Mike and Carol

I’m not sure where we’re going with this discussion. Are you saying that Oliver should not advertise their trailers as four season? We’ve had our trailer 7 years and I’ve never winterized. We camp year round and have had plenty of camping with temps in the 20s and a lot of camping in the teens. No issues. To me, that’s a four season camper. We don’t camp in single digits or below zero. To me that is an extreme weather camper. I’ve had the basement partitions out of the trailer and have seen the water lines that run behind the basement on the floor of the outer shell. They just lay on top of the insulation. I’ve considered wrapping those lines with insulation, but it is not a high priority because we’ve not had any issues with them freezing. A very gentle beating😊…. Mike

We had this guy camped out in front of our front door a while back. They basically live in our yard.

I hope Tom will be feeling better soon! I don’t know of any Oliver owners who haven’t had wet socks or bath rug because they either forgot to close the gate or closed it and then ran water. After 7 years I just did it after we returned from Arizona a couple of weeks ago. DUH! Mike

I agree, you should use your jacks and blocks. What I am addressing is an owner “stranded on the side of the road” because they don’t have jacks. 😳

I don’t want to hijack this thread, but…. A flat tire can be changed using the onboard jack. I have raised my trailer several times at Discount TIre for tire changes and balancing and while on the road when a grease cap came off. Oliver doesn’t recommended it anymore, but it was a selling point when I bought and picked up my trailer. Some even use the onboard jack to level the trailer with the wheels off the ground - not something I would ever do. But, for a temporary tire change on the side of the road I certainly would. Now, back to F150s and sudden loss of power. Mike

If the gate won’t let water drain it won’t let water back up into the shower drain. I agree with Andrew, you may have run water in the sink after closing the gate. That’s the only source of water in the bath. Hydraulic pressure won’t do it. We’ve traveled thousands of miles with a nearly full gray tank, never any issues. Running water with the gate closed causes issues everytime, mostly wet socks and wet bath rug. Mike

The four trucks I’ve used over the years to pull my Oliver have all had the fuel fill on the drivers side while my Audi S3 has it on the passenger side.

I have shut off the propane at gas pumps. Most of the time my trailer is well away from pumps, if not I shut the propane off. When I do I leave it off, the fridge stays cold for hours while off. Mike

Yes. EDIT: I need to add some context to my quick, one word answer this morning. I don’t want to give the impression that I have a cavalier attitude toward my safety and the safety of those around me. I do pull into fuel stations with my fridge on propane. Normally, my trailer is not next to a pump, it is behind the truck which is next to the pump. We travel a lot in the west where it is usually windy. On those occasions where the station is very busy and I need to use a forward interior pump I will turn off my propane. I always check inside the trailer when stopped, so when I turn off the propane I will go inside and turn off the fridge while I’m checking so that the fridge is not on batteries. As far as the furnace goes, over the last 7 years I’ve only traveled with it on a few times so I don’t remember fueling with it on. The same situational awareness would have applied.

Yes, both the furnace and the fridge running on propane. Running the furnace while driving is rare, running the fridge on propane while driving is 100% of the time….except for a couple of times we had tunnels that required no propane and had a pull over area to turn it off. Mike

Any trailer in extreme cold with no internal heat going will have issues. We’ve traveled in below freezing weather with the furnace running just like we travel with the fridge running. Mike

What is your definition of four season camper? We have camped many times with night time temperatures in the 20s and teens with no freeze ups. I don’t winterize. We had a week of single digit temps a few years ago, I wasn’t winterized. I had my trailer in the driveway and turned on the furnace and had an electric space heater going (hatches open) and had no issues. Is the Oliver an extreme cold weather camper? Probably not. Normal cold, 20s and high teens, yes. Very few people like to camp in single digit or below zero weather. Some, like us, will camp in cold weather but we don’t seek it out. Our Oliver has served us well in cold weather. Mike

Or both could be options!

The Intech Terra Oasis is a nice trailer, welded aluminum frame and nice features. We like the bigger holding tanks and large fridge. They are not as easy to tow and will be less likely to fit into smaller camp sites. I’ve read that even with a 3/4 ton truck or larger most owners are using a WDH. I saw a picture this month of an Oasis overturned still attached to the 3/4 ton pickup that was upside down. It was going downhill at 55mph and was passed by a semi going quite a bit faster. Sway started and took over. The good news, both occupants walked away and the trailer did not disintegrate and remained pretty much intact. Mike

Good info, thanks. When you say “garage” do you mean “basement” (storage area at the rear of the trailer)? Mike

Welcome and congrats on your upcoming trailer. You will accumulate tools as you go along but it would be good to start with the basics. Hope to see you out on the road! Mike

I don’t have grease like that on mine. If you wipe it off does it come back? Mike

No, we do not let the bathroom window just drop. We slide all the windows “normally” and don’t slam the door. Things last longer when treated with care. Mike

We were camped near Asheville and were meeting @topgun2and his wife for lunch in Brevard. We checked the GPS which showed that the shortest route was also the most scenic, mountains and back roads. BIG MISTAKE! Besides being way late for lunch we had some very frustrating moments when small back roads didn’t match GPS and cell coverage was lost. Out came the paper atlas. Lesson learned! Mike

7 years and our windows are fine. Mike

I want wing windows back.

We camp mostly in public campgrounds. National Parks are generally the most restrictive, size wise. Most have some sites that accommodate big rigs but an Elite II size camper can fit in most any site. State Parks vary but usually have larger sites. COE and USFS campgrounds also vary, the newer ones can fit about anything, but some of the older or more remote campgrounds can be restrictive. It’s not just the size of the campsite to consider but also maneuvering truck and trailer during the back in. There have been a number of times that the site was just long enough for our Oliver, but backing it in proved to be challenging due to the narrow road or obstacles. I watched a guy trying to back in a trailer, probably 28’ or so, into a spot at a Tennessee State Park and it took him a couple of hours. He tried everything, to include going around the loop several times to change his angle and also going the wrong way to see if that would work. His frustration was evident. Mike

We almost always plan our trips (unless we travel with Tali and Steve!!). We like to go to Arizona in January and if you want to get into one of the state parks or regional parks there you have to make reservations a year in advance. We also like to go to Colorado in June and July (son and family live in Durango) and the situation is the same. Other than that, we have done trips on the fly and found spots in popular places (Glacier, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and others) same day. Since we mostly do public campgrounds (state parks, regional and municipal parks, COE, USFS, BLM, etc) we use Ultimate Public Campground App. It’s no longer supported or updated but it still works well. You can get the same information from Allstays or Campendium. I’ve looked at RV Wizard but never used it. Mike

I still have my slide rule. I still like paper maps. I also like my iPhone with all the nifty apps for camping and traveling. Like Steve, we pick up maps at welcome centers too! Mike

30 years of land navigation in the army, usually with at 1:50,000 folded map sheet, trained my brain to be comfortable with a paper map. I like my GPS’s for turn by turn directions, but we also carry a big atlas with us for planning and exploring alternate routes. Mike