topgun2

Beyond a few essential safety things there is no need to know what the heck you are doing. There is always help here and at the Oliver Service Department. Rallies are a great place to meet new people and see what they have done to make camping with the Oliver even more enjoyable. There is always new stuff to learn - enjoy the journey. Bill

Mch - Recently Oliver has started using a new (different) finance company for helping people finance their travel trailer. I know that this new company is offering a number of things that previous ones did not. It is possible that one of these "new" offerings just might be financing for "used" Olivers. Try calling the Oliver sales office. Bill

Can't you just feel the excitement? Bill

In addition to the safety factors and wear and tear factors there are the mileage factors. Several years ago while I was towing a trailer that weighed less than half of what the Oliver Elite II weighs I was driving West across Kansas fighting a 40 mph headwind. The issue became - I was getting 4 miles to the gallon. This made me have to stop for gas at least every hour and a half. Certainly no fun at all. Bill

Re # 1 - Send a PM to Sherry (Seadawg). Re # 2 - The Hypervent thing has got you covered on the moisture under the bed thing. It is fairly expensive for what it is but I'm told that it works. Particularly in cold weather, anything you can do to reduce moisture (our campers really do not "breath") is a good thing. Cracked to open windows, use the bathroom and/or the MaxAir Fan, a small dehumidifier, etc.. Bill

One of the "problems" I've encountered when talking to people about the Oliver Travel Trailers and the Oliver Company is that most (if not all) of these people have never actually had dealings with either a product like the OTT nor the Company that makes it. You can tell people about "no sales pressure", "no hassles", "they stand behind the product", "they do what they say they are going to do", "If its their fault - they will fix it", etc. But, certainly all of that "stuff" has just got to be marketing hype - nobody really does business like that these days. Well, Oliver ain't perfect, but they are a bunch better than anything or anyone I've ever done business with. It's just hard to believe. Bill

Susan - Today's the day! That's great - I remember Twist's first production day well. Up to that time somehow (yes, even the writing of those checks) the whole thing didn't really seem real. But, now that it was actually in production somehow I could almost feel it grow. Back in the day when everyone at Oliver just wasn't soooooo busy, Anita would pop over to the plant, take a couple of pictures of my baby and send them along. I've still got those pictures that I showed to my friends - and, yes, I'm guessing that they thought I was nuts acting like this was the birth of a child or something. I'm excited for you! Bill p.s. and now back to the subject of induction burners - sorry for the digression 😒

Sorry about your battery issues but it sure looks like you could be in a worse place for them to happen. If Jason has helped you locate the issue (maybe) then that is great. Certainly I'll be interested in hearing what happens from here in that this is the first time I've ever heard of a fridge defaulting to the DC mode - bad switch, bad board? Interesting. Bill

I agree with Overland on this and I do have the Trojan T-105's (lead acid batteries). During storage I check mine every 6 to 8 weeks. Normally all I do is add water - they don't take much but since I'm at the storage yard I do it anyway. Bill

And, I would add that having a 2 inch receiver makes it easier to take that 2 inch bike rack off the Ollie and put it directly on the receiver of the tow vehicle. But, to suggest the change "was a lot cheaper to produce" due the 1.5 inch hitches versus the 2 inch or to "Artificially limit what we use our for" seems a bit unfair to me. And, from what I know presently, I agree with katanapilot regarding the choice of batteries but I did say "on average" basically due to that very issue. Bottom line is that if I were to get the bike rack option, I too would prefer the 2 inch versus the 1.5 inch. I simply don't believe that either of the two statements I refer to is entirely fair to Oliver. Bill

Of course both Dean's and Jairon's posts above are basically correct. However, with regards to Dean's - given the price that Oliver is charging for the camper plus the price they are charging for the hitch I do not see a bunch of evidence that Oliver is doing anything to "cheapen" the cost of materials simply for the sake of increased profits. Of course one can argue that there should have been a reduction in the price of the hitch when the change was made from 2" to the smaller size. But, I would guess that given the number of these hitches sold and the man power and engineering costs associated with producing them versus the materials costs it really didn't matter that much one way or the other. With regards to Jairon's - of course you are right about giving "responsible owners" a choice. Its the irresponsible ones that cause the rest of us so much trouble. In addition, these receivers were meant to carry light loads and were designed basically before the e-bike thing was getting popular. Exactly why does one need a the capacity of a two inch receiver when a 1.5 inch will do the job of carrying a bike? And, by going to the 1.5 inch those irresponsible people will not have the "easy" choice of trying to tow something that is well outside the design limits of the entire assembly let alone issues involved with weight distribution of the entire trailer. Warning labels/stickers really don't mean much one way or the other in my opinion. Finally, I have never seen or heard of a situation where Oliver has "cheapened" a construction method and/or used inferior materials simply for the sake of profit. Yes, there have been changes to the trailers over the years that have resulted in lower construction and/or materials costs. But, these changes have also (on average) brought benefits to the owners of these trailers either through better utility or safety or lower price increases than would have happened otherwise. Bill

Its only money! Of course that's easy for me to say when it is YOUR money. The older I get the more I'm believing in that saying - never put off 'till tomorrow what you can get done today. If you can afford it, try to do those things you've always wanted to do and see sooner as opposed to later - you simply don't know if the later will ever be there for you. The experiences and memories you will have are usually worth so much more than looking at that pile of dollars (again - assuming that you can afford it). Bill p.s. how old is the black pup?

