SeaDawg

I haven't kept ours completely up to date, but it's a free download available from several sites. I saved the completed map as a photo format, and added to my signature. http://www.visitedstatesmap.com/ http://www.epgsoft.com/VisitedStatesMap/ It's a matter of choice, visited or camped in. Most people, I think, include the states they've spent at least one night in. Sherry

I don't know anyone who uses the swaybar on an Oliver. We've certainly never felt the need in 50k towing with our 17 ft Oliver. The owners of the 22s will probably chime in. The factory tour is worth the trip, in my opinion. A lot of folks who see our trailer for the first time say it looks like a fiberglass Airstream. Nice compliment, but we're really glad we got the Oliver, instead. Sherry

Great photos, guys. Did you have to use photobucket or can we now do a direct upload with the img button? Sherry

It's a ways out of the way to Denmark, but, Denver is only an hour and 45 east of Asheville. Stay in touch. Maybe we could camp together if we're up that way? We're planning at least two more trips to NC this year.

Wish we had a like button. Great photo of you and Betty, Larry.

At the same gas station on the trip home, a guy was waiting for our gas pump loaded with watermelon... both the pickup bed, and the trailer he was pulling. Overloaded, actually. We saw broken watermelon on the road, about every 100 feet, for a mile in his trail when we left. Darn, they looked great, too. I was tempted to buy a watermelon from him at the gas station, but I already had a case of Cherokee Purple tomatoes for the neighbors, purchased the day before at the Western North Carolina farmers market. We routinely visit the farmers market on our trips to Asheville. Love the produce, and local jams, honey, mustard, pickles, and cheeses. The South Carolina state farmers market is just up the highway from the Neeses Piggly Wiggly. Guess that, and their low gas price, is why we encountered produce trucks at each visit. Sherry

Tom posted photos of the night creatures he caught on his night camera. Maybe he could help? Sherry

Paul and I spent the last two weeks camped on our property outside Asheville, NC. Among our chores, the "shabin" got a new coat of paint on three sides, Paul plumbed hot water into the bathroom, and we installed the EZE RV gutters over all the windows in the Oliver. Paul did a great job, I think, and they look really nice, as if they came with the trailer. We chose the UltraWhite color, which matches the white gelcoat really closely. In some of those heavy downpours (what Pete so poetically calls "frog drowning gully washers," ) our weepholes would become overwhelmed. Especially, when the rain washes off the sidemount solar panels, and runs like a wide open hose down the side of the big window over the dinette... overwhelming even super clean weep holes. So far, we're happy. The gutters should divert some of the rain away from the window. Haven't had one of those "frog drowners" yet since installation, though, so I'll let you know. Since it's monsoon season in Florida, I should know soon. I took a bunch of photos (Paul claimed editorial rights... probably wants to make sure I got him modeling the right beer tee shirt...) and I'll post those soon. He reported that the material was really easy to work with, after leaving it in the sun for thirty minutes or so. Sticks like crazy with 3m adhesive already applied. I think he did a very professional job. Under my supervision, of course. It's really a one person job, but he let me help. Hand me the alchohol, I need another paper towel, hand me the pvc cutters, please etc... Makes me feel useful. Probably would have been faster if he worked alone. Oh, well. Then I could get back to painting and building a campfire... Sherry

Gotcha on that one, didn't I? Really, we did drive through Denmark, Sweden, and Norway (twice) in our Oliver in the last two weeks. We didn't ship the Ollie overseas, though. We towed the Ollie through these small towns in a lovely agricultural area of South Carolina, along Rt 321. Denmark was named for a Captain Denmark, I can only guess the other two got their names from someone with a sense of humor. Tiny towns (Norway has a population of less than 300 at the last census), close together, geographically correct south to north... Denmark, the biggest, then really tiny Sweden, then Norway. Found out there is also a town called Finland off to the east on 70. Didn't go there, though. We drive the route from Florida to Asheville several times a year. A friend in Banner Elk suggested we take the 321 cutoff, to get off the interstate 95/26 route for a hundred miles or so, and see some of the real South Carolina. He couldn't have been more correct. We enjoyed the drive on the way up, and took the same route home. Leaving Norway on the way up, we followed a pickup truck loaded with beautiful canteloupe for thirty miles or so, till we both stopped for gas at the Piggly Wiggly in Neeses, SC. While Paul fueled the truck,I walked over to ask the driver if he'd a canteloupe for sale. He reached over (tall guy, 6'4" or better) picked a good one, and handed it to me. I reached into my pocket and asked him how much, and he drawled out "walk on..." I handed him a few dollars, telling him I couldn't accept when I'd asked first for the melon, and he thanked me kindly. Best canteloupe I've had in a long, long time. Really sun-ripened, like my grandfather used to grow. Selected for me by the man who planted and tended it. We traveled on, and the sense of humor in naming towns continued, at a town called North, South Carolina. Really. Cute town, all old buildings along the railroad that was the lifeblood of small farm towns back in the day. I told Paul it reminded me of a town we stopped into in Australia a few years back. A main street lined with turn of the last century buildings, now most of them empty, but still grand, though a little sad. Looking out at the rail line. The path of the interstate leaves these little towns in its wake, not so grand as they once were. The rail line is probably still important to some of the industries along 321.. Georgia Pacific, and others, but not as important as it was back in the day. I, for one, miss those days. Sherry

That's a really cool photo, Larry. A lot of stuff on that roof. Do you ever adjust the solar panels, or simply let them stay flat? Sherry

Congratulations on your new Oliver! We hope you enjoy many years of traveling adventures. Sherry and Paul

