topgun2

Well, let's see - perhaps the Microsoft Poop exchanger? Certainly if Microsoft can make some (if not all) of my data disappear, they can do the same for poo. Maybe they can employ the mysterious "blue screen" to help and just re-name it the "poo screen"? Seriously, I am glad that someone(s) is working on this. As populations continue to grow we need to take care of the "problem". I suspect this problem will be solved (someday) by something that we just don't have at the present. Bill

Hopefully you guys in Philly didn't get too hard with this last bout of "winter" weather. Welcome to the land of Olivers. While you can read all about them here on the Owner's Forum, the real way to get to know these campers is to either take a factory tour or at the least arrange a viewing with a current owner in the Philly area. Certainly, if you have questions - fire away. Bill

Welcome to our world! Bill

Let me add my WELCOME to you guys! April will be great for picking up your new Ollie. Hopefully you will have a good initial trip planned in order to test and learn all about your new Oliver. I would add my encouragement to you to start a new thread concerning color, upholstery, flooring, and counter top combinations. Be warned though that while basic color combinations do not change, the Factory does add and delete certain fabrics, floors and colors of counter tops from time to time. In the past, customers could even bring their own fabrics and/or flooring materials to Oliver for installation. In the present day, only those that are "standard" can be ordered and this fact should make the selection and or combination issues somewhat easier - unless, of course, one simply can not get the combination that they want. Still, it would be interesting to see what others (most of whom have better "eye" for these things than I do) think make great combinations. If you are "dead set" on doing your own solar (for whatever reason) I'd recommend that very early on you have in depth discussions with Jason and/or Richie in the Service Department. Depending on what you have in mind, they could be of great help in having holes pre-drilled or at least marked such that the drilling of holes for wiring and/or the setting of your own panels would be much easier and safer for you. You might also want to contact both ScubaRx (Steve) on this Forum and "Technomadia" for help along these lines since both were instrumental in the original design. If you decide to go the self install route, I do hope that you will start a thread on "how its done". Good luck and, again, welcome! Bill

John - Looks like Scotty and I are doing a tag team event here. You will not need your generator unless you plan on staying somewhere for more than a couple of days. Yes, the blower motor and furnace controller work on 12 volt DC. Therefore, you don't need to be plugged into "shore" power (120 volt). Even if there isn't any sun, you will be recharging your batteries via your tow vehicle as you drive down the road. Bill p.s. the current forecast for the Asheville area is for the rain to come to an end by Friday of this week and then we should have several days of dry weather. Since Hohenwald is only about 6 hours drive west of here, their weather shouldn't be much different.

Steve & Kelly - Welcome! Glad that you are here and ask away. Yes, you are on the right track. All but the fresh tank is taken care of by simply hooking the RV to a fresh water supply (house or campground faucet) and running water through those lines. Every so often I tend to forget about flushing out the line to the outside shower, but that is easily taken care of when the time comes. As far as the fresh water tank goes it is also easy. First you flush it with fresh water in a similar manner to the rest of the water lines. Then, particularly if you intend to drink water from this tank, you should sanitize that tank. A number of videos on YouTube will lead you to the proper amount of bleach and methods of letting that solution sit in the tank prior to flushing. That's it. Bill

I really do like my Oliver, but, if anyone was wondering what to get me for Christmas ….. https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/enthusiasts/unicat-has-created-the-queen-mother-of-rvs/ar-BBPzGsz Bill

The Hoffman's and Bob both won an Amazon gift card at the FL/GA Rally. However, there were two other winners of these gift cards and I didn't keep track of exactly who won what. If anyone knows who won those other two cards, please let me know since there was an error in processing the cards that needs to be corrected. Thanks! Bill

J & E - Picked it up yet? Except for the rain, the weather is not too bad. Pictures? Bill

John - Really? There is nothing to assemble on a Clam unless one would want to call hammering stakes into the ground as assembly. I wonder where that "assembly charge" came from? Bill

On the back street side of an Elite II you should find a short length of hose protruding from the bottom of the camper. This is the exterior drain hose for the air conditioner. This hose goes from the air conditioner to that point by being routed between the inner and outer shells of the Oliver. Bill

John - Sorry for waiting so long to get back to your questions but I had imagined that some of our true gearheads would have jumped on these questions by now. Having had some wheel bearing problems in the past, I'm a bit on the conservative side with regards to the care of these puppies. My answers to your questions: A. No B. At 8,000 miles, plus some time sitting plus probably near a year since the bearing were serviced you should get your bearings serviced. C. No inspection ports. D. Yes - pull the drum. No unless there is evidence that the rear seal is suspect (i.e. grease on the wrong side of the seal or obvious other problems). E. I have had no failures on my Oliver but have had failures with previous trailers. The failures were due to bad bearings and not due to regular service. F. No. G. Mine are wearing evenly and still have more than half life left after three years of towing and over 30,000 miles. There are all kinds of reasons as to why your bearings just might still be in very good shape (no load during storage, dry enclosed storage facility, even with 8,000 miles if they were "easy" miles with little water/rain or dusty roads, etc.). My last service two months ago showed that even at 10,000 miles my seals and grease still looked very good even though I did a bunch of Interstate miles with temps in the 90's and also did a bunch of driving down very dusty dirt roads. However, the question I always ask myself - is the saving of those service dollars worth the risk? Bill

