Mike and Carol

Glad to hear you are off on the right foot! See you at the rally.... Mike

There is a thread titled “tv relocation” that discusses relocating the TV from the corner to the middle. I took some good advice and moved my TV. I documented it with some pictures and narrative. It’s on page two of the thread below: http://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/tv-relocation/ Mike

We got the antenna and the cell booster. We don’t watch TV much, but have used the antenna occasionally for local news/weather. The cell booster has come in handy when we’re “out there” somewhere with a weak signal. You have to be close to the inside antenna for the full effect. If there is really something we want to watch on TV (usually sports) and have LTE we stream from an iPhone. I also installed a Sirius/XM receiver that is tied into our Furrion so we get all our news, sports and music channels audio wherever we are. Mike

Hey Randy, welcome to the group. I would echo some of the advice given. Do you know what kind of camping you will be doing? If you’re big dry campers then solar, batteries, inverter and composting toilet are important. If you are a traveler and will have hookups, then the regular toilet is okay and you may not need solar and the extra battery capacity. It depends on what you see as what you will be doing. If you have general questions on options, ask away! There are some very knowledgeable and experienced owners here that can give thoughts and opinions on almost anything. Mike

We pay around $70. It will be a little more this year because I got a “Texas State Parks” license plate and there is a fee for that, most of which goes to the Parks system which we use a lot. Mike

I used most all of a bottle of Rejex a couple of years ago. I found it hard to apply and even harder to wipe off. The protection seemed okay and I was getting beading after washing or rain. When it came time to wax again I went with Maguires Boat and RV wax. Easy on/off. So far I can’t tell much difference in protection. For ease of application I’m going to stay with the Maguires. Mike

We’ve got the Dometic and it also has a drain in the same place by the door. It has what looks like a plug, but has 4 small holes in it so water can drain but, I assume, bugs can’t enter. Mike

At some point they change awning vendors and quit using the Fiama awnings and went to another brand. Maybe the brackets changed then. I pulled my seal off after a couple of years, it was starting to crack in a few places, didn’t look good and was a big collector of pine needles, leaves, dirt and other gunk. I guess it’s a personal preference thing. Mike

Some of the questions about this system are valid. I agree that a bigger array of panels would do the same job as a smart, GPS tracking smaller set of panels. My thought is that I don’t have the real estate on top for much more solar capability. I’m also not interested in carrying and deploying portable panels that have to be watched or secured. I wouldn’t want to have to put away a portable array each time I go hiking or decide to take a nap. The ability to sense movement and then track a moving trailer is also a benefit. So, it will be interesting to see and hear the details about this at the rally. Mike

Connecting a cable to the connector at the back of the trailer works fine. I don’t know about an external antenna. Mike

This is something that might be worth discussing (not to hijack the thread too much). We do like to make campground reservations, sometimes well in advance or sometimes the day before or the day of. We rarely stay at commercial campgrounds with high rates. Mostly NP, COE, BLM, state parks, etc. Our geezer pass (we got ours at $10 before the increase) has paid for itself many times over. Many of those sites don’t take reservations, so we show up a little early to ensure we get a site. While we didn’t decide to RV to save money (the cost of the trailer, storage, gear, maintenance is substantial) we do save a lot on the actual travel. A car and a motel are expensive, you have to add in meals, and limit where you can go. Our trailer allows us to travel to places where motels don’t exist. We were at Pinnacles National Park in February and it is literally in the middle of nowhere, not a motel within an hour or two. Plus, we have our own bed, bath, kitchen, etc. Hotels/motels have no appeal these days! Expensive camping results from commercial campgrounds and lots restaurant eating, which a lot of folks do and enjoy. Camping for free or $10 somewhere remote with a steak on the grill is where we’re at. Mike

Coy, this sounds like a promising product and I’m glad we’ll be able to see and learn more at the rally. Mike

Safety while remote area boondocking is not something to worry about. A thief is not going to drive miles into the wilderness in hopes of finding a lone RV to rob. If they found me in the middle of nowhere hoping to find treasures they might score enough cash to pay the gas it cost to get to me. A lot of RVer’s carry self protection. Risk/benefit ration is low for a potential thief. Medical is another issue. If you are remote, especially with no cell coverage and you have a medical event, getting help might be a challenge. Most of the boondocking areas we’ve camped had others around, not necessarily close by but not too far away. Mike

