SeaDawg

Some nights, after a long day of adventures, I don't feel like slicing and dicing. One of my favorites is Idahoan Red Mashed potatoes, as a side for something on the grill. Two cups of boiling water in the tea kettle, a big dollop of sour cream and a bit of butter, stir, cover, and stir again, good to go. So easy, and tasty. I also love the microwave rice packets, though I don't have a microwave. I just add a little water, and heat. Both store in the pantry, and require no refrigeration.

Totally agree with you, @topgun2. We've had microfiber towels for travel for a couple decades. It takes a little getting used to the different texture, but an added bonus for those of us with long hair (and no hair dryer) is that they get your hair much drier than terrycloth towels, for faster air drying.

Hi, and welcome! And, congrats on your Oliver. Which bath fan do you have? MaxxFan, or ventline? (The Maxx dome has a clearly visible fuseholder on the inside. The ventline doesnt.) As a temporary fix, i've seen folks use a piece of pvc or a rolled up towel through the handle to keep it from opening. Scroll down through about halfway, and you'll see some solutions. Your fan may have been installed incorrectly.

Well, that's another "potential " problem, not one anyone is likely to face with quality lifepo4 batteries, but it could happen. Fighting a lifepo4 fire is different from a traditional fire, from what I have read. Not unique to Olivers. Many manufacturers now offer a lithium upgrade. And, many owners have done their own upgrade, hopefully to a reliable source. Someday, near in the future, we'll likely see a requirement for a lithium hazard symbol. Everywhere. For now, my home is powered by solar and lithium, and one car. Tesla markings on the outside of our home, at the transfer switch, should help firefighters, hopefully, if ever needed.

Pretty much the same info requested when I filed warranty claims on residential windows. It was a bit of a hassle, but worth it.

A other annoying big welt from a bug bite today. Ivarest to the rescue. I think I'll try the much cheaper calamine next time, first.

I'm a big fan of most Camco products. That looks like a nice mat. I'd probably make a bag for storage, or use an old sail bag, as we do now.

Well, I guess I "gumped" myself with that comment. Our Eccotemp has given up the ghost, we think. Fortunately, as we have a small group coming and need the outdoor, spring fed shower this weekend, Asheville Camping world had the Eccotemp L5 on sale, and in stock! Ordered online, and picked up a few hours later. We'll try to repair the old soldier as a backup, but, honestly, it doesn't owe us a dime, if we can't fix it again. With the hundreds of great showers it has provided, and years of service, I wouldn't even look for another brand.

We bought ours at IKEA, probably 12 to 14 years ago. It's getting a bit threadbare, but still hangs together, and serves the purpose. Camping world has some very nice ones that are made to fold up in small sections. Watch for their sales and closeouts. The ikea mat has a limited life left. I'll be watching at camping world, amazon,,and overstock.

@JD_ your question has come up a myriad of times,, over the years. The answer, unfortunately, is always, no. But, an easy solution has always neen, an extra water source in the truckbed. Good luck with your decision.

Back to the original op idea. Is it wonderful to have a dedicated, shaded, enclosed storage solution for your Oliver. Sure. I often have "storage envy." We lesser mortals, and those with lot line constraints, and hoa, city constraints, can definitely make it work. Wax on, wax off. 😃

We used 3m marine ultra paste wax for many years, boats and trailer, early spring and fall. Amazing uv protection. It's been, sadly, discontinued. When we used up the last of our 3m ultra marine, we switched to another Practical Sailor tested, and highly recommended paste wax, Collinite. Collinite is definitely more difficult to apply, but great testing and reviews. There are other products from Collinite, and other brands, available in a liquid form, for easier application. We're old school, and hate to mess with success, but, we'll consider those, as it gets harder to do the paste wax. Check out Practical Sailor testing and reviews. Imo, it's important to remain consistent with product. And,xthere are many great products our there, today. Ps, you asked about wash. We use the west marine pink soap. We don't want to wash the wax away. I don't remember the name, but I can look it up in the bills. Edit to add: it has a very fancy name, so I didn't remember it. "boat soap," lol. This one. It goes on sale several times a year. It's quite concentrated, so a gallon lasts a long time, even with regular washes. You can carry a pint or quart in a small container when traveling, instead of the whole big jug. It's biodegradable, and doesn't strip wax like some cheap soaps (and dish detergent.) Maguire's, Starbrite, and other big names in the marine world offer really good options, as well. We've found the West Marine to be pretty cost effective for our little "fleet" of fiberglass vessels and trailer.

The plastic used in black tanks generally, and specifically, in Oliver, is not rated for fresh/potable water. The plumbing system in Oliver (and many other rvs) cojoins the grey and black, allowing for the leakage of grey and black, so, yuk, no way I'd use the black for fresh. You could find a way to use the black tank for additional grey, which can be helpful in the east. And, carry fresh is the truck bed, as we do. This has been discussed many times. It's just kind of a ",just don't do it, don't even think about it" thing.

