Leaderboard

I used to empty and remove my Yakima Rocket Box Lo manually, then unclamp the crossbars and remove them. Reinstalling was a hassle because I had to measure and readjust everything each time. The box weighs 50 pounds empty, so it was pretty awkward getting it up and off the roof. It usually took me an hour of fussing to get everything “just right” and reloaded with cargo. I found a new in box heavy duty ceiling hoist on Craigslist for $150, MSRP was over $500. I mounted it to my 10 ft garage ceiling. Now I back the truck underneath, loosen the crossbar clamps, strap the bars to the hoist and lift the whole kit and kaboodle off the truck. It takes about five minutes, and I can lower it down to 4 feet off the floor to access the stuff I usually carry in the box on summer trips (chairs, flagpole, shovel, MaxxTrax, etc). The no-slip gearbox at the top is driven by a long crank handle, just like a manual canopy on an Ollie. The handle stores on a wall eyebolt when not in use. The box throws no shadows, probably because I have so many LED shop lights up there😁. The two safety straps are not really needed, but they make my wife feel better about having her SC400 underneath all that weight….. if we lived where there were earthquakes, they would definitely be needed, just in case the ceiling should shake violently. John Davies Spokane WA

We have the 11000 BTU Dometic Penguin in our 2020 Ollie. We sleep extremely well and cool with it on low auto. We rarely have used AC lately since we camp in higher elevations. We never used our AC on our recent trip to Upstate NY, Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. But these work great when we decide on silence and are much cheaper than a new AC. 😎

I will be going to the Hershey RV show next Wednesday just to make sure but, I think Ollie it is. I have a few questions regarding my set up and needs and I welcome your suggestions. My tow rig is a 2021 F150 hybrid with a built in 7.2kw power supply. As for battery upgrades, I have done many in the past on RV’s but frankly never felt the usage I got was worth the money spent. I will use my built in power supply from the truck when Boon-docking (which I will do almost exclusively) but I will use the house battery’s for standard 12v tasks like lights, blower motors etc. But is the 4 6v AGM battery upgrade worth the freedom from checking battery water hassle? I want the upgraded mattress’s on both sides for the occasional visitors but also want a couch, suggestions on couch back cushions? Any other must haves in your opinion? thanks! by the way, I live in the Smokey’s about 45 minutes from Gatlinburg, Dollywood, Pigeon Forge on 4 wooded acres, I have an Rv spot with full hook ups for friends and family. If anyone wants to camp for a night or two feel free to contact me and if the schedule is free, you are welcome to use my facilities. Brad

I have not posted in a while. My Oliver family has had me very busy in the shop. We are getting ready to go camping and then head to Greece for a 10-day vacation. I will be suspending my crafting for the month of August and will start back up the first week in September. I plan to ship all orders through August in the next week. New orders will begin shipping in mid-September. Below is my current challenge, a 35” x 22” x 1.4” Lagun tabletop in black walnut. While this sounds simple, the challenge is in the weight. Lagun Table Systems have a maximum weight of 50 pounds. It includes the top and any items you are going to place on it. My target weight of 15 pounds for the finished top leaves 35 pounds for day-to-day use. The walnut blank I started with 35” x 22” x 1.4” thick weighed in at 29 pounds. I decided to back cut the bottom in three sections down to ¾” thick, with 1” wide edges and two cross supports. It came in at 15.2 lbs. Beautiful to look at, light as can be, and engineered to be strong for a lifetime of use.

Spending our first night at the new Oliver campground in our amazing Elite II. Last September we toured the factory and made the decision that this was the RV we really wanted once we had retired this summer. The forum has been a great source of learning all about the Oliver Elite II. We are looking forward to many adventures and meeting new friends. So very excited!

