Ron and Phyllis
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Posts posted by Ron and Phyllis
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46 minutes ago, topgun2 said:
There should be some nice "Fall leaf color" up on the Parkway starting this week (October 4th). And, the weather forecast is for nice sunny days with cool nights - mid 30's probably upon the Parkway at over 6,000 feet.
I'm only about 20 miles from the Pisgah camp ground - if you need something send me a PM.
Bill
Thank you all! This is what I wanted to know. Years ago, when we got snowed on at Mt Pisgah in the old popup, we were fine. Now, my wife is not quite the camper of those old days, so I have to consider her comfort a little more. We keep our winter home thermostat usually on 65 and we don't mind layering up. We were up on the BRP last week at Mountain River CG and fall color was very noticable but now for sure, it's here even in Greene Co.Thanks again!
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54 minutes ago, Mike and Carol said:
I agree, it would be good if more new Elite I owners contributed. Steve (Scubarx) was an original Elite I owner. He stays in close contact with the factory and is very knowledgeable about all Oliver models. You should be fine at 29 degrees with the furnace. Lots of other Oliver boondockers rely on their furnace overnight without issues. Good luck! Mike
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I've camped at Mt Pisgah numerous times many years ago in a popup and it even snowed on us. My Elite I, we got 11 August new. Now my situation is different as a caregiver to my wife who I have to consider even more so. I've never had a furnace before. It works great, having tested it today. Going to be cold nights. Any advice on how the batteries ( 2 AGMs) may hold up through the night to operate the fan from the furnace? I'm bringing a backup propane heater, I used in our Aframe popup that I know I need to vent if I use. any advise would be appreciated.
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Thank you, Mike. I just reached out to SeaDawg about our first trip tomorrow without hookups and it's going to be a cold 29 degree night.
ScubaRx seems to be an Elite II owner now and bugeydriver a 2008. Sure would be good to somehow get the newer Legacy Elite owners to comment on this forum, not to imply that we can't learn from the older models, because I am personally "an older model" and know how it is.
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Thank you, Mike. I just reached out to SeaDawg about our first trip tomorrow without hookups and it's going to be a cold 29 degree night.
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Sorry if I'm still on the wrong thread. I'll eventually figure it out. Elite I's now, to me, seem to be somewhat of a stepchild now of this forum, as it is set up. Please don't take offense, as I've learned a lot from this group, but I've also found, quite a bit, doesn't apply or I've had to modify or adapt to the Elite I. I called Service today. I told them that my pressure (Elite I) was set on 11 August delivery at 70 psi. They told me that they recommended 55-65 psi for " a smoother ride" but that 70 psi would cause no problem. I was setting up my pressure monitoring system. I think I will lower to 60-65 based on my weight tomorrow when I plan to weigh for our trip to Mt Pisgah for the next couple of cold nights.
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On deliver day for my Elite I, they told me the pressure was set at 70psi. I checked and it is. I'm still determining what I need and want to carry and getting organized after a few trips. Will camp this week at Mt Pisgah and be without hookups for the first time. Then I plan to go weigh and reevaluate all this info.
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We were accustomed to separate single beds in our pop-up A-frame. Since picking up our Elite I Hull # 1209 on August 11, we are trying a single bed across the back for my wife, that we leave in place. I use the dinette bed across from the galley, putting it up each evening. This keeps us from having to crawl over each other during the night. It also creates more space by not having the large dinette and opens up a seat on each side in front of her bed. I simply made a plywood support and use the small fiberglass extension that was in the closet. The 4 small side cushions are the middle of the bed and we have a 3 inch memory foam over the cushions that extends across the back. By no means will this work for everyone, but we're not very large so it seems to be working well for now. Having lots of small pillows, that I recovered, helps for lounging around in the evening while watching a movie or reading. The valances are on 1x2 poplar with the fabric stapled to it and velcro holds them in place very well so far. I borrowed Foy's ceiling panel design. I did have him make me one of his beautiful shower mats!
