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Showing content with the highest reputation on 06/10/2020 in all areas

  1. I ordered and just received this Via Air 400P RV compressor from of all places Target for $261.99 shipped Fedex. I have read a number of decent reviews on this unit. Hopefully it will serve our needs well. Picture shows yellow air hoses, but ours arrived with the newer black hoses. -Patriot
    4 points
  2. Some of you have seen this mod I did on the microwave cabinet, but i thought I'd post it again in this thread. It was prompted by the microwave trying to escape from the cabinet several times. And the need for more function. I was able to keep a smaller microwave, and include a wine rack and utensil storage tubes. A pantry latch holds the door closed and the door also serves as a stainless work counter. We had an extra set of wood trim pieces that made a matching door.
    2 points
  3. For the sake of privacy on what might be a personal issue regarding whether you do or do not have a safe on board, you might want to send a PM to ScubaRX in this regard. Bill
    2 points
  4. John, Thanks for the kind words. As you remember, you were the one who brought Black Series to my attention. I made a mental note to stop in Utah and have a look at them on our way from Wyoming down to North Rim. Then, I decided to cut the North Rim stay short and head back to Lindon Utah and have a second look. We both really liked the Black Series HQ19 right off the bat, but loved the Oliver too. I never intended to sell the Oliver, but suddenly, we were going to get a Black Series. Glad we did. But it hasn't been a perfect transition. I've done lots of little fixes and modifications. We've put about 7,000 miles on it now since November, been in all kinds of weather, off-road, etc. It is definitely a keeper. It is perfect for making it our own with some mods, very roomy and comfortable, and tows great. Having solar has really been nice. I make electric coffee, carry no generator, and have plenty of power for lighting, charging, running the propane heat, etc. As much as I liked the Oliver, this is a different world. A true luxury apartment sitting on a heavy duty off-road frame and suspension. The best of both worlds. So now, I'm distributing McHitches across the Country and they are going on most new Black Series trailers. See what you started? The WDH with McHitch on an Oliver isn't going to happen as far as I can see, without cutting some fiberglass covering the tongue. I'm not even considering that at this point. Here is a short video of us crossing Nevada and it shows the trailer in the rear view mirror running straight as an arrow. Comment back, or PM me if you'd like. John (Raspy)
    2 points
  5. We have the Viair 300P and it works great for us. We got it for $129.00. I think it is the same compressor as the 400P with less accessories. Andrew
    1 point
  6. John, Our local plastics shop calls it PVC foam board. Jason told me to use marine two part epoxy. I cut the removed the Prodex and sanded the fiberglass for better adhesion. I used The PVC foam board to mount our Victron shunt and solar controller. Worked well for the purpose. Andrew
    1 point
  7. Just had a message from Jordan. Oliver has increased the weight capacity of the optional rear receiver hitch to 150#. No 2" receiver at this time.
    1 point
  8. We would love to go to Australia. Also New Zealand, where your posts have convince me we should rent an RV for our travels. Our planned trip to Japan this past April was cancelled due to covid. I will reach out to you when we start planning! Thanks, David
    1 point
  9. No, it doesn’t. They mount the antenna over the dinette, you need to stay close to the antenna to get any useful boost.
    1 point
  10. Yes if it’s tied down, only because it’s too much trouble to undo everything. If we’re not using the tie downs then we roll it in 90% like was being discussed in the thread about sunscreens.
    1 point
  11. Overland, Raspy here, (John) I looked at this old thread again about your McHitch coupler, and am wondering if you'd mind if I copied your mount and used your nice drawings? I am now distributing these excellent hitches and would like to produce a kit to install them on Oliver trailers. I looked at yours at the rally, and was impressed with how nicely it fit. Hope to see you at this year's rally, if we can get back to nearly normal and have it in September. I put one on my HQ19 before I even pulled it out of the showroom, and began showing it. Then it was featured in a video while being used at Moab on my HQ19. Now, most of the Black Series trailers being sold in the US are getting them as an option, right from the dealers. The Bulldog hitch on the Oliver is very nice, and sturdy, but the ease of hooking up makes the difference. It seems most people get them for that reason, and not to go off road. Thanks, John
    1 point
  12. Warm, friendly and inviting country cabin colors....we reeeeeeeeeally like this choice in upgrade options...T minus 7 days and counting until delivery day. 😊
    1 point
  13. I am a big fan of keeping notes in a document; in my case I use an outlining program that syncs between my laptop and my iOS devices. In addition to my notes, keyboard shortcuts allow me to quickly copy/paste a URL from my browser or to drop today's date into the notes. Of course, the program has a search function. In addition to saving URLs from the Oliver forum, I keep URLs from a variety of sources: FGRV, Airforums, Amazon, YouTube, blog posts etc. I don't think I could do all that with browser bookmarks or by Following content. I used this same note taking strategy when I was researching what type of RV to buy. Being an RV newbie, I watched a lot of videos and read blog posts on how to hitch up, to level, to empty the tanks, etc, and I saved the links to the good information. I also take notes when planning a trip, whether an Ollie trip or a trip to another continent (next year, I hope!). I have a big list of campgrounds recommended from various sources, and I have them sorted geographically.
