topgun2

When visiting Trumpetguy's "Setting Sail" I noticed a temporary table that was set between the twin beds. Just the night before I had thought that something like this would be very handy for placing a snack, the tv remote or even a drink. In addition, this table/shelf could be used to hold a CPAP machine or similar item for those that need these things. During the day or for travel, the table/shelf is easily removed and stored under the couch/bed. I believe that Trumpetguy made his out of a piece of wood, but, I had a fairly heavy piece of dark smoke Plexiglas scrap laying around, so, I used that. The rough dimensions are 20 x 10 inches, but, it could be made as necessary. Once the piece is cut , sanded and the edges rounded, it is simply "wedged" between the two mattresses to hold it in place. Bill

Help! I know that I must be missing something, but, this has bothered me for at least a couple of weeks now. When looking at the picture of the Oliver on the Forum's Home page, why is the awning on the driver's side (street side) and not the passenger side (curb side)? The obvious answer is that the "negative" from which the picture was made was reversed. Or, the owner of that Ollie decided to not have the usual curbside placement, but opted for the streetside instead. Or, this is a British model. Or, the gin and tonic that David owes me is kicking in a bit too early. Or, ??? Bill

Dave, I asked and OTT told me that they would have to order the part, but, that they could install it. I will not be there until July 6th, but, soon after I will report back here on how it performs. Bill

Wow! I thought that everyone knew about the Windcrasher (Ron Merrit) video. I must have watched that video 20 times - mostly before I got delivery of Twist, but, even a couple of times since. Ron also has a blog where he mainly talks about mods to his "toys" but it is worth a view from time to time. I wish that there was an easy way to alert people to such things. I remember once I decided to order my Ollie there was this feeling of being overwhelmed due to the number of decisions that needed to be made regarding options, colors, flooring, decals, etc. I thought that I did a fairly good job and spent a fair amount of time doing it (nothing like Buzzy seems to be doing, but...). Then the day before delivery my wife and I had taken Anita out to dinner and she mentioned that a lot of people ordered the extra hook on the outside right of the bathroom door (a place to put your cloths, towel, robe, etc. when showering) and the "hatch" on the propane cover to allow easier access to the propane bottles. Can't believe how stupid I felt for not having thought of those earlier. It's these "little" things that one does not think about until you have lived with the camper for a period of time. In a few weeks I'm stopping by the Mothership to have a couple of these kind of things done (dimmer switch for the cabin lights, water pump switch placed near the "winterizing" outlet of the outside of the camper, perhaps another towel bar on the door to the pantry, etc.) I too will be interested in learning how other showerheads work. Perhaps there is a better mousetrap out there. Bill

Stan, Thanks so much for the help! I'm not leaving until July 5th, so, you can warn those fish that I'm on my way. Have a good, safe trip and best to Carol and Gunner. Bill

Since I store Twist about ten miles from the house I can not easily go get measurements. Does anyone know or can anyone get the exact measurement of the interior of the upper left hand kitchen drawer and the surface of both the entry steps (width and depth). Also, I assume that both those steps have about a 3/4 inch thickness (not the thickness of the aluminum but of what one sees when they are in the "down" position). I would guess that all of the drawers and steps are about the same, but Twist is a 2016 Elite II model with the dovetail drawers and the steps are the "double" steps. Thanks for the help - saves me a trip to the bone yard. Bill

Before I started using the WiFi Ranger and during the initial setup for the camera system I remember that the instructions called for a "pairing" of the WiFi transmitter with the receiving device (my andriod Samsung 8" tablet). Unfortunately, when I decided to use the WiFi Ranger to help boost the signal strength I forgot to "pair" the transmitter with the Ranger. This resulted in a message from the Ranger that it could not connect. After a call to Rear View Satefy where a very nice, polite young lady reminded me about the "pairing" part of the original installation instructions, all that is right with the world returned to normal and the Ranger connected to the transmitter. I did ask this young lady why the "pairing" had to be done and she informed me that this is how the "private" network is set in order to make sure that others can not "hijack" the signal. Sounded good to me. In the event one either does not have a WiFi Ranger or for some reason they do not wish to use the Ranger, Rear View Safety does sell extension cables that would allow for the moving of the transmitter from the back of the camper to the front. With the tranmitter that much closer to the tow vehicle, I can not imagine that there would be any issues with signal strength. Bill

