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Showing content with the highest reputation on 12/29/2020 in all areas

  1. NC had a cold snap over the past few days / nights and I was able to get some pretty good data that validates what other owners already know - the Ollie does quite well in cold weather and will stand up to just about anything if you run the furnace. Disclaimer: I have done some minor cold weather modifications. In addition to adding some reflectix to the outside shower housing and the battery and basement storage doors, I added a furnace duct through the basement and down the street side. By putting 3 small holes in the duct to help heat that side of the basement, I have raised the average temp ~7F, so that gives you an idea if your Ollie is stock. During this testing, I had the hot water heater on occasionally (I've been testing my new shower head) and had the fresh water tank full at the start and used 20% or so during the two days. Here's the data: Some observations... 1. The higher risk areas are definitely the rear storage compartment and street side basement. They tend to get colder than the other parts of the trailer and do have a considerable amount of plumbing. 2. The front street side near the toilet / black tank are definitely the coldest. I'm not worried about that as I have a composting toilet and have drained the water from the line that's there for the standard toilet. 3. Both nights were similar in temperature, and an average of 7.2 lbs of propane was burned per night. At peak, the furnace ran 5 times per hour for 7 minutes each (so 35 minutes per hour). During this test, I burned about .75 pounds of propane for each 60 minutes of furnace run time. I'm going to run a separate test soon to pinpoint propane usage over furnace run time as that's going to be important for trip planning. 4. The batteries run the furnace and each night the batteries dropped an average of 22%, so 88 Ah of battery was also required per night. 5. As long as the Ollie has electricity and propane, nothing is going to freeze easily if at all. Even the Lithium battery compartment stays warmer than I expected. I need some colder temps to do more testing, but this looks very promising!
    8 points
  2. Oliver only supplies one water hose and (from all that I've seen) it is white and (I believe) 20 or 25 feet in length. Given that you already have a heated water hose, you could simply use the one Oliver gives you for the black tank and your heated hose for your regular drinking/fresh water. However - be warned - unless you specifically mark this Oliver hose in some manner you risk the possibility that you might mistakenly use it for regular drinking water at some point. I'd recommend that you paint or in some manner mark the hose you chose to use as your black tank hose so that you really don't have to even think about it. Another way to tackle this problem is to simply use hoses of different colors - normally hoses that are certified drinking water safe are white (but not always). I use a grey colored hose for the black tank duties and a regular white hose for drinking/fresh water duties. I also carry a Zero G hose because it is easier to store than either a heated hose or a regular drinking hose and is drinking water safe. Bill
    2 points
  3. Oliver Owners, We picked up our new trailer (Legacy Elite I #664) on Sept 16, 2020 and have been using it on/off since this date. Overall, our experience has been wonderful and the quality of the trailer has been much better than what we have read about other manufacturers. In an attempt to help others with our recent learnings, I am listing some of the items were have learned about, fixed, and/or submitted a tickets for: Initial Pickup: - The bathroom interior window frame was bent due to being over tightened - Jason and the person showing us the trailer located a new frame and installed. - Window shade over the rear driver's side window had damage to the felt liner at the bottom of the night shade. - Orientation team replaced. First Night Camp @ Davy Crockett State Park: - Noticed that the propane alarm was not on. - Contacted Jason via telephone and he walked me through installing the 1A fuse that was included in the box of spare fuses provided. The fuse holder is located under the dinette seat and is somewhat hard to find as it is black and not easy to see. - Upon opening the rear compartment door, the bracket where the wire attaches to keep the door from swinging down came unglued. - Contacted Jason to let him know and he said they would send me some epoxy to fix. Ended up purchasing some a few weeks after getting back home as it never arrived. I let Jason know we no longer needed as I had fixed per his recommendation of Gorilla 2 part epoxy. - Shower floor squeaks a lot - Contacted Oliver Service and have a ticket for them to repair when we take the trailer back to TN for its annual checkup. According to Jason, the squeak is most likely from the shower tub not being cut correctly or the padding under it not installed correctly. No biggie for now as we have learned to live with it knowing that it will get fixed. If your spouse decides to use the bathroom at night, It will wake you up. No liquids right before bedtime. 