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I went to the Vortex website. I could not find a dealer locator. How did you find a shop using Vortex? Thanks

I see a lot of Casitas. Most everyone who has one says they wish it was larger. I wish Oliver had a 27' and 30' option to compete with Airstream. https://casitatraveltrailers.com/fm/

I understand the center of the Oliver universe is east of the rockies with the rallies logically located in shouting distance of the factory. This said, any chance on getting enough attendance to have a rally within a 1,200 to1,5000 miles from the Pacific Ocean?

Sagebrush, I'm with you on small towns and avoiding large populations. For 25 years, I drove 20 minutes to the office navigating two stop signs and one stop light. Unfortunately, small towns are not a good bet to support a service center. I'd go for a small to mid-sized city such as Boise Idaho, Reno, Nv, Bend Oregon and reluctantly possibly Salt lake due it's central location in the west.

I wasn’t a fan of the dealer program, but did have a positive experience with the dealer in Salem, Oregon. What I would like to see in the near future is an Oliver Service center somewhere west of the Continental Divide, preferably in a smaller city. Remember, any town with a stoplight is too damn big.

@Olive2Roam or click this direct link: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/events/oliver-owners-rally/

Yep, they did this change a while ago. Only factory direct again.

Is the dealer model gone? “Your Oliver, straight from the source Hi Steve and Diana, We want you to hear this from us first. Oliver Travel Trailers is now factory-outlet direct. Every Oliver is sold straight from our shop in Hohenwald, Tennessee, by the same people who hand-build it. Going direct gives you a clearer, more personal experience from the start. You get straightforward pricing, honest answers, and a real relationship with the team that knows your trailer inside and out, from your very first question to the day you tow it home.”

I'm adding a simple toggle switch to the Maxxfan so that the fan can be stopped leaving the vent door open. Often Chris likes the fan on, exhausting softly at 30%, as she falls asleep. Later, I want it OFF but would like the vent door to remain OPEN. The mechanism is so NOISY, and you must do it twice, close then open. I place a pillow over it to deaden the sound! More on my upgrade later, as I will start a mod thread on this. I started getting into the fan and next thing I have the entire fan in pieces, removed the upper section above the roof too, and have cleaned everything. It's looking great! (pictures later) I noticed I have a small broken part (on left in the picture). It's the swivel piece that holds the screen in place. Not sure why my iPhone camera made these blue, since they are of course white. Anybody have an extra one of these? I'm thinking maybe when replacing some assembly, somebody here could have extras. They're $8.49 each but add shipping and one comes to $23! The screen has been holding with 3 of 4 working, but sooner or later I should get one or two. https://www.rvupgradestore.com/Maxxair-Round-Screen-Frame-Knob-p/05-21233.htm?CartID=1

I’m thinking that a hole could be drilled through the condensate pan with a “standpipe” that would allow water to collect in the trough/pan to wet the condenser fan and tubing - but drain before it could overflow and drip/run onto the roof. Whether it could be plumbed into existing tubing would be the question. As for “modifying” things that might void the warranty - aside from my vehicles (IOW - expensive stuff) I usually don’t sweat it. If I’m going to buy a piece of equipment from Amazon or Walmart and install it myself, IF there is even still a warranty at that point - I’ll navigate the CS to get whatever breaks under warranty resolved.

