On Saturday, February 21, I picked up my new Oliver (hull # 69) from the factory in Hohenwald, Tennessee. I was scheduled to pick her up the previous Tuesday, but the severe ice storms that moved thru the state prevented travel. Traveling up Saturday was a real struggle and I wouldn't have made it without 4 wheel drive. With all the wrecks, the 6 hour trip turned into 10 hours.
When I arrived, Robert Partee was waiting on me and went over all the systems and, finding everything in order, I headed back home to South Carolina. I went a more southern route on the way back, heading south to Birmingham, then thru Atlanta, and then on to home.
That was the plan anyways, as I was starting to fall asleep around 1:30 AM. Since I have been up since 3:30 the previous morning, I was dog tired! I pulled into the South Carolina Welcome Center, turned on the furnace and went to sleep. With the insulation, double wall, thermo-pane windows, you could barely hear the 18-wheelers idling. The furnace is so quiet, it was more like white noise covering the commotion outside. I slept like the dead and didn't awake until 8 AM.
The whole way back from Tennessee was a torrential downpour. The Oliver towed like a dream. Passing trucks were a non-event with no noticeable push, pull or buffetting. With the big 16" wheels and LT truck tires, the shock absorbers, good weight distribution and aerodynamic shape, she was smooth as silk and tracked true. Unless the roadway was extremely rough, you could not feel that anything was attached to the truck. Sunday I spend the day tinkering with things, loading some gear, and giving her a thorough bath.
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| Cleaned and all shined up, note full cover for LP tanks and power jack. You can barely see my optional 320 watts of solar and optional powered TV antenna up top. |
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| Note the optional second Fiamma metal enclosed street side awning (same on curb side) and all exterior lights are LED. Notice the stripe colors of silver and red - on an Oliver, you select the colors you want. |
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| Rear view - note the large bumper storage area, full size spare tire under cover |
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| The sewer connection is inside the bumper storage, with ample space for storing sewer hose |
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| There is 18" deep x 4" high storage for hoses |
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| The bumper is held in place by these heavy latch pins |
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| I wish you could feel how heavy this bumper is - all aluminum |
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| All these stainless fittings are like jewelry. This is the ketch to hold the door open. Most RV's this is plastic. |
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| 16" Aluminum Wheels, 3500 lbs axles, 4 shock absorbers and LT BF Goodrich truck tires, not trailer tires. |
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| Dry weight with options 5240 lbs - total GVWR is 7000 lbs |
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| That leaves 1760 lbs for gear, supplies and tankage. |
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| Outside storage compartment. It's a bit over 14" high, but runs 4 to 5 feet deep. Note the door above for inside access. |
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| Also behind this door are the tank drains, shower with hot and cold water, and at the top, the control switches for the power leveling jacks. |
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| Note this insulated door is secured by a stainless marine latch, with a lock (keyhole). There are only 2 keys for the trailer - one that fits both locks in the front door, and one for this outside storage bay and the battery bay. |
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| Two powered leveling jacks. They are strong enough to lift the entire trailer off the ground so you can change tires. |
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| Optional 4 Trojan brand 6 volt AGM batteries. 400 amp-hours. Slide out tray is standard. |
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| Note the heavy gauge cabling. These batteries weigh 300 lbs! Tray is rock solid, smooth acting. |
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| Shore power connector, 30 amp. Twist lock door and twist lock Furrion cable with polarity light. |
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| Standard power tongue jack and optional generator power connector. Transfer switch automatically senses if shore power or generator is connected. Fitting cover is twist lock, as well as cable connector. |
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| Cover removed to expose optional twin 30 lb LP tanks (standard is twin 20's). Note regulator valve is auto-switching standard. Cover is light, but strongly anchored. Weighs less than 10 lbs. |
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| There is some storage space inside the LP locker. I may secure my fold-up aluminum ladder in here. |
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| More exterior jewelry. Stainless door latch with lock and deadbolt (keyed the same) and stainless grab handle. |
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| I am really impressed with this aluminum double step. Note the very heavy aluminum plate and built in non-slip surface. It doesn't flex at all with my 200 lbs on it. |
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| This is the connection for the winterization system, located below curb side tail light. |
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| These are the connections for the fresh water tank and city water, located street-side below storage bay. |
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| This is the black tank flush connection, located streetside below the bathroom. |
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| Here you can see the 3500 lb axles, the Monroe shocks as the electric brakes on each wheel. Also note the bottom side of the fiberglass hull and the aluminum chassis stringers. |
Let's go inside! (All these photos were taken with a wide-angle lens).
