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Finally got around to installing the Zamp 90 watt slender panels on the Oliver today. Very simple, just some heat shrink for the wire connections and putting the feet on the panels. I used the AmvSolar tall feet on the passenger side and the standard ones on the driver side and prepped with alcohol before applying the supplied VHB tape... seems to be very sturdy. Time will tell. Still have to tidy up the wires but a thunderstorm with lightning rolled in. The package Am Solar sells had everything included for the install except (2) Zamp SAE connections and a SAE Y-splitter. But they sell both on the website. For some reason they cut off the original SAE connector so you have to re-install one, maybe if you gave them advanced notice you could get one that has not been removed. Curious to see how much Amp hour difference stored tomorrow. From Am Solar: My install:

It’s official. I’m now part of the OTT family 06/26/2019 hull # 484 I’m without words, ok I’ll say a few. I have had many Rvs, TT, fifth wheels, toy haulers and slide in truck campers. No class A,s beyond my budget. When I walked in today and saw the trailer I I was truly amazed. Never had that feeling before with the other Rvs As we were going over the unit I kept shaking my head. I think they thought I wasn’t wrapped to tight. I was in total amazement how well this trailer was put together. This truly is the best Travel Trailer out there. The forum has been great looking forward to being a part of OTT for years to come. And meeting new friends. Thanks everyone.

Attached you will find some of the documents from the Rally last month. You can download the following PowerPoint Presentations from Google Drive. Camping for Dummies: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rxnkwYLQUtrpQ58Ikc-kfI1aRTCrEK8G/view?usp=sharing History of Molded Fiberglass by Ian Giles: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LvezYWimCBAZIQDAFEIT7_dOqr-9flV7/view?usp=sharing 2019-OTTOR-Anodes-Workshop-Handout.pdf Truma-Cheat-Sheet.pdf Truma_Decalcification_Full-100-color.pdf Truma_Maintenance-and-Winterization-100-color.pdf Truma-AquaGo-Comfort-and-Comfort-Plus-Control-Panel.pdf Medical-History-Forms.pdf End-of-Life-Workshops.pdf

The solar panel install went so smoothly yesterday I woke up this morning with the energy to finally tackle the battery monitor install I had been postponing for months. I think I am going to just leave it by the EMS monitor for now just because it is easy to use via bluetooth in the Victron Connect app.

We are traveling north toward Canada and we passed a southbound Elite II being towed by a white Land Cruiser or Sequoia, a mile south of Okanogan, WA on US 97. I pulled over at the next turnout, hoping the other one would do a u turn and rendezvous with us. Nope.... We need a standard set of rules for head-on passing encounters. On a narrow mountain forest road, uphill vehicles have right of way and downhill vehicles should pull over and give them room. Maybe we could adopt something like this..... If one of the owners wants to meet, flash your headlights rapidly. North or east bound Ollies have “right of way”, and should proceed, then pull over and wait when possible, or exit the next off ramp from a freeway. South or west bound Ollies should do a u-turn when possible and safe, and go back to meet the other. Obviously this has limitations when traveling on the Interstates, especially when the exits are thirty miles apart. But it could work OK on secondary highways and county roads..... For situations where you overtake an Ollie on a freeway, the passing Ollie should exit at the next offramp or rest area and the other should follow. That would be simple.... We waited ten minutes but never saw that other Ollie, but he may have pulled over to wait for us..... LOL. Comments? Please discuss. We could post an article with these “rules” in the Newsletter for those who don’t hang out here. John Davies Spokane WA

No screws just VHB tape. Am Solar swears by it if you prep it correctly, they said they have never had one come off. We shall see. If you can get the panels without the SAE connectors cut off it is pretty much plug and play. @Overland, they said no upgrade needed unless I add more. I want to add Victron solar controller and possibly a display later so I will upgrade at that point if I do it. Thanks for your feedback and previous posts.

