Jim and Chris Neuman

I went with the air bag / Bilstein 5100 combo and have been very happy with the outcome. The Air Lift bags I had installed can be pumped up to 100 PSI but I have found that 30# does the job real well without excessive rear end lift. I did use the Bilstein 5100 ride adjustable front shocks set at 1.75" in order to counteract the nose-down effect you get when pumping up the rear air bags. This combo gives a smooth, level ride and virtually eliminates the hobby horsing you get on uneven road surfaces such as northern frost heaves or slumping road surfaces. Far superior to the factory F150 shocks that came on my '21 crew cab.

The Upper Steens Mountain roads are inaccessable until the snows melt - usually mid June or later. Depends on the snowpack and weather. Still the area surrounding the Steens has a ton of stuff to do including amazing birding on the Malheur Refuge. Wild horses can be found surrounding the Steens and great fishing in season. Do keep in mind that ticks and mosquitos are the dominant lifeforms in spring/late summer and can be rough on dogs as well as people - come prepared.

Several of parks you mentioned, particularly Lassen and Crater Lake and the North Cascades can be difficult to get reservations at that time of year. This year in particular may be dicey due to probable park shutdowns. Forest Service and BLM may also be hit hard so keep an eye on it. The Redwoods don't have a ton of campsites available and they tend to be smaller, older campgrounds. Don't miss that park though as the hikes are otherworldly. Yosemite and the other West Slope parks are also pretty tough to access late summer. Don't miss the coast of Oregon - tons of campgrounds and truly spectacular country - ditto for the coast of Washington although it is thinner on camping opportunties. The volcanic high lakes country just South of Bend, OR is spectacular and tends to have available sites in the FS campgrounds or, failing that, boondocking areas. Fires, particularly on the East slope of the Cascades in OR and WA can be a challenge mid to late summer - very weather dependent. I have spent my whole life in the Northwest and travel it extensively every year. I do not hesitate to just wing it and that generally works out but be ready to deploy plans B, C & D. Make it a habit to try to get into your site early in the day or, better yet, reserve well in advance and you should be fine.

Thought I saw one near Sunriver, OR but it turned out to be just a shiny dumpster!

Boudicca908 Yes, Zapata Falls was the name of the campsite I mentioned above. Failed to mention the Zapata Falls hike adjacent to the campground - really nice!

You are correct, many of the sites in this older campground are for smaller rigs or tents, however, there are a few pull-thru sites available. We reserved one two winters back for a 5 day stay and it was beautiful, easily handling our LII and F150. Great Sand Dunes is a really fine NP and at the time we showed up there (late February) it was not at all crouded on trails although the campground was topped off. Do not recall the name of the campground but about 6 - 8 miles south of the southern entrance to the NP is road leading to, I believe, a BLM campground where we stayed the night before we were due to arrive at the NP campground. A serious climb above the valley bottem (maybe 1500 - 2000' feet above the main highway turnoff) but we were treated to one of the finest views we have ever had from a campsite. Road into campground was good but steep and presented no problem for our truck & trailer. We lucked into a site but a reservation would be useful here also as it was pretty full.

Looking for input on the Sea Biscuit Metal Designs front cargo box, specifically the smaller of the two sizes offered. Design looks clean and functional but would like input from folks who actually own one as they are pretty spendy and new enough not to have a lot of outside input that I can locate. Primary use will be chocks & messy stuff in general. Our Oliver is an LEII. Any experience out there? Appreciate any input. Jim

Can anyone tell here are the Bulldog shocks are made?

I may have missed it but do you have firm reservations for any of this voyage? If not, plan way ahead as many of the areas you are heading into will be inundated with other campers. Spring, heading into summer, can be a very tough time to find camp sites in popular areas. In broad terms your plan seems doable but again, plan way ahead and keep your options open. Winging it can become an exercise in frustration as tourist season descends. Fortunately, as you make you way West into areas with large blocks of public land, boondocking becomes a viable option and your Oliver is just the machine to help you make that happen.