I wash mine in the regular washing machine on Cold/ Gentle, followed by a fast spin, and, lay them flat to let them air dry. I never had a problem. Oh yeah, remove the foam inserts first . 😉 John Davies Spokane WA

Just some info on the Rad Mini's, they do have bottle holder on the up part of the frame, we do not have our water bottles there, but do have our bike locks mounted there, the frame has tapped threads there for what ever you would like to mount there. I'm 6'1" and weigh 240 with a 31" inseam and the bike fits me just find and comfortable to ride, I did change the seat for a more comfortable one, best improvement for comfort. I have ridden the Mini some 22 miles on rides and no discomfort, except my 76 year old body has normally. RAD does have a mobile repair service that will service your e-bike at your home and it is also used to setup a new bike if you want that service. A dealer close to you for servicing your bike might be nice, but bikes sold at these dealers are more expensive and RAD service with a phone call to them will actually get you a real person to talk with, they have 35 plus employees at there home office in Seattle. Most online sellers of e-bikes only have 3-4 employees and at times when they have no bikes to sell you a luck to get someone to answer the phone. E-bike are under the same regulations as a peddle bicycle, so you can ride them any place you can ride a peddle bike, but you have to obey the laws in the area you are riding. Normally you will be riding with both hikers and trail walkers, so you need to give them a good clearance when riding, plus ring you bell, or say, "on your right, or on your left", when passing. Riding in cities with bicycle lanes is the best place to ride and if bicycles are not allowed on sidewalk then neither are you. The RAD will go faster if you want them to by just by setting the controls on your speed controller, you can get 24 mph easily, but your controller is set at the factory to where the bike will only go 20 mph, this is where it can meet the laws for bicycles, fast it becomes a scooter and the laws are totally different for them. You can find the fast speed adjustment on YouTube for the RAD e-bikes. Mike and Carol, we will be at the Pineknot Rally in Grapeland, Texas this fall and will be bring our RAD there to ride, hope you will be there, there will probably be some 5-6 Oliver's there. Plus anyone wanting to talk about e-bikes is welcome to send me and email and I will get back with you, we are going camping tomorrow and will be gone till Friday. I studied the RAD's for six months before we purchased one and found as much info as I could about them, very happy we went with RAD. Trainman

Mike, We have a 2017 LE1 and I have been running the OEM Michelins at 60 psig with TPMS temp readings that are very acceptable. The trailer handles very well and evidently smoothly enough where there is no mess inside to greet us when we enter after a long drive. Also, I did install the Dexter shackle kit which is a major improvement and now STD equipment I believe.. John is correct about the TPMS being a critical safety device and I second his recommendation. Terry

Our experience at the new Oliver campsites was enjoyable - the sites are just meant for overnight to be close by and not for a real camping experience but it was reassuring having them next door since just a few steps took you back to them for questions and help if needed. We were very fortunate to have great weather and no issues with our camper. Traveled to David Crockett State Park for this evening but will be heading north to Fort Massac State Park in southern Illinois for a couple of nights before returning to our home in Illinois. Will try to post photos later in the week. Mary

“HOW OFTEN IS A SENSOR TRANSMITTING INFORMATION? This varies among manufacturers, but generally, sensors have different settings while parked and while in motion. The better question is what causes the sensor to transmit? When a sudden change in pressure is detected, the sensor should transmit whether the sensor is stationary or moving. When the tire starts to roll, tiny accelerometers cause the sensor to wake up and start broadcasting at regular intervals. In rolling mode, sensors transmit, on average, once every 30-120 seconds. While parked or in stationary mode, depending on the manufacturer, sensors may transmit only when a significant pressure change is detected. If a TPMS sensor transmitted all the time, a sensor would not last very long. Most TPMS sensors will transmit when movement is detected through a simple accelerometer inside. If the wheel stops moving, the sensor will stop broadcasting after a programmed amount of time. But once it is triggered, the sensor transmits on a predetermined interval set by the manufacturer. A sensor will immediately send a signal if it detects a sudden loss in pressure.” https://www.underhoodservice.com/tpms-radio-frequency-theory-and-operation/ Mine has screw on sensors, and when getting ready to leave in the morning I “wake up” each one with a couple of raps from my finger so they transmit today’s value, not the one from when I arrived, in case one of the tires picked up a nail and was quietly deflating overnight. I would much prefer to see that warning or low pressure reading in the campground than a couple of miles down a busy highway… and this is a great reason to NOT choose a type that installs inside the tire. You can’t wake those up except by driving away. John Davies Spokane WA

Thanks, John. I've read a lot of your posts and I know you put a lot of thought into this stuff. Also, I'm so glad you mentioned the foam. I was really struggling to get them all in the machine. I'm 200 lbs and they just won't compress! (That's a joke!)

