KarenLukens
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Posts posted by KarenLukens
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You can dump your gray water easy enough almost anywhere as long as it's clean shower water and not contaminated with food. We rarely fill our gray tank because we use a tub to wash dishes outside and dump the water outside also, so the shower water is all that goes into the gray tank when boondocking. I would say, don't bother in the Oliver.
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Another one of their videos that we found interesting was their toilet paper test. We've been using the Charmin Ultra for years and it was a surprise to see that it took first place over the RV toilet paper as far as dissolving speed. The RV paper is a lot rougher and tends to shred when unrolling it, the Charmin however is great all the way around and we use it at home also with our septic system. In the RV, if you can separate the paper or just put it in a Ziploc and toss it, this puts the cleanout of both the Nature's Head and the standard toilet a lot farther out. We do our best to keep the TP separate and a simple Ziploc sandwich bag to toss in the garbage can afterwards works great and doesn't smell or plug up any valves or wrap around crank handles :)
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The reality for us is that it wouldn't work because... The last 10 minutes of the video pretty much matches what we have going on, aside from daily showers and the added humidity from living in a rain forest. These guys remove the toilet to use their wet bath and for us, that's just not practical. I'm not saying that it wouldn't work for everybody, just not this body :)
This is an excellent full spectrum video.
We really were researching and looking into it at one time. I have great control and have no problem separating one bodily function completely from the other but like in the video, when women are dealing with a menstrual cycle or Montezuma has you on the run, there's just no separating anything. I can't say that our Dometic toilet is trouble free because without a rim, sometimes splashdown can splash out... More then likely we will be replacing the Dometic toilet because of the poor design and I thought that it would be good to add that in. This is the first rimless toilet that we have had in an RV and it really doesn't work as well as the old Thetford that we had in the Casita. The Nature's Head and the Air Head both look good and I was thinking about going Air Head until I watched that video. The bugs were no big deal and fixing the screen was something that can happen to anyone. Our problem is the complete separation and then dealing with the clean up. There are pro's and cons to both systems and for now, our slinky works fine.
Reed
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I was looking for the manual on the Dometic Thermostat for the 2017 trailers and found that it isn't listed anywhere in the Oliver University section.
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We got our new rims and off-road tires put on this week, now with new license plates and tires, we’re ready to head south
What tires did you choose, and why? I am running Nokian Hakka LT snow tires right now (they work great), but will be buying a set of Nitto Ridge Grapplers next spring for my other set of wheels. Both are 275/75R18E (33.2 inches OD, 11 inches section width). I ‘ve never owned Nittos before but they are really well regarded as an agressive hybrid AT/ mud tire. John E Davies Spokane WA
We bought the Nitto Ridge Grapplers because they are better for towing and a lot quieter then the Trail Grapplers that I usually use for 4x4s. They have a good stout tread pattern with plenty of traction and they run pretty quiet for a good dual purpose tire. Towing and good off-road capability all in one tire. Our son works for Wheel Pro's and is the tire guy with the knowledge that we go to. These tires were his recommendation and together we picked the rims that would fit. As soon as I saw the tires, it was easy to see that these were perfect for my style of off-roading with Karen and still had the ability to be a good TV tire.
You can choose your car on their web site and check out all of the different options they have and then view them on your virtual car on their website, it's worth checking out :)
Reed
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We got our new rims and off-road tires put on this week, now with new license plates and tires, we're ready to head south :)
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If I choose to winter camp and use the propane heater to heat the trailer which is not winterized how do I keep the outside shower from freezing at night?
As long as there is no water in the hose between the valve,( which is inside the trailer) and the shower nozzle, you should be ok. If you use the outside shower make sure you drain that line.
Exactly :)
How cold is it going to be? We just make sure that the outside shower hose is drained and we have been fine down to 12°. We only use the suburban onboard heater below freezing and we've been setting it at 58° at night when the temps get into the 30° and we set it at 62° when it gets to freezing and below because the trailer does get a lot colder overall inside as the temps keep dropping outside. It's a true 4 season trailer but the windows if left uncovered, really bring in the cold. We use the Reflectix insulation and have cut it to fit between the windows and the blinds, so it just drops into place. Then we have the one made for the max-air vent but we had to replace the Velcro that came with it because it wasn't strong enough. One roll did the whole trailer with lots left over.
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Looks like a happy camper right there :)
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Try running an additional ground wire from the frame to the base of the jack, we had a similar problem, while operating the jack I heard a popping sound ( it sounded like an electrical arc), the jack quit working but the courtesy light still came on, both fuses were good, turn out to be insufficient ground.
