Steph and Dud B's RV Screed

Happy Fourth of July! We just spent a week (6 nights/7 days) camping in full shade on mostly rainy/cloudy days. We were at one of our favorite oceanside campgrounds in Connecticut and we scored a site in a wooded section next to the tidal marsh. The clouds and 2 huge trees overhead mostly took our solar panels out of the picture. Mostly. More about that later.  We figured this would be a good test of our Lithium Platinum Package with its 640 AH batteries. We left home fully charged and used the fridge on 12v power for the hour drive to the beach. Since it was cloudy, that used 4% of our charge before we even set up camp. We proceeded to dry-camp for the week pretty much the way we had with our other trailers. We ran the fridge on propane, pumped water from our tank, used minimum interior lighting, and remembered to turn off lights we weren't using. In the end, that wasn't really necessary. Unlike our other trailers, we also ran the inverter to make coffee and run the microwave....

First trip of the season. We took Eggcelsior back down to Hohenwald, TN for some warranty work at the Oliver Trailers service center. On the punchlist: check some drawer glides, replace some interior trim (the silver strip around the belly joint) that fell off, and (top priority) replace a faulty jack mounting plate that had a hole too big for its carriage bolt. This would be our first big trip with the Oliver after we brought it home, and the first real Oliver trip where Steph was feeling well. We ran short hops - 4 to 4.5 hour drive times according to Google Maps. Our days of 8 hour drives are in the past. Our first stop was Locust Lake State Park in Pennsylvania. We had advance reservations and chose a site right next to a bathhouse, (which we didn't really need because we were able to dewinterize before we left). A little unlevel, as you can see, but OK otherwise if you have a smaller RV. Wouldn't recommend for larger rigs. The next day took us to a commercial campground, W...

We've had the Oliver for more than a month now but, due to unforseen circumstances, we only have a couple of trips under our belt. We've done some dry-camping in Connecticut and some full-hookup camping in Cape Cod. The Oliver has had some issues. I already mentioned the problem with the axles. That wasn't Oliver's fault. Dexter was great to work with and it was fixed by a mobile tech who came to our house. Next, the flange ring for our toilet broke, probably due to incorrect installation at the factory. Oliver shipped us a new flange ring and I installed it myself without too much difficulty, but it did put us out of service for about a week. The electronic keypad lock failed and I discovered the cause was improper installation at the Oliver factory which led to water intrusion into the lock. Oliver shipped a new lock, which I installed myself and I added sealant to prevent a recurrence. There was an issue with the air conditioner running very short cycles. Oliver ship...

One of the traditions of the Oliver Travel Trailer company is that they refer to their trailer bodies as "hulls." I assume this has to do with the fiberglass construction, similar to many sailboats, and the fact that a Catamaran designer helped the company design their first trailer. Another tradition is that they assign each trailer its own "hull number," starting with Hull #1 for the first trailer they built in 2007. Owners are very proud of their trailer's hull number since it tells others a little about its history and lineage. We have just passed an important step on the road to getting our new Oliver Elite 2 in June: we've learned our hull number. Our trailer will be hull number 1150. We also followed another owners' tradition. We named our trailer. Hull number 1150 will be named Eggcelsior,  a play on excelsior, which means "ever upward" and is often used as an exclamation upon the completion of a major challenge or accomplishment. We th...

On October 25, 2021 we talked to our Oliver sales rep and put a $2,500 deposit on an Oliver Legacy Elite 2 with the twin bed floorplan. Our estimated delivery date: late July, 2022 - 9 months away. What to do while we waited? Shop for stuff, of course! Weirdly, even though we've been camping for 20+ years, we had to buy more stuff to move to a smaller trailer. Some of the things we carried in our fifth wheel were too big for the Oliver and had to be replaced by smaller versions, or alternate devices. Others were things we never needed before, like a ball hitch for the pickup truck. We pored over the Oliver forums, looking for tips and tricks, and started making shopping lists on Amazon and other online retailers. When something went on sale, we grabbed it. When Christmas came, we asked for gift cards. Here are some of the things we've bought so far (we have no affiliation with any of these vendors and have not been compensated for any of these links): Weigh-Safe 4" Drop Hi...