The OP changed his mind on this criterion. Scotty can chime in again, but I believe it's because the benefits of less noise and greater Ah efficiency of the Chill Cube over the Dometic FreshJet. For me, I would not buy a Dometic RV A/C product again on principal, so I didn't! 😎 We have no plans for summer travel to the Gulf Coast, the Mississippi Valley or anywhere else hot & humid anytime soon. However, we can assume when the cooling demands are high and high humidity is present, the Chill Cube like any A/C will produce an abundance of condensate. Yes, there is no drain for it, so if enough is produced to overfill the condensate wheel reservoir it should overflow. If there was a drain, or if one was added you would lose the efficiency in wetting/cooling the condenser by the water wheel. Why couldn't the condensate reservoir be tapped, condensate plumbed away? No condensate drip may be worth losing some efficiency, but many Forum members have expressed their unwillingness to modify new equipment. Comments like this were added to GJ’s Houghton mod posts, "I shouldn't have to!" or “I can't for warranty reasons.” @Geronimo John this would NOT be you, as you have modified your Houghton A/C years ago in ways that were not easy to design nor execute! Condensate drain plumbing in the Oliver was designed to mate with the Dometic P2 and we've heard but not confirmed the FreshJet drain would mate as well. The picture shows the A/C opening of our Oliver. We could assume all OTT Dometic P2 installations to be similar. On the far right we see the 12 AWG yellow Romex to power the A/C. The other wiring with red butt connectors is the low voltage thermostat wiring and right in the middle is the condensate plumbing. There was also tubing connected there running from the rear of the p2 to this elbow fitting. If we had a condensate drip issue, I would pull the Chill Cube off the roof, drill and screw a tap somewhere in the condensate trough and run a flexible water line to the front left corner attached to this drain. In my thinking when something is needed, it's not can I do this, but how will I get it done! 😎 It shouldn't be too difficult and running the Chill Cube vs. a FreshJet would certainly be worth the effort. Why can't condensate plumbing be added to the Atmos/Tosot that several here have installed, or the Turbro/Pioneer inverter A/C, or the Houghton? https://www.amazon.com/Joyway-Brass-Fitting-Degree-Elbow/dp/B07CMRYL16/ Yeah, that's the way of our world. Last November, I worked a full exterior cosmetic restoration of our 10-year-old hull ending with ceramic coating. We don't travel near as much as Galileo, but since then we've gone on 10 short trips, 54 overnights (43 boondocking on dirt). See picture where the pavement ends and then another 24 miles to our campsite at Walnut Creek. I pressure-wash when we return from trips like this but don't ever truly wash her. I'm not using products or buffing wheels, not me. I do use a leaf-blower after pressure-washing! 🤣 We're just going to get her dirty and bring 'er back for detailing every year or so. This reference makes sense to me, what's a little condensate drip for campers like us?

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think that I'll use the "run it long to the TV bumper" approach - at least for now - to avoid adding any holes to the shiny new trailer.

No need to imagine. My previous tow vehicle had an engine harness wiring that ran too close to an exhaust heat shield. At precisely 1,000 miles after warranty, the heat shield wore through the wiring harness and shorted out a fuel injector. I’m just lucky it happened within easy motor club towing distance of a dealer. (“Lucky” if you call having to change camping reservations at the last moment, rent a car, and fork over $500 for the repair.) Still, I guess I should count myself lucky that it happened in a city rather than the narrow, winding mountain roads I was driving with the trailer the week before. Anyway, it seems that just as with everything else, we’re often beta testers for the things we buy. If stuff holds together for the first couple of years, you’re basically in your own.

Seems like areas that I just cleaned and waxed yesterday have water spots on them by morning. If I could only direct rain or tree debris… The video didn’t mention if the ChillCube had a designated “outlet” for condensate that doesn’t get blown through the condenser coils. Does it just “overflow” when it reaches the top of a pan or channel, or is there a designated drain or even a handy barb or nipple one could slip a hose onto to direct the overflow someplace least harmful?

I suppose if one stayed in one geographical and/or climatic region - you could worry about this or not. We find ourselves in pretty much every area. (the “trying to towel off” illustration is something we’ve encountered far too often!) One can only assume (hope?) that the folks who designed, built, and teased this critter have taken varying climates where one might use A/C into account.

I was lulled by an OTT owner that condensate over the side of our hull was no issue. I went with the Houghton (no internal drain or evaporative solution such as a water wheel). My hull is now stained by the condensate. SO, I fully agree that an internal drain or a water wheel what works in humid conditions is a must. GJ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ CORRECTION: The quote above was not from RonBlink. Not sure why it was attrituted incorretly. Here is a copy of it: Sorry Ron! GJ

I had to contact my US Congressman's office to get OPM to finally respond. Their recording just said go to website and hung up and website did not cover my needs. I emailed my Congressman and they next morning I had two emails from OPM wanting to know if they could help me. During my 35 years with the Treasury Dept we took Inquiries from Congressman very seriously.

again ???????