Great find and nice fix :) The light and everything goes out on mine, definitely a grounding problem as well though so I will add a wire like you did. Thanks for the pictures :)
Reed
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I will be going to the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous (RTR) Jan. 10-21 and then plan on remaining for the Big Tent. Would very much like to meet-up with other Oliver owners. Especially would like to connect with owners located in the northern California – southern Oregon area. Frank McMichael Hull101I will be going to the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous (RTR) Jan. 10-21 and then plan on remaining for the Big Tent. Would very much like to meet-up with other Oliver owners. Especially would like to connect with owners located in the northern California – southern Oregon area. Frank McMichael Hull101
Probably will not make Quartzsite, but hope to make the Oliver Rally in May, then head up to our reunion with sibs the first of June, just east of Portland. We have not done any planning for that trip yet, but there seems to be an increasing number of Oliver owners on the west coast. Would be nice to meet up with some next summer. Stan
There's a number of us here now in the West Coast region and Karen has been itching to set up a Rally of her own. She was one of the main program leaders at the Lake Casitas Fiberglass RV Rally last month and we all had a great time. We could easily put together a boondocking Rally at Emma Wood State Beach if everyone is OK with the price. The great thing about California is the senior and disabled passes available here that give you up to 50% off the regular camping prices at all State Parks. Emma Wood is $40 a night peak season regular price, but still so worth it. So with my discount it costs us $20 a night to stay right on the ocean with the trailer maybe 6 feet from the water at high tide. This year a couple of us went down there after the Casitas Rally and Karen and I ended up staying almost the full 2 week maximum. It really is our favorite right on the beach Campground, and it would be a great place for a mini Oliver Rally. Then we also love camping pretty much anywhere and we do boondock most of the time all over the west. Right now we are at home, just south of Truckee, CA and we will be heading to Death Valley National Park next week for a Friday rendezvous. So if not before, we will definitely have to get together at the Rubber Stamp Rally for starters :)
If enough of us are interested in a West Coast Oliver RV Rally, I'm sure that Karen would be more then willing to put one together, being that she has already become involved in many of the Rally's out here. We would just need to hear some suggestions for campgrounds and then pick the place, set the dates and make the arrangements.
Reed
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We've had intermittent problems with ours as well being that twice now it has failed. But once I plugged the trailer into the TV, it came back on. We pulled it apart as much as we could being that it was stuck down and found that we had power past the fuse, but somewhere between the fuse and the switch, inside the motor area, was where power was lost. I called Jason then and let him know that I was working on it but it hasn't happened since. The funny thing was that as soon as I plugged it in to the TV, power to the jack was completely restored... Try plugging in and let me know if it works for you too because it sounds like Steve has it dialed with a bad ground.
Do you have a pick of your fix Steve?
Reed
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Karen & I went round and round on this option because, she having been in the security industry, wanted this lock. I had read the reviews and all of the problems with it both on here and on Amazon and said, No!... So next, we get the invoice for our options and there it is again, we faught about it again and I had it taken off because they all break just after the first year and the warranty expires... So when we arrive in Howenwald at the Oliver Factory to pick up the trailer, there it is again, sitting there, ready to be installed on our trailer... Lol, once she has her mind set, it's hell to pay to change it but once again, I said No! and off it came again and we drove away with the standard lock that she still wanted to replace until this happened to you guys and my research on this lock finally payed off for us :) I've heard about this lock from Karen at least twice a month since February and how she should have just had them install it anyway... Until today after she read this, she said that she sure was glad that she didn't argue with me about getting this lock installed :) Haha, 9 months later and I can finally sit back in my chair and relax because this issue is Over! Thanks to you guys and your blog :)
I'm sorry that it happened to you guys, what a nightmare... Was one of the suggestions to raise all of the jacks back up off of the ground and relevel the trailer to see if the door was stressed? This would have been the only suggestion that I would have come up with after having our door get stressed by raising the curb side jack to high once just after we picked it up.
We wrote about the frame flexing here -
http://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/anderson-levelers/
and here -
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Honestly, there's too much to list... And with all of the changes that Oliver has gone thru this year, it looks like they have a better hand on things now, then they did during the transition and remodeling of the office. Put some faith in the Oliver team and because it is an RV, expect to make repairs and changes because it's just an everyday part of life in any RV. Plus each trailer will have it's own set of problems or defects that can usually be fixed down the road and these are things that take days or weeks to appear.
The one thing that I would add to the list is simply, learn everything that you can about the trailer before picking it up. There's a ton of info on here, Oliver has a ton of information and videos listed in the Oliver University section, I have my movies listed on my profile page, Buzzy has his listed on his profile page and every new trailer that comes out has its own modifications that weren't offered when we picked up our trailers. Others here just have their movies just listed on YouTube and I would love to encourage everyone to post your videos and important pictures on your profile pages here, maybe a video section could be added for people to post their videos? Do a search on YouTube and learn everything that you can before pick up because the list is constantly changing and growing :)
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Karen starts getting low oxygen alerts every time we are above 7000′ and gets serious high altitude sickness every time, to the point that I need to know what elevation that we are going to be at before hand. Which is another one of the reasons we are over on the coast so muchWe live at 4000′, which keeps her acclimated and good to 7000′ but anything above that is not safe for her, so I end up racing over the continental divide and really monitoring her oxygen level until we’re back below 7000′. Reed
Reed, I’ve been reading up about altitude sickness. It is absolutely nothing to trivialize... Have you ever tried to stay for a few days at say 6k ft to allow further acclimatization?
