Mike and Carol

I have thin curly cables, not chains. Their connection to the tongue doesn’t look very robust, either. I’m sure it meets RVIA standards, but not very confidence inspiring. Mike

Wow. I wonder if my safety cables would hold my truck... might need to think about an upgrade to real heavy duty chains.

To escape the summer Texas heat we like to go north. I’m planning a July Colorado trip and state parks and USFS campgrounds that take reservations are full. Some locations had no availability. Hopefully, we’ll find some dispersed or no reservation sites. I’m not sure it is all COVID. My son bought his first travel trailer this week (they’re in Colorado). My niece and her husband here in town did the same. They are all in their 30’s. Now I find myself providing lists of essentials to them and recommending good camping locations. A new camping generation is on the way.... Mike

Welcome Ollieday. Agree with Sherry on the solar! There are lots of composting Oliver owners these days so I’m sure they will chime in. Mike

Meg, yes we had Oliver install the AC Easy Start a couple of years ago. Our small 2K Champion will run the AC although we rarely do that. I believe Olivers are wired for solar but would verify with your sales person. Mike

of her Oliver

Meg, if you are going to boondock 50% of the time you need solar. We don’t have a shower curtain and it is not an issue. You shower, turn the fan on, squeegee and wipe down, done. A shower curtain is not going to reduce moisture, the length of your shower and bathroom ventilation will. We have a 2000 watt generator and it will run our AC. We tend to avoid hot weather, so we haven’t had the need to run the AC off the generator much. The generator is mainly to charge the batteries when the weather is rainy and cloudy. We use our microwave occasionally. It just depends on how you like to cook. Good luck! Mike

In my limited experience, no. There are plenty of RV’s with an exposed 20 lb tank or two tanks. They might be more of a target. I’m not sure a thief would want 30 lb tanks or go through the hassle of getting them out of an Oliver. My impression is that theft, either propane or the entire trailer, is more common when in storage, not camping. Mike

Welcome to the group! Tennessee state parks are some of our favorites. Glad to have someone with parks experience. Mike

something we should

Keb Mo has been on the Grand Ol Opry a couple of times this past year during the lockdown. I wasn’t aware of him much before but now really enjoy his music.

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Classic Bluegrass. Tony Rice was a legendary bluegrass guitar player. He just passed away a few months ago.

I wrestled with this after replacing my AGM’s with Lithium’s. I also store under cover, so solar isn’t a factor. I also didn’t want to leave the charger on long term. I turned everything off I could and unplugged what I could and still had about 1 AH draw. So, I was leaving the charger off and every few days I’d stop by and turn it on for a while to put some charge into the batteries. That got old pretty fast. Now, I just turn the batteries off. I think we should be out camping! Mike

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Congratulations on you upcoming Ollie! Texas numbers continue to grow! Hope to meet you soon. Mike

I think whoever your sales rep is you’ll be happy. We placed our order 5 and half years ago with Anita, so she has been in sales for a while. We enjoyed working with her and have visited with her whenever we’re back in Hohenwald and at past rallies. I wouldn’t be concerned with whoever takes you through the sales process, you’ll enjoy it. Recommend a trip to Hohenwald for a factory tour and the chance to meet face to face with your salesperson. Mike

We use TST and don’t need any amplification.

After the arctic blast the weather this week has been great and you should have good weather this weekend! Your batteries should be okay. If you’re going to store under cover with no electrical for long periods you might consider disconnecting your batteries or installing a cut off switch. If you’ve got 2 AGM’s there should be room in the battery tray to mount a switch, it’s fairly easy to do. Mike

Oliver provides the platform (server, software, administrators) for the forum. Forum content, guidelines, etc are managed by the moderators with no direction from Oliver. We try to keep this a friendly place where there can be a free exchange of information. Complaints and issues are not censored or removed. Yes, there is a generally positive vibe, but that’s because folks are generally happy with their trailer. Positive feedback and constructive criticism are both welcome here. Folks that have issues early on can find a lot of expertise here to help get them resolved quickly. Moderators are also open to suggestions, criticism, etc.

Some of the best spots we’ve camped at were without any hookups! Great pictures. Isn’t it nice to have the flexibility to do self-contained camping? 😃 Mike

Yes, we’ll be fully open next Wednesday. Weekends in Texas State Parks fill fast, but weekdays are generally available. With the governors announcement that COVID restrictions are gone next week I hope that state parks will be open to capacity. Mike

When I removed mine I just used a fingernail to get a corner up a little then took hold and slowly peeled it off. Warm/hot weather helps. Mike

We store ours at a storage facility. It is covered and has electricity. It gets dusty after a few weeks there, so I end up giving it a quick wash before we travel. I used to keep it plugged in to keep the AGM’s charged. Now, with lithium’s, I don’t. I turn the batteries off. If it wasn’t covered I would keep the batteries on and let the solar keep them charged.

Larry, glad to hear your Ollie is on the way! We don’t use the Andersen levelers, but understand that they work well. If the gear package includes some kind of block for under the jacks, you should be good to go. I would recommend a water filter. The blue Camco filter works well. I recently got a Culligan cartridge type filter that seems to be pretty good too, it’s a little more work and I still carry a blue Camco! The water gauge that Bill mentions above is what we use. It is adjustable. We don’t have the on board surge protector so we use the kind that plugs into the power pole. It tests the circuit before allowing a connection. We also carry a GFI tester. We have both a 30 to 15 and a 50 to 30 adapter. In 5 years I’ve used the 50 to 30 twice, once due to a flaky 30a plug on the power pole and once because a 50a plug was the only plug on the power pole. There is probably not a rush to get one, but the 30 to 15 will get more use. We have a sewer hose support, I think it is called a Sidewinder by Camco. I use it about half the time I have a sewer connection, especially when the dump hole is a bit elevated. You want a straight downhill path for your black and gray fluids to travel, if not you end up having to lift the hose. I also have a Zero G fresh water hose. It is easier to handle in cool/cold weather. Good luck! Mike