Mcb

Man oh man….. We’ve had two tundras.. a 2011 and currently a 2016. Add Debs 20 some odd years of Tacomas and it’s safe to say we are Toyota fans. Our 2016 has 188k miles currently, the 2011 had 125k when we sold it . All good, issue free miles. We started shopping for a new Tundra a couple weeks ago, figuring it was time, and figuring it would be a no brainer… just get a new one…why drive anything else.. We took one out for a test drive, a Limited Hybrid….. and didn’t like it.. We couldn't believe it… A couple days later, we stopped by a Ford dealer and took an F150 XLT Hybrid for a spin, figuring we better do our due diligence and much to our surprise, we liked it a lot. I haven’t spent much time on the Oliver Forum for months now, and just happened to check in this evening…. And the first thread I checked out was this one…and I’m glad I did… I think.. Now I’m wondering what other stuff I’ve been missing around here.. 🙂

Pretty slick set up. How much space is occupied by the slide, the distance from the truck bed bottom to the slides storage surface? My hesitation in going this route is that sometimes I need my truck to just be a truck, so I’ve got to be able to maximize the bed area… I built the set up in mine so I can disassemble and remove it in 20 minutes or so, and reinstall in about the same time frame. It’s fun looking at those photos from this old thread, as our traveling patterns and needs have evolved the last few years, so has the storage solutions in the truck bed.

Congrats from #685 down around the corner in Damariscotta Mills!

We have been Harvest Hosting our way to Florida from Maine this week.. Both Oscar Scherer and Myakka River State Parks had available spots this weekend which surprised us.. I guess we beat everybody else down here this year.. 🙂

what would an Oliver Certified Tech be certified to do that any reputable RV Repair guy can’t already do?… weld aluminum? Fiberglass work? I’ve never had our camper serviced by OTT, as when we’ve had issues it’s been thousands of miles away from the mothership, and I do the general maintenance myself. My experience ( this is not a complaint ) with the service dept has been to be directed by them to contact the manufacturer of the component that’s having issues directly… whether Xantrex, LifeBlu, etc…. Which has always worked out fine.. When issues have been beyond me, I’ve found Moble RV repair guys who are certified by Norcold, Dometic etc and are therefore connected to those companies and can deal with warranty issues etc, and know what they are doing because they do it everyday… this has worked out fine too. What I’ve found is that if you need an RV repair guy and you are in a campground, ask the folks that run the place for advice… ask the folks that obviously are long term campers at the place as well.. they will be quick to tell you who to have work on your camper, and who not have work on your camper.. Or at least that’s the way it’s worked for us.

Three of mine stopped working all together, and two were dim and wouldn’t shut off . This happened simultaneously … So I opened a ticket, and ended up replacing all of them, which wasn’t a big project..

we’ve got one of the 15 gallon rigs.. it has lived in the back of the pickup off and on for a couple years, and we’ve never used it… The bed of our truck is a pretty organized place, with everything stowed away in its place, with things that get used a lot pretty accessible, and things that don’t get used can take some effort to access… which is the case for that piece of gear. The few times we’ve stayed in a campground without sewer hookups long enough to require emptying our tanks amidst our stay Ive just disconnected the power and water, raised the jacks, hooked the trailer to the truck and dragged it to the dump station, because as crazy as it sounds, for me, it’s less of a hassle moving the camper then emptying the bed of the truck… and then putting it all back in.. We can be ready to roll in 10 minutes or so. If I leave the wheel chocks ( the ones behind the tires) in place when I pull out of the campsite they provide targets to help guide me back into the exact same position the camper was in before I moved it, which is kind of fun anyway🙂

Did the inverter signal an E01 error code while it wouldn’t handle loads over 1400 watts by any chance? I’ve had that happen, the inverter won’t handle the coffee maker, or microwave, and the issue is that the battery cable has somehow loosened slightly while bouncing down the road, and once tightened, the problem is solved..

Thanks Richard and Bob for making these mini rallies happen.. they’ve been lots of fun for sure.

We spent alot of years working to restore fish passage for Alewives in Maine, and still get home every spring In time to do it all over again.

I’m not sure what I did to help deal with the potential freezing of this pipes in the garage is a good idea or not, and since I’m not out playing in the same cold temps you are it may not apply…but.. what I did was to cut a “hatch” through the floor of the garage area under the rubber mat that allows me to access the pipes and fittings. This gives me the ability to stuff “handwarmers” under the floor on top of and around the pipes. I haven’t set up sensors and have no idea as to the efficiency of such a strategy but my pipes haven’t frozen yet, and maybe it might help you out in a pinch. I also built a sort of insulation “block” which fits very tightly over the city water and fresh water intakes, as I worried about those fixtures, and figures it might help out with those pipes located just inside.

So that’s where all those diabolical ingenious upgrades, modifications, and hacks to “Mouse” have taken place!

Our tv is wire tied so it can’t come down while driving.. which it did several times. since we don’t use it this isn’t an inconvenience ..

This is really great stuff. Its one thing to deal with night time temps dropping into the 20s when day time temps recover well above freezing. Its a whole different ball of wax when those day time temps stay in the 30s or below.. Its interesting reading about how you folks are managing those conditions.

Lonesome Dove while driving around the Southwest a couple years ago… Harry Potter series has been fun to listen to as well, read it to the kids back in the day.. it’s entertaining to revisit it..