Mike and Carol

Outdoors RV and cousin Arctic Fox offer tank heaters, on some ORV models they are standard. My understanding is that they are 12V so you can use them while driving. We recently looked at a few ORV models at Princess Craft, the same dealer that made this Cortes video. They also carry Intech trailers, all very interesting. Mike

Cortes camper - some nice features but some not so nice. Double hull, lightweight. Interesting. https://youtu.be/KoZVLSFQB-s

David, we’re still stuck with 5 states in the lower 48 and Alaska. I guess we better start knocking them out. Steve and Tali have hit them all! Mike

After we came up with the super-imaginative name for our Oliver (The Trailer) we decided we’d let someone else design a logo. I asked a local artist to combine a big star (Texas you know), some compass points and the Oliver winding road, in red and gray. She did a great job and I installed it at our first campsite after pickup (Land Between the Lakes - May 2016). We had the design printed at a local print shop, they did two and I still have one when this one gets too worn.

I just googled “US map of states visited”, there should be a few to choose from.

If you don’t want to use bungee’s just swing the whale tale back and rest it on where the cables are fastened to the tongue. The weight of the chains holds it securely enough.

Looks good! Congrats and happy camping!! Mike

I’d check the switch first. Flick it on/off several times. If that doesn’t do it, check to make sure the wires are connected securely to the back of the switch. Mike

Good work on this GJ and Ken! This will be a great resource for many. Mike

We call ours “the trailer” or “the camper”. We’re so creative…. Mike

Welcome and congratulations! Let us know when you have questions. Mike

Welcome, James! Here’s what I use: I won this at an Oliver rally, seems to work pretty well. I also use these. This Bulldog collar is used by many owners. I lock it with an Abus lock, both from Amazon.

twdavid’s profile shows that he has a 2017 Elite II. That means his trailer came with a Dometic 3-way refrigerator. Oliver installed exhaust fans with a manual on/off switch for some time. All of us responding also have 2014-2017 Elite II’s with the Dometic and manual fan. It would be nice if folks put a complete signature block so we could quickly see what year and model they have. If they don’t you can always go to their profile to find out. Mike

External.

Agree with John. We rarely turn our fan on. If the temps outside are really high we will, but normally it’s off. Mike

If you haven’t yet, I’d contact one of the Oliver sales reps and ask your questions. For those kind of questions most of us can only offer opinions. I don’t think they would do either. The toilet mounts are probably very different and the standard stove is propane versus electric for induction with new wiring and mounting differences. Mike

Kirk, we’ve had two water softeners. The first was an 8,000 grain unit that we used for a couple of years. It was heavy and had to be carried in the truck. It did do a good job. I found a very small one, just 3,200 grain that would fit upright in the basement and was not heavy at all. The big one is now used for truck/trailer washing and the small one goes with us camping. You can see it on Amazon HERE. It’s worked well for us. Mike

We leave home with a full fresh tank. Other two empty. Sometimes we’ll travel with a full fresh and nearly full black and gray. If we’re leaving a campsite and there are folks at the dump station I’ll just keep on driving and dump when we arrive at our next campground later in the day, unless we’re going somewhere with no dump station or hookups, then I’ll get in line. We also travel with a water softener…. Mike

We frequently go in the wrong way too to get the front-high elevation correct.

Our AGM’s were 60+ pounds. I replaced them with 3 Battle Borns. So we went from about 260 pounds to less than 100.

Congratulations on your “new” Oliver! Look forward to meeting you out on the road - Mike

We have the Laramie trim, Crew Cab and 6’4” bed. It’s my daily driver when not towing. When we camp, we fold the back seats flat for extra storage. The bed has been nice (I was coming from half tons with a smaller bed). The fuel tank is no issue, we have to stop for other reasons before it gets empty anyway! I get a couple miles more per gallon with the diesel than I did with the gas V8’s and towing is noticeably easier. I wouldn’t want a much longer truck, I do garage mine and have only about 5” of space in front and behind in the garage. We live in the land of big pickup trucks everywhere, but parking can still be challenging even with our shorter wheelbase. I usually park out where I have maneuver room. We also like the Laramie trim level. Mike

If you are talking about attaching and detaching the sewer hose from the trailer, there is no need. Leave it attached. Just cap it and put the hose in the bumper.

The factory weighed it with two full 30 lb propane tanks but empty holding tanks. Options in 2015 were fewer than today. We did have solar, a 2K inverter and a cell booster plus a few small things like extra outlets. I haven’t looked at the option list lately, but I’m sure there’s quite a bit more.

Our trailer was about 4,900 lbs when they pulled it out of the factory for delivery in May 2016. The Dexter suspension wasn’t available then. Other than that, we had most options available to include four AGM batteries. Mike