    1 point
  14. Susan, that's an old style rack that Oliver doesn't make anymore, unfortunately. Personally, I think that was their best attempt at making a general purpose rack. It was modeled after one that a long time owner had made for himself. The drawback of the design is that it can be a real bear to remove, which you have to do to access the spare tire. The rack sits above the bumper and so the bumper can still be folded down to access the drain. There are technical drawings for the rack floating around, for people who want to have one made by a 3rd party.
    1 point
  15. If you really need to know the pressure, Bill is right on with contacting Jason. I think the easiest way to know is, if the stove comes with a regulator, it will not work out of the box. You will need to remove the regulator and create a quick connect adaptor. Andrew
    1 point
  16. Oliver offers the WeBoost Drive 4G-M Cellular Signal Booster and the WiFi Ranger Sky Pack as options. The WeBoost Cellular Booster will improve the signal on your phones if you use it correctly (see below). The WiFi Ranger has two inter-connected routers, the Sky router on the roof and the Go2 in the cabinet above the dinette, and it provides a number of useful features. First, it creates your own local network, which is especially useful if you have multiple devices. Logging in to your network is easy, as your devices can remember the password to your local network. Second, the rooftop antenna can boost the WiFi signal from a campground, a Starbucks, or a truck stop, from as much as a mile away (see post by RVGeeks). If your device (phone, tablet or laptop) is connected to the WiFi Ranger, you would have a much stronger signal and faster speeds than if you connected your device directly to the WiFi source. Third, the Sky router on the roof allows you to access your WiFi signal outside the trailer, as much as 1000 feet away. This allows you to surf the web at the picnic table or by the river. When inside the trailer you should connect to the interior Go2 router. The interior antenna for the WeBoost Cellular Booster is mounted beneath the cabinets, above the dinette table. It is important that phones or hotspots be close to this antenna, about 18-36 inches. The signal strength decreases if you are too far away. A lot of users use the WeBoost Cellular Booster and the WiFi Ranger together, along with a mobile hotspot. Verizon seems to have the best cellular coverage in rural America, and we purchased a Verizon 7730L Jetpack as our hotspot. In the past, we placed the hotspot on the dinette table, a good distance from the WeBoost interior antenna. After setting up camp, I would turn on the WeBoost, the WiFi Ranger, and the Verizon Jetpack. Next, I would have the WiFi Ranger connect to the Jetpack. The WiFi Ranger has a USB port, and the instruction manual says that one can use a cable to directly tether the WiFi Ranger to a mobile hotspot or phone. This post describes how I did that; it was pretty easy. I wish I had done it sooner. First, why bother? There are a number of good reasons to tether the mobile hotspot with a cable. (1) The signal between the hotspot and the WiFi Ranger is much faster and stronger over a cable than through the air via Wi-Fi. (2) WiFi connections break periodically. We all see this with our devices, where they have lost connection to WiFi, and we have to re-connect. This happens in the trailer, where the WiFi connection between the hotspot and the WiFi Ranger breaks. I find this out because my devices can no longer see the internet, and I need to use the WiFi Ranger Control Panel to reconnect them. These breaks in connectivity do not occur with a wired connection. (3) The WiFi Ranger, when powered on, automatically connects to the hotspot. I no longer have to log on to the Control Panel to do this. (4) The WiFi Ranger has something called Multi-WAN Dynamic Mode (support page and YouTube video). This allows you to connect to a local WiFi network, perhaps the campground WiFi, and the WiFi Ranger can use both the local WiFi and your mobile hotspot, deciding which to use depending upon which is currently faster. Campground WiFi can be notoriously slow, but at some times of the day it might be faster than your hotspot. This can save on the amount of data you use on your hotspot. (5) The battery on my Jetpack is getting charged whenever the WiFi Ranger is powered on, albeit a minor benefit. WiFi Ranger has a support web page and YouTube videos. I have found their customer support very responsive to email inquiries. To tether my Jetpack to the WiFi Ranger, I bought a white 10-foot USB-A to USB-C cable from Amazon. USB-A is the common USB connection that has been around for years. USB-C is a newer type connector, and I need that because my Jetpack has a USB-C port for both data transfer and for charging. Your hotspot or phone could have a different connection port, and you would need a different cable. I plugged the USB-A end into the side of theWiFi