Our 2008 came with the original single step, and we used a stool as a second step for several years. My short legs, and one flip of that sturdy stool, for me, at a crazy hilly campsite in Tennessee, prompted us to upgrade to the double step when it came available. It's a bolt on. A great "upgrade" for us, standard for all the new folks. Best double step in the marketplace. Superbly constructed. Way overbuilt, but that's the Oliver way.

They're really tricky to use, in my opinion, and it barely does the job. Best use is level pavement. I've discussed it a number of times in various posts. Ours is an older model, and they may have made some improvements, I think, over the years.

Yes. We move the front at an angle. We probably parked it really close to the house that time to have better access to the roof or the streetside, for a project.

A,spare, for me, trailer or truck, is a "get me home," or get me to the nearest repair facility. We also carry a tire repair kit/plug kit (and a tire pump) . We don't carry a bunch of spare parts, but that's important.

It's backin, and it's not really a lot of fun. But, we have it down to a science, manageable with just the two of us. We often use my Silverado to back the trailer as close to, or into the 8 ft gates to the 12 ft side yard, as possible. Then, we use a parkit 360 , and plywood, to get it the "rest of the way." It also means moving lawn gear, and boat trailer, out of the way, before we back in. Driveway has a 6 ft 8" rise, in a short distance, from the street, and a drainage area, maybe 12" deep, at the curb cut. It's definitely a process, but when you've done it a bunch of times, it does get easier. 😀 I've seen worse. And, managed worse. Ps, the big white vertical drain pipes you see are our rainwater collection system. Our neighbors on that side have no windows on that side, save a 20 x 20 in a half bath, and that window looks out at vegetation, only, so we elected to install major piping, etc, where no one would see visual clutter. We love our neighbors, and would not ever want to offend them.

That's true, and degradation/depletion is extremely minimal, with lithium ion in storage. I'm thinking of people like me (still on agm) who leave the fan on low, and both vents open somewhat, to circulate air. My FanTasic fan uses .5 amps on low, thermostatic regulated, so not constant, and we've narrowed our ghost draw to less than .4 amps, so solar keeps our agms up, just fine. But, agm batteries like being 100 per cent,,and lithium don't. Since we don't have lithium batteries on the boat, either, I've not checked to see if we can adjust charging level for storage. Wete it me, I'd like to be able to leave the minimal draw of a fan, on low, and ghost draw active, and not deplete my lithium batteries. Just my (probably off the wall) thoughts.

Almost 16 years, @Patriot. We brought it home, February, 2008. I'll look for a few more. You can see my trailer in every update post we do. These are from 2020, I think. You can see the yellowed jack head. My bad. We should have covered it.

I think I may have posted this before, but @John E Davies is absolutely correct. Walking down any marina pier, anyone with the victron app can see everything on those folks with victron gear, who don't change passwords and rename network. One of my friends in the marine industry jokes about it all the time. He sees it often, as Victron is so very popular in the marine world, and so few bother to change the initial password. Change the name to something innocuous, as John suggested, but even more unidentifiable, imo. (My battery monitor, or my charger, or the digits and a few letters in your home street address, etc.) I wouldn't identify my type of unit. I certainly wouldn't put the word "lithium" in there, ever.) And change that password!

It would be super nice if lithium controllers gave you the choice to charge only to a certain per centage in storage, like Tesla cars, and our Samsung phones and tablets. I have all our phones and tablets set to charge only to 85%, to extend battery life, and watch depletion during the day.

Our 2008 Oliver has been outside its whole life, 24/7/365, never used a cover, other than a cover for the a/c, and wires screens (camco) for intakes and outlets, and tire covers, for uv protection. Our Florida sun can be brutal, but we wax with a quality product 2x a year, as we do with our boats. I should have covered the front jack head, as that plastic has yellowed with age and uv, and the uncovered original dometic a/c shroud deteriorated in the sun after ten years or so (that's why we cover the new Houghton, when parked for a long time.) Oliver uses a marine grade gelcoat. Take care of your quality stuff, and it takes care of you. Having a pole barn, or horse barn, even with a dirt floor, would be awesome, to help keep it clean and protected from leaf and pollen buildup, etc. We run our tires up on 2x 6 or 2 x 8 planks , and put more pt boards under the jacks, rear and front, to keep them out of the dirt, and many other reasons.

@mossemi, in some cases, with Victron, it's a waste, in others, its totally incompatible, and can cause issues. Victron is far from "plug and play." It's pretty sophisticated, components based, which is great, in many respects. Replacing a $40 component, vs a $400 component, or more, is great, imo. The list is somewhat "dizzying, " imo. I also have no idea which Victron components come standard in the newer trailers. My experience is limited to our boat, with Victron gear.

That's great news, and I'm glad you'll check everything. Zamp port +zamp panels "should be" plug and play. But, if never used, I'd check. As you may have noticed, I often play "devil's advocate " and sometomes ask perceivably "dumb" questions, because I know our posts live on, for a long time. I have seen posts where folks considered "reversing wiring" to compensate for zamp's port reverse sae polarity. For anyone buying a used trailer with a zamp port, I'd check it, before use. Fwiw, my husband and I make some mods, but we label everything. Not everyone does. I'm glad you are following a prudent path, @Wandering Sagebrush.