Mike and Carol

Dusty, welcome and congrats on the Oliver. Looks like you got a vintage model! We were in Maine a year ago, you live in a beautiful state. Mike

Discount Tire has always done right by me. Glad you finally got resolution to that problem! Mike

Ray posts here occasionally. He is @BoondockingAirstream on this forum.

Brian, that can be a mess! It’s happened to me a few times. If we’re going to be moving after a dump we now make it a practice to physically push the gate down to ensure we won’t have leakage again. Your arrangement sounds like the way to go. Mike

Happy birthday to all the Marines out there from an old Army guy. Mike

I haven’t heard of any issues with the cables stretching. Sometimes it will slip at the valve if the set screw isn’t tight. I had to make that adjustment once. Also, I remove and clean/lubricate the black and gray cable every 2 or 3 years. It’s easy to do and it makes the dump process smoother. Mike

This is very true. The size of our Olivers can be a positive - it tows effortlessly and is very well behaved. If the truck fits through, so will the trailer. Smaller campsite? No problem. Tight turn to get in? No problem. Tight gas station? Less of a problem. Extended rainy weather? Now we’re talking a negative. We’ve been cooped up inside for a few days and it can be frustrating. Fortunately those times get greatly outweighed by the non-rainy days. Also, for cold weather camping we’ve been very happy with our Clam and firepit, as do others. We can sit outside in cold weather with the firepit in the Clam and enjoy some room to spread out a bit. Mike

It was worth it for us. Lots of miles on our old Oliver at this point. Lots more to go! Congratulations…. Mike

We’ve camped in 100+ temps often, normally when we’re trying to get out of south Texas to cooler areas. The old Dometic in our trailer does fine keeping the interior cool, although it is a bit noisy. Texas heat usually includes a fair amount of humidity. Western Slope in CO will have significantly less humidity. We camp there often since our son and family live in Durango. Mike

I wasn’t clear… I was asking if doors on newer Olivers were held shut by magnets. I think @Rivernerd answered that. My old door has a latch to keep it closed. I added a magnet inside the dinette seat to keep it open. Mike

So the new doors are held closed by magnets? The little latch is gone? I put in a magnet to hold the door open. Mike

What kind of noise? Hinges? Ours is very quiet.

We had one of these. Very small and worked well. It wore out after about 2 years, not bad considering the price and size. Mike

If you can find a competent local repair shop to do maintenance then you shouldn’t need to make an annual trip to Tennessee. I’ve got a local mom/pop repair shop just 15 minutes away. He’s been doing my maintenance for the last 7 years and has several other Olivers he services. In the early years he did some warranty work which was reimbursed by Oliver. Mike

Our Nespresso (Pixie) fits in the overhead above the sink when not it use. If it’s out and we need to cook/clean it’s easy enough to unplug and move to the dinette table. Mike

In order to replace a broken cord you’ll need to remove the shade and put it on some kind of work surface. I used our kitchen bar area. Look at the back and you’ll see that the whole thing is held together by some screws. Once removed you can pull the frame pieces apart. Check the diagram by @rideandfly on the first page of this thread. It’s what I used for both shades that I did. Once you see how the cord is routed it will make more sense. It’s important to get the tension right when you tie the new cord to the spring on the bottom of the frame, too tight and it’s hard to move the shade. Too lose and the shade won’t stay up. I had to re-tie both of the ones I did, one was too tight and the other too lose! Good luck - Mike

I bet they are going to the Airstream model. Any Airstream owner can go back to the factory and camp in the factory campground to have service done. Or, they can have service done at their nearest Airstream dealer. Mike

We’ve done the closed valve rinse for years. There’s no reason to fill to 90%, or even 70 or 80%. When Carol tells me we’re at 50 or 60% I open the valve. Do that twice and you’re good. Mike

We add some Calgon and a detergent pod after dumping. Unless we’re at a dump station with a line, we rinse the black tank until clear. When we get back from a trip we add Happy Camper and a gallon or two of water into both the gray and black tanks. I don’t like the smell of Pine-sol, not sure I like that recommendation. Mike

You guys are having too much fun!

Interesting design. The remote control looks useful! Agree on the website, frustrating at first. Mike

Same here.

Glad to hear your Oliver is working out so well! We’ve used ours to visit family too, it has definitely improved those visits! Mike

Lack of dealerships - in the text I’d replace “scarcity” with “lack” to make it clear that there aren’t any dealerships. The factory is the only option

We’ve been to all these parks, some multiple times. We were at Lake Texoma just a couple weeks ago on our way back from TN and KY. Lost Maples State Park is not far from Garner State Park and offers some brilliant fall colors. Mike