Good advice. Since we had never camped in a trailer before we started out trying to find places with FHU. Then, we started considering sites with W/E. Now, no hookups is not an issue. Especially in a lot of National Parks FHU camping is not possible but you don’t want to pass up camping in some great places because they don’t have any hook ups, or just W/E. BLM land and a lot COE sites have no hook ups but our Oliver’s will do fine in dry camping spots. Mike

Dumping has not been a problem in the 3 years we’ve had our Oliver. Never experienced a “splash” and it usually is not stinky depending on the dump site. The most critical step is to make sure the fitting at the end of your hose is secure in the dump hole. Sometimes you can screw it in, sometimes there’s a heavy metal lid, sometimes a rock and sometimes your foot. Full hookup sites are easiest because you aren’t sharing with anyone and have time to set up and dump at your leisure. Dump stations can have a little more pressure if there are others waiting. I try to time dump station usage when it looks the least busy but that is not always possible. If at a FHU site or dump station with nobody waiting I dump the black, fill it with the rinse connection, dump again and then do that a third time. Then I dump the gray. I have a clear right angle fitting at the end of the hose so I can see what is being dumped. The third black dump is always clear. The gray tank on the Oliver is flat and will drain best if the front of the trailer is elevated a little. If you are at a FHU site you only need gloves when hooking up and unhooking. Dumping while camped is just a matter of pulling the lever. As John mentioned, leave the the valves closed until you dump. I use gloves at dump stations. Another discussion is what to use in your black tank after you dump. I use a capful of Calgon water softener and a laundry detergent pod. After a trip I also put in some Happier Camper powder in both the black and gray tanks. When I get home, I thoroughly clean the end caps and clear end of the hose fitting for the next trip. I keep latex gloves and bleach wipes in the basement for easy access when dumping. Mike

Agree about the zero gravity. We like ours a lot, they are comfortable and versatile (sit or recline). They just take a lot of room and are a bit heavy. I keep going back and forth on whether to load them or not. If we’re going to be in one place for a while then it’s probably worth the effort, if not I go for the lightweight, compact chairs. I’m not spending any more $$ on chairs either! Mike

We carry four chairs. Two that were our first chairs that we got at the Walmart in Hohenwald when we picked up, they fold up nicely and don’t take up much space. We have settled on tow Core chairs as our primary seats. Compact but comfortable. We’ve got some zero gravity chairs, comfy but heavy and bulky. Also several other camp chairs that looked good but didn’t sit well in the long run. It’s nice to have a couple of extra chairs if someone stops by. We’ve also had a couple of times our main chairs got wet and we had to break out the extras. Mike

I peeled the factory front graphics off at our first campsite at Land Between the Lakes in the hot sun and had no problem. I’m sure any owner who has a trailer being built could visit the factory and take pictures of their trailer. They welcome visits to the factory.

There was another owner that had a similar issue with that lock. I guess for some things simpler is better. Anyway, enjoy getting to know your Ollie! Mike

Well, back in the day we did get updates. Ours went into production in Oct 15 and we got some pictures in Jan 16 from Anita. I had questions along the way so we also got email updates. Their production rate is higher now and I’m not sure they have as much time to walk around the factory floor to take pictures. I don’t know if they do email updates as each stage of your trailer is complete. Mike

That’s a good question. It’s not like the shower basin is big enough to take a bath in. The backflow gate prevents gray water from sloshing back into the shower drain while moving, so I don’t know why it is there and not just an open drain. There must be a reason and I’m sure someone will enlighten us! Mike

I’ve got tons of pictures! Here’s a couple of recent... At Stephen F. Austin State Park near Houston in November. Pinnacles National Park in February.

I won’t ask because I know how you know! I think about everyone has forgotten once or twice to open while setting up camp. It gets back to checklists/routines/flags/double checking/etc. Mike

Ours is 23.5 inches. Steve Landrum has a compass on the front of his trailer, the Outlaw Oliver.

Andrew is correct. Closed when traveling/storing. Open when using. If it is closed when water is going down the drain to the gray tank it will start to back up through the shower floor drain. You can guess how I know.... Mike