Actually there is a way to easily remove and re-install those black tracks. Read my post above that describes I think well enough how to do this. Is it a PITA that any of us shouldn't have to do, yes, but once you do this a time or two it becomes fairly easy. Good that you figured out your leak. Your windows seem to be different than ours given your description of that stop bumper screw. Our windows have yet another type of rubber seal installed on the track that acts as a bumper when sliding the window open. I've said it before but it's worth repeating, imagine buying a new truck or auto and having to put up with this terrible flawed design of a window. And yet these are installed by the hundreds of thousands on US made RV's of all brands. All that out of the way the paracord is on an order of magnitude better at wicking water out of those weep holes compared to anything else I have tried other than the wet vacuum.

Yeah, thanks for the reminder. Or the condensate being blown through the condenser could help keep it clean. There are always two sides of an argument! 🤣 I stopped worrying about that when we left the East. I remember coming out of the shower during summer months in IL, VA and/or FL. I would towel-off, a never-ending process with water being replaced with sweat. Here I barely towel-off, start getting dressed and by the time you're done dressing you're dry! 😎 I put tools, or scrub brushes or anything away wet. We don't worry about coasters under drinks on wood tables. Moisture vanishes and not much grows out here. On this point, when making choices for mods to our Olivers, personal camping style and climate where we camp truly matters. What works for one might not work as well for another.

I think I mentioned that the actual channel on the back side of the shade is cracked and doesn’t give the clip much to hold onto. Moving the clip to an untracked area helps - but once an area of the channel is cracked, it’s easy for the crack to spread to adjoining areas. So the clip needs to be moved more than one screw away on the window frame. I actually did try to bend the clip. Unfortunately, it’s pretty stout spring steel - so that didn’t work. One of ours was actually broken and half missing upon delivery - probably from either attempts to re-form it, or just whacking the window shade too hard when it was initially installed. Not surprisingly, that’s the shade with the cracked channel that likes to fall off.

I believe there are 4 clips holding each blind. Bend them very slightly to tighten the hold on the shade! 😎

Amen to that! We have one that likes to fall off - but it gives my wife and I something to bet on at the end of each trip before we set up the trailer. “Do you think the window shade fell off?!” I find that the one prone to falling off has cracks in the channel in the back where it “snaps” over the U shaped metal clips. You may want to try moving the clips up different locations if you find yours are cracked as well. They are more than a bit clunky - so if/when they start to fall apart, I’ll certainly look for other options. Perhaps “old fashioned” curtains have some merits after all. As for the windows themselves - I’ve just resigned myself to the fact that they’re about useless if it rains - at all. I haven’t delved into awnings or other devices to keep water from hitting the screens if the window is open. I also never leave the Girard awning extended when we’re gone, at night, if it’s windy, or in heavy rain. As @TimD discovered - the black, plastic inner “track” or guide the windows slide on isn’t (easily) removable from the frame. I’m sure there’s a way, but I haven’t gotten that ambitious yet. It turns out our leak wasn’t really due to fuel or clogged weep holes or drains. It was the screw that hold the window stop in place. The little plastic “foot” that keeps the window from sliding too far open-forward. The knucklehead who decided it would be a good idea to drill a hole in the bottom of the window frame is OFF my Christmas list. Happily, some sealant on that screw seems to have remedied the leak.

Bought skein of paracord today and confirm @DavePhelps suggestion this stuff works, way better than the pipe cleaners. Immediately it was obvious the cord was wicking water out of the weep holes. Very Effective solution. Thanks

I think that was Morton’s YouTube (the electrical engineer with the super in-depth testing of ducted and ductless models?) But yes, he mentioned because the condensate gets flung onto the evaporator coils to assist in the cooling that it might be more susceptible to collecting, dirt, dust, etc. That makes sense as a wet surface is a lot more likely to hold onto airborne stuff - pollen, etc. The added moisture would also allow stuff to grow. The height might make it easier, but the water there would work against that. I suppose as with most things, YMMV as to how often you need to clean the condenser coils, what method to use, and if you’d need something like a commercial coil cleaner. I had a home window unit that did something similar with a ring around the condenser coil fan that sat in a pool of condensate water. It was in humid Texas, so the water didn’t evaporate that well, but did make sure that dust and pollen collected into a mud that required pretty aggressive cleaning. Once a season I’d pull the whole unit out of the sleeve, put aluminum foil over the electronics, and take a pressure washer to the thing. I don’t know how well that brushless DC motor that turns the condenser fan is sealed, or if any of those “many” sensors will appreciate being sprayed with a stream of water.