SeaDawg

Thanks for the videos. Many of us have the old (rusted) heritage versions. Just need to camp by a lake with rock salt, a brush, oil, and time, now..... Hope you and Betty are doing well. We miss you. Sherry

I'd say the draw is likely about right... If you don't turn off the power to the trailer completely, something draws at least a little... refrigerator, fan, smoke detector, etc. 2% overnite isn't a huge loss, in my opinion, if you get to 100% during the day. Hope you and Carol are doing well. We enjoyed meeting you. Sherry

It's pretty easy hour and half to two hours from Nashville. Are you flying in the day before? It's a pretty drive from Nashvilles west side down the Natchez Trace parkway to Howenwald, but about 20 minutes longer. Worth it if you have the time. Even if you don't stay there, check out the Opryland Hotel. The grounds are amazing. Downtown Nashville is fun with great music everywhere in the restaurants and bars. A different band on each level, all day long, in many places. Howenwald is a great little community. Junkyard Dog is our favorite for lunch and dinner. The Mexican restaurant isn't fancy, but pretty good, especially the Chile relleno. The folks at Oliver are wonderful. You will love your time there. I am sure. Sherry

I like winterbeach modern, and toto fabrics, both online retailers of high-end, commercial fabrics. Many have the crypton finish, often used in office, hospitality, and medical environments. We bought our trailer fabric from winterbeach 7 years ago, and it still looks like new, 60000 miles later. Redid our boat cusions with fabrics from toto, a print in a crypton finish, and an ultraleather on the salon settee cushions, with coordinating throw pillows, about four years ago. They sill look new, too. Sherry

Glad to hear that you are enjoying your new Oliver. We've camped in Lamoine, and loved it... So much nicer than the crowds at Acadia. Lovely scenery, shoreline, and pretty tranquil when we were there. Happy travels. Sherry

We have two solar panels, and follow the cool weather. We carry a Honda 1000 for charging the battery if we hit a stretch of rainy weather that we can't drive out of. In 7 years, and over 60,000 miles of camping trips, we've used the AC a handful of times. Even less on the microwave. Just to give you an idea of our camping style, we spend most of our time in state & national parks, COE campgrounds, and our private camping property in the NC mountains. It all depends on your camping style. We'd rather camp at a higher elevation than run AC, and solar is silent. So, no basket for us. I think you could easily add it later if you find it's necessary. Just my two cents. Sherry

Hope you enjoy beautiful Connecticut. We'll miss you again. Won't be in New England til next week. Sherry

So happy for you! Do enjoy your time in and around Hohenwald. It's a great camping area, and the folks in Hohenwald are among the best!.. Happy travels! Sherry

I think the key words you keep seeing here are "marine" and "boat" products. With the marine grade fiberglass gelcoat, we've always used the same quality products we use on our fiberglass boats. Inside and out, 3M Ultra marine paste wax. Once every year or two on the inside, two or three times a year on the outside. Our trailer lives outside, no cover, just like the boats, and still shines like new. The wax on the inside might not be necessary, but it seems to me it keeps the gelcoat nice and shiny, and easy to clean. For general cleanup inside, a soft cloth and water takes care of most. Vinegar windex eliminates handprints, etc. Sherry

Happy motoring, and safe travels. Wonderful adventures await you!

Looks awesome. My microwave just died after seven years... Probably from lack of use. I think we'll replace it with a cabinet. Thanks for the ideas. Sherry

Love the microwave door. Is that cork? It's a great look. I like your color scheme, as well. Great looking interior. Sherry

Very cool, DCKiefer. Does the uv come on only when you use the water? Have you found it heats up the water much? What brand did you use? Are you tired of all he questions yet? Sherry

Thanks for that information. I'll keep looking, too. Sherry

We've had the original Legacy for seven years. My husband is also around 5 ft 10, and the interior height is good. Shower, too. No issues. The biggest difference I can see for us in the bigger Legacy II and the original Oliver is the bed size and configuration. I would love to have the king sized bed of the bigger new trailer, but the rest of the trailer suits our needs, so we will stay with what we know and love for now. We have ample storage for what we carry, either in the trailer for everyday use, with the big overhead cabinets, and the drawers and closet, or, in the truck bed for the items we don't want in the trailer, or don't use at every stop. I hope you will get a chance to take a look at one of the original Olivers in the west. We've taken several trips of 60 days or more, and have been very happy with our Oliver. (Doesn't mean I can't appreciate the larger new ones... they're beautiful. We've seen both the king and twin configs in the new trailer, and they are very, very nice.) What's true with Oliver is whichever size you pick, the build quality is the same great standard, and the customer service is amazing. We are still welcomed as old friends in Hohenwald, seven years later. Paul and I are so happy we happened upon Mountainborn's youtube post in the early days. We were about to buy a Casita, but went to visit the factory in Hohenwald in early 2008.. The rest is happy camping history. Sherry

