Long term living

[Stevon]

We currently have a 32’ class A motor home. we are looking to downsize and are seriously looking at an Oliver. We usually spend about 6 months at a time in our RV. Are others utilizing an Oliver for this length of time. What are others opinions on living half of the year in an Oliver. We mostly boondock and have solar on our current rv. All replies and opinions appreciated. Thank you all in advance. Stevon. 
 

[Overland]

We definitely have some full timers, even in the smaller Elites. We’ve also had a few who lived in Elite II’s for a while but despite being big Oliver fans, ultimately decided that they needed a larger space. So it’s really down to the individual. I think the biggest factors with people who’ve switched are a dry bath, separate living and sleeping spaces and a wider bedroom with easier access to both sides of a queen bed. All reasonable desires and if you want those things you just have to weigh them against the various advantages of the Ollie.

One of those of course being that Ollie is a fantastic boondocking trailer.

Edited July 10, 2020 by Overland

[Mike and Carol]

I’m sure some of our full timers will chime in.  We go out for 4 to 8 weeks at a time and that’s about long enough for us.  Small space living is an individual preference and there are Oliver owners that are successfully full timing.

[SeaDawg]

8 hours ago, Overland said:

We definitely have some full timers, even in the smaller Elites. We’ve also had a few who lived in Elite II’s for a while but despite being big Oliver fans, ultimately decided that they needed a larger space. So it’s really down to the individual. I think the biggest factors with people who’ve switched are a dry bath, separate living and sleeping spaces and a wider bedroom with easier access to both sides of a queen bed. All reasonable desires and if you want those things you just have to weigh them against the various advantages of the Ollie.

One of those of course being that Ollie is a fantastic boondocking trailer.

We deliver class c rvs to Alaska. When we come home to our 2008 Elite, there are a few things that I miss. The oven. The bigger shower. The bigger fridge.  The onboard generator. A big pantry.

What I don't miss, and why we've stayed with our 17 ft 2008:

The horrible gas mileage with the typical Triton v10 in the motorhomes. 

The difficulty of finding small, quiet campsites. With our 4x4 truck, and small trailer we can squeeze into some really delightful, overlooked or unreachable spots.

The ability to leave our trailer at a campsite, and explore in the truck alone. Just finding a parking spot to visit a town on a motorhome is far more challenging than going into town with just our truck. 

I always miss our quiet, reliable solar. Though in a privately owned motorhome, you can have that, and probably do.

We've been delivering rvs for six or seven years. We've not been tempted to "change up" our combination of Ollie and truck. I  do appreciate the additional room for amenities in a bigger coach. They're just not for us.

Every RV, of any size, lives huge on the outside, which is where we spend the majority of our time. 

Sherry

 

[WhatDa]

We have been on pretty long trips with the Oliver, we're about to kick off on a multi-month trip away from home again.  The only thing I wish it had, would be a washing machine - ideally a separate washer and dryer. Even before COVID, I wasn't too keen on using campground laundry facilities where folks are inevitably washing their dog beds and cloth diapers. Everything else, we do without.  We do use the convection microwave for morale items like cookies and pizzas. Since I do work remotely from the Oliver, I am jealous of folks with toy haulers that fit sit/stand desks in the garage.  But as others have said: this thing fits where others don't and no larger trailer has the same quality. We've been to "full" campgrounds that let us get the best view spot that was for "tents only" as we could fit, but no one else can. For me it would be hard to go to something that relies on wood for its structure or that lets rodents get into the undercarriage after the Oliver.

  If Oliver made a 2' longer one that I could put 24" washer+dryer in, maybe with some other floorplan/usability upgrades that I've whined enough about on here, I'd probably trade up.  Other than that I'll stay where I am. We'll probably add a Clam tent for some outside time/space.

[BackofBeyond]

As others have commented on long term use - we have spent up to 2 months touring around in our EII, and I don't really have a complaint. Were we weather bound for some time, I would get a little weary, but that hasn't happened yet. The ability to go places other RV's can't or don't is a very large plus. Most of the time we are in places where hook-ups don't exist - and we run off solar with no problems. Given the composting toilet - we have few issues with dumping - as grey water is not an issue. Overall we are happy with the Oliver for up to 2 months - longer - probably not an issue either depending on location.

Were we to go 100% - probably not going Oliver - for a bunch of reasons - most of which are just about space and amenities. However, not sure we would want to do 100% - for other reasons- non rv related. 

RB

 

[Laurie]

I really weighed the issue of a washer/dryer and I'm very sad as well that there's non on the Ollie, but...

 

What I do to avoid campground washers (for me, it's due to fragrance allergies, bad ones), is keep a large beer brewing pot in the back of my truck in which I wash clothes as a I drive.  I fill it with water and detergent, drive for a while, dump the water and put in fresh, then hang clothes to dry.  I used weatherstripping and clamps to keep the water from sloshing out and making a mess.  Works very well.  Still want a dryer, as I'm limited to certain weather conditions to dry clothes.  Perhaps I'll try a small dehumidifier and hang system in the bathroom in the future.

[John E Davies]

45 minutes ago, Laurie said:

Perhaps I'll try a small dehumidifier and hang system in the bathroom in the future.

 

This has been working well for us,we use it all the time, but mostly for damp towels or hand washed tee shirts or undies....

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/2758-how-to-wire-cable-clothes-line-full-cabin-length/

John Davies

Spokane WA

Edited October 24, 2020 by John E Davies

[Ray and Susan Huff]

9 hours ago, John E Davies said:

Perhaps I'll try a small dehumidifier and hang system in the bathroom in the future.

 

This has been working well for us,we use it all the time, but mostly for damp towels or hand washed tee shirts or undies....

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/2758-how-to-wire-cable-clothes-line-full-cabin-length/

John Davies

Spokane WA

I purchased a full size shower curtain tension rod to hang over the dinette for drying.

I'm going to miss the enclosed shower with skylight in our campervan.  It made a great drying room.