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Thought I would put this up here in case anyone else is having the same issue I had. Soon after leaving the factory, the plastic strip that lines the bottom edge of the tank cover started to come off. It was a very cheap piece of 'L' plastic kind of glued on here and there. Really, it was pretty ugly even when new. So I finally found this very nice 'U' channel on Amazon that fits perfectly. These trims come in a vast variety of sizes and colors. It appears to be a very high quality vinyl compound and has internal fins that grab the cover on both sides, so no gluing is involved. I just set it in the sun to warm up and gently tapped it on with a rubber mallet. Before doing this, I carefully scraped off all the old glue residue with MEK and a plastic razor blade, followed by a light scrub with a 3M WHITE scotch brite pad (love these for tough cleanup jobs on the trailer, no scratching) Then I filed all the edges to make sure there were no sharp edges or bumps in the fiberglass. Then a good wash. Here's the product: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01F9FXQLU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 This looks so much better to me, and the fit is great, better than with the stock plastic trim. It's supposed to be marine grade, so hopefully it will last. My Elite took 5 feet to do. Those with the Elite 2 will need to measure, but the stuff is available in different lengths. It's all in the details! Dave

We have the twin bed version of the LEII. After the first year we realized that we were so used to sleeping together that it would be nice to be able to occasionally convert the twin beds to a double bed. I made some plywood pieces to span the gap between the twin beds and we bought some foam to sit on the plywood and create a double bed. We went with this for a year+. The problem was storing the foam when we were in the twin bed mode. So, we measured and discussed and this is what we came up with to eliminate the extra foam. We are leaving tomorrow for a month or so to go up to South Dakota so we’ll see how it works. Here is the gap between the twin beds. It measures 18” X 51”. It’s actually 50” from the nightstand to where the curve starts on the bed frames. Here is the same gap with the plywood. There are three pieces measuring 19” X 17”. It’s 3/4” plywood. The plywood stores easily under the mattresses when not in use. I cut a 1/2” X 1/8” recess on the short side of the plywood so that when placed on the fiberglass mattress frame is locks in place and won’t slide. In order to eliminate the extra foam that required a place to store we reconfigured the dinette cushions. We had new cushions made that included a larger back cushion that measures 25” X 19” and is 6” thick. In the dinette it sits on the fiberglass, not the bottom cushion. The new bottom cushion is smaller, 25” X 17” and butts up against the back cushion. The larger back cushions sit on the plywood when in double bed mode. Here are the new dinette cushions. Notice the back cushion does not sit on the bottom cushion. Here’s a shot with the cushion removed to make the double bed. Here are the cushions on the plywood. We were a little concerned that the dinette seats wouldn’t be as comfortable with the thicker back, but sitting in the driveway the last few days it seems okay. Also, we wondered if the bottom cushion would stay put without the back cushion sitting on top of it. We’ll see how it works out this next month on the road. Mike

We take possession of our Oliver November 20th. To do so, we'll be driving 3 days from Portland to Tennessee, something we've never done before, and not looking forward to. We imagine 10 hours a day of driving for 6 days total will be excruciating. However, we are clear there is no other trailer on the market we would own, so here we go on this grand adventure. We are in our mid 60's, and have never owned an RV. We decided to do this because we saw it might be more convenient when traveling to ski resorts (I compete in Masters ski races throughout the Winter), National Parks and friends around the country. We imagined it might save us some time and hassle with booking accommodations, renting cars, schlepping gear, and packing and unpacking so much. We don't know this, but we love new adventures/challenges, so here we go. Donna is an exceptional artist specializing in calligraphy, water colors and creating beautiful art books, silver jewelry that includes her work with paper, and cards for any occasion. Together, we ride a tandem bicycle and enjoy attending tandem rallies in the Summer. We've taken our bike to Europe three times for 2 week tours of the Loire, Lot, Dordogne, Rhine and Moselle river valleys. We enjoy meeting and befriending new people where ever we go. We're looking forward to meeting some of you in the near future. Donna and Duane