That's what we do, stay a few days at 6000' or there abouts, so we plan ahead and figure a week to get up to 8000' or longer for higher altitudes. She never knew that she had it before we met, and I caught it right away as an ex-fireman, and it's been easy to monitor ever since.
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Loading pics is pretty easy, at the bottom of the page after typing your message, there's a little box on the left with a "select" button. Just click that, then it will give you a choice to choose where your pics are stored. Be sure to have "thumbnails" selected on your computer or phone already, so it shows your actual pictures, click on the one you want to place, and then click the "insert into content" button that comes up in the same place as the select button is.
Congrats on the new truck :) I was set on buying that one also but a lot of people had the half ton on here and no problems had been mentioned about them until now... So I went that way, a few weeks ago... but we won't be able to stay at high elevations ourselves anyway, because Karen starts getting low oxygen alerts every time we are above 7000' and gets serious high altitude sickness every time, to the point that I need to know what elevation that we are going to be at before hand. Which is another one of the reasons we are over on the coast so much :) We live at 4000', which keeps her acclimated and good to 7000' but anything above that is not safe for her, so I end up racing over the continental divide and really monitoring her oxygen level until we're back below 7000'.
Reed
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Yes, The poo powder I referenced was NOT meant to be utilized directly in the black tank. Ohhh so clog. . I meant using it in a plastic kitchen bag , biodegradable, just situated in the onboard toilet, instead of a tent or other site. It will be in the 20s soon, at night, where we will be. I’d rather have a way bag, and a winterized trailer, than not. In our 2008, we don’t have a lot of your more advanced insulation and conveniences. Sherry
Yuk... No don't try using kitchen bags, they smell. The one's that Bill listed have a double zipper on a strong plastic bag. Once it's zipped up, the smell stays in the bag. We tried the kitty litter once... Never again :)
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So... Why not use the Dometic Heat Pump instead of carrying another heater? It's electric also.
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We popped into Allenswood State Park on the way home, it's a nice quiet place for $10.00 a night boondocking. The strange thing is, it has water, showers, and a fish cleaning station, but the water is not drinkable... Go figure, Southern California's water problems abound and that's what shut down this little abandoned town back in the day. But it's so quiet :)
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/08/22/former-slaves-dream-freedom-allensworth-california/
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When I still had a pickup, I would put one foot on top of the real tire and climb over the side. Always worked pretty good. Stan
And they do make tire steps that fit over the tire and these do work great :)
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Hi Ray & Betty Jo :)
Honestly, a 3/4 ton truck is overkill but works if that's what you have. The reason that I'm saying this is because with a blown disk, you will want a smoother ride most likely then a truck can give you. There's lots of choices out there of comfortable cars with plenty of room, in fact a lot more room then a truck can give you comfortably. Having had a back injury before, I learned that a 3/4ton truck was probably one of the worst things for me to ride in with my back during recovery, which took 15 years... So, if you're still in the recovery process, my first choice would be a Mercedes GL 4wd because it will undoubtedly will be the most comfortable ride that most people will ever be in, plus it has plenty of leg room for bigger guys. We just picked up a new Chevy Silverado 1/2 ton basically for the ride, I really wanted the Duramax but when it came down to it, the High Country with the max tow package won out. The reason that I didn't buy another Mercedes was that I did want a new truck :) but still, if you're in recovery, start out with a smooth ride for your back.
Reed
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Reed, Have you ever tried the gel powder material like this? One trip, a long time ago, we tried the kitty litter and trash bag thing, and it was a HUGE fail. Good experiment, but not my favorite memory… Sherry
Nope, we use a sealed soap type packet for the black tank
We do the same when washing dishes, here's ours, it fits easily in the drawer.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003QP30S0/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I3HQ4VRWMD8BTZ&colid=DVETVI1ZF5E8
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Those don’t look like heavy axles to me. Rust on the wheels of a Bigfoot? Is that a problem for them? Bill
Nope, enlarge the pics above, that trailer is seriously rusted underneath, if it was mine, I'd be worried... There's a couple gouges in the tires also. It could definitely use some maintenance :)
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Top gun, would the wag bags just fit in the Ollie toilet, instead of a collapsible frame?.. Sherry Sherry
Yes, they fit under the toilet seat perfectly, we use them all the time when boondocking, we put a bag in at night, use it until it's full, then replace it. We just left the beach and have been using the bags again since the tank hit 80% a few days ago. We keep a bunch under the rear Dinette seat in a plastic garbage bag. Take them out of the boxes, bag them up and put them somewhere close. Sometimes when extended boondocking, we start out with the bags and go from there, we can usually last 2 weeks in the black tank before it's time to dump.
Reed
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Those are the same exact rims that Bigfoot uses, less the rust... A lot less rust, it does look scary. I wonder if he changed out the axles to 5K?
Oliver University
in How to Join and Use Oliver Travel Trailer Forums
Posted
Thanks Phil :)
A good video on how to set the different modes and times would be helpful. I haven't seen this in the directions but one of these days I'm going to try setting it up for automatic temp changes for sleeping, but I need to see how to change the time it comes on in the morning :)