Mike and Carol

Agree with Sherry, we use window cleaner almost everywhere. For the toilet, it’s good to get a bottle of toilet lubricant and add a splash when you’re storing between trips. It helps to keep the seal from leaking. We add a splash every few days when camping to prevent the flush mechanism from sticking. Mike

Usually it’s just for the camper. Some national parks have some really small sites that an Elite II won’t fit in. But usually there will also be sites that are big enough. We’ve had “barely big enough” sites at Joshua Tree and Glacier. I remember a very short site at Grand Teton, but there was room on the side for our truck. A lot of other national parks had sites that were plenty big enough for our Oliver. You’ll be surprised at how well your Oliver fits into spots that bigger/wider trailers can’t. Mike

It’s not scary. We’ve towed our Oliver over 80K miles. Big trucks have been no problem. We usually stay at 65mph or less. If the weather is bad (rain/wind) we slow down. I don’t know what your tow vehicle is but with at couple of different half tons and now a 3/4 ton the Oliver has been very stable, we’ve never experienced any sway. The few times we’ve had to brake hard the Oliver tracked behind us perfectly. Don’t get stressed. Take it slow when you begin and plan ahead. Check out gas stations before you pull in to ensure you have room to get in and out. When backing into your campsite take it slow. I mean very slow. It will give you plenty of time to adjust - don’t be too proud to stop, pull out and start the backing in process again. You’ll do fine. Mike

Pun intended. Was waiting to see if anyone noticed…

Don’t freeze yourself out of the back and forth… the more input the better! Mike

I don’t think so. We have had a lot of time where the temps were below freezing, both stationary and while moving) with no issues. I don’t winterize. We’ve had two occasions where the temps here in south Texas got into single digits and stayed below freezing for days. I kept the heat on, opened hatches and had no problems. If I was looking for a cold weather trailer for camping in constant below freezing weather I would be looking at a Nash/Arctic Fox or even better an Outdoor RV. They have a lot more insulation in the walls and ceiling, enclosed tanks with dedicated heat ducting plus tank heaters. The Oliver 4 season capabilities are for how most of us camp - above freezing with occasional, but not sustained, below freezing camping. Mike

We camped once when night time temperatures were mid-teens and daytime temps were high 20s. That was for about 5 days. No issues with water lines freezing. We’re not big fans of that type of cold and avoid it if possible. The last time I had my basement partitions out I could see the water lines laying against the hull as they ran around the back of the trailer. It would be easy enough to either wrap those with insulation or lay some thick insulation down under the water lines. The back of the trailer seems like it is the most vulnerable area for the water lines. The lines under the bed seem more protected but should get some more insulation too. For the few times we’re in weather below 20 that might be enough. Thanks to our cold weather campers for their experience. Mike

Outdoors RV and cousin Arctic Fox offer tank heaters, on some ORV models they are standard. My understanding is that they are 12V so you can use them while driving. We recently looked at a few ORV models at Princess Craft, the same dealer that made this Cortes video. They also carry Intech trailers, all very interesting. Mike

Cortes camper - some nice features but some not so nice. Double hull, lightweight. Interesting. https://youtu.be/KoZVLSFQB-s

David, we’re still stuck with 5 states in the lower 48 and Alaska. I guess we better start knocking them out. Steve and Tali have hit them all! Mike

After we came up with the super-imaginative name for our Oliver (The Trailer) we decided we’d let someone else design a logo. I asked a local artist to combine a big star (Texas you know), some compass points and the Oliver winding road, in red and gray. She did a great job and I installed it at our first campsite after pickup (Land Between the Lakes - May 2016). We had the design printed at a local print shop, they did two and I still have one when this one gets too worn.

I just googled “US map of states visited”, there should be a few to choose from.

If you don’t want to use bungee’s just swing the whale tale back and rest it on where the cables are fastened to the tongue. The weight of the chains holds it securely enough.

Looks good! Congrats and happy camping!! Mike

I’d check the switch first. Flick it on/off several times. If that doesn’t do it, check to make sure the wires are connected securely to the back of the switch. Mike

Good work on this GJ and Ken! This will be a great resource for many. Mike

We call ours “the trailer” or “the camper”. We’re so creative…. Mike

Welcome and congratulations! Let us know when you have questions. Mike

Welcome, James! Here’s what I use: I won this at an Oliver rally, seems to work pretty well. I also use these. This Bulldog collar is used by many owners. I lock it with an Abus lock, both from Amazon.

twdavid’s profile shows that he has a 2017 Elite II. That means his trailer came with a Dometic 3-way refrigerator. Oliver installed exhaust fans with a manual on/off switch for some time. All of us responding also have 2014-2017 Elite II’s with the Dometic and manual fan. It would be nice if folks put a complete signature block so we could quickly see what year and model they have. If they don’t you can always go to their profile to find out. Mike

External.

Agree with John. We rarely turn our fan on. If the temps outside are really high we will, but normally it’s off. Mike

If you haven’t yet, I’d contact one of the Oliver sales reps and ask your questions. For those kind of questions most of us can only offer opinions. I don’t think they would do either. The toilet mounts are probably very different and the standard stove is propane versus electric for induction with new wiring and mounting differences. Mike

Kirk, we’ve had two water softeners. The first was an 8,000 grain unit that we used for a couple of years. It was heavy and had to be carried in the truck. It did do a good job. I found a very small one, just 3,200 grain that would fit upright in the basement and was not heavy at all. The big one is now used for truck/trailer washing and the small one goes with us camping. You can see it on Amazon HERE. It’s worked well for us. Mike

We leave home with a full fresh tank. Other two empty. Sometimes we’ll travel with a full fresh and nearly full black and gray. If we’re leaving a campsite and there are folks at the dump station I’ll just keep on driving and dump when we arrive at our next campground later in the day, unless we’re going somewhere with no dump station or hookups, then I’ll get in line. We also travel with a water softener…. Mike