All Activity

It didn’t take long, parked outdoors in the Arizona sun, to become a dull pasty white! She started with four 6V lead acid batteries, an old 2KW Xantrex inverter only with PD converter in the power panel. She had wires all over the battery bay and everywhere else for that matter, fuses and breakers under beds, manual water valves and the mess it was born with spread out into every corner of the basement. And it had old-tech accessories; the cameras fore and aft, a WiFi Ranger, Dish satellite and that awful Dometic P2! All that has been corrected and improved with a lot of Marine-Tex used to fill nearly 100 holes! And what a silicone mess that OTT started at the factory and some owners believe caulk on top of old caulk is proper maintenance! In the two years from 2024 to 2025 I rebuilt almost every electrical, mechanical and plumbing system in our 10-year-old Oliver Travel Trailer. It’s been a lot of work, but our Oliver is worth it! I plan to enter another post to chronical all my repair and modification work but here we’ll focus on its cosmetic restoration. The finale was to dress up our Ugly Duckling. Not merely gelcoat buffing and ceramic coating, but a complete exterior body restoration!

"The Ugly Duckling is a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a duckling who is rejected by his siblings due to his unusual appearance. After enduring hardship and loneliness, he matures into a beautiful swan, illustrating the theme that true beauty comes from within and that one should not be judged by outward appearances.” We were fortunate to find our Oliver three years ago for sale right in our neighborhood! And at the time, we had no idea what an Oliver is and what makes it special! It didn’t take long though, since just 5 days after we first viewed our Oliver was paid in full, so the prior owner delivered it to our home on June 7th 2023. This day is also Chris’ birthday and what a special surprise it was. Chris loves every time we get away in our Oliver, and me too! I generally buy used vehicles in good condition, letting the original owner absorb the new-price depreciation. I enjoy fixin’ them up, making them as good as new and better, making them mine! From the start, I had planned on making repairs, mods and upgrades with a budget an additional $15,000, just for parts. With good patience, ample time and craftsmanship she could become something special! Hull #113 was well cared for; prior owners kept her clean and often kept her covered. She returned to the factory in 2018 and 2021 for maintenance and other services; new white blinds, new Atwood furnace and much more. Also in 2021, she moved from Florida to Las Vegas and was ceramic coated at the time. Always from the South and SW has kept corrosion at bay. Good records were kept and we are now the 4th owners. She looked good when we first got her and everything was in working order.

We are in Nashville, approx 1.5 hours from Hohenwald. That is the biggest reason that we went with Oliver. Bob

I have found that sometime the switches on the master panel just inside the door don’t work or work intermittently. Usually if I turn them on and off a couple of times the problem resolves. I’ve always attributed it to a little fiberglass dust in between the contacts or a little oxidation of the contacts from disuse. It has been a little annoying but not a serious issue. The only other switch issue I have had was when one of the spade connectors fell off the pump switch in the bathroom. When that happened, only the switch by the Truma control panel would turn on the pump.

My guess is also to replace the master switch. On the list when I get home from northern Wisconsin.

Don't get too comfortable! 🤣 I see two things that are wrong... First the wire harness should not be fed through the wheel. When you do get your spare tight the tire will be jamming the wire harness against the hull making the spare sit on a tilt. The wire harness should sit outside of the tire but make sure you push it inside the fiberglass cover in the end. Secondly, your lock nut is keeping the large circular "wingnut" from tightening your tire against the hull, hence the wobble. I just checked and mine does not have a locknut. If I had one, it would certainly be in the way of tightening down the spare. The nut is greater than 1/2" tall and there is about 3/8" of space on ours. It's likely one of those things where OTT did not stick to a standard hull to hull. I believe @rideandfly's spare is new, not original so perhaps his fits. IT does really depend on the tire width. I also have a large concave washer not seen in anybody else's picture. This supports the fiberglass on the spare cover when tightening the outer locknut. In my picture, the fiberglass cover fits in where I created a space on the threaded shaft, all hardware is mounted in the order shown. @Dirt Duff, I suggest you remove your locknut, feed the wire harness correctly, crank 'er down and you should be fine! 😎

Same with mine. I just put the rub pads on to prevent the tire from scuffing the gel coat. My wheel fits firmly. It’s in storage so I couldn’t tell you if it has one nut or two, but I vaguely recall just one. The pads won’t help your wobble, something else isn’t right.

My truma cp plus control module went out one time. I finally found the 1 amp fuse to it, pulled it out and placed it back in. Then it worked again. Just seem you are dealing with a loose connection or a janky fuse. Better have the wiring diagram handy for the next time.

In our 2022 we had a lot of fiberglass dust fouling the internals of the control panel switches. They would intermittently fail. Cycling them a few times would get them working again. I eventually cleared them by using canned air and a shop vac while cycling them. If your master switch is fouled, it would keep all your lights from coming on. Or, it might be a loose connector on the back of the master switch as @Snackchaser suggested.

Not related to the original problem, just posting to show that the universe has a sense of humor… After spinning, feeling, inspecting, and pretty much giving a spa treatment to the rear curbside tire, today on our final leg home in the middle of nowhere Texas between Quanah and Chillicothe my TPMS on the dashboard alerted to a low (you guessed it) rear curbside tire. Limped to the only gas station in Chillicothe and found a screw just outside the tread area. On returning home I took the tire to Discount Tire and confirmed my suspicion that it could not be patched. At least I proved that I (1) have a working TPMS and (2) have the tools to do a tire change in the field. @jd1923 at least it gave me the opportunity to remove the hub cover on that wheel. 🤦‍♂️

The Suburban is longer than the aquago and has styrofoam insulation around it. So from the outside instead of the truma cover with vents you would have a metal cover that hinges at the bottom. Under the curb side bunk is where you will notice the difference. Not really a problem but there is less room to fiddle around when you throw the bypass switch. Oliver did ours years ago so they would certainly be capable. If it's a long drive to Hohenwald I think almost any RV service shop would be able to do it. Good Luck.

