Leaderboard

The drill is in the forward direction, the interior thicknesses are such that it would be virtually impossible to worry through in reverse. The edge destruction is evident in some of the first pics but it is mostly on the backside of the cut. I've never drilled/cut a hole that I didn't intend to cover the edges somehow. If you think about it, the only raw edge from the factory is on the upper shell at the belly band and they use some kind of a router setup to cut it after the two halves are mated. The blade I used is just a fine toothed metal cutting blade. I've found the key to using the hole saws is to drill your pilot hole first. This prevents the drill in the hole saw from grabbing and jerking the saw rapidly into the fiberglass. That will always shatter the edges. Just let the the saw get a smooth bite and then work on through with a slow steady forward motion at full speed on the drill. Taking a video of one of my projects would require my very able helper (Tali) to really have to multi-task as I've usually got her playing "surgeon's assistant" handing me the various tools and bits that I need. We do try to take lots of pics as we go. As always, I'm happy to assist with any info/advice anyone may want, would not want you to ruin an otherwise perfectly good day.

In order for the brakes on the Oliver to work properly, they MUST be properly grounded to the truck. This connection is made starting with the 7 pin connector on the back of the Tow. Lift the cover of the left hand seat of the forward small dinette. This the seat next to the pantry/cupboard. Connected to the frame there will be a grounding strip, it will have lots of yellow wires running to it. This ties all the grounds in the 12 V system to the frame. You will need to locate the bundle of wires coming from the front of the trailer that is tied to the 7 pin connector mounted on the front outside wall of the Oliver. Inside this group of wires there is a white wire (as well as blue, green, brown etc.) It is the ground coming from your truck via the 7 pin connector at the rear of the vehicle and the double male ended umbilical attached to the trailer. This white ground wire must have a jumper to the grounding strip. Otherwise all the grounding the trailer is getting from the truck is thru the hitch ball. This is NOT enough for the brakes to work consistently. The lights and everything else will probably work just fine however... Hope this helps.

There is almost a universal consensus that the scariest thing concerning modifications to our beautiful, shiny Oliver’s is the thought of (OMG) drilling a hole in the fiberglass. Well, we’re on our second Oliver and I’ll have to admit that the first hole I put into hull # 26 was a frightening thing. Since then, I’ve drilled a bunch of holes in both hull # 26 and hull # 50. Some were tiny and some were pretty darn large. I’ll have to say that the drilling has gotten easier as time has passed. In the past few weeks I’ve finished a couple of projects that involved some drilling and cutting of fiberglass. Tali wanted to be able to watch TV while on the road. So, we finally (after two years) got our satellite dish and receiver up and running. The only logical place to mount the receiver was up in the rear cabinet but with the door closed, the remote and receiver would not be able to communicate so I purchased a powered IR repeater from Amazon. The remote still has to be able to “see” the eye of the repeater so it needed to be mounted outside the cabinet. So, there’s gotta be some holes drilled. Then I got the crazy idea that it would be really cool to use the otherwise wasted space behind the propane tanks for storage of my chocks and blocks. Now I don’t know about the rest of you folks, but I’d sooner eat a frozen possum than to have to take the cover off the front. That sucker is heavy and if you’re height challenged (think Steve and Tali), it becomes a two person job. There had to be an easier way to access that area. Yep, more holes. Don’t be scared to drill a hole now and then. Just make sure you know what’s on the other side of where you’re drilling and you’ll be fine. And remember this, don’t ever drill down into the floor and through the top of the fresh water tank, it will ruin an otherwise perfectly good day. Trust me on this.

SNOW CAMPING, do you do it ? Here is a couple of videos and some photos. Clickable link: http://olivertraveltrailers.com/snow-camping-larry-mountainborn-harmon/ Betty digging through a snow drift looking for the fire ring.

It's the trailer. We have had the same problems. Traced the issue to a poor ground inside the trailer in the harness that comes from the truck. It’s an easy fix. But earlier this year we drove about half of a 7500 mile trip with either intermittent or zero brakes.

Scotty, Mine is a 2011 V-6 ecoboost F-150. I've been set at a 6 on the brake controller since about day 3 after starting there, going up and down and then getting back to the 6. While one should adjust this depending on conditions (wet roads, dirt or gravel roads, certainly ice and snow) I have just let it stay at 6. Of course, so far, I've not driven Twist in snow. With regards to the connector - I presently have a problem with my left turn signals. While the right turn signal functions properly, the left will blink all lights on the left plus the backup light on the right. There is no indication of a problem on the screen inside the truck. Since I'm going back to the Mothership in early July, I will ask them to look into the problem. Just think of what the pogo effect would have been without the Andersen. I get just shy of 14 mpg - cruise on 65 mph max or 5 mph below posted and only use the tow/haul function in really bad hill country. I do use larger extended mirrors - the kind that slip fit over the existing mirrors (I already had these from towing a different camper). They do help me see just a bit further behind Twist thus making changing lanes a bit easier. Have you tried some electrical grease in that connector? Bill