All Activity

Did you do this trip yet? Any feedback on the Chill Cube in hot humid weather? Does it keep up with the heat. Is power consumption doable on your batteries? 😎 If your trip is still on the horizon, let us know afterwards. Thanks!

That's what I thought. Living in Arizona we do not travel in the summer months. Then a couple experiences changed my thinking! Over two years ago we did a SW Utah trip, from Apr 21 to May 7th. You wouldn't think it would get hot, springtime at high elevation, and most of the trip was fine. The day we left, dropping about down 3K ft to US-93 we boondocked the first night in Wikieup, AZ. It was 93F when we got there and fortunately by 9PM it was cool enough to be in the cabin again. Back then we still had lead acid and the Dometic P2 so all we had was the Maxxfan. Our next stop was to be Valley of Fire SP, NV where we had booked a dry camping spot. Quite a fitting name, given the forecast showed 99F highs for the next 2 days of our reservation. We wasted that money, instead having to book an electric site at the north end of Lake Meade. Plugged in to run the G-awful Dometic A/C. I had to wear noise-cancelling headphones to watch TV and to fall asleep! Thank goodness it was only 2 of 16 nights on that trip. Last year we did a 5-week trip to Minnesota, from May 29 to July 4th. We headed out east and swung north and took a northern route back. I believe it was 12 of 36 nights where we needed A/C. I had thought being so far north we wouldn't need A/C, bad assumption. We even had to book campsites in SD and WY where we would have much preferred to boondock in the woods but were forced into a campsite to plug in. After that trip, I vowed never to hear that awful Dometic P2 again! And also, my goal was to gear up in Inverter and Ahs and replace the A/C with a unit that would sip vs. gulp Ahs. For you, the freight-train NOISE of the P2 should be enough of a driver. You plug in so yeah power consumption does not matter (though we run ours for lunch breaks on the road too). Easiest DIY out there given size and weight. The only A/C model I've heard of that needs a custom platform was the Truma. The Chill Cube has a 29x29" footprint, making it a full foot shorter to the rear. It's also the lightest unit out there. Here is my DIY thread. This link will take you down page 2 to where my installation starts. I have installed 3 RV A/C models in the last 6 years, and this one by far was the easiest. You will need to add a furnace thermostat control which I also show here:

According to AI, for whatever that's worth: "The Social Security Administration (SSA) has experienced the largest workforce reduction in its history, cutting more than 8,000 agency jobs—shrinking staff to its lowest level since 1967. These reductions and regional office closures are causing severe customer service delays, extended call wait times, and backlogs for vital disability and retirement benefits." I'm supposed to get my very first SS payment soon. Fingers crossed. Good luck.

I guess not pulling the trigger on replacing the NOISY Dometic (Penguin 2?) A/C that came with our LE2 back in early 2022 has opened the field for more upgrade options? I’m still hoping to DIY this project - so is the latest consensus the “Chill Cube”? Is some kind of external roof support still an issue? NOT on lithium or solar, almost always plugged in, so AH’s are not on our criteria list. We like the condensate drains through the tubes between the hulls as opposed to running off the roof - but not opposed to running it through an external tube if that is an option. One big reason that we haven’t rushed into anything as of yet is that we -rarely- use the A/C. It’s got to get to the high 80’s before we opt to break out the earplugs, crank the TV volume to 100, and run the A/C until we get to 70-something and shut it off again. I guess I’ll run the original equipment until it stops working at this rate. (That, and avoid Texas in August…)

It would help if you showed a picture of the "flat plug" on your new bike rack. Without seeing that, I might guess it could be the 4-pin trailer connection (for small trailers without brakes). Here is an example: Curt Vehicle Wiring Harness with 5-Pole Flat Trailer Connector - 60" Wire Lead CURT Custom Fit Vehicle Wiring C58531 What you're attempting is not an easy job! Most trucks that have the 7-blade connector also have a 4-pin connection zip-tied somewhere above the bumper. But the Oliver doesn't have one! 🤣 You can pick connections for brake lights, turn signals, reverse and running lights in one of two locations. 1) tap into the lights at the rear of the Oliver, or 2) at the junction box where OTT splices the 7-blade harness into the Oliver trailer wiring. I believe this junction box in newer Olivers is inside the bathroom vanity, but who knows on a 2026. In our hull it's easily accessed under the front dinette seat (see picture). If I was doing this for our hull, I would pick option #2 since you can see these wires are easily accessible (likely not so in your Oliver). The link I supplied shows a 60" wire which is fine for rear wiring. If you are going up to the front harness, you want something like this that has longer wires. It's actually rather easy to run wiring from the rear, along the streetside basement, all the way up to front junction box. 35 Ft 4-Way Trailer Wiring Harness - Wishbone Style - 42" Ground Optronics Trailer Wiring A35W42B The hard part front or rear is to tap into the existing wiring. I rarely recommend using 3M Scotchlok™ connectors, but I would in this case since secondary rear wiring on a bike rack is not exactly "mission critical." Hope this helps! 😎

