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What did you put in the hole when you took out the microwave?

With a tandem axle trailer and a heavy truck you can have a catastrophic trailer tire failure and not even know it. You won't feel it. With the TPMS you know right away and can start reacting, minimizing damage to your rim and trailer and reducing overloading of the remaining tire on that side. That's what happened to us. Our TPMS went off and we got away with only a broken mud flap and cosmetic damage because we stopped with most of the tire still on the rim. You could also have a fast leak from road debris. It could go flat without you feeling it, then chew itself to bits on the rim before you knew you had a problem. Our TPMS also alerted us to a catastrophic trailer brake failure. One wheel started running much hotter than normal. We pulled over and heard noise from that wheel. Turned out the brake assembly had come apart inside the drum. So, yes, I consider TPMS a crucial safety feature.

This makes alot of sense. It is far easier to grease and visually observe how the chassis is functioning/wearing with wheels off. But it is a royal pain as every time i take the wheels off the ez-flex inverts on me and then in addition to remounting, and retorquing, there is the jacking to correct the linkage inversion, once on each side. I guess no pain, no gain.

Prefer not to have that experience and thus lean toward the complete replacement route so share your cautious approach. But in all of this it is not obvious to me how the tire pressure monitor helps prevent a catastrophic blow out versus frequently visually checking inflation and watching for bulges or tire issues at every stop - only takes a minute. Seems like tire temperature might be a more important indicator. So do you see TPMS more as a convenient way to watch your tires or an actual safety feature? Obviously before a blowout the pressure is a number and after a blowout its zero.

I fully agree with removing my screen and whatever else is behind it and fashioning a cone shaped screen from stainless mesh as you described earlier. Insert from the outside and check it each year prior to winterization. I got my endoscope camera and would like to examine the inside of my tank before installing the screen to see what surprises are lurking.

I measured ours and the fitting is 3/4" ID and the full width is 2" which maps to a Thru-Hull fitting this size: https://www.amazon.com/Seaflo-Thru-Hull-Fittings/dp/B076VTKQQ3/ If so, the overflow tube would be 3/4" ID. For OTT to add the "insect screen" it would have to be in the overflow tube just above this fitting. There doesn't appear a way to service this part. Perhaps Geoff may have luck cleaning the screen. @Hokieman had also thanked @Wayfinder above regarding his August post. Chris was thinking ahead in his post, when he wrote, "At least my tank won't blow up like a balloon and warp the trailer." See in the link below, Chris' screen had rusted, falling apart in pieces, and after he removed the screen there was nothing else, no "filter" present. This screen rusting away would likely be common wherever rust is prevalent in your climate. @Ollie-Haus, if there's no filter what is the black substance behind the screen in your photo? We can't be certain with OTT installations; one hull could have a screen/filter while the other has a different installed component, merely a screen. We have ballooned tanks, or screens rusted away, and who knows what else! I believe unless your inspection shows a clean rust-free screen, a screen that allows full light to pass through it, the best thing to do is to remove said screen/filter in any way possible. Then add a removeable screen inserted inside the bottom of the Thru Hull fitting.

Having experienced a catastrophic blowout on a different trailer, I don't mess around with tires. Tire pressure monitor and replace trailer tires every 5 years, regardless of mileage. The problem with trailer tires is the lack of use. Flexing the rubber is actually good for it, so when a trailer sits, the rubber deteriorates faster. Worse, the problem can be on the inside of the tire, even if the outside looks fine. It's shocking how much damage a tire carcass can do to a trailer when it sheds at 65 MPH.

I understand the flexible connection because the shower pan actually flexes a little when you stand near the drain. But this was sloppy work at the factory. Can't say I'm surprised because we've had several issues with sloppy work in our 2022 as well. It's also disappointing to hear that they denied your warranty claim because you couldn't get it to them within the warranty period, even though you identified the issue within the warranty period. Hope you can resolve it without too much trouble.

I've never seen these before, but they look like they could be a good option- if they're not prone to failure. They *should* also prevent backup into the shower if the shut off valve is happened to be left open. To do it right, you would still have to remove the sanitary tee and replace it with a "Wye" fitting entering from the side instead of entering from the bottom. For the record, I'm not a plumber either, though in the course of 30+ years renovating homes and owning rental properties I've learned a few things about plumbing along the way- especially from all my mistakes!

@John and Jodi I’m not a plumber but I understand what @CRM is saying. It will be a major hassle to cut and refit those ABS drain pipes the way that OTT usually does it. The result might be a plumbing mess, and regardless, it’s still a poor design. One possible solution might be removing the P-trap and replace with a Hepvo valve. You could use the existing incorrectly installed sanitary tee, and with some creative plumbing install the Hepvo valve horizontally down low on the basement floor. I do not know how well this would work, but throwing it out there for the more competent plumbers to consider. Anyone ever use these Hepvo valves? See link for installation ideas in RV’s. https://hepvo.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/HepvO-US-RV-Plumbing-Applications-June-2021.pdf

Don't get his hopes up. I had pipes in the bathroom that leaked due to installation errors and they still charged me. Not much, but it seems that when the warranty expires it is gone. I had even reported the problem while the warranty was in force, but we were on a long trip and by the time they could work me in it had expired.

