Mike and Carol

Carmax can be a good option. I bought one car from them, a 2006 MINI Cooper S that was four years old. Low mileage and fair price. The day I picked it up I went straight to the BMW/MINI dealer and paid $120 for a complete bumper to bumper inspection resulting in a page of issues, mostly worn out seals and gaskets and a few other things. The next day I drove it back to Carmax and showed them the inspection results. They honored their 30 day warranty and fixed everything, about $2,300 of repairs. Unless you buy something that is only a year or two old or has very few miles I would recommend a good inspection and a possible return visit to Carmax. Mike

We’ve had a water softener in our current house since we built it 17 years ago. Last year we replaced the original softener with a new model. We’ve also been using a portable softener in the trailer since 2018. I originally bought a 16K grain softener. While it works well, it was very heavy. A couple of years ago I got a 3.2K grain softener, much small and lighter, fits in the basement and will last about a month before needing a recharge. They make a 8K grain that is probably the best solution. All on Amazon. I kept the 16K grain and use it for car/truck/trailer washing. They both recharge easily with plain table salt. Mike

Are there any factory equipped Truma Olivers out there yet? Would like to hear how it performs. The Houghton gets good reviews. Mike

That’s an unfortunate add on. When I bought my Ram 2500 dealers here were taking that much, or more, off MSRP. You might want to look out of state. There are a number of dealers that specialize in long distance purchases with fair pricing. Mike

Interesting. There aren’t any service centers in Texas, just a mobile service out of Austin. Looks like the only service centers are in Florida and Indiana. Mike

Welcome Maleah! There are a number of military retiree Oliver owners. I did 40 years in the Army, 30 in uniform and 10 civil service. Our Oliver goal was also to see the US and as many national parks as we could. You’re in good company here. Be sure to ask as many questions as you need to. We’re all here to help. Mike

Hey Brian, with our son and family in Durango we have a strong pull to Colorado in addition to the mountains, weather and scenery! We also like Tennessee and will be camping there next month. Ouray is quite a place…. Mike

We’ve gone to Quartzsite from San Antonio on I-10 in January a number of times. Never winterized. January could be cold in west Texas, but more likely well above freezing. If you go west on I-20 there’s more of a chance for colder weather. We’ve spent January in AZ the last 6 years. No need to winterize if you stay south of Flagstaff and NE AZ. Even if you venture north, the probability of really cold weather is slim. We’ve camped around Flagstaff and north, all the way up to Page, AZ and Lake Powell. Cold at night (below freezing) but nice during the day. Last year we went to Zion National Park in southern Utah on our January trip and it was perfect, high 20s at night and 50s daytime. Quartzsite is almost always pretty nice. That’s why so many folks head there in the winter. This January we’ll be camping way south at Lake Patagonia, at Kartchner Caverns near Benson, north of Tucson, several spots around Phoenix, north and about an hour east of Payson, and just south of Sedona. We’ll be visiting Flagstaff from our campsite near Sedona for a weekend hockey tournament that our grandson from Durango will be playing in. Maybe we’ll head over to Quartzsite to see who is there. There’s a certain peacefulness about picking your own spot out in the Quartzsite desert and watching traffic on I-10 from a long distance! We will not winterize for any of this trip. Actually, we’ve never winterized our Oliver. Mike

It used to be a rare event, our first year or two we only accidentally encountered other Oliver owners a couple of times. We intentionally camped with other Oliver owners many times! It’s good to see the random gatherings increase. Mike

We’ve made some great Oliver friends over the years. Real friends. It’s fun to see them at various places across the country and renew connections. We like to camp year round. We were in Colorado in June and July. We’ll be out the month of October and then the month of January. It’s a good pace, home a couple of months, out a month or two, repeat. Mike

Is there an issue with the caulking around your windows? If it is a 2021 I wouldn’t think that the caulk would be old. Any leaks? Our 2016 Oliver is going on 7 years old and the caulk around the windows is original, no leaks, no issues. Mike

I’ve towed my Elite II with four trucks. A 2012 Toyota Tacoma (supercharged), a 2016 Ram 1500, a 2020 Ram Rebel and now a 2020 Ram 2500 Diesel. The first three were all with the Andersen WDH. When I got the 2500 the WDH was sold. We’ve towed about 20K miles without the WDH. The 2500 definitely does not need any weight distribution assistance. As far as sway, there has been none. If I had a 3500 I wouldn’t even think about a WDH. Mike

We were a bit wary of the wet bath as well, but it is no big deal. We don’t mind it at all, shower then squeegee and wipe a little with a small towel and done. Cleanest place in the trailer. We find that we can pack the fridge with enough food for at least a couple of weeks or more. When we’re out for over a month we stop by area grocery stores, need to do that for fresh stuff anyway. There are quite a few full timing Oliver owners. Maybe a few will chime in. Mike

Yep, my bad. I was just checking on Delaneywud and saw your post. It’s rough getting old. Mike

His IP maps to London. He says he’s from Austin in the Northwest Territories. I don’t think he is or will be an owner. His posts are being moderated.

We’ve camped in 100+ degree weather but prefer not too. Usually, it’s a night on our escape trip out of Texas to cooler places. I try to stay at a campground with electricity on those nights so we can run our AC at the highest noise level, I mean highest cooling level. We did spend three nights at Palo Duro Canyon state park up by Amarillo, each day was over 100. We went to the musical and even though it was dark, it was still mid 90’s. The AC kept the trailer cool and kept us awake. Mike

I haven’t done anything to stop charging from my truck to the trailer. It’s been almost 2 years and a lot of miles since we replaced AGMs with lithiums. Has there been any reported issues actually happening or is this just a wise precaution? Mike

We started with two BBs. They were plenty for how we camp. I did add a third just because….

I don’t have experience with that particular battery but I did replace my four AGMs with three 100Ah Battle Borns. If you only do one or two nights without electricity 270Ah will be plenty. We generally go down to 90% overnight with our batteries. We do have solar, so we’re back up to 100% late morning with normal sun. The weight savings is significant. We are happy with our BB batteries. Mike

I wish it was mine. This picture was on my brother’s back deck, he found it at an antique shop somewhere. I think I’ll convince him to give it up eventually then maybe I’ll attach it to the front of my trailer! Mike

I found part of one!

We did HH at Amber Falls Winery, it was very nice. We always stop by anyway so it was nice to camp there. We’ve also stayed at Panther Creek State Park in eastern TN and Fall Creek Falls State Park. Both were nice parks. Next month we’re going to try Cumberland Mountain State Park near Crossville and Natchez Trace State Park. Fall camping in Tennessee is great. Our first night after pick up was at Fall Hollow in Hohenwald. Not sure when Oliver quit using them but the factory campsites must be much better. Mike

Three point vs four point jacking does affect stability. If it’s excessive, JD’s recommendation is right on. Mike

Same here. We haven’t used our TV in years. I’ve thought about removing it. The Furrion in our early trailers is not quite up to date with multiple HDMI ports. I’m sure someone has this figured out. Mike

Could you be more specific? On the ball? Around the sleeve? Andersen recommended using a few drops of Boeshield T-9 around the sleeve when I was having noise issues. That was 5 years or so ago and the hitch has been upgraded since. Mike