🙁 First Long Drive from TN to AR: - Had someone flag us down and let us know that the rear compartment door had come open during travel. Upon pulling over and inspecting, we noticed that the screws had come loose on the latch and allowed the door to open with the latch locked close. I was lucky enough to have some blue lock-tight with me to use on the screws when retightening. No further issues experienced. We let Oliver know that this happened and they indicated that lock-tight should have been added to the screws at the factory. I am confident they put new procedures in place to keep this from happening again. First Time Back Home: - Spent time learning about the solar system, inverter, appliances, etc.... - Realized that both the Solar Controller and the Inverter were both set to flooded batteries vs. the AGMs we had installed. Changed both to AGM. No issues noted so not sure if it really mattered. Texas State Park Close to Home: - Noticed a small gap at the top of the external door window frame. - Contacted Oliver and was told that the frames are designed to click together but requires special plastic keys to take the frame off to inspect. From my reading this is a common thing from the door factories with the tabs getting broken. We tried several time to get the internal frame to snap together with the external frame. No luck. Contacted Oliver again and Jason said he would have a new frame (and plastic keys) sent to us so we can repair/replace. The suppliers are backed up, so it has now been two months with the door window frame and glass loose. I was successful in learning that there is a supplier zarcor.com that has the window frames (Lippert) in stock and can be purchased/delivered within a couple of days. We will most likely end up just ordering and replacing as they also offer a clear tinted glass and window shutter for the door. There is another post in this forum with pictures if you are interested. Being that this repair is taking a long time to get resolved, I would recommend anyone picking up their trailer inspect this and have it repaired before taking delivery. Arkansas State Park (Crater of Diamonds): - Upon arrival at the State Park we noticed that the trailer was squeaking loudly with every small bump in the park. Upon inspection, I did not notice any lose bolts, nuts, fittings on the suspension. We contacted Jason at Oliver and he had not heard of anyone having this problem before. We ducked our heads down and slowly made it to our campsite without disturbing the other campers throughout the park. We did get some stares tho with the squeaks. Once setup, I made a quick trip to the local hardware store to purchase a small grease gun/grease, 90-degree zerk fitting as the zerks are not accessible without having the pull the tire off, and some dry lube spray. Utilized to the stabilizers to take some weight off the trailer and utilized the grease gun. Fun fact - the top zerk fitting (wet bolt) that attaches to the frame bracket actually serves no purpose as the bolt is not contained within a bushing (Only on the single axle trailers). I would not recommend you go to town putting grease in this wet bolt as the grease will just exit the bolt and make a nice stream of grease falling on the lower spring eye. Not sure why dexter/oliver designed it with a wet bolt in this location. Sad part is that, the squeak we had was between the shackle and the trailer frame bracket and without the trailer bracket having a bushing there is no real way to get grease between the two. Only option at this point was to use the dry lube spray. Happy to say that this resolved most of the squeak until we could get back home (~400 miles). Upon getting home, I used a spray can of Fluid Film to spray down the area between the shackle and trailer bracket. No more annoying squeak! I have some pictures on another computer that I can attach at a later time if you are curious. Other trips - Nothing new to report beyond what has already been said above. Improvements - As recommended by others on this forum, we did go ahead and install the black window seals available on pellandent.com due to some of the white window seals had stains on them from the factory and were cut about 1" too short. I must say that the black seals look much better and should eliminate an excess amount of water needing to travel through the window drains due to them now being long enough. If you do a search on this forum for pellandent you will see some pictures posted by others. Once again, the point of this post is to inform others of our experience and to share some of the things we have learned. As with anything, enjoying life comes with opportunities to improve oneself and help others on their journey. Mark
    1 point
  4. For anyone interested, our trailer froze. We lost our faucet and our Truma On Demand has to be repaired (and hopefully not replaced). Here is the faucet we replaced and fit wise it seems perfect. Not as tall but I like that better. It has a pull down sprayer so taller isn’t really as issue anyway. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Moen-Adler-Spot-Resist-Stainless-1-Handle-Deck-Mount-Pull-Down-Handle-Lever-Commercial-Residential-Kitchen-Faucet/1001327070.