From what little I know on that subject - it is NOT true. I was told that the reason for reducing the size was concern that users of the 2 inch receiver were more likely to overload the assembly's posted limits. Certainly this overloading, not reading of posted limits COULD have led to litigation, but, to my knowledge, it never did. I believe that Oliver was simply being conservative and cautious by reducing the size of the receiver. Bill p.s. perhaps the words "possible litigation" was what meant?

Yes, nice to have you back in the saddle. What an ordeal but it is gratifying to hear that all has turned out well in the end. With regards to your numbers - give Jason or Anita a shout and I'm sure that they can get the size(s) and font for you. Bill

Woo Hoo! 😍 A real welcome to you guys. Now you get to start buying all that "stuff" you think you need to put in and/or on that new Ollie. More importantly, you get to start planning all of those trips. Bill

Bummer!😭 While you knew some of this bad news, having it all hit at the same time can't be much fun. However, the real bad news is in your next to last sentence. While it is indeed that time of year for many of us, I really didn't want to face winter yet. Bill

That is really great! I hope that the "potential buyer" realizes just how lucky he is to have had the chance to meet with you guys and discuss why you were there for service. Bill

For me, the fastener depends on the job I want it to do. However, as DavidS says - Command Strips are your friend. Never had one fail (yet) and they can be removed without leaving any trace. I've used Command Strips with Velcro on them, Command Strips that are plain double sided tape, Command Strips that have various hooks attached, etc., etc. And, they are fairly cheap.

One could take delivery in the un-winterized state, test all systems overnight, return to the Oliver Service department the next day (or even a couple of days later) and have Oliver winterize the new Oliver while you watch - or go to breakfast, lunch or that exciting shopping trip in the Hohenwald WalMart. If it was me and if I was worried about this issue I'd ask that this testing and winterization be part of my delivery. Bill

Back in the day prior to Oliver having "issues" with a host of production quality control things, each Ollie was individually wired. Sometimes by one person, sometimes by another and even sometimes by a combination of people. Then in order to get better control of quality control many things were "standardized". Indeed, one of those things was wiring. Now, all wiring for all campers is done the same regardless of what options any particular camper is destined to be originally outfitted with. So, if one does the factory tour they get to see relatively large tables where the wiring is laid out and on these tables are diagrams of what color wire, connector, splice, etc., goes where. This process insures (as far as anything that we humans are involved with can be) that each and every Oliver that comes off the production line is wired the same and is proper as per current electrical code. In addition to the benefit of having a new Oliver already wired for any options that are to be added after original delivery, the relative ease of completing the wiring on a large table right at waist height should make things like splices and connections much more secure than the way it was formally. However, is there is "possibility" that a connection, splice, buss bar cover, screw, clamp, etc., could be or not be tightened or placed in the "right" location? As long as humans are involved, of course the answer is yes. Bill

A couple of thoughts here: 1. no real need to flush the toilet with antifreeze at the temps being discussed here - 30's & 40's during the day and mid 20's at night as Mike points out above. 2. Either your Oliver will be delivered in the winterized mode or you can request for it to be delivered that way. I would simply leave it winterized, carry some milk jugs with water for flushing the toilet and carry some water in the TV for drinking and possible "GI type cleanup" as per Maniac above. 3. Relax and enjoy the delivery and trip. Bill

Free is good too! A fair number of USFS (US Forest Service) campgrounds use a water pump that requires the person doing the pumping to also hold up a valve that diverts the water from a "drinking fountain" into the spout where you can fill your water container. Unless you were a gymnast this can be rather difficult to do. Sticks, pebbles and other assorted forest debris can be used to prop this valve in the open position but if you happen to have the "tab" from a can of soda or beer it works perfectly for this purpose. In addition, it gives you yet another excuse to pop a cold one. Bill

We certainly agree about living versus visiting the beach. I can't tell you the number of times my wife and I have talked about buying a second home on the beach only to slap ourselves back to reality. We "need" another home like we "need" a hole in the .......... And, living at the beach full time without the mountains, trees, motorcycle roads, hiking, etc. is just simply not something we want to do. But, for a vacation, we find the beach, the ocean, the food , and the different life style very refreshing and relaxing. Bill

Pam - See the very first post by Foy above (top of page). His price for the shower mats is $199 plus shipping. Bill

It is possible that we are mixing a bit of "apples and apples" in this discussion. I believe that the comment about NOT recommending blown air for winterization pertains to the practice of ONLY using blown air and has nothing to do with using blown air in COMBINATION with using RV antifreeze. While not impossible to remove ALL water from the plumbing system using the blown air approach - it is very difficult. Given the small spaces in back flow preventers and single handled faucets a single drop of water can do a fair amount of damage. Given that most RV antifreeze protects down to between 10 and 50 below zero any residual water that is left in the system from pumping the antifreeze through simply gets mixed into the antifreeze solution. Yes, this might reduce the level of protection by a few degrees but given the winters we experience here in Western North Carolina, I do not worry about it. I would guess that in more severe climates and/or if you are worried about this potential mixing of a small water and antifreeze, you could use the blown air in combination with the antifreeze. Bill