I specifically chose the 20 lb (standard) tanks for three reasons: 1. I do not do very much cold weather camping. However, during the summer I am camping at altitude and do use the propane for "some" heat. Over the past three years this has never been a problem. In fact, I've been surprised at how little propane I actually use given that the fridge is almost always using it. I've done a 7 week trip on less than one tank. 2. These tanks are easier to handle (versus the 30 lb ones). 3. The most important reason (for me) - flexibility. As ScubaRx mentions, I can always have these refilled as long as there is a place available to get this done. If there isn't a place and I really need the propane I can always "swap them out" at gas stations, grocery stores, hardware stores, etc. Obviously, refilling is the better option for many reasons, but, I like having the option of swapping and with the other tanks this is simply not available to you. Certainly I like(d) the idea of the Viking ones but felt that the cost really didn't justify the lighter weight and restriction of not being able to swap them. Bill

Bill - "bugeyedriver" on this Forum has many miles of direct experience with both a Tacoma and a Ford F-150. You might send him a private message asking him for his real world experience. I used to tow with a Tacoma and it is still my favorite truck for all things except for towing. One year while headed west across Kansas I had a 40 mph headwind. My Tacoma was towing a stick built camper that weighted right at 3,500 lbs. My MPG was 4 - yes, that is not a typo - 4mpg. This meant that I had to stop for gas every 120 miles or so. A big royal pain! My current truck (a 2017 F-150) has the larger gas tank and even with a strong headwind and towing the larger Elite two at just over 6,000 lbs I still get north of 10 mpg. A more comfortable ride too. My only complaint is that these trucks are big. But, I'd rather deal with that problem and have a wider safety margin. Good luck on both the choice of TV and on getting your own Oliver (soon I hope). Bill

Jaque - I hated the part of ordering that you are going through now. So many choices and trying to think of all the possibilities versus the monies being spent. I went with the standard toilet. I too travel much of the time solo. When not boondocking there are virtually always toilets nearby for poo. When boondocking I have a shower tent and a collapsible toilet that uses those bags Heather mentioned. That system works great, uses no "on-board" water and is easily disposed of. On long trips, I do carry a small "blue" portable tank in the event I need to make more room in the black tank - just be careful to not put too much "stuff" in the portable tank so that I can lift it to a regular toilet for emptying if necessary. While intriguing, I found the composting toilet to be expensive and uncomfortable versus the benefits. I didn't go with the factory camera system for two reasons. First, I thought that it was a bit expensive. Second, I simply didn't want another screen in the cockpit of my truck. At delivery I added a small camera located in the upper half of the spare tire cover that transmits signal via WiFi to my tablet or phone. It works great except for when it rains - the camera picks up too much road spray to see tailgaters. The water heater is another one of those return for the money things. Basically $1,000 for instant gratification? Like KountryKamper, I too believe that the winterization is no big deal and servicing while on the road is easier. For small things like dishes, I simply heat water in a pot on the stove. For showers I almost always use a solar shower and the shower tent I mentioned above. This is a great way to save water, room in your grey tank and propane that would have been used to heat the water. When I really do need to use the shower in the camper I do not allow the water heater to heat the water to its maximum. I posted a thread some time ago on my system of using a meat thermometer with remote readout to monitor the water heater temperature and turn off the heater when it hits about 106 degrees. Then when taking a shower I do not need to mix cold water with the hot to get the correct temp and I can take a shower easily before the water starts getting too cold. I will edit this post if I can find a link to that thread. Finally, I'm no help to you regarding the generator. Almost always when I have needed air conditioning I have been able to use a campground that had electric hookup. Even camping this summer out West when daytime temperatures hit highs of 108 degrees, the lack of humidity plus the decline in temps overnight provided easy sleeping. Other than that the solar panels kept my batteries fully charged each day. Good luck on these "final" decisions of yours. Either way you decide on virtually any of the options, I'm sure that you will be happy with your Oliver. These campers are just so easy to travel with. Bill

Dave & George - As I see it, the "problem" with the marker lights is that they are placed on a curved surface while not being curved themselves. This tends to cause one side of the light to "lift" from the surface thus resulting in the caulk to either crack or totally separate from either the light or the trailer. I've not removed any of mine from the camper but have simply cleaned the area (usually with mineral spirits and/or alcohol), removed any loose caulk and re-caulked. Hope this helps. Bill

George - while you're looking around, don't forget to take a close look at your "marker" lights on both the top and bottom of the hull. Like Steve, I've never had to do much on the roof, but, several of those lights on mine have needed a bit of re-sealing. Bill

