Mike and Carol

On a 3 lane I generally stay in the right lane unless it’s an urban area with frequent on ramps, then I’ll go to the middle lane. Mike

You should call your sales rep, I think your number should be available by now. Your delivery is on my birthday so I’m sure it will be a good day! I haven’t heard of any recent supply chain delays, you should be on time. We have friends in Steamboat Springs, we’re usually there in July when our grandson (in Durango) goes to the hockey camp there. Nice town! Mike

Welcome to the group Steve. I don’t think you’ll regret your decision! I would be a little intimidated by the tech that is on the new trailers, too. There was much less tech on 2016 models. There will be lots of help here when you need it. Mike

Welcome to the forum. I can’t address the Truma issue since ours came with the Dometic. As far as service goes, we’ve had a few things that needed to be fixed. While we were under warranty we had some work done here at a local RV repair shop and Oliver picked up the cost. We had a few things taken care of during a visit back in Hohenwald our second year of ownership. Since then, our local RV repair shop has done everything - mostly routine maintenance. I have an appointment next week to have my bearings repacked, brakes checked and suspension lubed. We’re near Boerne, just north of San Antonio and our RV place is Boerne RV. It’s a small family run shop that now does work on at least 3 or 4 Olivers. I’m sure there is an independent repair shop somewhere around Waco. After 7 years of travel over 80K miles we are very happy with our Oliver. As with any trailer that bounces down the road things break, come lose or need adjusting. But for us, the initial quality and durability of our Oliver have given us a lot of happy camping experiences. Mike

We don’t run our Battle Borns down either. I’ve had them down to 50% a couple of times but usually they don’t go down below 70% before they get some charge. Mike

Welcome to the group! If you have questions, ask away…. Mike

Congratulations! See you out on the road - Mike

7 years ago I attached a plastic paper towel holder above the sink with command tape. I think it’s a Camco, got it on Amazon for less than $10. It’s still there today after a lot of miles and years. Mike

We usually leave water in the fresh tank. If it’s only a month or so between trips we’ll just go with what we have. If it’s a couple of months or more I will empty and refill right before we leave. I do the bleach thing once a year. We don’t drink or cook with our fresh water. I also carry a small water softener for when we’re on city water. Mike

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