Mike and Carol

Hey Don, welcome back. Great pictures! Your Kimberley looks nice. Mike

We didn’t camp at Chisos Basin but we drove through the campground. It’s pretty tight. Shoot a PM to @mountainoliver. They camped there and said the big Oliver won’t fit into a lot of the campsites. I’m sure he’ll have some good advice. Mike

Agree. We like our mirror doors everywhere.

Ours is a 2016, picked up in May 2016. We should have 100K miles on it after our fall trip coming up. The CGI guys did the ceramic coating earlier this year so from the outside it looks better than it did in May 2016. I have the bearings and brakes serviced every spring by the same guy. I will have the brakes replaced next spring. I’ve replaced the 2000W inverter and replaced my four AGM batteries with three Battle Born Lithiums plus new tires. Other than that, everything is original and everything works fine. I’ve made some repairs on wear and tear items, but nothing major. Bottom line - an older trailer should be fine if it has been maintained. Mike

Pretty straightforward? I’m waiting for a break in this heat before I start!

Our son in Durango sends pictures of Olivers driving through town…. Training the next generation! Mike

We roll up a hand towel and insert it. Ours was leaking a bit on our last trip in some heavy rain, it’s not sealing right when we close it. I decided to go ahead and order a maxxfan with the LED light. I’ll install it in the next week or so before we head out to TN and KY in Sept and Oct to see some leaves turning. Mike

Yep. It’s the dinette seat next to the bath, toward the front of the trailer where the black tank is. Mike

Glad to hear you’re home. Must’ve been quite a trip. Mike

That’s quite a change.

The black flush line enters the trailer, makes a 90 degree turn and enters the side of the black tank. All of this is accessible from the rear dinette seat. I had to replace my backflow valve and it is mounted on the flush line just where it enters the tank. The only picture I can find right now is where the flush line enters the black tank. This is looking from above, the side of the trailer is at top, the side of the black tank on the right. We have a 7+ year old trailer, I don’t know if they’ve made any changes here.

If you do an internet search for “map of states visited” you’ll get several options. I’m not sure which on I use, but they are all about the same. Use a small size so the map doesn’t overwhelm your signature! If you need help inserting it in to your signature, let me know! Here’s one: https://m.maploco.com/visited-states/ Mike

I have the smaller spare too and my understanding is that a regular size spare will not fit. I don’t know when they started making the fiberglass cover big enough for the regular size spare. Some have removed the cover to fit a matching spare (John Davies did and has a thread on what he did). Mike

Sorry to hear about all of these problems. Can you let us know what you have done to get resolution? The drawer problem is common in earlier trailers and is easily fixed. I installed some stainless steel strap loops (from Amazon) at the top an bottom of each bank of drawers, run a tie down strap through them when traveling and they won’t open again. Is your city water failing or just lose? It can be tightened with the proper size wrench inserted into the connection. The shower hose kinking might involve taking off the front of the bath sink to access it. Not hard to do, you just need to cut the caulk and remove 4 screws. I would look for a good RV guy who knows electrical systems, I had some similar issues and my local RV guy found some lose connections behind the fuse panel and was able to resolve everything there. Check your water pump to ensure the two red wires are connected, if they are the issue might be related to all the other electrical problems. Intermittent lights flashing while driving sounds to me like something is lose. If you have specific questions ask away and someone will have a solution. Mike

Look under the dinette seat and trace the gray pipe from the bath into gray tank. Ensure that it is firmly seated into the top of the tank. When our trailer was made that connection was just a friction connection, the pipe was jammed into the top of the tank. A year or two ago that connection came lose after some bumpy roads. The gray tank pipe from the bath was out of its hole with part of the pipe on top of the tank. It is now permanently attached! We use Happy Camper in both black and gray at the end of trips, keeps the odors in check. Mike

Howdy from fellow Texans. Welcome to the group. Glad to hear your issue was resolved quickly. I’m sure you wish you had some of that cool weather these days after this heat wave we’re enduring. We spent June and July in Colorado, heater ran every night! Mike

Last summer while in Colorado we camped in State Forest State Park just north of Rocky Mountain NP. We were at 9,100 feet and boondocking. All propane appliances worked as advertised, furnace, fridge, hot water and cooktop. Blackstone, Weber and Outland fire pit also worked fine while we were there. I was worried the furnace might not kick on but it did and kept us warm after the sun went down. Mike

No. We don’t drink from the fresh tank. We carry drinking water separately. Mike

Welcome to the forum! Like you, we are first time RV owners. When we started looking in 2014 we went to a lot of RV shows and Airstream dealers since we thought we wanted an Airstream. I learned about Oliver on the Airstream forum. We saw one locally, visited the factory and were convinced Oliver was the one. We both retired earlier than we thought we would at 62 but don’t regret it a bit. We’ve been all around the US, visited most National Parks and a lot of Monuments. Our Oliver has become a second home over the last 8 years. Get a factory tour. Look at other RV makers and do your own comparison. Retire and hit the road! You may not feel comfortable with your knowledge about the RV life, but experience will fill in the gaps quickly. One unique aspect about Oliver is that the family owned company stays involved with owners. Oliver leadership folks attend the annual rally and enjoy spending time with Oliver owners. Customer support is great. This forum is also a great resource for help and support. Good luck! Mike

Congrats on the sale! Best of luck with your future travels, please keep us up to date here…. Mike

There was a discussion here 3 or 4 years ago about using a padlock on the battery tray to prevent someone who crow-barred the door open from sliding the tray out, making it that much more difficult to remove the batteries. Drill through the frame and tray and secure with a good padlock. It’s been on my list to do…. Mike

Mine shrunk too. I keep the gap on the top of the window so there’s coverage at the bottom. Other than that, the rubber is in good shape. Once it starts to deteriorate I’ll also replace (with the original black). Mike

There has been discussion about this on the forum and some folks have replaced their white molding with black. Someone who has done it should have the supplier, or a quick inquiry to Oliver service should also help. This is part of our periodic maintenance, 3 or 4 times a year they all come out and into a bucket. Window tracks are cleaned and clean molding put back. Looks like the previous owner wasn’t much into maintenance or preventive maintenance!

Same here. A manual awning offers simplicity and reliability.

Seems like there should be a gasket in there. I don’t use the small cylinders, camping I put the Blackstone on the trailer QC and at home I use a 20lb tank. Maybe someone who uses the cylinders can comment. Mike