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I am at the Mothership today and waiting to pick up the FST. So...... I thought I would share a photo of some Ollies waiting to met their new owners. It's nice to see the company doing so well and the family of owners growing. It should be a heck of a rally in May 2018.

I've been searching the internet looking for a hitch to tow my soon to be Oliver. I wanted something tough, adjustable and I only wanted to buy one. My TV has a 2 1/2" hitch receiver so I also wanted one that size. My thinking on that was, I had really never seen a 2 1/2" hitch system so I figured that may keep down theft, I don't know. I've read about and experienced the hassles of properly weighing my rig and determining tongue weight of a RV. Well I stumbled across a unit made by a company called Weigh-Safe and was intrigued. It turns out that they sell a heavy-duty hitch with a built in hitch scale. I bought my unit from e-trailer it arrived in just a few days and I am very pleased with its construction. I'll post a few pictures cause I think its cool. I also bought the keyed alike hitch positioner and lock.

Ahhh yes, the ol' rough road.... 4th street if I remember in Albuquerque New Mexico... It was like driving down a washboard... Lol. I've always hated that road, grrr just like I've always hated Karen's blow dryer... It blew and it blew and it blew until the smoke alarm went off over my head instantly deafening me for life :) Then Karen started screaming at me... "My blow drier, my blow drier" as I was trying to reset the smoke alarm... But that darn smoke alarm wouldn't shut up until I was finally able to open the window as Karen was still screaming at me... "It's on fire, you burned up my blow dryer, the smoke alarm won't go off (stupid she implied in her eyes with THAT look) with the trailer full of smoke..." Lol. Then I looked down and saw the flames in my hand and smiled... Finally... I had really needed to kill something today and there it was burning in my hands... The blow dryer was sitting there dead, innocently looking up at me thru the flames... I had done my job, the bed was dry and I was able to toss it out the window before the first drop of burning plastic hit the mattress... Life is good :) Peace has returned to the forest once again :) The rain has stopped and now we are sitting around the campfire outside created by the burning blow dryer keeping us warm and toasty roasting marshmallows over the black rubbery carcass of her once beloved blow dryer :) Happy Anniversary Honey, I will be buying you Another Blow Dryer this year for Thanksgiving... Love Reed OK... Maybe I exaggerated a little... It's still raining and the blow dryer is happily bubbling outside in the mud puddle... The smoke alarm finally turned itself off after I turned the fan on high and sucked out the smoke, but... The bed is dry :) and so am I :) The End of a perfect day... :)

As for the weep holes, when I returned from the dusty desert, I removed all the windows (sliding part) screens and black track parts to completely clean the tracks and weep holes, I was amazed at how much crud/sand/silt they held. It all comes out pretty easily.

If it's coming in at the top of the window then I would be concerned about above the window and between the hulls. Awning mounts and the AC shroud, with how much wind you've talked about and your securing methods, I wonder if the mounts are compromised at all. Also if it can't can't all run out the inside of the windows it will flow around the frame and gravity says it goes in the below the bed compartments....

We had to fill up with Glacier water while in Cloudcroft because the Forest Service closed down the campsites early and cut off the water. Not an ideal solution but we're glad to have had the option. I'm sure part of it is the new tank. We didn't have time to do many things, and one of those was to flush out the tank. Regardless, I'm thinking about installing a carbon filter at the sink, which should take care of the taste problem.

That is too funny! If they ever remake "The Long Long Trailer" they need to add that scene. Glad to hear you are dry and hope you can find the nearest Wal Mart quick to replace Karen's hair dryer. I think she deserves the deluxe model. :-). scotty

Double post corrected - Bill

Oops - sorry about double post. Reed - A correction on my last night’s post. Clair says it was our porch lights that was causing our window leaks. Apparently they were a new style and the wiring had been properly sealed but the screws were not. Hope this helps you.

If you haven’t ever removed the rack from the back of your Oliver, I advise you to do so. I had the factory install the aluminum frame for the new bike rack recently (I plan to buy my own Thule components that will work with a fat bike). I had to remove mine for the Oliver to fit in my storage unit. I couldn’t get it to slide out by myself. A friend helped (with the aid of a rubber mallet). We discovered that Oliver had drilled the holes with the frame in place and left lots of debris in the channels. We removed the rack and thoroughly cleaned the channels. It now slides in and out with much less effort.