Hi, Dave, and welcome to the forum. It's quite true, the 17 fits just about anywhere.. We've picked up some wonderful "leftover" sites on trips because of that. In six years and 50,000 miles plus, we've probably had less than two dozen nights with hookups. Having the extra battery capacity, water capacity, etc., can make a difference in allowing you the extra time to enjoy that special spot. Good luck with your search. Sherry and Paul

A lot to love in our little trailers. We hope they'll bring the 17s back soon, too. Sherry

Hi, Deborah, Sorry to say, I haven't joined the RVillage group, though the people who developed it, Technomadia, are friends. Maybe in the future. Right now, I'm involved in about as much social media as I can handle, and not camping as much as I'd like. Hopefully, I'll get around to being a helpful member of Rvillage someday. Sherry

Sent a message, as you're friend request button is blanked out for me. Take a look at Oliver and Fiberglass travel trailers. Love to have you in the group there, too. Sherry

Deborah, are you on Facebook? I see that the Wynns are at a rally with Technomadia, who are members on this board. They full-timed in an Oliver for a number of years before buying their vintage bus conversion.

Good thread. I missed that one. Very informative. Blodn, I sent you an email, as it looks like pm isn't working for you. My email address starts with **. The heading says something like "from Sherry on the Oliver Forum" Please watch for it in your spam filter box. (Never a good idea to put your email address out there on a forum, I'm told...) Tks. Sherry

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Also, have you considered adding solar to your new trailer? We love ours. Really extends our stays in many places, eliminates most generator use. I don't do well with noise and fumes, so we run the generator as little as possible, even our tiny, low db, low fuel consumption 1000 Honda. We leave the big gen at home for hurricane/power source interruption for the house. Sometimes, we've managed 60 days without generator. And I have to say, that's just awesome, for me. We did ours as a retrofit. My husband Paul figured out that we had the space on the side, when most people who added solar at that time did it as original equipment, on the center line of the roof. Oliver did an awesome job with the saddle brackets to sidemount the panels. 200 watts of solar, with the two batteries, has been a pretty good match for us. Sherry

The Wynn "running dump" with the urine collector also left a weird tmi video in my head as well....lol. Hope it all works out for you. I think from looking at all the drawings that it should fit nicely in the space. The shower doesn't "normally" drain to the black tank in the Oliver, so you might want to ask for that change. It would give you some extra collection space for grey. I don't know. Grey water is the least of the hassles for disposal... Hope you have a great holiday weekend. Sherry

Found this video of a composting toilet retrofit. The owner was self-admittedly not a handyman, but apparently loves the results from his comments: http://www.gonewiththewynns.com/install-composting-toilet Obviously, a factory install would be neater. Would you use the black tank for extra grey? Actually, the Wynns have done several very informative posts on installing, and using, a composting toilet. Quite informative. A link to a page of several videos made by them: This one, on prepping and dumping, really answers a lot of questions. Of course, they're working on a brand new, unused toilet, so the ick factor is minimized: Sherry

It was really a fun time. Especially since the "gathering" happened by chance. Wish that happened more often.... Sherry

Awesome. Are you going into DC? We've camped several times in the DC area, took the metro into the city. Twice, for the Solar Decathlon before it was moved from the National Mall. Enjoy!

We love our Dodge Ram 1500 hemi. Overkill, sure. It's also great as our work vehicle. (Dents and dings show the story...) Looking forward to the new Dodge offerings. We're still waiting for a smaller, tough diesel, as offered pretty much everywhere but North America. bah. I think Dodge will bring it on soon, with the Fiat influence. A pickup with a bed cover is a great tow vehicle. We upgraded from the step-side short bed Silverado to the Dodge for the 4x4, and the four seats of the extended cab. I still drive the Silverado as a daily driver, Paul drives the 4x4 Dodge. The pickup bed gives us a lot of hauling space for the "stuff" we (think) we need... We have a locking cover on the bed, and find that it meets our needs. Towing capacity far exceeds our needs, but I'd rather be on the plus side, than on the margin, when the going is a little tough. Sherry Full disclosure: I'd wanted a hemi from the time I was 15. Finally got one.... several decades later.... Retirement does have some benefits.

We bought the composite tanks for our boat several years back. Local suppliers have been a bit unfamiliar, though the composite tanks have been used for a long time in Europe. They check carefully on the dates, hem and haw, and eventually fill. When we bought ours, composite tanks couldn't be recertified. They are much lighter, don't rust (so important in our salt water/salt air environment), and I think, safer, as they won't "explode" in a fire--theoretically, they melt and burn. However, we stayed with old school steel tanks in the travel trailer. Can be exchanged in a pinch, don't get the stink-eye when refilling at suppliers, and fit neatly in the space we have. We might look at that again with the advances in tanks in the last few years. I see that some of them, like the Vikings you're looking at, can be re-certified. Propane lasts longer than you might think in the travel trailer. We rarely had to refill in 60 day trips, not even 60 days in Canada in the late fall. We run on propane and solar most of the time. No electrical hookups, usually. The refrigerator doesn't use much, and we usually cook over a campfire, if we can, other than morning coffee on the stovetop, perhaps soup for lunch. Unless temps dip below 40s, we don't usually run the furnace much, either. We look for Tractor Supply locations with propane fills when we travel, if possible. We feel we get the best fill and best deal. Metered, and we pay only for what we get. Don't care much for the unmetered places. I'll be interested in seeing how the composting toilet works for you. I think it's a wise idea to rough in the usual plumbing for resale, or change of heart. I've looked at composting toilets, and incinerating toilets, for the offgrid "dream cabin in the woods", someday. Hadn't really thought about the travel trailer, but it could be an intriguing option. Sherry