    1 point
  5. Btw, since you are new to camping and rvs, as many people are when they buy their first rv, I'll offer this idea that I've used with several friends new to rv camping. Practice learning to dump with clean water. It's a bit of a waste of water, but so much easier on the nerves. Fill the grey tank to maybe half using a faucet, and the black with clean water by just depressing the foot pedal for a good long while, or run the shower wand into the toilet at the same time. Half full is enough when there are no solids or tp in the black tank, but do whatever you like. Hook up and dump. If you do make a mistake, the only thing you're spilling is clean water. No panic. This works really well if your first campsite is full hookups, but I'd fill the fresh tank, and work from there. It can flush some of the plastic taste and smell from new plumbing, at the same time. Sherry
    1 point
  6. Luckily I don't think I need power for the camera since it gets it from the TV. For the "invisible trailer" view I think it requires the camera to be mounted around the same height as the tailgate camera on the truck. I will probably end up routing the wire under the trailer then up though the spare tire cover somehow. John
    1 point
  7. Nah, we need data on freeze damage, too. 😛
    1 point
  8. Great info, John - thanks for sharing. I think the only thing that surprises me is the outdoor shower, since I'd have thought that area would be colder than the basement if anything. I think the one important area that you're missing is the space underneath the closet. If you could get a sensor in there somehow, it would tell you how well the furnace ducting is working to protect the plumbing that feeds the bath. I'd be curious to see what the temps do without the heat going at night. It seems unintuitive that it would cool off while the other areas are warming, but the rear curb temps are going to be largely dependent on whether the furnace is running or not, so it does make sense. I'm actually surprised that the temps there aren't higher than the cabin, but I guess that depends on exactly where the sensor was placed. To a lesser extent, the bath vanity would be the same.
    1 point
  9. That Valterra 15’ scrunchy looks good to me! Thanks!
    1 point
  10. Thank you for sharing. I really enjoy data like these. What system was used to collect these data (logger and sensors)? Any thoughts on why the temp dropped on the rear curb at 2pm-4pm on the 26th? Are you planning any further modifications based on these results? Mike
    1 point
  11. Great info, thanks for taking the time and effort to collect the data. I love your graph! What was the thermostat temperature setting? 68? I set mine at 55 overnight and it doesn’t use so much propane, and it definitely saves the batteries, but it also doesn’t provide as much heat under the floor. But as warm as your underfloor areas are, I think you could safely lower your stat a whole lot. Just bundle up. Did you have any windows or vents open? Did you have the bathroom door open? Do you have adequate airflow to the bathroom air register? How did you determine propane use -weigh the tank? It is interesting to see how warm your battery compartment stayed. I am sure your extra duct on that side of the floor was doing that. With no battery compartment vents, do you think your lithiums will be too warm in summer, on a 100 degree day in direct sunlight? Have you added any extra vents there, inside? I am working on that mod.... to warm it in winter but also to cool it in summer. Minimal cost, around $60, but you have to drill a bunch of big holes😳😳 Thanks again. John Davies Spokane WA
    1 point
  12. I doubt that commercial daybed covers would work well. Personally. With the curve of the hull, and bed length, there would be adjustments to be made I looked at fitted covers, and I can sew them, but fitted covers don't work well at night. Imo. Difficult to store, Difficult to use. We use normal full/queen on our Ollie i, set up as a full time bed.. I work with the excess. Not a big deal.
    1 point
  13. The sewer hose Oliver supplies will get you going. There are probably a number of better brands. Lately, we are using a Rhino 20', which comes in two ten foot sections. You can find good sewer hoses at any camping store. Even at Walmart. I can't imagine carrying 50' of sewer hose. No way. You're only one person, and a dog. If you're careful with water, you can go days, even a week or more without dumping. You can dump with a 10 ft. hose at most dump stations. And, at most campsites. The longer the sewer hose, the tougher the job. It's called a stinky slinky for a reason . It really becomes a slinky under load. The last thing you want is a sewer hose that's too long.