I did my plant tour at the end of October and am almost ready to put in my order, planning on taking delivery in September of 2019. I am on the fence about a number of critical decisions. 1. That darn composting toilet. I'm not in love with the idea of having to climb up on that thing. I'm only 5' 4" and apparently for a guy of 6' 1" it is "a stretch." And I don't believe it is going to magically separate pee and poop without a lot of wiping around in there afterwards. I will be just one person almost always, so I would think a black water tank would last me for weeks and weeks if I am careful. I'm not particularly bothered by the idea of gloving up and dealing with the black water dump business now and then. I used to be a river guide and the way we dealt with poop was 100 times worse than that. Heather also told me that some people use Sani-bags that they get on Amazon. The composting thing sounds kind of heavy to deal with, and the fan will use electricity all the time. Plus the fairly high up-front cost for a relatively simple thing doesn't seem worth it to me. For a solo boondocker, I'm thinking to go with the regular toilet. But any thoughts would be appreciated. I am also undecided on the camera system. As a solo traveler and only a moderately experienced trailer-backer, I would actually like to have a LOT of cameras. And a BIG monitor. It seems that I read in an older post that the Voyager camera system just wasn't that good a deal. It is only a 4.3" screen, which isn't very big. I think I would rather have Tadi Brothers put a system together for me. But then again, I don't want just anybody drilling holes in my Olie. And I wouldn't have cameras when I take delivery. It sounds like I might be able to buy a system and make a service appointment to have it installed the day before I take delivery. So I want a "factory" system, just a better one than they currently offer. Has anyone had experience with making a deal like that? Recommendations? I am also on the fence on the hot water heater. It seems wasteful to heat a full six gallons of water when I can never, ever imaging using that much at once when I am boondocking. I'm pretty sure I can take a more than adequate shower with less than a gallon of water. And dishwashing doesn't take much for one person. The wasteful part of either system would be whatever water you had to let run before you got hot water to the shower or tap. I think fresh water is going to be my main limitation for boondocking, so I can't just let it run down the drain while I wait for it to get hot. The demand heater appears to be simpler to winterize, but it has the potential to be more complex if anything goes wrong as many have noted. But in general I am leaning toward the Truma since it makes no sense to me to heat six gallons of water when I only need a gallon or so at a time. I am set on the idea of a propane generator, so I will be carrying extra propane bottles anyway. But it seems more cost effective to just heat what I will use. Thoughts? And last for the moment, I am seriously considering the Champion propane generator. Anybody have one? Like it? Is it quiet enough? Thanks to all in advance.

Duh. Why didn’t I think of this?

Thanks to all for the good answers. I am now leaning toward the composting toilet, which initially I thought I didn't want. It's just one less thing to deal with when I have to pass through town repositioning or resupplying. It does seem like a lot of money for what you get, but it should minimize town time waiting in the dump line and maximize boondocking time, so maybe money well spent. And it looks like I will be saving on the Truma hot water heater which I was originally pretty sure I wanted. If I don't think I need 6 gallons of hot water, I certainly don't need endless hot water. I will embrace the idea of just heating it up to the temperature I want to save propane and not let anything go down the sink unused. I hadn't thought about it heating the hull. And of course it carries another six gallons of drinking water, which I expect will be my main limiting factor for boondocking. I'm still researching the cameras but when I talked to them at the factory it did sound like they would work with me on giving me a "factory install" on a higher end system if I want. So thanks to all for your help. As always, the Oliver forum is a tremendous resource and part of the reason that convinced me to buy one in the first place. If I have trouble, there is an apparently endless supply of knowledge generously shared by Oliver owners. I'm looking forward to becoming an expert myself in time so I can be on the other end of these discussions.

Talk to bug eye driver/ Pete. He towed the little ollie about 100k with the Taco. Truck campers are great where you need 4x4 . But, you're always carrying that weight and height. You can easily leave the trailer at the campsite, and go wander. Well, I guess you can do that with a truck camper, too, but, I don't think it's as easy as a solo operation.. If I were ever to go different from the little Ollie, I'd get a 4x4 van conversion. BUT, that's me. Smaller is better, in my book. We picked up our Oliver with our Volvo xc90, 2.5 liter turbocharged 5 cylinder. Great on flat highway. Some hills. Dropped mpg by about half. So, way over 4. Maybe 12? 15? But never tried it on the mountains. Thought the vehicle and trailer too heavy. My 2005 Silverado 1500 stepside was great. Nimble and fun, but 2 wheel drive. The ram 1500 hemi 4x4.. don't even know that the trailer is back there. We weighed our Ollie at a cat scale in 2009, on our way home from a trip. I'll look it up. I know it was under 4000. In thinking 3600ish, loaded for camping, but I honestly don't remember. The ollie shorty is great for solo camping. For this couple, too. The trailers all live big on the outside. But, never had a Toyota tow vehicle, so I can't comment on that. Sherry