Watch your TPMS and as had been said over and over - you really should have one. Any increase in tire temperature much more than 10 degrees above ambient temperature tends to indicate that your tire pressure is too low. Of course, one must allow for a number of variables such as load, amount of sun directly (or not) on the tires, type of road surface (black new asphalt will be hotter than "white" concrete), average speed, etc. Bill

@John E Davies Thank you for responding and sharing such beneficial information!! You too @SeaDawg This community is so helpful. I'm now thinking a 2018 might be a better starting point. The class A that we sold was 4 years old when we purchased. Thanks again, R.C.

Service can do that job for you after delivery. The inside aluminum backing plates are already there on all hulls, the tech would just have to precisely locate and drill the holes. However, IMHO the four mounts would be marginal at best to support such a large array when traveling on bumpy roads and with gusty winds. John Davies Spokane WA

the new Truma Aventa listed for a mere $2,150. I love German engineering, but not at 2X the cost for a unit too small for an OE2 to boot. It looks like Houghton still has the market corned at this moment. Good news is more players, more cost competition down the road.

Now what are you going to do about getting the Christmas tree and Rubbermaid tubs off the top shelf?😁 Mossey

@Geronimo John since you're probably heading back to Hawaii soon, I'd keep an eye out for new developments and reviews. Our houghton 9.5 is a great unit for our smaller Elite. We've not tested it in temps above the 90s. The older I get, the less I desire to test myself in those temps. There are many variables we haven't tested on our smaller Houghton, because we rarely need/use ac. I can tell you that it is very, very quiet., when I tested it at home in Florida Our install doesn't leak. That's about it. All summer, in the Appalachian mountains, it hasn't run. I've worn long pants and sleeves, all summer. I'm definitely not the person to ask about 100+ degree weather. Not my thing, and we'd be on the road, toward cooler temps, if that were in the forecast. It's about 60 here, north side of the mountain, southeast of asheville. Fall seems to be arriving early.

A completely dry pump may not be able to prime itself. You can try this: unscrew the inlet hose at the far end, tilt it up, pour water into it and into the filter. That may be all it needs to get pumping. My system airlocks sometimes when towing with a partial fresh tank, I just let the air bleed out the faucets, or turn the supply valves so the flow runs straight back the return (tank fill) line into the tank for 20 seconds. That bleeds the air pretty well. John Davies Spokane WA

My trailer smelled like a boat factory for two years, I really like the smell of resin…. I think you would need one at least that old if it bothers you. You do not need to use antifreeze, you can drain and blow out the system with compressed air. It is not 100% reliable like pumping AF, there is still a small possibility of residual water draining to a low spot and freezing. Plus you still need to add a little AF to the inside drains. But you might be able to find a product for those three spots that doesn’t bother you, it doesn’t have to be non-toxic glycol. Mineral oil would work. Fill them enough to displace the trapped water, then dry the areas and tape over the openings with 2” aluminum HVAC tape so the odor doesn’t rise into the cabin…. John Davies Spokane WA

We're picking up #924 in less than 6 weeks. We would love to hear about your experience and see your pictures. We will live vicariously through your reports until we can get our own first-hand experience! Carl

How is this determined? The human ear's response to sound level is roughly logarithmic (based on powers of 10), and the dB scale reflects that fact. An increase of 3dB doubles the sound intensity but a 10dB increase is required before a sound is perceived to be twice as loud.

One of my hoses split unexpectedly near the sewer outlet when dumping, fortunately it was just grey water, I would not have enjoyed that if there were black solids spilling out into the rear bumper cavity and onto the ground! I bought a spare set of two hoses at Walmart and tossed the bad section. I decided to carry the second one always as a spare. Ten feet will compress to less than two! I wrapped around it in a circular manner, added two full lengthwise wraps to make sure it couldn't pop open, followed by more circular wraps. The wrap is common mover's wrap, it is super expensive at Staples or even Walmart, but this is a great source for less than $6. It is an on-the-shelf item in every store. I use this for all kinds of temporary securing in my garage and while camping. My trailer was delivered with Camco hoses, yours may vary but they should stow the same. John Davies Spokane WA

Everyone knows storage space is a premium. This is a simple mod to add a shelf under your dinette. The shelf rest on the lip that holds the counter when it's in sleep mode.