    1 point
  14. The accessories that Oliver provides (hoses, etc) will pretty much get you through an initial pick up trip. You are going to want to get some “just in case” items, so it doesn’t hurt to show up with those at pick up. Plug converters: I’ve got a 30a to 50a and have only used it a couple of times. I also have a 30a to 20a and use it when the trailer is in the storage area. External Surge Protection: If you have the built in you shouldn’t need an external. We don’t have the built in and I carry a Camco external. It has a 60 second delay when first plugged in to check the circuit and if it’s okay it passes electricity. If not it blinks yellow or red. Wheel chock or “X” blocks: We carry both. The chocks are good if the tires on on the ground. If I drive onto legos to level the chocks aren’t so good. I got a cheap “X” block that fits between the wheels and you turn a handle on top to tighten for the side that might be on legos. Extra 25′ potable water hose: I have a black collapsible hose that I use to flush the black tank. I think it expands to 50’. It’s also used with a nozzle for general clean up tasks. Extra 25′ water hose. We got an extra at Camping World. There have been a few sites that required two hoses to reach the water. One hose is enough for most sites. Extra 25′ 10 gauge extension cord. I carry one and have never used it in over 35K miles and 250 nights of camping. Jack stand blocks: which ones? We got the yellow Camco pads. I made some blocks out of 2X6’s and set them on the pads. We also use the yellow legos that we got at Walmart for leveling. External water filters. On this point, is there not one already in-line inside the trailer? In either case, do I need an external filter too and which one? I don’t think there is an internal filter. We use the blue or white filters that you can get at Walmart or Camping World. Hitch lock for BullDog 2 5/16″ coupler. Which one? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HL2NM0K/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Extra grey water discharge hose: Yes/No? What if any accessories for discharge lines? We used the hoses that came with the trailer for black and gray discharge for over a year. Replaced them with Rinoflex and carry the old as back up. We also got a clear 90 degree fitting for the end that goes into the sewer so I can see what’s being dumped. For composting toilet: What kind of toilet paper? What kind of media and how much? We flush! Tool Kit: List of tools that are needed or desired. Is there a fairly comprehensive tool kit for RVers that already exists? Yes, there are a couple of tool list threads. Cookware: (Pots, Pans,etc. )Suggestions as to “what” and where to purchase RV specific items (also looking for good sources): We didn’t buy much, just repurposed extra stuff we had in the house. It depends on how you cook. Utensils: Spatulas, serving pieces,, forks, knives, spoons, etc. (also looking for good sources) (RV specific?). Mostly stuff we already had. Dishware: plates, bowls, glasses, cups, coffee mugs, serving items, etc. (also looking for good sources) (RV specific?): We have some Corelle dishes and some plastic cups, mugs, wine glasses. We also carry paper for those places that don’t have hookups. Napkin and paper towel holder/dispenser. Utensil and plate organizers: Dish soap and hand soap (storage). We use the pump dispensers. Paper towel dispenser: Type, location, how to attach? We found a cheap plastic one on Amazon and stuck it over the kitchen counter with On Command Tape. It’s been there over 2 years, no problems. Towels (bath and hand) RV unique? We bought some microfiber bath towels. They don’t take up much room and are functional. Just not as nice as a big fluffy cotton towel. Fitted linens sheets for the upgraded single bed mattresses available as an option from Oliver: We got regular twin sheets and just tuck them in. Also twin blankets and bed spreads. We’re on our second set. Inside entrance matt:(brand/size?) We have a 16X24 mat just inside the door. It has a grippy rubber bottom. We also use a runner between the beds we got at Walmart. Ground matt at exterior entrance to trailer: There’s a bunch to choose from at Amazon or Camping World. Extra matt for outside of bath area: (Yes/No?) (We’re getting the teak floor covering for bath and sink from Foy): We use a round bath rug that is in the bathroom when we’re not showering and then we set it outside the bathroom when we shower. Trash receptacle: We have a small plastic one with a lid that pops up. Plastic shopping bags fit it nicely. Not sure where it came from. Toiletry organization suggestions: Shampoo and soap bottles can fit in the area under the