SeaDawg

Gotta love authentic BBQ!

And the FJ and the Oliver look great together, too!

I received an email last night from the new owners of a pre-loved Oliver. They are looking for a mid-sized SUV to tow their trailer, planning a cross country trip in the future. We have towed ours with the Volvo XC90, but I don't think I'd recommend it for crossing the country. We've also towed with both the 2004 Silverado and currently used the bigger 2008 Dodge Ram Hemi 4x4 pickuup. Overkill, but a great tow vehicle. Any recommendations regarding SUVs for these new owners? Thanks. Sherry

Traveler sent me an email last night. They have found an Oliver on the west coast! Congrats, Traveler!

Traveler, searching with our forum search box produced no results, as "tongue weight" is deemed too "common." A google search using key words "oliver forum tongue weight" brought up this old thread. As you can see, our tongue weight came in at 420 pounds when we weighed our trailer at a Flying J, with full tanks propane tanks and loaded for camping. You can see several other weights from other campers in the thread. The extendible tongue will allow you to shift that weight to a certain extent. Sherry

Hi, folks, Our newest member, Traveler, found a used Oliver! Paul has left this morning, so I don't have the log book handy. Traveler asked me about the tongue weight, and I don't remember offhand. Can any of you "weigh" in on this? Sherry

Traveler, Welcome to the forum. And, enjoy your travels. Sherry

Well, that's actually the name of the company, I guess. This nifty line of bathroom accessories and safety/grab bars requires no holes drilled in the pristine fiberglass of your Oliver, according to their videos. And, they're removable... not as easily as Command hooks or suction cups, but removable. I saw these on HGTV or Diy network a year or so ago, but, hadn't run across them on a website. Here's a link, in case you'd like to see them. Even if you're not interested in towel bars at the moment, the video is rather entertaining. http://www.fixtureuniverse.com/hooks/no-drilling-required-hu241-chr-robe-hook-chrome_6906066.html Anyone else ever tried them? Sherry

Congrats on your first trip! Glad you had a great time! Sherry and Paul PS We'll look for your photos on your fb page. You can insert some of them here using the img button above, if you'd like, one at a time...

Closing up the camper after our trip to NC last week, I pulled the black knob to turn the fan to manual, and the housing snapped at the corners. I just got off the phone with FanTastic Vent customer service. A very nice rep, Tara, went through the fan features with me to identify the model, took my name and address, and ordered a new housing for me at no charge, and no shipping. The fan is now four and a half years old. Can't beat that for efficient, friendly customer service. Sherry

Sounds like a wonderful addition to your camper, Doug. I've seen "hinged" mattresses like that in boats. Certainly makes the storage more convenient. I don't store anything that's used often under in the bins beneath the bed. Too awkward, as we leave the back dinette made up as a bed all the time. Hope you and Geneva are doing well, and enjoying camping! Who manufactured your custom mattress for the Oliver? Sherry

This slideshow from the weather channel highlights some of the world's most amazing drives: http://www.weather.com/travel/driving-scenic-drives/15-most-amazing-roads-20120816 Looking at some of them, I don't think I'd want to be towing even a small trailer.... Sherry

SteveP, Paul and I often wonder how we had time to work... as you said. Retirement is wonderful. That said, welcome to the Oliver Forum, as well as the Every Day is Saturday Club... We wish you a wonderful trip out and back with the new Oliver. Sherry and Paul

Our summer travels have been limited by circumstances (read life) the last two summers. The furthest north we've been driving is North Carolina, a number of times. The trees, breeze, cool temps and shade have made the (relatively) short trips worthwhile . Ten degrees in temp and humidity make a world of difference in attitude/latitude. Hope all of you have had a great summer. Where are you? Sherry PS I miss Canadian summers.