Yeah, at a minimum you gotta remove the basket to spray Vortex. As you can see in my picture, it gets rather dirty under there! I removed all this just for ceramic coating, to do the job right. Removed the doghouse handles and latches, the outlet plates, anything screwed down or riveted. Whatever doesn't come off has to be masked for Vortex application. Can't stand warning labels either! You can see where a couple were removed and the one showing was removed next. With the basket off, it can be cleaned thoroughly with a degreaser that you wouldn't want to use if the basket was still above fiberglass. I'm not interested in PPF or Vortex. Now that we have a good ceramic coating shine we prefer to enjoy the clean look. Don't forget mud flaps, regardless of other protection, and not just on the TV. I found the dirtiest part of the Oliver was always the fiberglass underneath behind the Oliver wheels all the way to the rear bumper, grease, road tar, etc. It was bad, but not anymore! Either way, the result is in the prep work! 😎

AI keeps telling us that the local SSA office CAN print out the report we need IF we can convince them to. But these days you need to make an appointment online and “I’ve tried mailing this and it keeps getting lost” isn’t a choice if the appointment system. AI also says if all else fails “Call your Congressman” yeah - if you haven’t had enough of inefficient bureaucracy yet.

We do the clean-up each time we break camp. (Though around the cat little box - every time we attend to it.) We have a carpet runner - that goes from the bathroom door to under the edge of the (king) bed and covers the width of the “linoleum”. I shake it out to get rid of the loose dirt, and we wash it about once a month or so. Our biggest issue is cat hair - which seems to be magnetically attracted to the upholstery. It’s not a big issue for the furnace return register as we rarely use it. We go through the sticky “lint rollers” at a pretty good rate. We did inherit one of those large outdoor rugs/mats that we use if we’re going to be in one place for more than a few days. Out West, we found it likes to blow away. We found it two or three camp sites downwind once.

Hi folks, Totally non-Oliver and not even travel or trailer related - but wanted to ask if anybody had any tips for getting the Social Security Administration to actually do their job. About two years ago Debra contacted a former employer’s pension administrator to claim the pension she had coming for 20 years service. They told her they had no record of her even working there, and would need to obtain a detailed report from SSI to prove she worked there. OK - a bit wired, but not the first time we’ve had something odd happen. (My theory: Debra’s last name starts with two “A”s, so my data processing background tells me that first record in a database often gets pulled in as a column label and lost.) Anyway - download, print, fill out the form from SSI online, send it in with the required fee, and wait - up to 120 days. 120 days - and then some - come and go and no report in the mailbox. Several calls and holding for hours online and the final answer is “we can find your request and we’ll have someone look into it and get back to you.” (Guess what happened…) Several more weeks/months later we have to contact them again - still no record of the request - they DO show the payments received though. Fast-forward to a year later after several more phone calls. They send a packet out that says they couldn’t complete the request because they couldn’t find the signed form - so she has to start all over- but - they do send a voucher of sorts showing payment. So - she re- mikes the whole thing with the voucher and a new, signed request form - and we wait. No reply 150 days later. So the phone calls begin. Again. Last week - the person on the phone says “We have no record of your request… we’ll escalate this to a priority level” (which they did twice with the first one.) So - here we are with a pension we can get because SSI can’t fulfill a fairly routine report of the records the pension custodian needs to do their job. Debra wasn’t even going to pursue it, but I worked for the same company and am receiving a pension. (Different last name.) so I KNOW there’s $$$ on the table. Any suggestions besides tearing hair out?!