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| Interior jewelry started with stainless interior latch and ketch. Screen door has easy slide access port. Main door has frosted window. |
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| Another stainless grab handle. |
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| Large closet with cubby for fire extinguisher. Note they mounted the rods for the exterior awnings conveniently in the corner by the door. |
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| Deep closet with 2 shelves and hanging rod. Easily will hold several weeks worth of clothes. |
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| About 14" from door opening to bottom. Note floor has rubber mat bottom. |
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| Over 30" deep. |
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| Bathroom vanity with built in storage. On left you can barely see the waterproof toilet paper holder. |
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| Standard towel holder and storage above commode. The window is dual pane, as all the windows are. |
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| Storage cabinet is large enough for supplies. Note that it's LED lighted, as all the storage cabinets are, standard. |
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| The faucet doubles as the shower head. Handle has built-in shutoff. Note the stainless hook, and up top a ventilator. The shower head/sink faucet is heavy stainless - it must weigh 2 lbs by itself. |
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| Wide shot of the main cabin. The counter tops are optional Baltic Fibergranite. The flooring is Goliath Aspen and the cushion fabric is Tumbleweed. On Oliver, you select all these finishes. You can optionally provide your own fabric. The comforter is something I had on hand and will probably change out soon. |
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| Another wide shot of the cabin. Note the standard day-night shades, standard mirrored cabinet doors. TV is standard 24" 1080P LED, native 12 volt, on a locking, articulated bracket. |
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| The dinette can hold down into a bed. There is some storage under the seat on the right. |
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| I had the standard twin bed layout changed to have a sofa on one side, bed on the other. |
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| The mattress is an upgraded residential style memory foam. It's amazingly comfortable. |
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| The night stand has a deep drawer. It's a self-closing guide, as all the drawers are. |
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| This is probably the best color representation of the counters. The are beautifully shiny. |
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| Standard Furrion Stereo with DVD and Bluetooth. |
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| Controls - From right to left - inverter on/off switch, Solar control, tank levels and pumps switches. The solar charging system is optional, as is the 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter. The inverter powers all the outlets plus the microwave, but not the roof A/C. |
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| Close-up of the Blue Sky solar controller |
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| Large pantry cabinet. Put objects in to get a sense of scale. No problem holding several week's worth of dry goods. |
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| Optional LED reading lights - comes in a package of four - one over each seat at the dinette, one over the bed, and one over the sofa. You push in the lens to turn on and off. |
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| Day-Night shade. Up top is antenna for interior cellular booster. |
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| Switches for Optional WiFi Booster and Cellular Amplifier. |
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| Cabinets have access ports in case you need to reach wiring, etc. |
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| More interior jewelry. Second hook. |
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| Second lighting panel, mainly outside lights. Also switch for refrigerator ventilator. This greatly improves absorption refrigerator performance in the sweltering heat we have down South in the summer. |
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Master interior lighting panel. Note master switch for interior cabinet lighting.
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| Bar-style stainless sink with high rise faucet. Note a Camco RV dish drainer fits perfectly in the sink. |
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| Large two burner LP stove top with glass cover. Piezo electric starter - no matches required. |
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| Standard digital thermostat to control LP furnace, AC Unit and AC Unit Heat Strip |
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| Large 1000 watt microwave. Not convection. |
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| 5 cu. ft. Dometic 3-way fridge. Separate freezer section. |
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| Six large drawers, self closing. |
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| Partially open |
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| Fully open. Note the center drawers are deeper. |
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| MaxxAir automatic vent fan with digital remote and exterior cover |
Now for inside the cabinets and under the seating!
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| Dish storage above the kitchen counter. Note the lighting. |
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| Cabinet over sofa |
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| Cabinet over dinette. Note the WiFi ranger box in the corner. |
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| Second cabinet over dinette. Note Cellular amplifier mounted in the corner. |
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Cabinet at rear of trailer. Wired as a media cabinet. Looks a rat nest that I need to clean up.
Note there is plenty of space for my Dish decoder, plus a Blu-ray
player and perhaps additional components or to store DVD's. |
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| This is under the dinette seat. The transfer switch and the main sewer piping can be seen. |
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| It's fairly deep at 17". You could put some soft goods here. |
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| This is the access under the sofa to the outside storage compartment. To the left it goes under the night stand. |
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| This is the other access door under the sofa. These are the solar charger, and cutoff switches for 12v power and the solar system. To the left the black object is the top of the leveling jack mechanism. |
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| Under the bed are two access doors. The one over the furnace is bolted shut so you are not temped to store any items there. The access door under one of the dinette seats is also bolted down - that is where the fuse panel and inverter are mounted. |
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| This is the other access. It's the bypass system for the winterization, as well as the heating ducts. To the right is the other leveling jack mechanism and the water heater. Note the brass valves. What other RV maker does this? |
That's it. Impressed? I'm very happy with it and can see getting many years of good service out of it.