Usually with a nearly full tank unless we are sure of good quality water at our destination. We live in NW Washington where the water quality is very good and do not hesitate to drink it right out of the tanks (which are regularly flushed with fresh when we return from a trip). We do carry a filter pitcher for those times where the water is hard or otherwise too iffy for drinking. Always filter when filling tanks when away from home.

Is your 2023 trailer still under warranty? If so, a call to Oliver would be an obvious first step.

We received the same notice for our hull 770. Checked the rating of the hitch as instructed in the notice - stamped 7000. We are good to go. I appreciate Oliver giving potentially affected folks a heads up.

Max is right about the vanity hatch. We put one in and discovered two things. 1) Trying to remember the name of the hatch manufacturer ... Sea Dog? Nicely built, solid and very easy to install wilh only minor modification of the cut out. 2) Like like in the area behind the rear drawers under the kithchen sink, the installation of couplings was sloppy with loose and leaking fittings The plumbing in our Oliver is the only area where I am really disappointed in the QC. I advise making access to every possible failure point and checking often.

Agree completely with the hole saw recommendation. Will add that it must be extremely sharp and of high quality ... recommend bi-metal hole saws of professional grade construction. Cheap is never worth the cost as you can get hundreds of dollars worth of pissed off when a poor quality tool fails causing you to make a major screw up. Never more true than with cutting tools. It may not be possible, depending on the job, but if possible stop just short of complete penetration of the hull and then make a cut from the backside through the existing pilot hole. This will ensure a clean cut on both sides of the hull as it eliminates exit slivers.

Those of us in the West are surrounded by exactly the right type of rock to use in propane fire pits. Fresh from the volcano lava rocks are there for the picking. Alongside a central Oregon road I picked up a fire pit full of 2 - 2-1/2" lava rocks chosen for high density and low water content. Lava rock varies from extremely light to very dense ... some lava rocks float in water - you don't want that as the heavier rocks absorb and give off far more heat than the fluffy stuff. Avoid the immitation stuff that comes in some fire pits. Make sure your rock is from a genuine, certified volcano that has not been soaking in water recently. Porous rock filled with water can blow up in a surprising manner when put in a fire ... best to avoid that.

A little anti-sieze compound in the threads will make checking the shackle pins easier in the future as well as protect from corrosion. Follow that up by siezing shackle pin to the shackle with a bit of light stainless wire and the potential for having this happen again in the future will be eliminated. Shackle pins can and will back out given the opportunity unless lashed in place. Even better is monel wire as it can be re-used more readily than stainless.

Same problem on hull 770. Several slides came adrift within a few months of purchase. The #6 screws are inadequate and too few. The slide will handle #8's and there are plenty of spots along the track for additional screws in addition to the few Oliver put in. An hour or so of labor and many more fasteners will solve the issue. A small dab of woodworking adhesive will improve retention of the screw. I would not bed them in epoxy but a small drop of Titebond smeared on the threads will improve the bond.

Spent 4 nights there summer before last early in September. Really enjoyed the hiking and the relative quiet once off the main road. Many of the sites are too small for even smaller trailers - we lucked into a great pull through but they were few. Choose your site carefully and well in advance.

A bit over a year ago I visited a vacant lot I own on the Deschutes River south of Sunriver, OR. The lot is river front and undeveloped and we have used it occasionally over the years for camping and messing around. Arrived to see a "For Sale" sign stuck in the ground advertising the lot for a local real estate firm. Made a quick visit to the realtors office and was told there was a lot of interest in the lot but, sadly for me, it had sold a couple days previously and the sale was due to close shortly. Jaws dropped when I mentioned I owned the lot and that I had not listed it ... they had taken the listing over the phone and, apparantly, were a bit slack on their due diligence. County sheriff put some effort into identifying the scammer, who by this time had gone underground, but nothing came of it. I avoided being involved in an uncomfortable situation, the buyer got his down payment back, which was being held in escrow and no one was badly hurt (aside from the agent who lost a significant commission). Vacant lots and homes are apparantly considered fair game by the ethically challenged.