Bill - "bugeyedriver" on this Forum has many miles of direct experience with both a Tacoma and a Ford F-150. You might send him a private message asking him for his real world experience. I used to tow with a Tacoma and it is still my favorite truck for all things except for towing. One year while headed west across Kansas I had a 40 mph headwind. My Tacoma was towing a stick built camper that weighted right at 3,500 lbs. My MPG was 4 - yes, that is not a typo - 4mpg. This meant that I had to stop for gas every 120 miles or so. A big royal pain! My current truck (a 2017 F-150) has the larger gas tank and even with a strong headwind and towing the larger Elite two at just over 6,000 lbs I still get north of 10 mpg. A more comfortable ride too. My only complaint is that these trucks are big. But, I'd rather deal with that problem and have a wider safety margin. Good luck on both the choice of TV and on getting your own Oliver (soon I hope). Bill

Standard water heater for us. You will learn when to shut off the water heater. Standard toilet is great. Dumping occasionally is no big deal. Especially if you are use to the lifestyle. Camera. Ours from the factory is about 7 1/2" on the monitor. It is so nice when passing, you can see when ton pull back in. You can bring the monitor in at night or when camped and have a security cam. Have a cam put on the front and you can see what is going on on that end as there are no windows too. Welcome, but if they find out there is an Oliver in Alaska, they will all come to visit...

Good solution, John. But, if you decide on the waterless composting toilet, you can still collect the water and heat in a tea kettle for dishwashing and hand laundry..... Besides the price, the roughly 6 inch height difference in the nature's head toilet and the standard RV toilet would be problematic for some of us shorter people, though I'm a big fan of the concept. Might improve winter camping possibilities, imo. However, we've only used the flush toilet and black and grey for 11 years, without issue. Never had the composting toilet. We've had both types of water heaters, and we camp without electricity or hookups most of the time. Topgun's described method of heating shower water to a comfortable temp only is wise, and used by quite a few folks. Heating dishwater in a teakettle not only saves propane, but cuts water use by making you keenly aware of how much water you are using for the task. We replaced the standard 6 gallon with a Girard instantaneous a few years ago, when our water heater died. We like it. But, you may be just as happy with the included 6 gallon... which also had the advantage of running on electricity when you have it. I don't think the Truma runs on dual fuel. I know our girard is lp only.. As far as generators, I'd look around at a few more choices. There's a gen set thread running now that offers more ideas and opinions... Are you getting solar? Do you really need a generator for anything more than charging the batteries occasionally? There's a lot to choose from. And, you may not want to start with something so very large and heavy, right off the bat. Good luck. So many options. My decision would include those items most expensive and difficult to add later, balancing against the budget. Water heater is an easy upgrade, for example. Sherry

Composting toilet - just buy it, you will fall in love with it. Put all paper products into a small 3 gallon flip lid wastebasket. It fits neatly between toilet and vanity. Spritz the front bowl area two or three squirts after peeing. The vinegar kills the odor and rinses the bowl. Poo is not an issue, normally it drops straight down onto the compost. If you get the runs your toilet will not like that. For your height issue, there is a floor ledge that sticks out in front of the base. Climb up, set your feet there and no worries. Or you can get a small step and stash it behind the toilet when not in use. My wife is 5'6" and has no problems. For a boondocker the NH toilet is simply wonderful, just get used to the quirks. Not having to find an open dump station and wait for fifteen minutes is priceless. If you camp off season, this is a huge factor since many close down when freezing night time weather arrives. Around here that means late October. Plus it saves a bunch of your potable water. If you decide that you hate it, sell it on Craigslist for $400 and buy a flush toilet. All the plumbing and the tank is in place. Installation of a standard RV toilet would be very simple. Camera; you NEED a backup camera when solo, no question. It is not just for backing into a site. It is useful in heavy traffic too. You might want to invest in a different system. I already use and really like the Garmin RV660 gps and I mounted a Garmin backup camera. The gps will accept up to four wireless camera inputs. Resolution is low but entirely adequate. ... https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=w0sjNmRQFR3N58uLaMpMR8 http://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/how-to-install-a-garmin-bc-30-backup-camera/ Hot water heater: get the standard unit, leave it turned off until you need some hot water. Turn it on for fifteen or twenty minutes and it heats up enough for one person. It is cheap to replace or service and is generally very reliable. We just run ours 24/7. It does not use that much propane and we have the big gas tanks.... if we do plug in, it switches over the shore power if the outside switch near the bottom is turned to "ON". John Davies Spokane WA