Ranger Go2 router, which is in the cabinet above the dinette. I ran the cable along the back of the cupboard until the center of the cabinet, then under the rubber mat in the cabinet and out the grommet that has the cable for the WeBoost interior antenna. I then wrapped the cable around the window, behind the frame that holds the window shades. The 10-foot cable was the perfect length to reach the center of the dinette table. I decided I did not want the cable dangling from the grommet above the dinette. Although this is not necessary, I bought some white adhesive clips from Amazon to secure the cables. It gives it a neat appearance. Finally, I put white Velcro on the belly band above the dinette, and black Velcro on the back of my Jetpack. That way I can keep the Jetpack off of the table, as other things often need this space. Best practices for using the cellular booster. Some advice on properly using the cellular booster. After you turn on the WeBoost you should briefly put the phone in airplane mode, and then turn off airplane mode. This forces the phone to let go of the distant cell tower with the weak signal and to now look for the closest “cell tower,” which is the WeBoost. Similarly, if you were using the JetPack in the tow vehicle, you should power it off and then back on after starting the WeBoost. If you have been out hiking all day, your phone will remain connected to the distant cell tower, and you can get it to connect to the WeBoost by cycling into and out of airplane mode. I tend to make very few phone calls when camping, but if you are camped at a location with very poor cell signal the booster works well when seated at the dinette. To improve your ability to make and receive phone calls I suggest you set your phone to use Calling Over WiFi. I think most phones and providers can do this. At my work, the cell signal is very bad, but with calling over WiFi I can get calls. In your trailer, if you have the WiFi Ranger connected to the cellular booster you can get calls throughout the trailer as well as outside. WiFi Ranger Control Panel. You should make it easy to connect to the WiFi Ranger Control Panel via a web browser. On a laptop, you can save it as a bookmark for quick access. On a phone or tablet, you can use the Add to Home Screen method to save a Shortcut Icon to your device.
    1 point
  17. Initially I slept with my head under the TV/by the nightstand/at the stern. But, the nightstand and curve of the shell restricted my elbows when I wanted to put my hand(s) under my head. So, I switched positions and now my elbows are happy. Bill
    1 point
  18. One thing we found is that the adding a Lagun table with a foldable top transformed our twin bed area into a great multipurpose area. Having both the dinette and the ‘lounge’ is awesome - we never felt cramped in our Ollie but now it feels downright spacious. Swapping out our mattresses for cushions made a difference too.
    1 point
  19. I recommend you entirely read the Forum thread "HOW TO: Tire Pressure Placard" For my Elite II, I am running 60 PSI with a tire pressure monitoring system as suggested by John D and Raspy. Everyone knows that we must check tire pressures when they are cold. I have also found that even after a night of rest, a few hours with one side in the sun can make a big difference in what you will see when you check them sun to shade. I have seen as much as 5 psi difference of those in the sun vs. those in the shade. Finally, as suggested by MANY Ollie owners, I too believe that having a TPMS is essential.
    1 point
  20. Heather O, gave us a camping spot at Davy Crockett State for the first night and we opted for 1-2 extra days which is on us. Our delivery date is July 8th, this will be a good place to checkout the trailer and since it is close to the Oliver Plant we could return if need be. Oliver also have hookup facilities there at there place that are free to use when coming to Oliver for either viewing new trailers, or warranty work. All being said, staying close for a few days is probably a good thing. trainman
    1 point
  21. I choose the pantry because I was not sure about the weather resistant properties of the display unit, it was easy to run the wires into the pantry, and with the pantry door closed one never sees the lights of the readout. Yet, the readout is easily seen by simply opening the pantry door. Given I mounted it as high as I could above the top shelf, there is no interference with any of the items stored there including cereal boxes. I think that mounting it anywhere on the interior of the camper where one is not able to close it behind a door or panel of some sort will make living/sleeping something akin to being in a cheap hotel with a neon sign right outside your room. Bill
    1 point
  22. I’ve moved mine under the dinette on the outside wall and mounted with Command strips. I can see the display from the door during setup at a campsite.
    1 point
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