Ron
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On August 8th there was discussion concerning, what seemed to be, an unusual number of problems noticed in a new delivery. Several issues were brought up but particularly some missing and poor quality caulking was noted. This really alarmed me since our delivery day of August 11 was approaching. After waiting so long, you just want things to go well. I’m a caregiver for my bride of 53 years who has developed a neurocognitive disorder. She requires my attention, which I am glad to give her. The primary reason for me getting the Ollie is to make it easier on us both in our race against time to revisit our trips out West and into Canada that we did with our kids in the old Coleman pop-up so many years ago. On delivery day, my goal was to test everything at the service center campsite, but with caregiving, I’ve learned patience, to expect the unexpected, and to go with the flow. I just couldn’t go over as much as I had hoped. I had gotten reservations for 3 days after delivery for the weekend about 60 miles west at Chickasaw SP. We have elderly parents and family nearby that we needed visit. My plan was to use some of these 3 days go over everything and to go back to Hohenwald on the way home to East TN to have them correct any issues I might discover.
Ryan went over everything with me to my satisfaction on delivery. It’s just a lot to cover. A heavy downpour, as I pulled out, delayed setup and flooded the utilities at a few of the sites for a couple of hours. We had a few off and on light showers and it was very hot! During the orientation and that afternoon, I really inspected the caulking and everything I could. I only noticed two things.
1. the touch light over the sink did not work
2. There was a small gap between the top of awning gasket seal and the bottom of the awning. I could see a little light shining through the opening.
A tech replaced the touch light that afternoon and I was told that the small gap was not a problem. I questioned this, and I looked at other Ollies outside and noticed that on most of them I could see small gaps of light showing above their awning gaskets. I plan to run a caulk bead on the top of the seal.
Caulking- Where it shows, the caulking job was almost flawless. I know from experience how difficult this is. I saw no missed areas. On the roof, the caulking was adequate but no attention to esthetics was paid there, it wasn’t very neat.
What follows will be of no interest or is old news to most owners but to those awaiting delivery who have no experience with a tank monitor, it might be helpful. Since I haven’t owned a trailer with a toilet (having only had a portable marine toilet in our A-frame popup), tank monitoring was new to me.
While at the site and even at the SP I couldn’t get the black tank to show anything other than 0%. The grey and fresh tank monitoring seemed to work as I expected. On departure day, I flushed 2 gallons of water into the toilet and got it to read 12%. When I had to make my decision whether or not to go to Hohenwald, I called the service center. I was concerned that I might have a problem with the sender panel circuit board on the black tank. I called the service center and was told that there could be a 13% difference or error in what the monitor read and what was actually in the tank. He told me that they couldn’t see me until the next day. I decided to proceed home. Once home, I tested the black tank monitor by pouring gallon increments of water into the toilet and getting a reading. Here are my results:
2 gallons 6%
4 19%
5 25%
6 31%
7 44%
8 50%
9 56%
10 69%
11 69% yes 69%
12 75%
13 81%
14 81% Bowl emptied but pipe was full, I raised tongue of trailer and
The level in pipe dropped and reading was 88%, I raised tongue more and the reading was 94%
I’m satisfied that everything is ok and from past thread postings we know that the tanks drain better with some increased tongue height. Apparently, when camping those days there was just not enough going into the black tank for it to read much.
I really like the owner manuals! Some are definitely not easy reading but I’m impressed that Oliver printed all the component info and manuals and combined them. Typically, most RVs have numerous odd sized manuals and info. I hope this helps someone. Thanks to all you folks on this forum for your insight and help thus far and I’ll definitely be asking for more.
Li'l Ollie is at home in East TN
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Thank you! That is sure good to hear!
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We love our Clam also, but it's rather new and we've only used it on one trip thus far. Can anyone tell me about their experience when it rains? I understand the roof panel is just water resistant. I was considering a tarp placed over the top on those occasions rather instead of taking the Clam down.
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Seadawg is exactly, right we have an abundance of bears. Here in East TN I know bear hunters and resource officers. They all say the black bear population has exploded all over the Appalachians. The people population has also increased. Encounters are much more prevalent. In our hikes, especially in years past, we've had bears cross our path very close on two occasions deep in the woods. Once one stepped out of a laurel thicket and almost bumped into my wife with my toddler daughter on her back. My wife froze, and fortunately it scared the poor bear, who was I think an adolescent, as much or more than us. He ran off barking like a dog. We just hoped momma wasn't close. This was a time when bears were fewer and not as accustomed to humans and the food they carry. Now even hikers in the deep woods and AT are having serious problems with bears. I totally agree with John Davies, I always now take my spray and where I can my weapon. Especially these last few weeks, the local media have focused on the issues you all have described concerning human contact, feeding, carelessness etc. Now it's leading, more often, to the death of the bear instead of relocation. Now the slogan is " A fed bear is a dead bear". Sad.