Corrosion between dis-similar metal is common in the boating world. Very common to find severe corrosion between, say, a 6061 aluminum mast pad or hardware pedistal and a bronze halyard winch if the two are bolted directly together. A thin layer of plastic between the two virtually eliminates this problem, particularly if you use an anti-sieze on bolt (typically stainless) threads. I use lanolin anti-sieze commonly found in boating stores. My favorite barrier material is easy and cheap to make. Prepare a smooth surface with mold release wax, lay a section of a light fiberglass cloth (say an 8 oz) and saturate with a laminating epoxy such as West Systems or System Three. You now have a sheet of flexible barrier material which can be cut to size as needed.

We spotted two Olivers at Twin Peaks CG around the first of Feb. Another in Guadalupe Mountain NP & a couple on the road. Total of 5 sighted during our recent 6 week tour of the SW. Galway Girl has popped up near us twice in our travels. Once in Boise when they pulled up alongside us in traffic (could do no more than wave & yell Hi) & once at Fort Warden in Port Townsend (we live a couple blocks from the campground). You guys get around!

Another vote for the hydraulic crimper with dies. The quality of the crimp is outstanding and far surpasses results you can get with a stab crimper. Really, there is no comparison, particularly in applications which might be wet or corrosive. Coupled with quality lugs properly sized for the wire, adhesive shrink tubing like that made by Anchor and you will get really professional results. I have used mine to rewire a number of boats that live in saltwater and am very impressed with the results ... particularly when coupled with tinned multi-strand wire like that market by Anchor. Available at West Marine and other marine supply outlets. Expensive components but you will not use all that many and the results are as good as a professional shop will provide.

Drove though Quartsite about 10 days back but could not bring myself to go in ... what a zoo! My allergy to crouds is a personal problem though and I have a number of friends there now and they are having a good time. For those closeted science nerds out there ... stopped into the Jansky Very Large Array in New Mexico a couple days ago (see the movie "Contact") - what an amazing place in a seriously out of the spot. Birding on the Rio Grande was also impressive. On to Big Bend NP!

Noticed a couple of issues with our 2021 Legacy II (with Truma) I had not run into before. We have had a week of unusually cold weather here on WA's Northern Olympic Penninsula with temps sitting in the low teens and 20's. I had left the fresh water tank very low after our last usage and found, on attempting to fire up the Truma anitfreeze kit, that the water pump was starting to pull air due to tank being near empty. This prevented the Truma from filling and as a result, the Truma would not operate the antifreeze kit. An error message on the panel told us of this issue. Lesson learned - ensure some water is in the fresh water tank and that the water pump can deliver water to the Truma prior to startup of the antifreeze kit. Adding water to the tank solved that issue. Which bring us to issue #2. A week of temps in the low teens resulted in a small ice plug forming in the street side fill fitting. Hooking up a hose and attempting to add water to the tank did not work. Note to self - street side water fill fitting is in a low, cold and virtually unheated part of the area between the hulls. Prolonged temps in the teens allowed an ice blockage to form right at the fitting. Solved this by filling a couple of 5 gal water jugs with warm water and bringing it into the fresh water tank through the boondocking fill . Problem solved - water pump purged air from the lines, Truma got it's water and all is good. Heading out for 6-8 weeks toward (hopefully) warmet climes tomorrow with a freshly lubed, filled and pampered Oliver and fresh tires on the truck Should be fun.

I have made the trip eight times now and, other than losing a couple windshields during the earlier, pre-paved days. Have experienced no major issues. If I could add one caution to those already mentioned it would be to avoid driving at night. Moose, elk deer, bear and bison are out there in high numbers and are large, dark and tough on fenders.