Omg!! Think I wet myself laughing so hard! All Smiles!...... Kathy

So sorry to hear this....no fun at all! Your situation may be different from ours but it may be worth checking this out. We had a fairly large amount of water entering along the bottom edge of 3 windows in our Clever Beast. We have the RV gutters and all of the weep holes were clear. Since it was 3 windows Clair thought it could be coming from the roof air conditioner. We are less than 3 hrs from the factory and wanted to take the trailer over to get the fresh water tank fix done & have a few other minor issues addressed so Clair phoned Jason for an appointment. He was very pleased that Jason was pretty sure he knew where our leaking was coming from right away. He is sleeping right now and I didn’t go over for the service appointment but I’m pretty sure it was the clearance lights. I know the windows were fine. If it was something else I’ll let you know. The problem was easily corrected and we haven’t had any leaks since. I hope your problem is an easy fix too....Kathy

Reed, We had two window leaks in the Ollie. First leak was top of dinette window last year. Oliver resealed outdoor porch light fixture above window including hole where wire passes into the hull. Another leak appeared at top of rear window, too. Decided to makes repairs at home this time. Found water coming in around rear exterior Oliver sign/ LED housing above window. Appeared to be 3m 4000 marine sealant holding Oliver sign lens in place, took some time to remove old sealant. Resealed with Starbrite white marine silicone. Did not want to use 3M 4000 sealant again, used something flexible and easy to remove. Happy to report no leaks in either window after very heavy rains.

Reed, Have you been able to determine if the leaks are coming from around the window within the frame enclosure or from around the enclosure itself going into the trailer hull? Thinking back of your early on postings and your discussion of extreme rough road conditions I am wondering if there are now some rough road induced voids in the sealing of the window and the hull. If so, and that is the leak source then some good aluminum tape over the upper window enclosure to the hull might be a worthy band aid fix until things get sorted out. Just a thought. Good luck with your search and resolution. george

I have to add a word here for the RV gutters strips. Applied properly, they really route water away from the window I will have to look for a link, cause it's been a few years. Position the tails away from the windows, and you are golden. Sherry PS. Happy Anniversary !!!!!

Did you raise the tongue? Any water left in the tank can be sucked out using the water pump, _before_ adding antifreeze (capture it in a bucket at each faucet). Or you can open the tank drain valve and let it drip a long time.... What small amount is left will be of no consequence. If you don’t elevate the front significantly (at least six or eight inches), you can’t effectively empty it, this is simple geometry. It’s been a while since I watched that video, does it discuss raising the front for complete draining? If so, then sorry for my comments.... John Davies Spokane WAa

In our 2008, we don't have weep holes in the rear window. We have to compensate with Jack adjustments in downpours Sherry

If you get a momentary break in the rain, try this. Jack the front, just a bit, and Jack the driver side just a bit.if that doesn't work, jack a bit more. Worked for us. We often leave our trailer in storage. Little bits, not visible, plug the weep holes When someday we meet around our campfire, I'll tell you the whole story of... Rain in my side of the bed, dog going crazy, poor Paul out in the sudden monsoon rain in the middle of the night. Mountain rain, in NC, remnants of a hurricane further south.... We laugh about it now, but it was really cold. Paul about froze making those adjustments. My fault, really, because the weep holes looked clean from my height.. but, I'm pretty short... And, really,i didn't check them from above, or with a tooth pick plastic cleaner. I was tired. First night back, looked good, yada yada.. Later, we found that our solar panels shunted rainwater directly over the widow Wells. Adjusted the panels.cleaned the plugged weep holes. Done We are also big believers in the RV gutters, applied properly. Sherry

It seems odd that the person who makes the cushions decides on a small selection of fabrics for all. Part of attraction of an Oliver...and there are scores of attractions...was the ability to choose custom fabrics for the cushions. It is sad that option is no longer an option.

"We live in a rain forest" Ever consider moving? Just Kidding!!!! OK, your weep holes are clear, that's good. When was the last time (when it wasn't raining buckets outside) you slid your windows open wide and used compressed air and tweezers to blow out / pick out the seeds, pine needles, dirt, etc from your rubberized channel the window slides on? I neglected this many years ago and was confounded as to why the water would slide over the bottom railing. Well, the water did not have a clear pathway to get to the weepholes outside that I had already cleared with compressed air ... Duh! No problems since. On the other hand - I have no answer to the water coming in from the top. Hmmmmmmmmmmm . . . . . . ..

donbob3 - Since it has been 8 hours since you posted and no one with better knowledge of the subject has replied - and this includes just about everyone out there - I thought that I'd give you my 2 cents worth. I assume that you emptied your fresh water tank. If that assumption is correct then there should be a little water left in it plus a little bit of anti-freeze in it . This is normal and should not cause you any problems over the winter. I also assume that you drained your water heater and I'm assuming that your water heater is the Suburban as I'm not familiar with the tankless units. When you took out and then replaced the anode rod certainly you drained that water heater. Then the valve near the base of the water heater is the water heater by-pass valve. When you turned this it allows the anti-freeze to by-pass the empty water heater. If you didn't do this it would take an additional 6 gallons of anti-freeze just to fill the water heater alone. And, assuming that you did empty it there is little to nothing in there to freeze. Does that help you? Bill