Is THAT what the Oliver looks like without the front storage basket?! I barely recognize it…

I figured if I got totally locked out - even though we kept a set of trailer keys in the truck - I can just slide a side window open from outside and climb in cat-burglar style. The 2025 Sierra has the keyless entry (fob in pocket or purse) which is reliable (so far) and you can also unlock it with your smartphone. (Which is usually reliable - u less there’s no cell service…) So I’ve kinda gotten used up not using it needing a key. As I mentioned before - I know there are a lot of keyless locks around, though most likely not suitable for RVs. I’m sure there’s some other ones out there that are simpler and less prone to failure. As I also mentioned - using our trailer for several months at a time for five years now, I’m not going to gripe too much about things that quit working. I’ve had to replace the smoke alarm twice, the CO/propane detector, swap out the tire valve stem cores, stop the Truma water heater from sending fireballs out the side of the trailer, replace the television, yank out the awning seal, replace the Nor-cold freezer hinges twice, the Furrion Stereo, one touch-light and another one failing, replace the black tank valve, patch up a leaky window frame, tear the MaxxFan down to replace the motor, oh - and the dang Dometic A/C still sounds like a 747 with full takeoff power. (see there? You got me started….)

2026 LEII hull 1673. Just purchased a new bike rack Kuat Piston Pro X for the back of the Oliver that has turn signal and brake lights installed in the rack. It requires a flat plug connection. Any suggestions on how to get that flat plug powered from the trailer? I searched the database for “flat+plug” and didn’t see anything…

We have a daily interior clean-up. Amazing the amount of dog hair that comes out of the vacuum. We have 3 small shower rugs that I take out and brush off. Shake out Fiona's bed sheet, and also brush off the L.L. Bean waterproof mat at the door. 5-8 minutes out of our day. The heater exhaust vent is the first thing my wife vacuums. She does the interior cleaning. Once a year I wipe down the inside fiberglass and use the wax mix TopGun shared with the group.

With my Turbro Inverter, once it reaches set temp I'm seeing between 250-600 watts during the day in 85-95 degree weather with 80+ humidity so you're probably pretty close with your numbers- and we keep the inside temps low, too... around 70-72. Haven't monitored during the night yet but obviously the watts draw will be even lower. Don't know why anyone who boondocks would buy anything but an inverter AC/Heat pump.

Yep, me too on slippers. So much dirt, we know why! His bed is at the end of the aisle! Picture of Charley when we first got our Oliver, first cleaning too. Now with some age and TALL mattresses, he can't get up on the beds anymore! I hadn't noticed the edges being bad, but I guess the older floors were different. We use carpet runners which collect most of the dust. Chris uses our Dewalt vacuum around the edges and under the dinette, takes her 2-3 minutes. I remove the short runner at the entrance every 2-3 days and give it a whip on both ends which removes most of the dirt. Roll up the long one between trips to wash. We put them in the washing machine at home which has worked well. Recently one edge started fraying on the long one and Chris hemmed that edge. We have 151 overnights on these runners according to my Oliver Travels spreadsheet. Not bad. They're 26" wide which is a perfect fit, and you can order by the foot in length. One 10' and 4' fills everything perfectly except under the dinette. He has learned to sleep on his mat by the nightstand. 😎 Amazon.com: ORFA HOME Custom Size Hallway Runner Rug, Slip/Skid Resistant, 26 Inch Wide X Your Choice of Lenght, Solid Blue, 26 Inch Width X 10 Feet Length, Sold and Priced Per Foot : Home & Kitchen

We’ve got the manual door lock, too. It’s one of those things (like the suburban hot water tank) that is simple and reliable. One less thing to worry about when you are way out “there”. Mike

Here- no sweeping, just open the screen door dust goes back where it came from. Helps keeping the exterior screens clean too. Neither of us wear our shoes while in the Oliver. We have found this little blower is super handy. Also works for blow drying a washed TV and inside and out. “No brooms club here” 😄 Harbor Freight - BAUER 20V Cordless, 200 MPH/120 CFM Compact Workshop Blower - Tool Only $40

