, and of course, your Ollie. Sherry

Thanks for the post, Bill. I remember making a solar box contraption in grade school, but I really don't remember the eclipse. Another opportunity... Keep safe. http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/safety.html We only get one set of eyes. Sherry

Not surprising that Oliver is looking at the Nature's Head. Nature's Head seems to be the leader in rv and tiny house blogs and sites, for a number of reasons (size, durability, ease of use, reliability, customer service, cleanability, minimal water use). I could possibly see replacing our system with a Nature's Head someday. I think one of the biggest advantages of the composting toilets is the minimal water consumption. I've also looked at incinerating toilets for our (someday/hope to build) self-sustaining cabin in the woods. I've never used one, but a friend of mine from Sweden has used them in remote sites where the usual septic and sewer systems are impossible to build, and she is a big believer. The ones that I've seen so far, however, look too large for a compact RV bathroom. The thought of emptying only a small tray of ash once in awhile from the incinerating toilet, instead of deploying the stinky slinky hose in our system, or emptying compost bin and liquid waste bottle in the case of a Nature's Head, is pretty appealing, though. For an RV, probably have to wait for a newer, smaller incinerator. Sherry

Looks like it's working go me. Thanks, Matt.

Mountain air. Last week in NC. Trying images from my Verizon phone. Android/chrome

Chrome