I have a Yamaha 2400 and I think it is a perfect size. It is heavier than the suitcase units (about 85 pounds), but I leave it locked with a heavy cable in the back of my Land Cruiser and just open the hatch and tailgate and run it there. I use a 25 foot 10 gauge 15A extra heavy duty cord which never shows any sign of overheating. the dual outlet is rated at 20A. It will handle an 18 or 19 amp load for hours, and will surge to well over 30A without a problem. It starts my AC just fine, but I have the small Air Command unit and it does not need an easy start capacitor. It is very quiet, reliable, easier to start than my Honda 1000, and is built just as well. Running inside my rear cargo area makes it inaudible unless you are near the truck. Be aware that your microwave and inverter is NOT your friend when boon docking. My inverter draws 75 AMPS with just the microwave running, and if you plan to cook a couple of 6-minute tv dinners, it will have an impact on even the biggest battery bank. If you are parked in the direct sun, in summer, you can cook those meals at 4:00 pm and your batteries will be charged back up pretty quickly. Try this in October, in a northern latitude, running your furnace all day, with overcast skies or heavy tree cover, and your batteries will go flat in a hurry. The generator is not just for the air conditioning, it is to allow a quick 1 hour recharge if the weather won't let your panels do their job. Or if you want to park in the shade. Of course, you can charge off the gennie at dinner time and run the microwave of the generator's 110VAC current, no worries. The onboard converter will charge at up to 45A when running off a generator. Your panels or truck cannot match that. But if there is some sun, the panels will add to the generator's charge rate. I don't think it is wise to buy a barely adequate sized generator, always have some reserve power. That way when the lights go out at home you can run more stuff off it. John Davies Spokane WA

Jaque - I hated the part of ordering that you are going through now. So many choices and trying to think of all the possibilities versus the monies being spent. I went with the standard toilet. I too travel much of the time solo. When not boondocking there are virtually always toilets nearby for poo. When boondocking I have a shower tent and a collapsible toilet that uses those bags Heather mentioned. That system works great, uses no "on-board" water and is easily disposed of. On long trips, I do carry a small "blue" portable tank in the event I need to make more room in the black tank - just be careful to not put too much "stuff" in the portable tank so that I can lift it to a regular toilet for emptying if necessary. While intriguing, I found the composting toilet to be expensive and uncomfortable versus the benefits. I didn't go with the factory camera system for two reasons. First, I thought that it was a bit expensive. Second, I simply didn't want another screen in the cockpit of my truck. At delivery I added a small camera located in the upper half of the spare tire cover that transmits signal via WiFi to my tablet or phone. It works great except for when it rains - the camera picks up too much road spray to see tailgaters. The water heater is another one of those return for the money things. Basically $1,000 for instant gratification? Like KountryKamper, I too believe that the winterization is no big deal and servicing while on the road is easier. For small things like dishes, I simply heat water in a pot on the stove. For showers I almost always use a solar shower and the shower tent I mentioned above. This is a great way to save water, room in your grey tank and propane that would have been used to heat the water. When I really do need to use the shower in the camper I do not allow the water heater to heat the water to its maximum. I posted a thread some time ago on my system of using a meat thermometer with remote readout to monitor the water heater temperature and turn off the heater when it hits about 106 degrees. Then when taking a shower I do not need to mix cold water with the hot to get the correct temp and I can take a shower easily before the water starts getting too cold. I will edit this post if I can find a link to that thread. Finally, I'm no help to you regarding the generator. Almost always when I have needed air conditioning I have been able to use a campground that had electric hookup. Even camping this summer out West when daytime temperatures hit highs of 108 degrees, the lack of humidity plus the decline in temps overnight provided easy sleeping. Other than that the solar panels kept my batteries fully charged each day. Good luck on these "final" decisions of yours. Either way you decide on virtually any of the options, I'm sure that you will be happy with your Oliver. These campers are just so easy to travel with. Bill