Sorry I missed this one! You guys were right on it and got the problem solved quickly - nice work and great trouble shooting. Just one more reason to own an Oliver in my opinion. Bill

Stan, Don't forget your touque wrench! Bill

Dave, Anything new in your research of this issue? I'll be at the Mothership in very early July and if there is a "fix" it sure would be nice to get it done at that time. Bill

Bill, I've took the tour just about a year ago and I'm embarrassed to say that I missed two of the three scenes that you got in the pictures. I'll be there again on July 6th and will have to take a better look this time! Bill

Before taking delivery I too thought long and hard about the graphics. I decided to NOT have a front graphic. The reason for this was due to the difficulty I've had in the past removing bug guts from the front of the camper. Now that I have had Twist on the road a few times I can report that the gel-coat is a bunch easier to clean than any camper I've owned previously, and, that was before a good coat of wax. I'm guessing that the vinyl graphics would be a bit more difficult to clean than plain, but to each their own. Bill

It was a nice sunny day today here in the NC mountains with the high temperature right at 80 degrees. I left the EZE RV Gutter laying on the concrete driveway for about two hours in order to soften it up a little and to (hopefully) take some of the "curl" that had developed in the 20 foot long piece that I bought. I then measured the width of the three long windows (48 inches) and decided that I wanted the gutters to extend down the sides about an inch or so beyond the end of the radius corner of the window. This added another 5 inches per side, so , I cut three pieces of gutter at 60 inches each just to be safe. (Note: I highly recommend cutting pieces for each window - it is easier to handle this way since a fair amount of the original curl in the product could not be eliminated and you do not have the weight of the pulling and possibly stretching the gutter as you go. This method does result in some minimal waste, but with a 20 foot piece you should have about two feet left over at the end of the job anyway.) Next I took Acetone and cleaned the area around one window at a time. Using a clean white rag and not rubbing too hard with the Acetone I continued cleaning until no dirt was visible on the rag. (Note: Acetone can be a very effective cleaner and can even take off paint, therefore, if you use it be careful to not rub too hard and do not keep the rag in one spot very long.) Then, just before starting to apply the gutter , I took another clean white rag and wiped down the same area with 70% isopropyl alcohol and dried that with a separate white rag. If I noted any type of dirt or residue on either rag, I cleaned it again. Using a pencil, I then lightly placed a mark 5 inches down from the top of the existing window molding on each side so that I would be able to make sure that the sides were even when I was done. I then peeled back about ten inches of the backing tape from the EZE Gutter and stated to apply it to the side of the camper on the right side of the window making sure that I carefully matched the bottom of the gutter to the edge of the existing window molding. Continuing this process across the top of the window I made sure that each section was firmly seated by running my fingers across each edge as I went. After getting about half way around the left corner of each window I looked for the pencil mark that I previously made on the window molding and cut the EZE Gutter to match that mark. Then the final bit of red backing tape was pulled off the gutter pressed in place. Finally, I took the butt end of an old tooth brush and went back to where I started rubbing the gutter channel making sure that the gutter was fully seated and that the edges were firmly stuck. Finally, this same process was used on both the rear and bath windows (obviously using shorter measurements that I now don't remember - sorry). Four hours later I went back to make sure that all was still stuck and it was. If anything comes loose, I'll let you know! Bill

Mike & Carol, You're doing a great job! I've been out of the loop the past week or so due to non-Oliver travel, but will be at the Hiawasee, GA rally this weekend. Hopefully a bunch of pictures will be here early next week. I'm a bit jealous of your nice CLEAN Ollie. When I got mine back in middle February it had been raining for several days and Fall Hollow campground was a sea of mud. Bill

I will be there on Thursday and I think that most of the people are arriving then also. I'm in site A-28 - stop by anytime. Bill

Mike & Carol, I can just feel your wheels turning as you head toward the Mothership. Its actually REAL now. Good luck tomorrow and Tuesday. It sure is a fun experience. Bill

