Steve Morris

Only if there is still an option to still have the fan run continuously. None of you have heard Deb snore! (Well, maybe some of you within four or five sites of us at last year's rally...)

Yep! I placed a dish towel over the top of the door to keep the door from closing over the winter. If placed correctly, the door stays open but the light switch is depressed, shutting off the light. Or, add a separate switch.

Thank you, Deb says I'm too critical of my work. Maybe, but coming from 45 years of engineering, I can't help but analyzing everything. 🤷‍♂️ I did buy a solar filter just for this event. I was tempted to go cheap, but considering that I was putting it on a very expensive lens, I ended up at the midrange of the quality name-brand filters. I was using my Fujifilm X-T5 with XF 100-400mm lens plus XF 1.4X TC, Hoya 77mm solar filter on a heavy Bogen tripod from the '70s, and remote shutter release. I'm also thinking that most of the softness was from the slight overcast condition. Here's a practice photo from last week during the same time frame, and the edge of the disk is much sharper. You can clearly see the sun spots, which didn't show up so well on yesterday's partial eclipse images. This was taken at 840mm (full frame equivalent), ISO 250, 0 ev , f/8.0, 1/1000 sec using the same setup as yesterday. I still have the RAW files from yesterday that I haven't reviewed yet. I'm guessing there will be much the same results, just in much larger files. As @Dave and Kimberly mentioned above, I had everything set up ahead of time so that I didn't spend the whol thing looking into my camera. Just occasionally adjusting the viewfinder to get the sun centered and poking the remote. It was only Deb and me in our backyard, so no crowd to enjoy it with. But it was still amazing to look around and see how things changed so quickly. Deb has about 50 solar lights scattered around her vegetable and flower gardens, and they all came on during totality. It was a spectacularly enjoyable afternoon! Only 75 years until the next one passes over Ohio! 😉 Thank you for the input!

Thank you, sincerely. But as I mentioned to John D over on the FB group, I’m not particularly pleased. It almost looks like movement more than missed focus, but it was on a good tripod, we had no wind, 1/500th second, mirrorless camera so no shutter bounce, and remote release. Not what I expected from $4k of equipment I guess I don't work well in a hurry...

We were in the backyard here in northern Ohio, with almost 4 minutes of crazy skies! Light clouds and maybe a bit of missed focus left the edges soft, but these came out fair. I'm sure there will be a lot of pretty spectacular photos posted across the country!

RV Miles YouTube’s RV news today reported the the nationwide average for RV repairs with in stock parts is now 60 days. The average wait time for service is 45 days. The perfect time for Oliver to discontinue their service center… https://youtu.be/W7ukKfZ15M0?si=Naunin475btnCWOH

Here was @hobo "2HOBOS" Paul Polk's experience on the subject, from the Facebook forum yesterday: "I have to say, as a longtime Oliver owner, I am EXTREMELY disappointed in the announcement. Here's an example of why: I am currently on travel around the US and have suddenly (but not altogether surprisingly) starting to have some issues with my old, AGM batteries. Knowing our next stop is near a new Oliver dealer in LA, I called them this morning to see about possibly having my four batteries replaced while there. Here's what I got: "I understand you're an Oliver trailer dealer", (the receptionist didn't know anything about that). "Who makes the Oliver?" I said "Oliver TT." ME "Let me speak to service please". SERVICE: The service tech knew nothing about them being an Oliver trailer (what is that?) dealer and service center. She said she'd talk to someone and call me back. That was over an hour ago. This is NOT going well. So at best, if they actually agree to take me in, they know ZERO, NADA, NOTHING about my trailer. Not real confidence inspiring. OK, finally got in touch with some who is willing to assist although they hadn't heard of Oliver trailers either. Will report back later."

#1360 was delivered at the end of March 2023, and they are now over 1500 a year later. So, year over year, that's at least 140.

@JEssary I think this is a terrible decision by Oliver, and a disappointment to us. We took delivery of Curiosity one year ago tomorrow, and have had zero problems during the 7700 miles since. However, there was always that security of Oliver's famed customer service in mind in case something did occur. And that service was a large part of our buying decision. Oliver's reputation was built on the care after the sale, and that set it apart from any other manufacturer. Now, with no factory sales or service, it would appear the same as any other builder to a prospective buyer. Look at every YouTube review of Oliver, with clickbait headlines of "Is It Worth It", or any RV blog review of Oliver. The praise of Oliver's service is always highlighted and almost as legendary as the quality. Any time a prospective buyer comes to this forum or the two Facebook groups and asks about Oliver, Oliver's quality AND service department are, without exception, heralded as what makes Oliver better than any other trailer. I think that this decision will have a sizable impact on future sales, and on resale value of current owners' trailers, and trust from those owners. From my reading, many owners look forward to their annual service trip; almost like a pilgrimage. I can't imagine looking forward to a trip to a giant RV store. Here in northern Ohio, my closest authorized service center is 433 miles away, and has stellar sales reviews on Google. However, the service reviews are fair at best, with typical complaints of long waits and shoddy work. More concerning are a couple claiming no service on trailers not purchased there, or even parts sales. The next closest is 461 miles, only 100 miles less than going to Hohewald. Color me disillusioned...