We have been using a silver paint on the bulldog coupler since we returned from the factory pickup in 2015. It has worked great, this fall I did repaint the coupler, but the paint has lasted very well. I have tried using florescent colors for outside use on other things and it does fade fairly quickly. The silver shows up in the rear view camera and it makes hookup easy. [attachment file=Bulldog Coupler - 001.jpg] [attachment file=Bulldog Coupler - 002.jpg]

Dave: Good news on the extra 400 pounds. OTT will have inspected and checked all they can. One item I do recommend YOU do is to connect a 4,000 pound trailer to your Audi. I am not questioning your driving skills. But I am suggesting that the new brake controller will need to be calibrated. Yes, OTT will work with you to do so, but it would be far better if you had worked with YOUR controller on the Audi in advance. One way to do this would be to ask your contractor friends to borrow a loaded trailer for an afternoon. I too have pulled loads for most of my life. But not with a new brake controller on my current TV. If you get there and yours is defective for some reason, you are stuck with a difficult problem that you should have known about in advance. Best wishes and good karma for you and Donna. PS: Ollie and I will be in Ruch, Oregon in early June for the ten day Applegate Open Paragliding Championship. If you are in the area look up I'll be flying a Red and Blue glider!

Donna and Duane: In your response you indicate you have purchased the Elite, not the Elite II. The OTT Elite dry weight is listed at 3,400 pounds with 340 pounds of tongue weight. I do not know what year your TV (Tow Vehicle) is, but guessed it as a 2017. The 2017 Guide to Towing lists all Audi Q5's as having a 4,000 maximum tow weight. That's the "all in" weight of your trailer, its added loads, plus the additional loads you have in the Audi. So to the 3400 pounds you must add water, fuel, passengers, luggage, stores and additional equipment (Generator, chalks, BBQ etc.). So even if you are traveling with a "Dry Trailer", if I am reading the tea leaver properly, you will have plenty of horsepower, but you are pushing the envelope of the Q5 when all other weights are considered. An additional concern is the short wheel base of the A5. My point is that you need to be cautious on your 500 miles or so while the brakes on the trailer "burn in" and you get to really understand how your controller work as that process changes braking results of your vehicle and the trailer. If the roads are wet, hilly snow or iced, this process can be "hair raising" if your are pushing the envelope speed wise. But my biggest concern is that I see no time for the delays that you likely will encounter . Some of them are: A. TRAILER TRANSFER AND BRIEFING: The OTT new owner briefing will take most of Thursday. As you are STRONGLY encouraged to spend the night at the OTT provided camp ground, that process will likely not be completed until Thursday evening.. You need to do this to verify you really do understand how your Ollie works. Bring a steno pad to write down questions as your evening likely will result in your having questions that you will want to get answered at the factory on Friday morning. This in one of the reasons that OTT does not do trailer turn-overs on Fridays. They are not available on Saturdays for your follow-up questions. B. FACTORY TECHNICAL ISSUES: Despite a great QC program, the Oliver is a complex system of systems. Invariably new owners will run into an issue or two that needs to be corrected. In my case, the Oliver brakes were not seating properly and in fact were not working well at all. Without them I could not depart the factory on Thursday as I had hoped. We worked much of Thursday afternoon, and I ended up staying in my trailer at the OTT office so we could jump back on it early Friday morning. We worked all day on Friday and the results were perfect. So basically I left OTT Friday evening, a full day after my plans would allow. Another example of why OTT does not do trailer turn overs on Friday...... C. YOUR TECHNICAL ISSUES: Once you get on the road, you will ultimately find holes in your knowledge, even of things that you thought you understood. Those issues will slow you down as you have to figure out how things actually work. My first night away from OTT resulted in an additional four hours at the Navy Family Camping ground in Memphis because I could not figure out an issue. I finally called Phil and he talked me through it and I was rolling again. But it took time and put me further behind the eight ball schedule. D. FACTORY PICKUP: I strongly suggest that you BOTH be involved in picking up your trailer at the factory, and to doing so together in person is really important. My wife could not make the trip from Hawaii so I did it solo. Even with a list of topics to discuss at turn over, and pages and pages of notes, I still ran into topics that I was unclear on. I wish that I had her second opinion at those times as it would have been very helpful. I often refer back to my pages of notes from the trailer training and marvel at the great job that Phil did in teaching this new owner. Faced with what I know now and your schedule, you realistically can either ship your Ollie, or delay pickup until your joint schedules can allow you both to pick up your Ollie it in a more relaxed and safe manner. I recommend the latter.