Spike, Are you sure there is no circuit breaker or main fuse on the + line going to the inverter? Maybe trace the wires back from the inverter and look for one of these mounted in the compartment. Look for voltage across the inverter + to - connections right on the inverter, with a volt/ohm meter, to be sure you are getting power. If yes, it sounds like the inverter itself is bad or has blown a fuse internally (don't know if there is one, just speculating).

This is from the 2017 LEII manual and it may help your next step.

Mark, The EZ Flex became standard about a year ago after some of us had been discussing it. I forgot who it was that Oliver awarded for promoting it. As John pointed out, it is much better than the standard utility trailer suspension that has light duty shackles and nylon bushings. But the rubber bushing part really does nothing on Olivers because it is designed for a stiff suspension with lots of shock loads. The alternative to the EZ Flex is the Heavy Duty Kit from Dexter. This gives you the larger shackles and pins, greaseable bronze bushings, and a heavy duty equalizer, but deletes the rubber bumper. Plus it costs about $100. less than the EZ Flex. Either one does nothing to increase travel. The red swing arm suspension John posted pictures of, is the system used on a lot of Australian off road caravans. Specifically, the Black Series HQ19. We've been discussing ways to improve the Oliver suspension, which is fine for highway and around town, but not for off-road. Two options are possible. One is the drop axle with spring over, that I suggested to John. And the other is to get a Black Series HQ19. I have opted to get a Black Series so that I can confidently go off road to places like Death Valley. My favorite spot is over 50 miles in on a gravel road that is rough and sometimes washed out. Then six miles across the desert with no road. The Oliver is really good compared to many normal trailers with it's additional ground clearance and no hanging down sewer pipes. This has allowed us to go many places we could not have gone otherwise. I love my Ollie, but don't want to take into Death Valley and overdo it. A simple and affective suspension upgrade, that should be done if you don't have it, is to simply install the Heavy Duty kit from Dexter. I'll give you the part number if you'd like, I'll have to look in my records to find it. This gives you a long term system that can be maintained and not get loose with worn parts. A good time to do it would be when you grease the bearings next time.

Mark, I don’t know of any Ollie that has a different type suspension..... the EZ Flex was an option for a while, but it is way superior to the standard junk trailer shackles and plastic bushings, so now it is standard equipment. Yay! The problem is that there is no travel, you have maybe THREE inches total, and only 1.5 inches up travel, before the ubolts slam hard into the steel subframe. That is fine for well maintained asphalt, but a single deep pothole, or a rough dirt road, soon demonstrates how poor this is. Wham bam, thank you mam, the trailer will get really beat up and it can wreck tires and wheels unless you slow way down. A fancy independent off road a-arm suspension (like the Black Series trailers) with coil springs or airbags is way superior when the road turns bad, but it is also prohibitively expensive since most buyers won’t pay the big premium for a niche feature. It also can be tippy on the highway if it doesn’t have anti-roll bars...plus it does not have “load equalizing” between axles so you need really stout tires and wheels. A compromise that has been discussed (and which IMHO should be STANDARD ON ALL OLLIES) is to switch to a spring over axle configuration, which gets you a ton of room between the frame and axle, but that will get the trailer way too high off the ground, it looks dumb and it would very unstable. So you change the axles to a 4” (or 2”) drop version, which has a dogleg that positions the axle stub above the tube, effectively lowering the frame back down. [attachment file=A9BE9506-0D50-46D1-B2B2-655AC563E315.jpeg] Now you have a stock height (or 2 inch lifted height) trailer, with a bunch of room so you can install rubber bump stops to prevent the springs from over traveling, which can break them, but just as importantly, to provide a gentle, progressive slowing of the upward motion. No more banging. Easy peasy, it would be much more refined, and would only cost a few dollars more for the four bump stops..... spring over axle assemblies can be ordered from the supplier, no welding or reworking needed.... John Davies Spokane WA