This morning I realized that if I combined the total of people that perished on this day 20 years ago with those that have fought and died in the Middle East over the past 20 years, it would total approximately the same number of people that currently live in the small town where I presently live. It is simply difficult to imagine all these people just not being here. I worked in the investment business and had numerous occasions when I visited both towers of the World Trade Center and knew a number of people that worked there every day. Certainly I can not and will not forget and encourage every citizen to at least remember everyone touched by this tragedy. Bill

After 43 years building and maintaining a cruising sailboat, I have found Oliver ownership a bargain! There are much more effective ways to squander your childrens inheritance than owning an Oliver 🙂

I have had the 5th wheel, the conversion van, a Scamp, a van hauling a Scamp and a Class A. The Oliver, for us, is the best of all worlds. Plenty of room, you don't have to pack everything up to go get a loaf of bread or an ice cream, and it fits through some covered bridges. Two things to remember: when backing up, put your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel. The way you turn the wheel is the direction the trailer is going to go. The other is a slow and small turn of the wheel s a big move way at the back of the trailer. (The camera helps).

Here is a RAD video on the Mini,

Good summary ChrisMI. For my 2018 Ollie, (Used trailer w/prowatt), I would add a Victron BMV-700 Smart Battery Monitor (Includes 250 A Smart Shunt & Smart Display) for about $144. Not the more expensive Bluetooth one that the young folks would "need". 🙂 My rationale is that the existing battery charge monitor is worthless on the much flatter SoC curves for the lithium batteries. Geronimo John

What OS? My iPad has a known bug, if the temporary map file cache gets too large, you cannot delete it and eventually the entire app bogs down, big time. It also clogs up the storage on your phone or tablet. This has been going on for over a year and GAIA support still doesn’t know when they will have a fix. Go to Settings/ Storage and look at the Storage/ Storage Use section, scroll down to Tile Cache. If it is huge (over a few hundred MB) then try clearing it. Go to Storage/ Clear Cache. If that doesn’t work, try it ten times. If the files still don’t go away, you will have to delete the app entirely, reinstall it, login and sync to your GAIA online account. (You must use a desktop or laptop computer for this, synccing won’t work with another portable device.) That will download all your personal waypoints, routes, tracks, etc, but you will have to decide and then select which map folders you want, (look in the Archive section for more choices) and ALL those individual file tiles will have to download again, over a strong wifi connection. It may take a full day or more, depending on how big they are. I have over 40 GB😳 I have had to do this twice, once I had over 20 GB of temporary file cache ! If it gets over about 2 GB you are headed for trouble. If this is your problem, be sure to open a service ticket from within your app, and complain to them about it, the more people who complain, the quicker it will get resolved. I actually told them that I could no longer recommend GAIA for overlanding travel (out of cell coverage) and they refunded an entire year’s fee. I try to remember to clear the cache manually very often, and on this trip it seems to be working fine. Good luck, and please post a followup. John Davies Spokane WA

I've been checking the recpro site occasionally to see if the Houghton ac has been in stock, and lately, it's been good, both in black and white. Today, I noticed another interesting ac unit on their site. https://www.recpro.com/recpro-12v-rv-air-conditioner/ This one runs on 12v, not 110, with an average of 80 amps in their testing, so theoretically, those of you with the big lithium installs might just be able to run ac overnight, without a generator or hookups. It's way too big for my rooftop available space at 33 x 48, but very low profile. Coachmen is supposed to be using this in their new model Galleria, on a sprinter chassis, so we'll probably get some reviews from those owners soon. All I could find was one youtube, and some testing charts from Premier. It's inverter compressor technology, so no easy start necessary. But, it also comes with a $2500 price tag. And, #2 wire needs to be run. It's encouraging, however, to see some new players in rv ac.

Add up the RV's, motorcycles, boats, and associated hardware and soon your talking real money. Please don't mention the added $$ spent "improving" -- that makes it look really stupid. There was this one race bike, well... never mind. But - in almost every case -I would do it all over again. Our Oliver experience was certainly one of the better value plays overall. I never really tallied the costs and time/labor ( I'm not a fan of Horror moves) - but after 3 years of great experiences, and resale to a wonderful couple - we felt like it was a bargain. Of course my daily farm/daily driver is the former TV GMC 2500 - to replace it - well although it will bring almost what I paid - there is nothing to replace it with - have you looked lately - wow. - that and I really like driving the beast. Few if any have passed wishing they had left more $$ unspent..... Die young - as late as possible. Have fun Oliverites. RB A former Oliver caretaker.