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5 hours ago, Rivernerd said:
I share your concern. We are scheduled to take delivery of an Elite II in November.
After you pick up your trailer, please post the results of your initial inspection here. That may indicate whether the Oliver production folks have improved their quality control since John and Jodi's Elite II was made.
I sure will. We will be in Hohenwald on Thursday night. Since it's the end of the week we will spend the weekend at Chickasaw State Park near Henderson TN because it's our old home place and relatives live there, ninety miles west of Hohenwald. It will give us time to do an assessment and get familiar with everything. We leave Monday on our way back to East TN via a stop for two days at Cumberland Mountain SP, thanks to rideandfly. If I find issues of concern, this weekend, I plan to go through Hohenwald Monday to have them addressed before proceeding. I'll post when I return the end of next week.
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This really bothers me, since my delivery is this coming Thursday 11 August. I sure hope you say something to the factory!
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Looks like a good product for the Ollie. Like you said, we all have our opinions and I'm sure open to changing mine, but the issue is the non-stick. Though, I love the cleanup of non-stick, I've never found it to be even close to "permanent". Having cooked a lot for a long time and having listened to many professional chefs, I've never heard any of them say that there is a "permanent " non-stick surface. After going through several expensive well known non-stick products, I finally took the advise of some of these chefs to buy one cheap non-stick pan for the things you absolutely do not want to stick, which are not that many, and plan on replacing it every year or so. The workhorse cookware is a heavy steel. If anyone out there has what they consider a permanent non-stick piece of cookware that they have used almost daily for years, I would love to hear about it and want it. I sure love the way the Magma pans stack together and fit into the cabinet. Great video! Keep them coming
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Wildbrew,
Very nice, neat job! I may have missed it, but what adhesive did you use to attach the 2 sides and front panels to the polycarbonate shelf and where did you get both?
Ron
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Katjo,
Thank you so much for doing this! Yes, there is so little on YouTube about the Oliver from owners. Our Ollie is being built right now, delivery August 11, and I'm trying to devour all I can. Looking forward to you upcoming videos!
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I asked because the sewer hose caps I've found thus far do not have the male garden hose fitting as part of the cap. Where did you purchase?
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Good idea. So, you attached the garden hose connection to the cap? Details?
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On 4/17/2021 at 8:12 PM, Patriot said:
Ollie in the Wild -
We recently spent a week at Natural Tunnel SP in the South Western tip of Virginia...a nice and private site at Lovers Leap. Water and electric only with a dump station. Showers were super clean and fairly new looking. Would highly recommend this SP.
Our site was all nice.
We hiked up to Lovers Leap -
Quite a view of the tunnel -
We are about 70 mi from Natural Tunnel SP and go there about twice a season. I recommend you also visit Big Stone Gap, Norton VA ( WoodBugger check it out and you'll understand), and the small towns around area while you're there. Lot's of beautiful country to see and history.
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On 5/7/2022 at 11:38 AM, rideandfly said:
We camped at COE Obey River Campground on Dale Hollow Lake TN. Nice campground for those that like bicycling, boating, fishing, and Kayaking.
t
It's Obed River not "Obey" and it is beautiful. I'm in Tennessee. Glad you enjoyed it.
