Mike and Carol

Wow, great job! He should go into production, I’m sure there would be a demand!

50’ is a lot of sewer hose. I’ve never encountered a situation where I needed that much. I have a 15’ that stays connected to the trailer. I have a second 15’ in case we need more. I’ve been through several brands, the ones we have now are Valterra Dominator, Amazon link: Valterra Dominator The thing I like about this hose is that when you scrunch it up, it stays scrunched up. When it’s time to use you can unscrunch just the amount you need and keep the rest of it scrunched. It makes life a bit easier. As far as water in cold weather goes, we keep our fresh tank full, replenishing during the day when it is warmer, then we disconnect and put away our fresh water hose and just use the water pump. Having the hose freeze is not an issue that way. Mike

We have similar weather here in San Antonio and I’ve never winterized. We usually camp in January and February so I keep everything ready to go! I hope your knee heals and 2021 can be a great camping year! Mike

Thanks, Mike. Looks like a good solution. I’ve got my trailer in the driveway and plan to start my battery project in the next couple of days. I also plan on getting a third battery, so will plan for that. Mike

You should be okay with the small heater. Keep the bathroom door open. If you have shore power, and if you have the hot water tank turn it on and the refrigerator. All produce heat. When it’s in the mid 20’s here I also lift the mattress and remove the cover that is over the water pump. Merry Christmas! Mike

Small things do matter... Merry Christmas! Mike

Bill, thanks for this. I’m getting ready to pull out my 4 AGM’s and install 2 Battle Born’s. I think I might have some corrosion on my tray, so I will be interested in the difference between new and old. Mike

Bill is correct, we’ve been using a water softener for several years. We originally bought a 16K grain from ABCWaters on Amazon. I have since downsized to a 3.2K grain softener, also from ABCWaters. The small one is lightweight and fits nicely in the basement standing up. I kept the 16K grain softener to wash cars and to wash the Oliver. We have softened water at home, so it is nice to have the same in the trailer. The small one stays charged for a long trip (4-6 weeks) and is easily recharged with at container of Morton table salt. Amazon has a decent selection of portable softeners. I wouldn’t go bigger than 8K grain, they tend to get heavy! Mike

We’ve got the Dyson, works well and holds a charge. Our appliances are 110 but when we’re without shore power we live a more simple life, using the inverter occasionally when we need power. I use the 12V plug for the little air compressor and to charge my TPMS monitor when the battery is low and we’re not driving. Mike

Hey Mike and Yasuko, welcome and congrats on your in-process Ollie. We’re here to help you get ready for delivery so let us know if you have questions. Merry Christmas! Mike

Nice job!!

This what came on our trailer as well. Works fine, can toggle on/off at the shower head. Mike

Hey Slim, there a number of Olivers in Texas waiting for you to see! Mike

Will be interesting to watch and see if there is any substantial changes to the Tiffin product line or quality. Mike

As long as you just nudge it forward until straight I don’t see how you could do damage. If you are at a rest stop there aren’t a lot of options!

Besides normal camping stuff (chairs, grill, etc) you might want to include a set of spares fuses to include a 30a slow blow fuse for the jacks. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GZOIR1O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Also, I like to have some blocks to put under each jack and some of the big yellow Camco lego’s for leveling. I think Oliver provides a water pressure regulator now, but if not I’d get one of those, too. Mike

We had the same thing last year. I couldn’t get it to stop chirping so I just took it out and ordered a new one. It was probably 5 years old so I should have expected that. Less than a year is too soon! Glad First Alert stepped up to replace it. Mike

All questions are good questions and there are a lot of owners ready and willing to share knowledge and experiences. Hopefully, what you learn here will get you up to speed and comfortable for your pickup! Mike

I had a couple of warranty issues and Oliver reimbursed my local RV shop to fix the issues.

I started towing my Elite II with a 2012 Tacoma (with TRD Supercharger). I used the Tekonsha P3 brake controller which plugged into a dedicated connection cable. It worked well. I also used the Andersen WDH which also worked well and was easy to hook up once you know how to do it. I’m not sure you’ll need the Andersen with an Elite, other hitches don’t fit Olivers. I know Bugeyedriver towed over 100K miles with a Tacoma. You might want to PM him and ask. Mike

Paul, the furnace works well. My only issue is that it cycles on and off, so there is a temperature drop before it cycles on again. We’ve dry camped in cold weather with no hook ups and the furnace did fine keeping us warm at night. The solar was able to keep up with battery charging once the sun came up. We just prefer to have electricity for our little Vornado heater that runs quietly all the time. Most winter campsites with hook ups discourage use of water, we’ve found the size of the Oliver fresh tank is more than enough for our needs. Refilling the fresh tank doesn’t pose a freeze risk once done and the hose is disconnected and put away. There’s been a lot of discussion about condensation, we’ve found it can be minimized by allowing some fresh air ventilation, not so much to drastically change the temperature, but just enough to keep the humidity down. Mike

We routinely go camping in January and February. We’re not really winter sports people so we try to avoid big snow and real cold weather. We have camped in northern NM/southern CO, northern AZ and north central CA (Pinnacles NP/Yosemite NP) during those trips. Weather at times in the teens and frequently 20s at night. No issues. When it’s real cold we like to have shore power since our little electric heater does a better job of keeping the trailer at a consistent temperature than the furnace, plus we don’t blow through as much propane. Just keep a window cracked and a vent open a little and condensation isn’t much of a problem. Mike

Welcome! I think you’re going to like your transition to an Oliver. Keep us posted on your adventures! Mike

Wow, that is pretty impressive! I had never heard of a drone show before... Merry Christmas, ya’ll! Mike

We’ve had a couple of Tacomas, lots of miles and they still held their value. I was surprised both times at the trade in amount I got. I actually got more at the Ram dealer for my second Tacoma than the Toyota dealer where I bought it. Mike