sink. We have a couple of low plastic boxes in the area above the toilet for other toiletries. Any kind of cabinet or closet organizers that are essential: Toasters: Cheap two hole toaster. Coffee maker: (We like GOOD coffee and grinder but want to know if there is something smaller for an RV): We carry a Nespresso Pixie and also a Melita pour over cone and a small electric grinder. When boondocking we heat water on the propane cook top and use the pour over into a thermos. When we have electricity we use the Nespresso. In general, I wouldn’t worry about getting too much stuff. We carry less now than we did the year we picked up. It’s easy enough to acquire things as you see the need, stores are everywhere. After you’re out a few times you’ll get a feel for what you need and don’t need. Mike
    1 point
  15. Plug converters: We've yet to run into a campsite that didn't have 30a service, though I guess there's one out there. External Surge Protection: If you have the built in then I wouldn't Wheel chock or “X” blocks: We tried the X-chocks and found them to be unreliable and a PITA to use. I prefer the cheapy hard rubber chocks, four of them. Extra 25′ potable water hose: Not necessary to spend extra on these, but they're nice. Jack stand blocks: I use the Camco legos. I should probably find something lighter and less bulky though. External water filters. We have this one but have yet to use it - I wouldn't call it essential, but their 'essential system' would be the one to get. Extra grey water discharge hose: We have a cheap 100' garden hose from Home Depot that I got because it was...grey. For composting toilet: We use regular TP - nothing you get will have time to degrade much all before you dump, so it's really just a question of bulk. We prefer peat over the coco, and just carry three or four gallon ziplocks of it in case we need to dump the toilet while travelling. Tool Kit: I think there are a few lists/threads on it if you search. I carry way too many, and then bring more just in case, so I'll limit my advice to just a decent screwdriver and wrench/socket sets, hex set, some vice grips/pliers, utility knife, etc. A rubber mallet is indispensable for knocking chocks out. A multimeter can be handy. Tire gauge. Gloves. A few repair items are good to have: gorilla tape, assorted zip ties, self fusing silicone tape, butyl tape, screen repair kit, fuses. Cookware: The Magma set is pricey but you won't regret it. Also, also, and also. Utensils: Most of the RV specific things we bought ended up getting quickly replaced by duplicates from our kitchen. For us, there's enough room in the drawers not to worry about space saving products. Here are a few things that we really do like though: tumble trivets, drying mat, wine crate, Dishware: We have these. Cute, but that's about all I can say for them. On my to do list is to find a way to safely carry real dishes. We also end up using paper plates more than we should. I spent a small fortune on Strahl glassware since I figured they're used in restaurants so they'd hold up, but after one trip they were cloudy and covered in scratches. You could probably run over them with a truck though and they'd survive. But we just bought a few of these to try and have high hopes. Utensil and plate organizers: These and these fit the drawers really well. Dish soap and hand soap: We just keep a small bottle of Dawn in the pantry. I'm used to one of these at home for hand soap, so I got one for the trailer. Paper towel dispenser: We love this one. Above the sink with screws and caulk. Inside entrance matt: This fits the space almost perfectly Ground matt at exterior entrance to trailer: This one does the job Extra matt for outside of bath area: Definitely needed - we have this one. Trash receptacle: We bought this but it's too big and we don't do a good job of separating the recyclables. But it does fit well under the dinette and travels well in the shower. We have a tiny little pedal bin from Ikea in the bath but they don't seem to make it anymore. Toiletry organization suggestions: We use these in the bath cabinet. Also these with the clear tops. Any kind of cabinet or closet organizers that are essential: We use these for clothes. If you can find the Rubbermaid bento boxes, the medium size works great in the upper cabinets. Unfortunately it doesn't look like they make them anymore. Toasters: The Breville Mini is one of the few (perhaps the only one?) that fits in the microwave cabinet Coffee maker: Join the dark side. I'm still shocked how good these are. It travels in the sink. Other stuff that we MUST HAVE at pickup??????? Patience.
    1 point
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