I thought this was a thread about Steve's Road Trip Chronicles. @shhQuiet 😂

Remember, those prices do not include shipping to the US, import fees, etc. Before ordering the Oliver, we were working with the sole US importer of Kimberley Kampers, which happened to be in my home town, and were looking at the mid-size Kimberly Kruiser S3. And this was just before COVID and the Suez Canal blockage. It was a $90k trailer with about $8k of shipping and other fees. Eight moths later, it was $15-20k in shipping, and due to supply chain problems, the price jumped to $140k. Out the door with taxes was going to end up north of $175k. For the small percentage of the time we'd use it off-road far enough to need its features (air suspension, water purification, solar out the wazoo) we couldn't remotely justify it over the Oliver. One of our previous forum members, @donthompson moved to the bigger Kimberley Kruiser T3. https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/6211-a-second-new-direction-kimberley-t3-kruiser/#comment-65745 Note that a lot of the Australian campers are being built in China these days. And then "assembled" in Australia (or in the US in the case of the Series Black, that used to come from Australia.) Buyer beware!

That's our longer term plans, too. Get somewhere interesting, use the Oliver as a base camp, and explore areas unreachable by most trailers or vehicles. That's when a rooftop tent or sleeping area in the vehicle comes in handy. We had a big family sized RTT a few years ago, but it was a real PITA to fold up tight enough to get the cover on. So you tended to not open it at home to air/dry it out. Next time will be a James Baroud like Kirk's

@Pam and David Hokanson are #1501, and just got their hull number on Monday. Maybe number 1500 doesn't know yet. Or, isn't here on the forum.

Thanks! From previous posts I knew that's where you kept it for everyday use. I was mostly concerned if the attachments held the 45 pounds snugly while travelling. That's where I'll mount ours for travelling, then! That will be a lot more convenient getting it in and out than in the head. For actual use, we don't use the Jerrycan daily. We leave the house with four square plastic 1-gallon jugs of filtered water (from our home Berkey) and then refill them from the Jerrycan on the road as needed. These in turn are stored in the closet and get dumped into a pitcher we keep on the counter for everyday use. This is a carryover from how we used it in our Hiker square back trailer, with its extremely limited storage.

Handy little item, there! I just ordered four. We keep the Jerrycan in the passenger footwell of the truck when at camp, and in the bathroom next to the toilet when travelling. This looks like a better option. Have you travelled with the Jerrycan full, or do you empty it? That's a lot of weight if full. I'll put the second pair on the wall under the dinette table to secure things that we stick under there while on the road. (The last trip was a box of wine and booze. I wedged it in with an empty duffle and towels. Gotta protect that precious cargo!)

Insert between steps two and three: "Open a hot water faucet to relieve pressure." Otherwise, you may be sprayed with pressurized scalding water when opening that yellow lever! For in between situations, we opted for the Truma anti-freeze kit, which keeps the heating vessel warm to avoid freezing. We've used it frequently when it is close to freezing before leaving home or when we're on the road and can't run the trailer heater.

Thanks, that's good information, and will save me a step whenever I get around to doing this.

That came out great! It almost looks like it came that way. You mentioned that newer cameras came with hoods, but the one on my 2023 did not. This project will be added to my long list of modifications I want to make once it warms up. For material, Kydex might be an option. It is a moldable sheet frequently used in custom holster/sheath making. I've never fiddled with it (I like leather), but it should be a good option. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=kydex+sheet&crid=DUJIHI52K2HN&sprefix=kydex+sheet%2Caps%2C156&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

I'll be curious to see if you shielded the bottom as well. Those three amber running lights make the camera nearly useless at night; especially in the rain.

Airhead had a connection kit on their options page last year. I just looked to link it, and it is no longer there. All they offer now is a fitting for the bottom of the urine bottle. https://airheadtoilet.com/usa-shop/

Several have modified the toilet to drain the liquids into the black tank. The folks that showed us their trailer before we ordered ours had just completed the job that day. I remember that one member here had changed the bathroom sink to drain into the black tank, as well, to avoid urine crystallization problems. Plus, that saves some of the gray tank space. If/when we switch to an AirHead toilet, those are the modifications I plan to make.

You'll want the graphics on before they do the ceramic coating, else it won't stick. Plus, the ceramic coating over the graphics helps protect them. If you let them know ahead of time what you're doing, I'd imagine they would polish the top front first to give you time to apply the graphics before coating.

Please check with your region's representative and let us know what you find. What is disturbing if true, is that I could be travelling through a region where two tow trucks would not be sent, and I'd be up a creek!

For what it's worth, the RV Miles camping news YouTube channel is reporting that Camping World, the owner of Good Sam, might be in the process of selling off the Good Sam brand. That may or may not be a good thing if true. I'm a 54 year member of AAA, getting my original coverage from my grandparents for my 16th birthday. Over time, I added Deb to the account when we got married, bumped up to the second tier when we got the MG (and used it twice...), added, then removed, driving age kids, and a few year ago added the RV/Motorcycle coverage. The latter for my herd of motor scooters more than for my tiny 5X8 Hiker trailer. Somewhere I have a photo of a 90cc Vespa (not mine) on a big rollback tow truck. 😂 Over the years, I've read/heard good and bad reports about AAA's RV coverage. Most frequently, they involved leaving a trailer behind when getting a truck towed, or vise versa. In December I called AAA Central (which includes Ohio) to find the answer, and was told that different regions have different rules and coverage. Some will send two trucks and tow both vehicles, some only the disabled vehicle. At that point, I called CoachNet, which now covers towed RVs as well as motor coaches, and posed the same question. They told me that they would send two trucks if the tow vehicle was disabled, never leaving a trailer behind. Several questions later, and I signed up for CoachNet before leaving for Florida in January. I'll remove RV/motorcycle coverage from AAA at the next renewal, and seriously consider cancelling completely, since CoachNet covers all vehicles driven or owned by the policy holder and/or spouse. They just won't cover my MG or scooters. But it's hard to break a 54 year habit.

Yep, the GX is a great vehicle, but not for towing the LE II. The LX is actually better than my Land Cruiser, due to the self leveling system and height adjustment. No need for the Firestone airbags with the LX.