You're welcome! And you will not be sorry. If you're waiting to later in the year, we won't get real feedback from you until the following summer. Looking forward to seeing results from somebody who lives east where humidity is certainly a climate factor in A/C performance, I've tried running a couple studies and each time I failed to capture full data every 24 hours, but I have some preliminary findings. With highs in the low 90s for a full week, lows high 60s, I set temp on the Chill Cube at 80F (cabin temp on Ruuvi showed 79F consistently) which is a good set temp for parking the Oliver outdoors in the summer. I got good data for three 24-hr periods which averaged at 108 Ah used per 24 hours, A/C running 24x7. I know I I took snapshots every day for a week but don't get me started on iCloud because sometimes pics just disappear off my phone! Beyond the 3 days of verified data, I know for a fact that I ran the Chill Cube for ONE (1) FULL WEEK on our 900 Ahs! After a week SOC was down to a low 18%. This translates to 105 Ah per day. Keep in mind, when low 90s outside, and if there was no A/C running, the Oliver Cabin would get up to 99F min or low 100s! Then I tried another test, A/C set temp at 74F which is a comfortable temp for camping. I was able to run our A/C for four (4) full days, 4x 24x7, again highs low 90s. Daily Ah used was 135, 209, 270, 136. I have no idea why yhe numbers varied in this way as the weather was rather consistent. Average over 4 days is 188 Ah per day. I cannot believe how efficient this runs. One additional factor: these numbers are net of the fact we have 320W rooftop solar which produces 10-20A per hour half the day. Next test I should account for this or just turn off the SC so everything is pulling from the 900 Ah Epoch batteries. Did you know the Dometic P2 once it gets past the Soft Start procedures draws 150A or higher? In this short test, the Furrion Chill Cube on average took as much power cooling for 24 hours as the Dometic P2 would use in one hour and fifteen minutes. Scotty, I'm seeing much better savings than "about half the power!" But camping in hot humid times in the east, you should half the power, or perhaps 40%. Can't wait to see! I'll run a better test in a few weeks when we get daily highs in the high 90s. It just cooled off here and thankfully for the next week or two we're back to spring-like temps in the low 80s. 😎

I first sweep with my hand-sized whisk broom and then crawl on my hands and knees and clean with a mild dampened towel to pick up the remaining grit and dirt. I do this often. On my Oliver, like Ronbrink's, the only really ugly section is below the shower door and I have been wondering about how to tackle that yellowed section. Glad for this thread. And I always remove my shoes at the door and wear 'house slippers' inside. It's a real wonder how so much dirt gets in and all the way down the aisle to the beds!

A picture worth a thousand words. Thank you for that!

Obviously, I missed it! Thank you.

Lamar, keep fighting the good fight! Certainly, Bill has good advice in contacting OTT management directly. You're not asking for too much, so I hope you stick to your position. OTT can reuse the 2KW inverter in another installation. Wholesale costs between a 2KW vs. 3KW Xantrex is likely about +$200 or not much more. Labor to replace the inverter and rewire all 120VAC circuits through the new 3KW inverter should be 2 shop hours. I know I could do this work in one afternoon and I'm older/slower than the younger contract electrician billing flat-rate shop hours! 😎

We're in agreement on this one! Ours might have been a Wi-Fi Ranger. I do remember testing it and it actually made the signal weaker! We went with a Pepwave router to stream on cell and a Starlink Mini for when there is no cell coverage. I removed the Wi-Fi antenna, both cameras, gave away the (yes clunky) screen and the Sat Dish from our roof and patched all the fiberglass. We have the manual door lock, now for 10+ years. After reading that the rubber contact pads were fading on these auto-locks, most of you with this feature were carrying keys just in case, and the deadbolt issue as Tom fully explained above, like @routlaw noted, I/we decided to pass on this upgrade. Good Customer Service is great, but if the product continues to fail it becomes nuisance, or worse if you truly get locked out! I purchased a backup manual lock to have on the road if needed. I found a cool white powder coat model on sale vs. the original chrome latch. If you get tired of dealing with your auto-latch, you could go manual: Amazon.com: Lippert Global Entry Door Latch Kit with Deadbolt, Keyed Lock, Two FIC Keys, Edge Cover Plate, Strike Plate, Mounting Screws for Travel Trailers - 239632, White : Automotive Honestly, this clean white door latch looks better too! The only thing that has failed on our entrance door is the screen door latch, so I replaced it with one of these: Amazon.com: WanDwel Aluminum RV Screen Door Latch Handle Replacement Kit (Right Hand) Metal Camper Travel Trailer Motorhome Entry Parts for Passenger Side : Automotive

The Wonder Egg has had Vortex over the lower front, just like taylor.coyote's picture for about 8 years now. Yes, it added 40 lbs to the weight, but is impervious to rocks. I hesitated to take a trip to Alaska until it was applied. Now, I'll go anywhere, (within reason).