Steve Morris

January 11-15 Deb and I were at the Eggs ‘n S’mores Rally near Live Oak, Florida, with 237 other fiberglass trailers. Then on the 15th we moved to Salt Springs Recreation Area in Ocala National Forest. We’ll be here until the 20th. Tomorrow we’re taking a glass bottom boat tour at Silver Springs State Park.

I need a “None of the above” option. I sleep on the curb side with my head forward, next to the stove. I sleep elbows out on my stomach, and the one time I tried with my head aft, I kept bashing my elbows on the nightstand. Deb sleeps street side, head aft. She finds it easier to ge in and out and likes the convenience of the nightstand for her stuff.

😁 Hi, I’m Steve, and I am a Snow Peak Addict. 🤪

Oh, what a wondrous noise that Beech 18 makes! When I was a kid, Grimes Manufacturing in Urbana, Ohio, manufactured lighting for commercial and military aircraft. They had a 1953 Beech C-45H transport (the military version of the Beech 18) that they purchased in 1963 for aerial testing of their lighting systems as the Grimes Flying Lab. It would have strobes and lights all over it, looking like a UFO. According to their web page, it currently uses 75 lights. We'd see and hear it flying at county fairs, holiday events, etc. It still flies around Ohio's Indian Lake every Labor Day during the lake's "Ring of Lights" flare lighting event, with thousands of road flares around it. I love hearing it fly! https://n8640e.wixsite.com/grimesflyinglab

Oh! That sounds wonderful!!

So far, the only disadvantage to my wok-style Skottle (shown on previous page) is that I can't fry eggs or make pancakes, unless I want one big one in the center. In that case, I just rearrange the inserts and put my ancient Coleman griddle across two adjacent burners. I got a 12+ round pizza stone at Christmas, and I'm going to try biscuits on it. If that works, I'll try pizza. The aluminum lid doesn't hold in much heat, so I may need to add water underneath and use steam to heat the pizza like I did with the cinnamon rolls. Snow Peak used to make a single unit (the 9"X14" inserts) titanium charcoal grill with adjustable height firebox, but that's been long discontinued. Used ones have ridiculous asking prices.

I have an Element 50 as well as two traditional fire extinguishers in the truck. On other forums, I've seen recent comments questioning the value of the Element fire extinguishers. I have zero actual use experience, but just wanted to let folks know it may or may not be as effective as expected. Here are a couple of failure to extinguish videos posted: 20:15 into this video for the Element And lastly, this notice by California State Fire Marshall )may have more to do with documentation thatn actual effectiveness.) Better than nothing, but I'm not going to replace a traditional fire extinguisher with an Element.

Looks like a landing pad! 😀 Are your three panels the NPA200S-24I, like the ones supplied by Oliver?

Here is a rivet specifically designed for plastic. Grip range is .02" to .32", but you'd have to step up to a #10 fastener. I don't know if the vanity wall fits into that range. I have no idea if/how these would work for fiberglass, but since they are designed for plastic, I'm assuming that it would put a lot less radial load on the material. https://www.mcmaster.com/products/rivet-nuts/for-use-in~plastic-2/

It is a fiberglass trailer rally in Live Oak, Florida. This year is their eighth event, with over 200 trailers in attendance (with Casita trailers being the vast majority.) More information can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/floridarally

Great! I look forward to meeting more owners. If my count from here, the Oliver Facebook group, and the Egg Rally Facebook group is correct, that's 11 Olivers expected to attend!

Deb and I will be heading to Florida for the Eggs 'n S'mores Rally at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park near Live Oak January 11-15. I know that a handful of other Olivers will be in attendance, as well. Stop in and see us in "Curiosity" on site #95 on the inner loop!

John, All of our devices use USB-C, so I have a few of these scattered among our vehicles. They were $13 CyberMonday. Anker is a reputable brand. You'll likely find less expensive versions, but I've had no-name USB-A adapters melt before. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0843SCLYH?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

I did too, with a Squatty Potty. I have a teak shower floor mat, and intended to put dowels in the bottom of the stool and matching holes in the teak to keep it in position. I bought all these before we picked up our trailer, and the standard toilet wasn't as tall as we'd remembered. We must have been thinking about the optional toilet. So now the stool is in the garage for if/when we change to an Air Head toilet.

Those are exactly the type latch I added to the exterior doors on our teardrop, to prevent them from bashing open or closed on windy days. Easy to deploy, low profile when not in use, and nothing needs to be added to the door. Without going outside, I can't remember how close the cabinet door would be to the ceiling to know if these would work on the Oliver.

Welcome! There is an option on the Xantrex app under "Settings" that allows you to change the input Amp draw. When plugged in here at home, I set mine to 15 Amps, and have never tripped a circuit breaker. I'd tell you the exact steps, but mine is not plugged in, so the Xantrex app can't currently see the settings. But the name of the setting is something like "Grid Load" or similar. It is likely set at 30 Amps. Just remember to change it back when you go to a campground with 30 Amp supply.

I saw that segment on RVMiles last evening. Did you notice that the trailer being "pulled" by the Ford Falcon had its tongue jack down? We had a '62 Falcon Wagon, and I don't think that 170 HP six would pull that very far. Especially with the frame resting on the tires due to excessive sag. 😂 EDIT: I couldn't find it listed on any of the adverts. IMDb lists it at 69 minutes long, FYI.

Autumn is my favorite season, but winter is a close second. Last year was probably the mildest winter in my memory, with maybe a Sean total of less than a foot of snow. But sometimes, we can have that much in just a few hours with lake-effect snow off of Lake Erie. Not like Buffalo, but enough to occasionally close everything. Winter isn't always fun, though. We live on a curve on a semi-rural road. Speed limit is 35, but that's just a suggestion. At the end of our property is a wind tunnel between trees, resulting in bad road conditions right at the curve. The magnolia tree actually came back better than ever. The electric pole didn't. Our girl would make bets on who came the closest to guessing how many vehicles we'd have in our yard each winter. This guy did *not* enjoy winter that particular day. MOV_8019.mov This was me arriving home from work several years ago. 😉 (Note that the tire tracks only come *from* the garage, not the road) On a prettier day Time for a nice warm fire? 😀

One of our own has a WeBoost mast mounted on suction cup kayak rollers on the back of his Oliver. You can see Steve's description about 16+ minutes into this video:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B7V8ZT6L/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I used a ratchet strap to minimize the slop between the bike rack and the bumper mount, and between the bumper mount and the trailer. I put just enough tension on it to pull both joints "up", and then a click more. This allows a little bit of bounce to absorb road irregularities, but eliminates almost all of the movement I had before adding the strap. (Yes, I later replaced the hook with a clevis. 😉 )

Why not the good old standby, Vaseline? That's what I've used to lube hoses and o-rings for decades.

Thanks Bill. I thought it might be for UV protection. But then, I don't put covers on my other vehicles, and they are in the sun right beside the trailer. So I guess I don't see a need for them for me. In both cases, they'd need replaced for age before wear. Thanks

Curious why tire covers might be needed? I’ve seen them on semi-permanent campers, but not on most regular use campers. Please enlighten me.

I used to camp in my sailboat on trips around the country. Only once were we refused a spot because “a boat is not a camper!” We did get the privilege of camping in their boat trailer storage lot at only half price, though. A tarp over the stowed mast and V-berth below was plenty of room.