topgun2

P.S. Sorry, forgot - re the temp sensors - You might want to take another look at Ron Merritt's you-tube video regarding this. He simply bought a regular commercial unit that has four remote sending units. He placed one in the bath, one inside the hulls, and one or two outside with the central monitoring station on the wall to the left of the front door as you enter. I think that he was happy with the result - I plan to do something similar when I get "Twist". Bill

Linda, Certainly I'm no expert on Oliver's but I've done a fair amount of cold weather camping. Given that your Ollie is winterized, I'd just leave it that way until you are out of the tundra and not worry about it. Assuming that you winterized it properly, you have anti freeze in the pipes and drains. Therefore, they will not freeze. You really do not have to worry about the black or grey tanks in that they are OK even if they do freeze and your fresh water tank is the same even though it should be empty anyway. Your batteries will be OK in that they are either being charged by your tow vehicle or your solar. Anything that you have in the fridge should be OK. All that is left is the "stuff" that you put inside like shampoo, lotion, etc. Even though I think that this "stuff" will be OK, you could always simply carry it inside your tow vehicle for awhile. Assuming that you will be camping at least one night where it is still fairly chilly, I would suggest that you carry a small electric heater (unless you are boondocking it). This way, the interior of the Ollie will heat up faster and you will save on your propane - use the campground electric versus your own propane. I also carry a gallon milk jug that can be filled with water and use this to "flush" the toilet in the event it is not possible (or too cold) to connect to "city" water. Hope this helps! Bill

Steve, Really nice touch with the red and green at the front. At what speed did you take this? Or, is the dog stuffed in order to make it just sit there? Also, really like the fire pit. Bill

Grayson and Ann, Great look except for that overstuffed dog on the left - need to put her on a diet! Have a good four months on the road. Are you headed for Florida, the west or both? Greg and Janet, We are picking up ours on the 16th of February. Hopefully the weather will be good for both of us. Bill

For those of you that have recently picked up their Ollie: Do you have any additional thoughts on this matter - things that you could have done without and/or things that would have made the pickup nicer? Bill

Con, I'd take the batteries out, store them in a cool dry location with a "smart charger" (specifically designed for AGM batteries) attached. Bill

Been down this same road - the bottom line is that it will work, BUT, you will need to trim out parts of the cowling that covers the propane tanks to make room for the brackets that attach to the frame. I choose not to do that. Bill

Dave & Linda, Sorry no name, but, it sure is a gem! Merry Christmas! Bill

Dave and Linda, Thanks so much for saying "Hello". I feel bad leaving Twist there, but, I know good hands are treating him well. Like the number! Merry Christmas. Bill

Linda, Congrats! And, you had good weather too - hopefully it held for you all the way home. Did you get a chance to say "hello" to Twist? Bill

Bugeyedriver, Could not agree more! Twist is just about complete and Anita sent what she says is the last pictures today until I get delivery in mid-February. I guess that from a very technical point of view I'm not family (yet). But, everyone there has made me feel right at home since day one. Bill

Mountainborn, THANKS! For both your service, your Dad's service and for your story. Bill

As a follow-up, Anita sent this picture of Twist yesterday. Bill

SeaDawg, Thanks for the heads up on the tire pressure sensors at Northern Tool. I ordered a set but since I don't get my Oliver until mid February I will not be able to test them, However, as soon as I get back from delivery I'll be sure to post my review here. Bill

Another "plug" for Wikicamps - a couple of days ago I tried adding a few campsites that I knew. Unfortunately, the app would crash each time I tried to do this. I emailed the company about the problem and they responded within three hours by asking a couple of questions regarding exactly what was happening. By the next morning I received an email telling me that the problem was taken care of and the Wikicamps app had been updated on the Google Playstore site. Indeed, now everything works. Can't ask much more from a company. Bill

OK, in her usual quick style, Anita has already replied. She said that she was not aware of any owner putting the hull numbers on the spare tire cover. As noted on this forum, there are those owners that have placed the hull numbers on the front or back of the Oliver. Anita said that if an owner wanted they would place the numbers at little or no cost either on the front, back, spare tire cover, side, etc. Therefore, it is up to the owner to ask for this if they want it. Bill

I have just sent an email to Anita asking for "factory thoughts" on the matter. She may reply either here or directly to me. If she replies to me, I'll post those thoughts as soon as I get them. Bill

I also like the idea of putting that information on the spare tire cover. I think that there are at least a couple of us picking up our Olivers over the next few months and I also know that the folks at Oliver can produce the Oliver graphics in house. Therefore, if we owners can come to some sort of agreement and then approach the factory I'll bet that they would be willing to help us out for a reasonable price. Bill

Sounds to me like an Oliver rally in Texas for next Thanksgiving so we can all get some of that smoked turkey? Bill

Speaking of which - just how does one roast a turkey in an Oliver? Certainly those of us that have or are soon to have an Oliver do have much to be thankful for. And, Happy Thanksgiving to you too. Bill and Sue

Linda, "Twist" must be fairly close behind you on the assembly line since we pick up in mid-Feb. If you are over at the factory in a couple of weeks, please say hello and tell Twist that I will be along soon. As a temporary solution we bought standard twin size sheets at WalMart. We figured they would do until we got home and could figure out something better - if necessary. Since we are having one side of the twin bed arrangement configured as a sofa, we will try to get something like a throw or comforter to match the rest of the cushions. If we can not find what we want we can always ask Anita if the "cushion guy" can sew up a cover out of the same material. In any case, I know that you can hardly wait until your delivery date. Anita told me that the time would pass very quickly - well - she was WRONG. However, we have been able to come up with two more trips that we want to make. Have fun and let us know how the whole process goes. Bill

Sherry, I took a look at Wikicamps (US) a couple of days ago and it really looks good. Presently there are tons of State, Federal and private campgrounds listed along with RV dump sites and points of interest. Even if it does not improve with the crowd based information sourcing, I believe that it is still worth the $.99 it costs for a life-time download. For those people with satellite, it has a "satellite finder" function, along with clock, checklists and a compass. In looking around the app I did find one "error" - a private campground that I have stayed at in Missouri (Lazy Days about a hour east of Columbia) showed that it was located in the middle of a little town. Well, this was because that is where they get the mail, but, it is not the actual location of the campground. So, I simply entered a comment to that effect which will (hopefully) help someone on down the road. These kind of things plus people adding boondocking sites should only make Wikicamps better. Also, in the event that a person was using this app on a device that does not have "internal" GPS all that you have to do is place a "push-pin" near where you want to camp (or get information on dump-sites or other POI's) and tell the app to search near the push-pin. It really does look to me like this thing is a winner! Thanks for letting us know about it! BIll

To pick up on this thread - are there any problems camping in temperatures down into the teens? Do the windows frost? If you do not run the heat at night, just how cold is the interior in the morning (say with temps at a low of about 20 overnight and one person inside the Elite II? What about humidity - I know about keeping a window or vent cracked. Any problems noted with any of the on-board systems?

Sherry, Watch out for that taking a tour of the new models - it just might be expensive. Bill

OK! Actually "Twist" can mean a number of things other than the literary. Certainly Oliver IS a different twist on a normal travel trailer. Or, picking up the literary reference again one just might say, " Please Sir, I want some more"! Bill