Steve, We tow at highway and interstate speeds, with the traffic flow, with a Dodgen Ram half ton Hemi 4x4 most of the time . Sometimes, we'll do 650 miles in a day; other times, 65. Depends on where we want to be at the end of the day. We don't go west into the heat, though. We chase the cooler weather, as much as we can, and I'm not a fan of the deserts. Going thru South Carolina and Georgia are usually the hottest parts of our drives--not the kind of extended heat you could be possibly dealing with in the western highways. About two years ago, we installed tire monitors on our valve stems to alert us to a blowout/sudden drop in pressure. They are made by TST (I think), and we changed out the valve stems to quality metal stems at that time. Fairly inexpensive, and we had them in about a week's time ordering direct on line from the manufacturer. I talked to Pete today. He recently changed to the 16s and LT tires. Next time around (which could be a few years), we'll relook the sts vs new rims and lts, and see what the options are. We haven't been able to travel that much the last two years, so the newest Maxxis probably have around ten to twelve thousand miles on them, I think. Florida to New York a few times, Florida to North Carolina/DC/Virginia a number of times. I'm curious if the 16s/LTs required a modification to the spare tire cover. I hope Pete and Steve, and anyone else who has changed rim size and tires to the LT, will chime in, as well as the folks with Maxxis who have driven in the west. It's an investment in safety, three tires, or three tires and rims. We had a tough time even finding the Maxxis here in Tampa Bay. That's probably another point in favor of LT tires: more choices, and availability, if you're ever stuck in an odd spot. We had a nail in the right rear tire on the truck in Quebec in a very small town, and were lucky enough to be able to a: find someone who spoke much English better than I speak French b: find a really honest tire mechanic who plugged the tire and c: discover that he had a used one that matched our tires in case the plug didn't hold. Have you checked locally on availability? I'm guessing you'll want to take the rims and tires with you to pick up the trailer, if that's your decision, or be assured that they're on had at the pickup location when you arrive. Sherry

Scubarx put the lt tires and 16 inch wheels on his Oliver almost two years ago. If he doesn't see this post, you might want to send him a pm about his feelings, two years later. Last time I saw him, the tires were new. Since then, I think they've been out west once or twice. You can see some lengthy discussions on tires on almost every forum, including this one. If you haven't already, you might want to read this thread: Interesting that Airstream is offering light duty truck tires as an upgrade now. I'm sure that decision was made with some careful consideration and research. I too have read many horror stories on cheap Chinese trailer tires. Sherry

I think at least one person put LT tires on their Oliver, but I'm not a fan of the idea. LT tires are not truly made for trailering. We have 15 inch tires, load range E ST (trailer) tires. Maxxis brand We've been very happy with them so far. A few other forum members have the same tires, and have had them longer. I'll look in the log, but I think we got them about a year and a half ago. Maybe longer. Our old Duro load Ds did very well (over 25,000 miles), but we couldn't get Duros locally when we needed them in preparation for a long trip. I'm not sure they're sold anymore. There have been a lot of discussions here, and on other forums, about tires. We stick with trailer tires, as they're built for the needs. Sherry

Welcome to the forum, Steve. I have sent a pm to your mailbox. Sorry it took so long to get you on the forum. We're camping, and I just now got Cheri's email. Congrats on your new Oliver... and best wishes for wonderful camping adventures! Sherry (Seadawg)

TerryG, I noticed the Oliver Travel Trailer website was down a month or so ago. Oliver suspended production of the travel trailers in 2009. At that time, they had hoped to resume production when the economy improved. They concentrated their manufacturing staff and facility on other products. There have been a few pre-owned Olivers for sale this year. I believe there may still be a really nice one for sale in Arizona at this time. Sherry

We have an (original) inline fuse in our line from battery to tongue jack. Wouldn't solve all the problems, and has caused us a (few) extra problems, but it is at least a fuse between the battery and the jack. Personally, I wish it had been set up as an inside switch, in line with the battery cutoff. Would have made a lot of sense. Steve's arrangement has a lot of promise. Sherry

Are you still in the Rockies? Hope all of you are out of the path of the wildfires. Sherry

Any not=miss roads in your part of the country? One of these days, I'll get past my aversion to the deserts, and we'll go west again. Sherry

Sorry, it's been awhile since we replaced the switch, and we also looked a long time for the correct one. I think Paul may actually have found it at our local Ace Hardware store, but not positive. Could also have been at the marine supply store. We looked in a lot of places. Paul suggested the key words "momentary contact switch" if you're trying an on-line search. Sherry

Steve, We had difficulties with our tongue jack switch a few years ago. It worked intermittently at first, then finally quit completely. Paul purchased a replacement switch and a new watertight boot, and installed them, and it's worked fine since. Perhaps the switch is your problem, as well. Sherry

I think I caused the original problem by the way I loaded the refrigerator. I had three quart and 1/2 bottle on the door shelf, plus other items, which probably caused the door to bow and leave a gap at the bottom. I also had the fins pretty well covered up with a wine box and other items on the top shelf. I won't do that again. Today, we've been monitoring all day, and everything is working fine with plenty of air circulation and the excessive weight off the door (The water alone on the bottom shelf was probably close to 9 lbs.. The door was actually "creaking" when I opened it. I should have known better.) I think the excessive weight caused the door to bow a bit, and allowed cold air to spill out the bottom, keeping the refrigerator from doing its job, and causing the "n" fault. Paul checked everything else in the flow chart, so I'm pretty sure the problems were all caused by the way i loaded the fridge. The burner carried a clear blue flame, nothing was dirty, igniter was working, etc. I'm lucky he's so handy. Sherry