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BILL REED I AM NOT THAT FAR FROM YOU (GREENEVILLE TN "THE SOUTH"), BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING THAT THESE KNOWLEDGABLE WELL MEANING FOLKS RECOMMEND, YOU NEED TO LOOK AT THIS AND DO MORE SPECIFIC SEARCHING IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO. Having been faced with these tiny black spots first over 40 years ago and 20 years later around a log home, office building, and new home that I mulched around heavily, I suspect instead of mold spores, that these are from Artillary Fungus, but yes are spores. A common culprit is from wood mulch. The fungi shoot their sports toward "shiny" objects like light colored cars, white guttering and siding when the sun shines on them. It is brown or black and tarlike. Look up this fungus and see ways to remove, but my experience was that it usually leaves a lighter, less noticable, but still a spot remains underneath when you dissolve the tar spot. Lots of this info on a search. This doesn't help your specific problem, but in my case, it all stopped when I switched from wood to leaf mulch. I did find some simple, but not easy ways to remove the tar spots, but the longer they're on, the more permanent the spot damage underneath. I found no other way than to work in small segments. You can improve the appearance overall that's acceptable from a "normal" distance. If you find, a more recent, widespread easier and more effective cure, I would love to hear it, as my research is dated.
Pardon if you've already discovered this.
Ron
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24 minutes ago, Rivernerd said:
Oops! I presumed you were referring to the Elite II.
If it is any consolation, I'll bet the redesigned 2023 Elite will cost a lot more than your 2022...
It is consolation and I know you're right for all the reasons I've heard others discuss here concerning rising costs of fiberglass, everything, etc.
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2 hours ago, topgun2 said:
OK - consider yourself "consoled"😁.
It would appear that your choices are to either take your chances on getting the "new" equipment or to delay your delivery/production date so as to insure you get the "new" stuff. Not a great set of choices in my opinion.
I live in Western NC and have done a fair amount of camping with the Ollie here. However, the most telling experience I've ever had was camping in Colorado a couple of years ago and my campsite was under some lodgepole pines - reasonably shaded. Add to this 4 solid days of rain! My batteries never fell below 87% full! Mind you that I was solo camping and I'm fairly frugal with electric usage. My solar setup is 4 regular lead acid batteries and just the rooftop array of solar from Oliver.
Bill
Thank you Bill & Galway Girl, that's exactly what I was hoping to hear. I agree, I would not think of waiting, but how about hearing from someone with an Elite I with fewer batteries. Dumb questions, sorry, but can the Elite I have more than 2 batteries? is the battery container on the Elite II larger than the Elite I? I hear Elite II owners talk of 3 and 4. If needed I was considering adding 1 or 2 maybe in the aluminum box on tonque.
Elite I bed across the back and adding some color
in Ollie Modifications
Posted
I will be interested in seeing what you end up doing. We may go back and forth varying according to the situation. My wife has a neurocognitive disorder and often needs help when she gets up finding a light or if she wakes up and is confused or uncomfortable. I had hoped we might not wake each other as much with the bed across the back. Right now, it's not the case. I'm hoping this may change in time. We just got back from a couple of cold nights 29 and 32 degrees on top of Mt Pisgah NC on the Blue Ridge Pky. I decided, since we had no hookups and it is shaded and we needed to conserve batteries, that we would use the full bed. It worked well. I still like to lounge on the lowered side table down with the pillows to read or watch tv. We'll see. Just a comment, even with mostly shade, our batteries charged enough from the solar panels to run the fan on the furnace that I set at 60-62, use the water pump, and we used lights sparingly. We might have done ok one more day. I have a movable solar array also, but I could not get it to charge when plugged into the Zamp outlet. I'll have to work on this.
On a previous trip, I had an issue with the battery door coming open 45 minutes down the road. A block on the door that attaches to a cable broke when it flew open from road vibration. The door would not stay closed. I had to tie the door shut until I could get home and repair. When home, on further inspection, I found the locking mechanism would not properly engage a nylon block mounted in the roof of the compartment. I removed the block and made it thicker by adding an aluminum plate to give more for the locking mechanism to strike against. Plus, the aluminum wouldn't score from the metal locking arm like the soft nylon. I opened a service ticket and Oliver sent me replacement blocks for the door and the roof. The nylon roof block was still just too thin so I used my thicker block with the aluminum plate. I think this means that either the door is just a little off or maybe the locking mechanism. I made some photos that I might post. It works fine now with my repair. I met an Elite II owner on that trip and showed him the broken blocks. We looked at his 2017 battery compartment and the roof block was made of solid aluminum instead of the nylon block in mine.
Good luck on your delivery and I hope to hear from you again.
Ron Williams