Ocala Guy If you go to Micro Air Easy start website, they have resources on how to install their product plus specific schematic for the Houghton AC. Print them off for reference when installing. Under the hood of the Houghton space is limited, you can't see from the pictures but there are two electrical boxes, one on each side of the insulated portion of the AC. Looking at the pictures, the enclosure that has the lead wire from the Micro Air soft start going to it contains the capacitor you will need to connect to. You will also have to run wire to the other enclosure to connect the black wire from Easy Start to the switched-L-1 connects coming from the main control board or main contactor that connects to the compressor common terminal wire. I chose to make a shorter wire run directly to compressor just in front of the over load protection devise. For mounting the Micro Air I used Velcro but added two straps made from banding to help support it since it was hook to Styrofoam. Paul

Minnesota Oli I am in the process of changing from a Dometic A/C to the same unit you just installed. I see you also installed the easy start for your unit. Can you maybe provide a wiring diagram on your install? It looks like you may have made brackets to hang the easy start on? I see a junction box for the wires. Did you add that? I installed the easy start on my last a/c but it had a diagram to follow. I don’t want to screw up a new a/c so I would appreciate your expertise. Thanks. Thermostat issues for heat can be resolved using a Honeywell Pro TH 1100DV1000 thermostat. Intercept two wires that come from the furnace to the Dometic a/c control box and use two of the wires that go to the current Dometic digital unit and attach them to the Honeywell unit. The Honeywell uses double A battery that you change once a year. The thermostat just makes and breaks the connection when you call for heat and the Honeywell unit is not very expensive.

My version of Houghton AC install. Start out by cutting 120 volt power to AC and 12 volt power to furnace. Next remove the plenum of the Dometic Penguin II on the inside of the Oliver. This will expose a group of wires that are in a black sheath, these are the control side of the wiring for the AC. These go to a LCD relay board that controls Cool/Furnace/Heat Strip that is mounted up in the AC. You will also see a metal electrical 4" x 2" Handy Box that will have the 120 volt power supply for the AC. Both sets of wires can then be disconnected and the four bolts holding the AC on can be removed, this allows you to remove the AC from the roof of Oliver. The Houghton AC will not be using the Dometic thermostat that's mounted on the wall because it comes with a remote but your furnace still needs the wall thermostat which works with the LCD Relay Board. I wanted to preserve my old AC with the LCD relay board intact for resale, so I purchased a replacement board mounted it in a plastic box. I installed it in the area where my tank monitor is with the access through pantry. Where I disconnected the control side of the wiring harness from the AC I then connected wires long enough to be routed back to the new LCD relay board that is mounted next to the pantry. I then connected those wires to the relay board. One other item is the relay board has a freeze sensor that needs to be hook up or you will get a error message. That sensor is mounted in the cooling fins on the AC, so I had a temp sensor left over from a refrigerator repair I did a while back and that worked as a replacement. The Houghton comes with a roof mount frame, this gets a sealant applied to the under side of it and that is set in the opening in the roof, I used Dicor Lap Sealant. The roof has a slight radius built in to it to help shed water so the flat roof mount frame will tend to teeter in the opening. I applied the sealant to the under side of the outside mount frame and put it in the opening with four bolts in place. Then I put the inside mount frame in place and hand tightened the nuts with very little force. This assured me the all was lined up properly. I smooth out what squeezed out by dipping my finger in water and forming a bead around the frame. I let this sit for 24 hours before installing the ac. When I torqued the bolt to 9 ft lbs I looked up on top and saw a couple spots where my formed bead had some small bulges but I'm satisfied that I have a good seal. I made the 120 volt connection to the AC with waterproof connectors and discarded 4" x 2" Handy Box so I would have less obstructions in the air passageways. I also used aluminum foil tape to smooth the transition between the two mount frames. As a sidenote halfway through the install I thought of a different way of doing the wiring for the thermostat. If a person replaced the LCD thermostat with a older manual style you could do away with the LCD relay board. If you look at the first picture that shows a group of wires that are in a black sheath, these are the control side of the wiring for the AC. In that group of wires there are two blue wires one with a white stripe. The one with the white stripe is hot 12 volts DC and the solid blue is the wire that goes to the furnace relay board. So re-allocate the existing thermostat wires by doubling them up ,two of them hooked to the solid blue and the other two hook to the blue with the white stripe. Then at the wall hook the two thermostat wires that are hooked to blue with white stripe to the power in on the new manual thermostat and the other two to the power out. The reason I would double them up is because of they're small gauge. This would do away with having to pull wires and using the LCD relay board. Also save you having to toggle through the unusable modes (heat strip, cool) on the LCD thermostat to get to the furnace mode. I am very pleased with the sound levels of this AC, you can easily have a conversation between two people without any difficulty of hearing each other. Plus it also has heat mode and dry mode. I should have done this write up sooner when it was fresh in my mind. Oh well. Paul PS I also installed the Micro Air EasyStart. I wanted to ensure that my Honda 2200 would be able to start the AC from eco- mode. You can see from the pictures it was very tight space to mount the unit. The captured inrush amps before installation was 67.1 and 48.9 after install.