Dave, Since one is pulling the water out of the tank anyway with the onboard pump, I think that your idea just might work. Emptying the tank for storage could have a similar arrangement but I'm not too sure if that last few gallons would siphon out with just gravity. However, if it didn't work, it would be fairly simple to just use the onboard pump to get it out. So, either way I think that it would be a bunch better than the way it is now. Bill

This is the t-shirt design that Johnny M did for the Hiawasee rally. I understand that there are still a couple of sites that are available. Fish fry Thursday night, pot luck Saturday night, camper open house on Saturday, nice creek running through the property. Bill

We got Twist with a modified twin bed design. Originally we wanted the curb side to be a regular bed with a regular mattress and the street side to be like the one in Ron Merritt's (Windcrasher) YouTube video - a couch without the little fiberglass extension piece that is put on to hold a mattress. However, because either my wife or my fishing buddy will join me on trips, we elected to have both sides setup to hold a mattress. We still only got an actual mattress on the curb side and the regular standard cushions on the street side, but, we added "back" cushions on the street side in order to be able to use this like a couch with a fairly wide seat. Since both my wife and I (and even my fishing buddy) are not very active sleepers, the relatively narrow nature of the single bed doesn't bother us. We sleep with our heads toward the rear and with the nightstand there it really makes one feel like you are in a quiet little nest. My wife, 5'4" and 118 pounds says that the standard cushions were very comfortable. I'm right at 6' and 165 pounds and get a great night's sleep on the firmest mattress that Oliver sells. Note that all three of us like very firm sleeping surfaces. I can assure you that all other "activities" associated with this area of the camper are no problem at all - especially watching TV. I should also note that we got the reading light option but instead of the "usual" locations we had two placed in the dinette area (as usual) and the other two placed on the street side - one in the back corner and the other near the pantry. This way we have two positions for reading on the couch. With this arrangement I do not have to sleep in the same bed with my fishing buddy, we don't have to crawl over each other to get in or out of bed, for the 80% of the time that I camp alone I have a couch to sit on, read on, watch TV on, etc. In addition, I don't have to change over from a dining area to a bed and back again and I think that visually this arrangement helps open up the camper even more. Good luck with your decision - this is why they make choices! Bill

Ed & Marsha, For what its worth - mine do not work either. I've already got an appointment back at the mother ship to get this fixed in early July. Matt - in case you forgot what you did with your sunglasses - they are on your head. Bill

Sorry for the "bubble" hijack! Back to the original topic - I just took a look yesterday at Twist's fresh water tank. I thought that I had emptied it prior to storage a month ago. Yes, I did the tilt thing but the reading still says 13% full. Going to have to work on that! Sure would be nice if the drain could just be shifted to the bottom. Even a small valve on the exterior of the hull would not bother me in that if it was done right it would still be at or even above the stringers. Bill

While I'm a bit shorter than either of you, I'm right at six feet tall. I find that the interior of the Oliver appears to be very open due to the clean look of the gelcoat and mirrored cabinet fronts and I can easily walk anywhere without fear of hitting my head. One of the reasons I got my Oliver was that I could stand straight up in the shower. However, even though I got a twin bed model, I would not recommend the twin bed for anyone much over my height. As has been said before, the only real way to know if it is right for you is to go look at one. Bill

Just read in this morning's paper an article about next year's solar eclipse. According to the article many hotels and camps are already sold out for a week or so either side of August 21, 2017 in Jackson, Wyoming. Apparently the path of this eclipse will pass through Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinoi, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North and South Carolina. The largest city under total eclipse will be Nashville. Just something else to keep in mind when planning next year's trips. Bill

Mike & Carol, OK, how 'bout you start that thread with a shot of your new Ollie on Tuesday? Here's 135 in the sales office? Bill

I too was having "troubles" with that small round bubble level. Once I got it set by using a four foot carpenter's level near the fridge on the inside I simply put two of those larger "stick-on" levels that I got from WalMart on the front and the side of the Ollie near the belly band. This way I use the little round bubble level to get things basically level and then refine this with the larger levels. Or, if I forgot my glasses, I simply use the larger stick-on guys. Bill