Gary, did you go into Canada on 93 at Roosville, northwest of Glacier NP? I've heard there can be a 3 to 4 hour backup at times at that port of entry. Curious as to the best route after Glacier into BC or Alberta. I'd hate to lose half a day's drive sitting at the port of entry. Rereading your post, it looks like you may have left Glacier on the east side. Correct? Sherry

Normally, we'd be in NC that time of the year. But, we have a wedding in New England to go to in August. We'll see if we can catch you on our way to New England. I loooooove the Parkway. Sherry

Routlaw, I'd have to say I only notice sway when we do not deploy the jacks. As quick as it is, if we're just overnighting, we often don't bother to unhitch and deploy the jacks. Then, I feel some sway. Not noticeable with the stabilizers down, imho. We use the 2x8 or 2x6 blocks to give us a greater surface against gravel/mud, and to avoid using the total throw of the jack. We don't like to take the jacks to the absolute limit, and I think our jacks on the older 2008 are a little shorter, anyway, than the new trailers. Sherry

Camping in the mountains on a regular basis, and also two very long trips in Canada, we've done quite a few gravel roads. I'm sure you also drive slow on the gravel, but still, chips can happen. We picked up a thick coat of red clay, and a few small chips in the gelcoat, on one long stretch in Canada, even with the RockTamers. I don't really care for the idea of bedliner on my trailer, though. I think if we were planning on heavy gravel road travel (like the Denali highway?), I'd look at a removable heavy film used on vehicles and boats for protection while being transported, or possibly applying the new 3M product, 3M9000 Paint Defender. Paint Defender is a spray-on, removable clear plastic shield for the automotive world. I don't know if it's recommended for fiberglass gelcoat, so a call or email to the manufacturer would be in order. It's applied over a coat of special wax to aid in removal.http://3mauto.com/paint-defender-spray-film.html Anyone ever tried it? Sherry

That was an ingenious solution to your problem, dstr8. Our 2008 Oliver has a Scandvik faucet/shower with the cutoff. I don't know what the flow rate is, but I doubt it's much more than 1.75 gpm, and probably much less. Maybe I'll measure it one of these days. We've used flow restrictors in a number of our home showers and faucets. Home Depot, Lowe's etc. carry inexpensive NeoPearl kits that fit most showers and faucets, but not all. I've ordered others online. Residential shower heads today usually are stamped or labeled with the gpm, which is really helpful in choosing a shower that fits your conservation style. I don't know if that process has carried over to the rv and marine world, however. Years ago, I added a cutoff to the kitchen sink. It's a little gizmo that replaces the aerator, with a long pin attached. To operate the kitchen sink, I turn on the water, but have to touch the pin to actually get water flow. Beats trying to turn off a slippery faucet knob with soapy hands. I got ours at Home Depot in Asheville, but I don't think they carry them anymore. I bought replacements at an rv show. I think I posted a photo years ago. I'll look for it and add a link. Here you go: http://www.instant-off.com/ Sherry

The jacks are awesome. We still carry some 2 x 8 cutoffs to stack under the jacks for extended throw. Our jacks in the older models may be shorter, I don't know, but we don't like to take the jacks to the limits. So much nicer to touch a button than crank, crank, crank. Sherry

Seadawg... We're sailors. And Paul worked at sea for a long time. It's a family nickname. Sherry

Welcome to the board, Ed & Marsha, The Midwest has some beautiful camping spots. We did about have the great River Road one summer. Loved camping in Wisconsin and Minnesota. I've been in Florida for a long time, but lived in Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas before moving here. I miss the open spaces and big sky, but can't say that I miss shoveling the white stuff in the winter. Hope you get to see an Elite II soon. They are beautiful. We've enjoyed our Legacy for seven years this month, and I think it still looks pretty close to brand new. The fiberglass is so easy to maintain. Sherry

We've loved our Oliver 17 for 7 years, 60,000 plus miles, and countless camping nights. If we can help with any specific questions, just ask. Sherry

I don't think all the truck manufacturers have yet adopted the SAE tow rating standards (pretty sure several have not, actually), though Dodge Ram has, and Toyota Tundra adopted it years earlier. I'm not sure at all about the SUVs. I'd ask about the documentation with the dealer if I were looking for a new vehicle right now. Most new trucks have a pretty nice, car-like setup, and a decent ride. But they're a lot bigger these days than they used to be. Today's equivalent of my 2005 Silverado seems enormous to me. Several of the manufacturers are coming out with smaller models of trucks again, and I'm glad to see it finally happen. We really enjoy the extra cargo capacity of a truck with a bed topper, and the four passenger capacity of our Ram 1500. My daily driver Silverado used to be our tow vehicle, and we loved it too, as a tow vehicle, but with only two seats, it was a bit limiting if we wanted to take a passenger or two along to dinner. We're looking forward to a smaller, four passenger diesel pickup in the future. The Ram is 7 years old now, and going strong, so we can wait awhile for the US vehicles to try to catch up the the European and Australian versions of smaller, tough, economical we've seen for years. If I were looking today, I'd probably look for a used pickup like my Silverado or Pete's Taco, or one of the newer smaller pickups, with a good bed cover like our UnderCover. Sherry