Mike and Carol

If you aren’t set on fiberglass I would give Outdoors RV a serious look. Well constructed and true 4 season. Another one (related to Outdoors RV) is Arctic Fox. Mike

Is it an EV or ICE? Also do you need to use an Andersen with that TV?

We usually do the opening dinner and then meals at our trailer. Like Patriot, we do a late breakfast and early dinner and that’s it. Mike

The first George Strait concert we went to was in 1985 in the Killeen High School auditorium in Killeeen, TX just outside of Fort Hood. Amarillo By Morning was his big hit then. We went to another concert a few years ago, to hear a 70+ year old George and he didn’t miss a beat. Over 2 hours of singing and he finished as strong as he started. He lives near us and is very active in the area. He’s authentic. Mike

Yes, we use quick connects on our fresh and city water connections. There are a bunch on Amazon, we’ve had ours for years. As far as water draining after you disconnect your hose, the backflow valve is at the back of the basement, a few feet from the connection, so the water that has not passed through the valve is probably what you are seeing drain. I have that too. Mike

I simply disconnected the power wire at the 7 pin connector and bent it back. I was experiencing intermittent trailer brake disconnect messages on my dash and part of my trouble shooting (while camping in Colorado) was to open up the 7 pin connector and check the trailer brake wire. While doing that I took care of the charging wire. There are other threads on the trailer brake disconnect issue. BLUF, it was the wire inside the axle that connected the brake pairs, it had frayed and was shorting the connection. This has happened to several Oliver’s owners with early hull numbers. Mike

If there aren’t any Oliver’s living in your part of N CA, there might be an owner or two passing through on a trip. We’re planning a trip to Lassen and Redwood in August, then up to Crater Lake and the OR/WA coast. Mike

Where will you be camping mostly? Getting half of the 500 mile range towing an Oliver would be optimistic. With an EV you will severely limit travel routes and camping areas. If you are interesting in boondocking, EV charging presents a real challenge. Most of the areas and highways/roads in the western US aren’t EV charging friendly. Something to think about. Mike

Like jd, my trailer did not come with any kind of seal. You might want to clean it up and go without. It hasn’t been a problem over the years. Mike

Agree. I’ve not seen anything but the Andersen used. What tow vehicle will you use?

I agree about the Blackstone. We have two and like them. I also like my Weber Q1000, 10 years old and works great. I removed the regulator so it goes on the Oliver quick connect. I don’t think there were any warranty issues doing that. In fact, many dealers sell kits with the parts needed for the regulator removal and quick connect installation. Mike

Is your HWH a Dometic or Suburban? I believe what I have is a Suburban hot water tank. It is not connected to my inverter. If we don’t have 110v we run on propane. The outside switch is usually left on so that it kicks on when we hook up to electricity. Mike

“….back then.” Here’s ScubaRx back then (May 2016) on our pick up day helping the Oliver folks because of a problem with the lights on our trailer. Blew a fuse in my truck (yes it was a Tacoma, TRD Supercharged), blew a fuse in Steve’s truck and blew a fuse in one of the Oliver guy’s truck. We spent an extra night at the Fall Hollow B&B while Oliver worked to fix the issue. Good times! Mike

We love that part of Arizona, actually most parts of Arizona! Looks like a great trip. Mike

Yep! We had an interesting delivery experience, a good discussion over a beer. Hard to believe it’s been 9 years! Mike

I don’t recall getting a lug socket when we picked up our trailer new in 2016. Mike

On cold, rainy nights we keep the windows closed. For ventilation I open the maxxfan and the bath vent. With the maxxfan on a low setting pulling air out there is fresh air coming in through the bath vent. You might get a damp bathroom floor if it rains hard or is real windy, but it wipes up easily. Agree with your parks assessment. Palo Duro is one of our favorites. Be sure to drive up to Jerome while you’re at Dead Horse Ranch, and Sedona of course. You will really be blown away with the southern Utah parks! Mike

The early registration might have only included a smaller set of sites. I’d go ahead and try to grab a site. It looks to be a pretty big park, we haven’t camped there yet. I should start another signature map with just Texas State Parks!

We’ll be there! Site 16.

I replaced our original faucet early on (2017) because it couldn’t be moved or adjusted, it directed flow only to back of the sink. I don’t recall the brand, but we didn’t like it. I put in a Delta bar sink faucet that has a removable head and spray capability. Delta Faucet Essa Chrome Bar Faucet with Pull Down Sprayer, Chrome Bar Sink Faucet Single Hole, Wet Bar Faucets Single Hole, Prep Sink Faucet, Faucet for Bar Sink, Chrome 9913-DST I don’t remember a way to remove the aerator from the original faucet. MIke

Gary, we’re big fans of Texas State Parks. Parks that we’re familiar with around here (Boerne, just north of San Antonio)…. there’s Guadalupe River State Park and Blanco State Park. Guadalupe River State Park has a nice area in the river to swim or wade. Blanco State Park is small but nice. Further north is Inks Lake State Park, another nice (and popular) camping spot. We’ve heard good things about Perdernales Falls State Park, but haven’t been there. One of our favorites is Mother Neff State Park between Waco and Temple, not exactly Hill Country but worth a visit. We camp there often. Another park we like is Lost Maples State Park an hour or so west of here. There are a number of nice commercial RV parks in and around Fredericksburg, we’ve stayed at one (Peach Country RV Park in Stonewall) and drive by the others pretty often if you are interested. The state parks fill up fast, recommend reservations! Mike

I keep hearing nothing but good things about these folks and their company….

We also experienced this on a trip in 2017. Both wires were loose and I had to feel around the bottom of the pump to figure out where they were supposed to attach. Crimping has prevented this from happening since. Mike

Gary, aH stands for Amperes Hour, the number of amps a battery can provide in one hour. 100aH means the battery can provide 100 amps in one hour. There might be a more technical explanation that some of our techies can provide. We’ve found that our 300aH has been plenty and when we had 200aH for over a year we never had an issue. There is more useable power in a lithium than in an AGM. When we had our 400aH AGMs we got very near our limit while camping in cool cloudy weather at Glacier NP and Grand Teton NP. I had to run the generator because the solar was unable to keep up. Because you can take lithiums down lower than AGMs I don’t think we would have had the same problem. I will add that we don’t use the AC on battery power, run the fridge on propane, and are generally pretty conservative in our electricity use. Occasional microwave and blow dryer are the big loads. Mike

We replaced our 4 AGM 6V batteries with two Battle Born 12V 100aH lithiums in 2020. We had the configuration for over a year with no issues, we’re about 50% dry camping. We did add a third Battle Born when they went on sale. 300aH of lithium has been plenty. Mike