Mike and Carol

I like it too. I read through what they did and don’t understand a lot of it, there were a lot of fixes though! 😳

Welcome to the forum. Don’t hesitate to ask when you have a question! Mike

We changed our cushions and covers. I still have the original tan cushions but went with a dark blue sunbrella material a couple of years ago.

Welcome and ask any questions you might have. Lots of Oliver knowledge and experience here! Mike

We’ve camped several times in weather that got down to the mid-teens. Single digit weather is not something we would do on purpose, especially for an extended period. We’ve never winterized. We were able to use all bathroom facilities during our cold weather camping. I’m sure there are owners with more cold weather experience than we have, but our trailer did fine and we were comfortable. Mike

There’s no real rule on the map. Most of us only count states we’ve camped in at least over night in our Oliver. Just passing through a state doesn’t count. Mike

This has been an enlightening thread. The lithium option looks promising. I’m left scratching my head a little though on the cost vs benefit. We boondock about 50% of the time. The other 50% we have 30a. My AGMs have performed well and I barely look at them once a year. We have covered storage with a 20a that I plug in to. Temps here range from about 25 to 105 degrees and I’ve never thought about cooling or warming them. Like I said, I’m scratching my head a little.... Mike

While you’re in Hohenwald, stop by the Tractor Supply and see if they have any Champion inverter generators. At our Tractor Supply here in Boerne I got a 2K Watt, 37 lbs, very quiet for $349 on sale. It has performed flawlessly the last couple of years and is as quiet as the Honda or any of the inverter generators.

I carry a 2K Watt Champion. Nice size, 38 pounds, very quiet.

We do what Bill does. Rug on the bathroom floor until we shower then it goes just outside the door.

Just don’t put a “Lithium Powered” sticker on the side of your trailer and you’ll be fine.

If you are worried about someone stealing your batteries you could padlock the sliding rack that they are mounted on. Unless you plan on storing it in a publicly accessible storage with no security I wouldn’t be too concerned. Most folks don’t even know where the batteries are stored on the Oliver or that they have more than the normal 1 or 2. Mike

Recommend a cap or tonneau cover. My tools are now in the lockable Rambox on either side. We carry our generator, grill, Clam, rug, chairs, camp tables, and a couple of large plastic containers in the truck bed. Not all of it gets off loaded at every site and we use the truck for site seeing and other travel without the trailer so I wouldn’t want stuff in the bed out in the open. Also, we’ve been in plenty of rain storms and a few snowy situations so I like to have things in the truck bed covered and secure. Mike

I read most posts before we ordered in 2015. There was a lot less content then. Since, I’ve read most posts and once I became a moderator I read everything, whether I want to or not! I just skim classifieds since I’m not selling or buying. Mike

We’re near Boerne in the Hill Country and would be happy to show our trailer. Mike

Should be quite the tow vehicle... Congratulations!

I have two sets of the 10 Pack of lego blocks from Walmart. I use them under jacks and also to level. I place them under my 6” wood blocks so that my jack travel is only an inch or two. For leveling, usually one or two legos in height does the trick but we’ve had occasions to build small mountains of legos to get level. Mike

I agree with Bill, 7Klbs is a bit high. I estimate we’re about 6K and I usually travel with a full fresh tank. We were 5100lbs with full propane when it was weighed at the factory.

Hi Jim and Deb, welcome to the forum. Like Bill, I recommend a factory as well. We’ve done it a couple of times and we still learn things. Also, there will be a bunch of Olivers at Lake Guntersville State Park in Alabama the end of September. It was going to be our annual rally but was canceled due to the virus. Some of us are still planning to be there because we enjoy camping! Mike

We prefer Cracker Barrel’s over Walmarts. We’ve never had a bad experience and like Bill says, you are usually behind the building so road noise is reduced. Also, they are often located with other hotels/motels and restaurants, so it feels safe. The only issue we’ve found is the early morning food delivery truck or early morning garbage truck at the dumpsters. That’s usually when we get up and either get on the road or get ready to go inside for coffee and breakfast. Mike

We’ve got 12 months of camping left before we winterize. Will re-assess in 12 months, but will probably go for another 12 months! I think I know quite a bit about my Oliver, but since we’ve never winterized I don’t have a clue how to do that. Mike

We towed with a 2016 Ram 1500 Lone Star edition for about 50K miles. We liked it enough to trade it in on a 2020 Ram Rebel, same engine and drive train. We like the comfort and features of the interior. We had no issues with our 2016 1500 and had almost 100K miles on it when we traded it. Our new Rebel is pretty loaded, some stuff not very necessary like the sunroof. I’ve got about 1500 lbs of payload capacity, so with the tongue weight, tonneau cover and stuff we carry we’re close to the limit. We are very happy with our Ram. Mike

I saw that this morning, too. 1K watts is nice. Will keep watching...

If you stop near White Sands you might want to check out Aguirre Spring BLM. $7, no hookups, clean vault toilets, spectacular views. You drive up the side of the mountain to the campground. You can see White Sands NP in the distance. Highly recommend.

I’ve only had a trailer so I can’t comment on owning a class B. Maintaining our Oliver is pretty easy. If you are a do-it-yourself kind of person bearings and brakes are not difficult. I choose to go by my neighborhood RV repair shop once a year and have them to the repacking and brake checks/adjustments. My tow vehicle is also my daily driver, so maintenance on it is what I would do anyway for whatever I’m driving. I’m not 70, but will be in a few years. Hooking up our trailer is not much of a physical challenge. It does seem to me that a Class B with a toad would be two engines and drivetrains, two gas tanks and more to maintain. It’s probably more comfortable while driving if you can walk back to your camper and get in the fridge or whatever. I’m happy with a trailer that big enough to live comfortably in yet small enough to fit into some really good sites. Mike