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Camping in Wyoming, I met Rob & Amy, co-owners of BABCOCK METALS, of Talmage, UT. Rob is a world class welder / fabricator who does work on major industrial products and household furnishings. He also loves the challenge of creating custom designed solutions for customers' unique needs . . . such as an elegant and strong 2" receiver hitch for the back of my Ollie which allows unhindered access to the sewer hose inside the rear bumper and removal of the spare tire cover. Let me show you his creation . . . It started with two machined stainless steel brackets for the exterior of the frame, cut to permit the bumper to swing down without interference. The brackets each had three holes to accommodate a 5/8 inch hardened grade 8 bolts. Inside the frame, he added six solid blocks of aluminum which had also been drilled for the 5/8 inch grade 8 bolts. Using stainless steel curved tubing with a 2 inch ID, Rob measured the angles required to ensure clearance would permit access to the rear bumper compartment and spare tire. Finally, he made a 2" receiver, curved exactly for welding onto the stainless steel pipe. His artistry at welding is evident in the finished product. After applying a brushed finish to the exterior of the hitch, Rob installed it onto The Wonder Egg. The hitch fits the rear portion of the frame perfectly and each of the six grade 8, hardened steel bolts was snugged down with 200 ft lbs of torque. I feel very confident in the ability of this custom hitch to do the job. If you ever think that you may be traveling near eastern Utah and are in search for a hitch solution for your Ollie, contact Babcock Metals (678.480.0204) and I bet they could create just what your are looking for.

On August 5th, 2016 My wife and I set out on our annual trip to North Carolina to escape the steamy weather of Northwest Florida. Our plan was to work our way up the Blue Ridge Parkway through North Carolina and into Virginia, then maybe on to PA as time permitted. My first mistake was thinking I could tough it out with a torn Meniscus in my left knee. It soon became apparent that the act of kneeling, stooping, hauling, and all the physical activities associated with setting up and breaking down camp place a huge strain on the knees and pain became a constant companion making me a miserable companion. So after only ten days we gave up and headed home. A few things learned... Camping is physical and you need to be healthy. Some things on the Oliver are just not designed for function. ie. The sewer connection is very difficult to reach when your newly purchased Rhino hose separates from the fitting. I will be modding this to extend that connection to outside the bumper. Lesson learned...always check the connection before opening the gate valve. The water connections are just inconveniently located. Not only must you kneel to access them, they are underneath the trailer so you must kneel And reach. OK if you are healthy but a real struggle with a bad knee. Again I will mod these somehow so they are easier to reach. The fridge is way small, and again down low so that you must kneel to gain access. Holy cow...even the $30,000 Escape has a 7CU fridge mounted at eye level. Rain. What can I say. Just no good solution to living indoors when it raining and your campsite is a lake. 100 square feet and no comfortable chairs gets old after a few days. One good thing we learned is that the shower curtain my wife made works great and having a shower inside the trailer is a real bonus. I suppose we all will experience some bumps in the road and this will not be our last less than good trip. In the twenty months we have owned our trailer we have had over a dozen great outings, all in the Southeastern U.S. and all but this last one have been great. I see the surgeon tomorrow and hopefully the knee will get repaired soon. My new mantra is "Always check your sewer connection".

<p style="text-align: center;">We arrived at the Mothership at 9:30 AM and departed at 3:15 with Oliver Hull Number 412. We drove to David Crockett State Park and got set up. Oliver picked up the tab for the site. It is a beautiful park. The campground host stopped by and made sure things were good. The Oliver was winterized when we picked it up and we decided to leave it that way while we camp the next couple of days. Oliver gave us a couple of camping location options and we are very happy that we chose the state park. After spending 150 nights in a tent last year, this is total comfort.</p>

That's a pretty neat hose that Steve posted. But unless I misunderstand, it would not protect the spigot from freezing. Remember you have around 30 gallons of water to use in your FWT. If it was me, and I was in your situation, I would just use the FWT all the time. Then if it begins to run low, fire up the hose and refill the tank, then disconnect again. During fillup, you could also fill a container for drinking water if you don't want to drink out of your FWT, like some of us do. Just my 2 cents. Dave