Well as has been opined - Oliver brakes are not the cats meow - what to do, where does one go, - perhaps buy the best - an AS, a SOB, my gosh, we re all gonna die from insufficient breaking, - yeah another subjective topic. Get yours checked - do it yourself, ask one of those alien's the Navy says strafed SD in 2019 - just have them checked, get a vaccine, wear a mask, run, hide aaaaaaagh. OK it is relief factor - feel young again - get the quick start pack today - your brakes will love you. OR - just do the normal maintenance , and then you can spend quality worrying about which adult beverage you might run out of on the next boon docking escapade.......!!!!!! Oh crap - this isn't the Twilight Zone - sorry, I ran out of semi adult beverages and must have sobered up.... Thank you RB sniffing too much JB Weld - repairing the infrastructure. - can be hard on ones mental acuity. Wait - where is my tin hat and on EDIT- Ok - I realized I missed an important fix for the whole kit and caboodle - get your perfect pillow today - what pillow - well we all have a choice - I like mine - my pillow works, but not his My Pillow - it is an anthemia to common decency - what would John Locke say, not to mention Rousseau. Common Sense says T Paine.

Another Dometic "power lawnmower" AC bites the dust... Created a temporary skylight. What a nice, sturdy, double fiberglass hull with PVC board in between for strength! And a few pics of the outside of the unit since the first two pioneers (katanapilot and seadog) included different parts... All in all, it took me ~3.5 hours. I had two helpers to remove the old unit and put the new one on the roof: John Deere and my son. I ended up using Butyl tape on the outside frame because I had some high quality stuff on hand, I'm familiar with it and that's what OTT had used on the Dometic Penguin II I removed. Now only time will tell how these things perform and last. Some of my notes / observations so far to add to what has already been observed: 1. It's a lot quieter. I only measured sound at the bed where our heads are with high fan and compressor (about 5' away). With the Dometic it was ~80 dB (as loud as a power lawnmower) and with the Houghton it's ~60 dB (as loud as a normal conversation). Definitely will be able to sleep better. 2. AC and Heat Pump both work on either batteries (Lithium) or the Honda 2200 generator without the EasyStart. On battery power through the inverter, it ran smooth / fantastic. However, with the generator there were a few hiccups as the compressor didn't start a few times and the surge protector (I think) made some "strange" clanging sounds. A 2200 generator alone may be borderline and may need either the EasyStart (if possible) or a pair of generators to be safe. 3. Fan alone takes 1 Amp on 120V and 8 amps on 12V. Fan plus AC compressor takes 9 amps on 120V and 90 amps on 12V. Fan plus heat pump takes 13 amps on 120v and 130 amps on 12V. I think I'll still be carrying my small Vortex space heater in the winter, but it's nice to have another all electric option when power is available. 4. The exterior cover is nice, but it's not pure white like the Ollie or the MaxAir fan. It's a bit of an "off white" I think. 5. The AC compressor and the heatpump both cycled about every 7 minutes. I think that's expected since the thermostat is in the unit itself and there's not a lot of air circulation up in the back of the Ollie ceiling. An additional fan may help. 6. It's 3.5" shallower than the Dometic on the outside. Thanks again to katanapilot for researching and finding this alternative and to both seadog and katanapilot for sharing some additional tidbits that helped make my installation painless! Now I will try to sell my old unit to subsidize this upgrade so we can afford diesel for the next camping trip. 😬

We were camping in Colorado and a huge big wind came through the camping ground and ours blew totally down and some 50ft away, We did not have the straps (tiedowns) attached, but did have the stakes in the ground. Not so luck were the campers next to us with the $300,000 motorhome who lost there patio cover and the winder sensors didn't work fast enough to retract it. trainman