The first thing a good plumber is going to tell him is that the whole design is wrong. You can't use a sanitary tee on a horizontal drain line and a p-trap must have a horizontal section after it and it can't connect straight to a drain line from the bottom as it is here. I need to take a look at mine to see if it's done in the same manner.

Good observation, John. I had not noticed it at first, but when comparing the two pictures (Thanks Toni!) it's your ABS Tee-junction that was installed incorrectly, which caused the flexible P-trap to fold due to the hard angle. You are certainly correct, the Tee must be installed straight down. Given the Tee is glued firmly in place, you'd have to saw the ABS pipe before and after the Tee and remove it. If you could source a Tee that is 1" or so longer than the OEM part, the job will be easier. Otherwise, you need length to add a coupling too. Could you get tools in there to rework this plumbing? It might be up to you, or a good plumber willing to work on your trailer. I'll keep it in mind to look at ours when I get a chance. I hope they help you with this! 😂

Oh back in the day I never buffed/waxed anything, except windshields occasionally with wax (and now ceramic). Too much work for something that doesn’t last - ceramic changed all that and this is my first use of it. The Ollie is special though, my prized possession. I’m trying to keep it as pristine as possible.

Good job, Dan! You're a better man than me, as I gave up buffing/waxing before ceramic coating was a thing. 🤣 IMHO, skip the interior. Our Hull #113, without any real maintenance, still has a beautiful shiny interior after 11 years. I have a few spots, I would like to correct, like where somebody had to put their shoes above the bed area. Anyway, the interior stays pretty shiny without much effort.

Almost as bad as having a catastrophic blowout in the middle lanes of six on an interstate at 60mph. Use your own judgement. Your mileage may vary...

The biggest difference I see is that your gray tank connection seems more or less parallel to the drain pipe (both pointing down), so you have a true "U" shape in your tube. My gray tank pipe connection points towards the drain pipe at 45 degrees, so I think "they" folded the flexible tube to get it on to both pipes. I think that if I removed my tube and warmed it up, it would return to a "U" shape, but not help me because of the angle of my connections relative to each other. It seems to me that the original "defect" is the angle of the gray tank pipe connection. I'm assuming that I can't just twist that pipe so that it points down. I've contacted OTT. I'm not getting the support that I'd like. I've started to escalate, but the response has been disappointing.

Our carefree awning that came with our 2018 elite2 has been nothing but problems. In your case I would not work the crank as you are likely to strip the gears. The arms are spring loaded so should come out with some “physical assistance”. I have replace the manual crank gearhead and also the awning fabric as it had stretched. Your awning fabric may be bunched in the roller making it harder to extend. Or it may be a jam in the gearhead and roller somehow. You can take the gearhead off (just a few screws) to observe but I would try everything else first.

Bill Thanks! Forgot to mention the Hungry Mother SP VA rally has a Facebook group, too.

Sounds good. I’ll bring it along. Bob

Be a bit careful with your reservations for the Hiawassee rally in that they really do get crowded. They do have an "overflow" area but I can not recommend it. Also, if you go be sure to get to the pot luck dinner early because all seats under cover will be gone quickly. Bill Hiawasee artwork-2017-1 - Copy-2.tif

@Olive2Roam I am interested, we can touch base at the rally somehow. Mossey

I recently had the new rec pro on-demand hot water heater installed in our Oliver. I have this heating unit from our trauma left over if anybody could use it. We will be at the rally. However, we are leaving tomorrow morning to start our road trip so if you get back to me quickly, I’ll throw it in and you can have it when we get to the rally. Bob

We happened to be camping at Stone Mountain SP NC a few weeks ago when the Carolina Casitas were having a gathering, they invited us to join their Facebook group, so we did! Nice group of folks. Hope to attend Eggs on the Hiawassee River GA gathering held during June. They also have a Facebook group. We attended a couple of Hungry Mother SP VA Fiberglass gatherings attended by various fiberglass owners including Ollie owners. If I remember correctly one of the Oliver owners attending had a hand in making Peach and Cherry cobblers, too! 🙂

Thanks to all who have provided valuable insights and photos. As we have had a busy travel schedule on the road, I have not yet had the opportunity to pull the drawers under the sink or to inspect the underside of the fresh water tank overflow tube in Hull #1291. For now, we are carefully filling the fresh water tank when we need to boondock, until our pre-planned schedule allows me time to try to "get to the bottom" of what caused our problem. We will be on the road until the end of October. I hope to be able to investigate once we get back home. I will then report my findings, if any.