Yukon - Glad it is working for you. Both Buzzy and I started out with florescent orange but found that any of these "florescent" colors tended to fad fairly rapidly. I have finally settled on a simple silver - the contrast to the black and light color of the silver gives the visibility that I need plus it dries really fast when applied, does not build up to thick layers as fast as most other paints and while easy to be seen it doesn't scream at me or detract from the other nearby components (i.e. Andersen whale tail and chains). During my storage preparation process I sand the area where that slip collar slides back and forth and give it a shot of new paint for the winter. Come Spring everything is ready to go except for a shot of silicone on both the collar and the area of the bulldog that slides under the collar. Bill

While I've not had any electrical issues with Twist I do know that they can be very frustrating. I assume that you have had a discussion with Richie and Jason regarding these issues. Bill

Sorry for the issues that you are having (had), but while there have been occasions the repairs, mods, service have taken longer than originally planned, virtually all of my service appointments have been without issue. In fact, during several appointments the guys have actually performed more things than what I asked for simply because either they were needed, were just a part of what should have been done or they were "upgrades" now standard on current models. Bill

I can't specifically talk about the Audi since I have never owned one, but, with every brake controller I've ever used there has been a manual control. Bill

OOPS! Sorry about that "handle" - I thought of that as I was typing the reply but just figured they were still included at delivery. I'll get you a picture tomorrow but you can use anything that fits nicely into the 5/8 inch hole at the bottom of the hitch ball. Yes, it is easier to do that than it is to remove the whale tail from the chains. Bill edit : decided to go ahead and get that pic right away just so I would not forget to do it tomorrow. Note that the handle is approximately 21 inchs long as pictured.

Bobfirst - Basically you have got it. However, when we talked above of being able to move the whale tail, that is only possible when the Oliver is NOT attached to the tow vehicle. If you jack up the Ollie to induce slack in the chains but still have the Oliver connected at the ball of the hitch, there is upward pressure on the ball and, therefore, on the part of the ball to which the whale tail is connected. In this situation it is more than likely that you will not be able to move the whale tail due to that upward pressure. Likewise, when the Ollie is connected to the tow vehicle in a "normal" position then there is downward pressure on the ball and/or the chains are too tight to move the whale tail. Therefore, the only time that the whale tail can be moved is when the Ollie is not connected or there is no pressure on the ball. Having said all this, your second sentence confuses me a bit. I trust that you remove the Andersen whale tail prior to detaching your Oliver from the tow vehicle's hitch ball. The only time that one really needs to move the whale tail is when you can't re-hitch in the same (or nearly the same) alignment of the tow vehicle and Oliver as it was when you un-hitched the two. Usually these situations are caused by someone being parked such that a fairly severe angle is needed in order to get backed up to your Ollie. With the old Andersen it was very difficult to move that ball/whale tail (note that the whale tail was sometimes used by taking it off the chains or detaching the chains from the Oliver in order to get some leverage to help with moving the ball into the best position). With the new Andersen sometimes the ball can be moved with just the hitch pin. If that doesn't work then one can use the handle of the socket that Oliver gave you that was to be used for tightening your lug nuts on the Ollie. If that doesn't work then you will need to resort to the old fashion method of detaching the chain that is too tight (and thus preventing you from being able to attach the whale tail), attach the whale tail with that slack chain attached, drive so that the slack chain tightens and then re-attach the missing chain. With this method all you have done is use the weight of the camper to pull the hitch ball assembly back into a "neutral" position. Hope all this does not confuse you further! Bill

Now that's what I call an intro! Welcome - less than a month to go. Perhaps driving 10 hours a day is a bit too much - particularly on the way back with your brand new Ollie. I once thought that driving across the Midwest was boring. But, there are just so many things to see and places to visit and history to investigate that now there is simply not enough time to get to it all. The weather is still not too bad in the second half of November. I'd recommend that you slow down a little bit (particularly since it is your first time). Pick a few places along your route that you've read about or have always wondered about and take a visit. Each and every town along your route was founded for a reason - stop and find out what that reason was/is. The wheat, corn and sun flower fields that go on for as far as one can see make for stunning pictures/cards. What an adventure - enjoy every minute of it. Bill

When I visited the Andersen factory in Idaho Falls this summer the Sales Manager told me that, indeed, on the "new" model the triangle (whale tail) could be moved by hand when there wasn't any weight on it. This was not the case with the old model. Being able to do this allows you to realign the whale tail with the tow vehicle without releasing one (or both) of the chains when it is difficult to get the tow vehicle and trailer aligned as they were before you separated them. Like Maverick, my "new" design hasn't made any noise in over 10,000 miles of towing. I'm not sure if my "water diverter" had any effect on this, but, it makes me feel as if I'm doing something to keep moisture and dirt from getting between the housing and the sleeve (see picture below). I simply cut this to fit out of an old lawn mower inner tube that I got free from a local tire shop. Bill [attachment file=P1020095.JPG] I cut the inner tube with a diameter of 6 1/2 inches and then cut a 1 inch diameter hole in the center. The center hole has to be stretched over the ball in order to get it on.