Mike and Carol

Marybeth and Neil, welcome. Looks like we’ve made it into the 400’s! It will be a great Christmas present. We lived in Carlisle and sure enjoyed central PA. Mike

I just changed your display name and nickname to Kenny & Penny. Let’s see if that works. Mike

Hey Paul, welcome to the group! I think the Elite I is ideal for solo travel. I’m sure Pete (Bugeyedriver) will agree. Ask all your questions, there’s no shortage of folks who can help. Mike

Water pump, AC and Refrigerator are all components used in travel trailers of many brands. It’s good to hear the water pump was taken care of quickly. The refrigerator can take a while to cool down if you are starting out in hot weather. As Reed points out, switch to propane until it gets cool. We leave ours running all the time, even when in storage (we have electrical power in storage). If you can’t do that, fire up the fridge a couple of days before your trip. There are a number of things to check with the AC - temperature setting, fan on high/low/auto, which vents are open or closed. If it is cool around the bed it must be cooling. I’d check the vents on all four sides. We keep them mostly closed on the sides and back and fully open in the front. We were camped in 100+ weather in June and had the fan on low and we were plenty cool inside. There are lots of folks here willing to help when you have issues and questions. Mike

The way it should work: push the TV up until it engages the latch. To let it down, push up on the TV and the latch should release and the TV can swing down. If the hinge is too loose then the TV could bounce around on rough roads and release itself. Maybe your latch isn’t positioned correctly? Mike

Kenny and Penny, welcome and congrats on your almost finished Oliver! Hope to meet you sometime out on the road.... Mike

This thread caused a lot of consternation for a lot of folks. Now that it has been resurrected it looks like it is having the same effect on current future buyers. The really negative comments were from one owner. Most everyone else, even with some initial problems, were happy campers. I listed the initial issues I had and my total satisfaction of how they were addressed by the Oliver company. There’s much more positive in this thread than negative. Mike

We had a corner mount TV. I wanted to move it to the center and used the mount Steve recommended. We like the center mount much better. There are two hex screws on the sides of the hinge. If they are kept tight it prevents the TV from moving around. We did have it come unhooked once after a rather large bump. Lots of other things moved around too. Once in well over 20K miles is acceptable... Mike

If you tighten the hex screws on both sides of the mount it will significantly decrease the potential to come unhooked while on bumpy roads. I keep mine tight enough that the TV will stay stationary halfway down. Mike

You won’t even notice a trailer behind you until you look in the rear view mirror! Nice truck... Mike

When we visited Moab last year we stayed at Horsethief BLM campground. They have 60 sites, no reservations. We were there last September driving from Mesa Verde, CO and arrived around noon. We had our choice of campsites. It’s just outside of Moab in between Canyonlands and Arches NP’s. Nice level gravel pads, picnic table. No hookups. Very clean vault toilets. $15. We would stay there again. Mike

I think there would be a market for a larger Ollie with a dry bath and permanent queen bed. It would be a heavier trailer and not quite as suited to go where we can currently go. The extra weight would require a capable tow vehicle. The wet bath was an initial hesitation point for us and probably turns some folks away. After over 30K miles I wouldn’t want anything different, what we have is just the right size for us! Mike

I would think that it is not necessary with an F-250. I have one and use it on my Ram 1500. It is not a pain to use and I like the extra margin of safety. Mike

Steph and Steve, welcome and congrats on your order! The rally should be a great event, last year we had a great time. If you have any questions or issues there will be a line of experts ready to help! Mike

Mike, Was it the $129 total or was shipping extra? Thanks Reed Reed, it was $129 plus $15 S&H. Total $144. Mike

Mark and Sally, glad to hear it’s going well. Your Roadrunner graphic is great! Mike

Welcome! Hope you get your hull number soon. Columbus is a great town, went to junior high there (my dad worked at Ohio State) and we lived there 15 years ago for a few years when I was working at the Defense Supply Center by the airport. We lived in Reynoldsburg. Mike

As a retired Army Signal Corps person we spent a lot of time in Augusta and Fort Gordon. Our daughter was born there, fond memories of a great place! Mike

Welcome back! We got a water softener as well and use it all the time. Mike

Bill, nice photos.... looks like you were having fun! Mike

Factory visits will be very interesting. I monitor Airforums and note that there are some quality issues with Airstreams for some folks. I really like my Ram 1500 and will probably replace it with another Ram next year sometime. The new ones have a lot of nice features and we have checked them out at our local dealer. Mike

Hey Jeff, there is a little gap at the top. I think I could have mounted it a bit higher, it’s as far down as it can go. Once the sticky part of the Velcro hits the window there’s no repositioning. I started at the bottom and should have played with it a little bit before going for broke. There is no gap at the bottom. The small gap at the top shouldn’t be an issue. Mike

We installed our shade last week. It took a couple of hours, we worked slowly. We are happy with the results. The box from ZARCOR was delivered less than 24 hours after we ordered. It was well packed with clear instructions. Everything was well protected with foam. Two boxes with new gasket material. We ordered the tinted window, they also have clear. This shows the shade and white handle. A black handle is all that is on their web site. If you call you can ask for a white one. The included instructions were very clear and easy to read. As instructed, we taped the outside frame with duct tape. Once the screws are out of the inside frame the only thing holding the window and outside frame on the door is the gasket material. I think masking tape would work just as well. There was no residue left when we took off the duct tape. I should have extended the tape onto the window and then taken both the outside frame and window out at the same time. I removed the 12 screws that are on the inside frame. Both frames and all screws are reused. Inside framed removed. At this point only the old gasket material holds the window in. I’m taking it out and some of the gasket comes with it. As I mentioned earlier, it would have been better to have tape on the window too and then remove both the outside frame and the window at the same time. The outside frame was stuck on the door with the old gasket material. I used a plastic squeegee to lift a corner, then it came off pretty quickly. Here we are putting the new gasket material in. It’s easier with multiple hands. It makes for a better installation if you can get the material into the grooves as evenly as possible. There are two gaskets to apply, one just inside the window opening for the window and one on the outside of the frame that seals the frame to the door. I’m setting the new glass onto the outside frame. The gloves are just to minimize finger prints. The one disappointment with the kit is that the new window is slightly smaller than the original. Maybe 1/8”. On the outside frame there are plastic pegs all around the window opening that should hold the glass securely. I tried to position the glass so that it was centered on the opening and then pressed it into the gasket material. This is where the actual installation pictures stop. We took the outside frame with the glass and put it into the window opening on the door. We thought we had done a great job until the weight of the window caused it to slide down so that it was setting on the bottom pegs leaving a very small gap at the top. We gently pulled the frame back off but some of the gasket material stuck to the door and some stuck to the frame. It was a small crisis. We got it off and back into a horizontal position. Carol reworked the gasket material that was pulled off and I fabricated a couple of very small shims to sit on the bottom two pegs to lift the window 1/16” or so. Once that was all done we put the frame and window back into the door. The shade attaches directly to the window with some heavy duty Velcro buttons. It is positioned over the window then pressed tight. The inside frame is reinstalled and that’s it. Inside with the shades open. They can be opened or closed with the door and the screen door shut. Shades closed. I think we will enjoy being able to look out the door window with the shades open. When the shades are closed you can’t see in at all. The old frosted glass was a little frustrating at times because in order to look outside you had to open the door. Mike

No regrets here. Money well spent. We like the reliability and company support. We’ve come to really appreciate the capabilities and amenities our Oliver brings to our travels and camping. Mike

We have had the regular hot water tank going on 3 years with no problems. We didn’t get the tankless because it wasn’t available when we ordered. We’re happy with what we have, simple and reliable. Mike