Hey, I have never shipped a trailer or a car. In thinking about absolute shipping cost, you also need to think about your saved time and aggravation, the impact of weather delays and the cost of missing your deadline (lost driving class fees), and unfortunately, the incredible hassle of fixing your equipment if you should slide off a slick highway or worse yet, jackknife. The latter will trash both your vehicles... How much are your insurance deductibles? Have you totaled up your planned trip costs? Diesel, fast food, lodging, campground fees, wear and tear on your expensive TV? I don’t have a clue what your towing mpgs will be, it varies enormously with your road speed and the environment. I think 20mpg towing would be a realistic figure for the return trip, to account for steep climbs, headwinds etc. Add up the costs, then subtract them off the cost to ship. I don’t think the difference will be that hard to accept, considering how much simpler and safer shipping would be. If I were in your shoes, delivering a trailer here to Spokane in late November, I would not hesitate to ship. An option for you to consider.... have it shipped to Los Angeles or San Francisco, and have a nice warm safe drive up the west coast to PDX, hitting all those glorious ocean parks.. That would give you some nice easy learning miles, so you can spend some time with your new toy in a much more benign environment. I shudder to think what an early season white-out snow storm with 50mph crosswinds in the high plains of WY or northeast UT would be like while towing. Please don’t think we are being harsh or unfriendly. I personally have close to 50 years of towing experience, and many others on the forum are very high mileage if not high time towers. I think Pete (and Bosker) “bugeyedriver” has almost 130,000 miles now pulling his 10 year old Elite after his latest loop through Alaska! If we don’t think your original plan is advisable, we are only looking out for your well being. Don’t we look at least a little trustworthy? ... Well, maybe Bosker does. John Davies Spokane WA

I wanted to offer a few suggestions for removing the window seals and tracks. Please read the entire message first as my writing style is a little disjointed. And if you think it tough to read, you should be grateful you don’t have to think like this.? First off, only do this if you feel you can’t clean the tracks and drain slots with brushes, vacuums and compressed air. It takes me about 30 minutes to remove and replace the seals, minus the drying time for the seals. Removing the outside seal for the fixed glass track is pretty simple, I used a metal pick to raise the seal enough to grab it by hand and then pulled it out. The sliding glass track has a different seal that is actually 5 individual pieces. Without looking closely you would think that it is all one piece. The top and bottom horizontal pieces are straight and run the length of the track. The curved corners are two separate pieces with a short straight vertical piece between them. My trial and error procedure is to remove the window shade assembly first and then the screen. The screen has spring clips on the top. Slide the screen open enough to grab it on both sides and push up while pulling the bottom out. With the screen out, remove the sliding window rubber stop. I think a piece of masking tape on the window frame will prevent the sliding window from scratching the frame with window stop removed. Wish I had thought about that before scratching my frame. Working from the outside, remove the outside seal. Next remove the short vertical seal between the curved corner pieces in the sliding window track using something like the pick and a butter knife. The seal is U shaped and it is necessary to fold either of the side portions into the middle and then carefully remove the entire piece. Removing the short vertical piece first will allow you to slide the bottom corner piece upward into the space created by removing the short vertical seal. Do not remove the corner pieces as the are very fragile due the the cuts is the sides which allow the seal to fit the round corners. Now begin removing the long bottom seal by folding both sides in and lifting it out of the track an inch or so at a time. After you get about half of it out you can begin sliding it out from under the window. Now you can clean the seals, tracks and slots by which ever method you prefer. Allow the seals to dry if you cleaned them with soap and water. I treat mine with 303 protectant before reinstalling them. If you are any questions, please ask and I’ll provide any help I can. Mike

Long before I picked up my Ollie, Buzzy had posted about painting the hitch orange to increase visibility in a car's backup camera system. I added this project to my ToDo list. My idea was to use tape to mask the area and paint a cross on the coupler, with the vertical and horizontal lines at the center of where the hitch ball should align. I then found an easier solution. I simply used tape to make the cross marks. It works great, especially when I am hitching up alone. The tape is still in decent condition after two years, but I may need to replace it next year.

We are always on the lookout on ways to improve quality. I am going to refer to our team about this. Thanks for sharing Dave!