Well it might indeed but given the smaller size of the Fogatti I would venture to guess it would fit. If you can fit a Suburban it should be a piece of cake for the Fogatti. The interesting and neat thing about the Fogatti is you select your temp, what ever you're comfortable with for showers or dishes and do NOT mix with cold water, using the hot only. Its very easy to go from one temp to another with the remote control. Also @Mike and Carol do make a good point regarding reliability in the boonies.

You said the jacks work. Jacks are fed from load side of the DC panel 60 amp breaker, so it's fine. The DC fuse panel then feeds a number of things such as the stereo, pump, furnace, refer, ect., and the main switch panel. You mentioned the lights don't work, but the awning and camera do. I have not verified this, but it would make sense that the master switch on the main switch panel only controls the lights including the outside, inside, and closet. That's to avoid battery drain if you left a light on. You wouldn't want the camera or awning to be turned off by the master switch, so it's the primary suspect. My master switch failed and I had to jiggle and flick it a few times to get the lights on. Turned out to be a loose spade connector on the back of the switch. Best to pop the switch out and check it now to avoid an unwanted black out. Hope that solves the problem. Geoff

Very compelling reply. 👍

The "Master Light" switch and all the others except "Curb Awning" and "Rear Camera" would not turn. So no lights anywhere. It remained that way for 7 hours. Just now it cured itself and all is working! What the heck just happened? Will happen again? Signed, Confused.

The "Master Light" switch and all the others except "Curb Awning" and "Rear Camera" would not turn. So no lights anywhere. It remained that way for 7 hours. Just now it cured itself and all is working! What the heck just happened? Will happen again? Signed, Confused.

Mine wasn’t wobbly. It was very secure. Always has been tight. I just didn’t like the stain that the tire was leaving on the gelcoat. @Dirt Duffyou’ve got something else going on. You need to determine what is loose.

The Suburban tank is simple and reliable. There is nothing about it that can’t be serviced by the owner. Parts are available on Amazon and most RV shops. I’m not going to change ours out, I like reliability when out in the middle of nowhere. Mike

Thanks, Rob. I will take a look at the Fogatti. I am open to all options. Also, we have an LE I so that may create different space limitations from the LE II. Bob

@Olive2Roam No experience with the Aqua Go but as John stated about a month or so ago I did install the Fogatti WH. In short it works great, very quiet and has an awesome control system via a wired remote. It is much smaller, and much lighter than the older Suburban WH (empty) and you are not carrying around another 50 lbs of water while traveling albeit chump change in weight compared to everything else. Understand other than using it to make sure everything works I haven't been out on a trip this year at all due to knee replacement surgery 4 months ago yesterday so at this point cannot absolutely speak to its in field use and efficiency. It heats up fairly quick but not instant due to the cold water in the lines so we plan on having a container close by to fill with unheated water that will be pumped back into the fresh water tank later given the somewhat smallish Oliver holding tanks. Not that big of a deal really. We never used the Suburban in AC mode, only propane. FWIW I am not a big fan of Suburban products but especially their furnaces like the one installed on the Oliver. As John pointed out Truma is out of the question for a litany of reasons. It is worth noting we never had issues with our Suburban WH other than cleaning and anode rods but have had multiple issues over the years with the furnace and it is loud. I would install the Fogatti furnace in heart beat if there was room in the basement of the Oliver but the shape and size of the Fogatti furnace just doesn't fit unfortunately. It's also important to note DIY people can work on and repair the Fogatti appliances if the need arrives. The Fogatti WH is NOT an easy install however, or rather replacement with the Suburban. How that differs compared to what you already have I don't know. One thing for sure is the Fogatti is light years ahead of Suburban technologically speaking, Design, fit and finish is on another level as well. Suburban products look like relics out of post WWII era by comparison. Hope this doesn't offend anyone. LMK if you have questions about the Fogatti. Oh and they do go on sale from time to time and would expect a 4th of July sale or at least Memorial Day sale if not Dads day sale.

I know this is an old thread but.... I am currently in the market for the Nev-R-Lube Axles and wanted to share that Hull #145, a 2016 model, picked up in June has the 50.5" axles. I also assume that current LE2's are provided the D52 axle with an SC measurement of 50.5"..... If someone would confirm that for me I would appreciate it. TIA, Scotty

*Batteries charged with Bluetti power bank. No problem. Used ground plug and external surge protector. Full charged batteries. *Have DC abd blue lights on. *Jack works. No lights.

John, As always, very helpful. And the LP only model would be an interesting option.

Thank you, Scotty. As far as needing more room under the bunk, so the suburban would not fit into the aquago metal "box", is that correct? So there is some reorganizing of the space under the bunk? I would probably look to have OTT do the work. Bob

These Optifuse breakers are known to fail. There are a few posts here about that. I do not know what the common failed position is, but could be open when it looks closed. I would test for continuity between the two posts on the breaker. Be careful though, these are HOT, or at least the battery side is if the breaker is defective (open when appears to be closed). Hope you get your DC power up soon but put it on your mod list to replace this breaker with a 60A ANL fuse and holder. I do not believe anybody has found a quality 60A breaker. They're all cheap junk made in you know where. Fuses are dependable. Always have an extra fuse.