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On Friday, I took our LEII to the Zarcor Solutions facility in Addison, TX (a burb north of Dallas) for installation of a tinted window for our entry door and Zarcor's Closures Shutter Blind and the video recording of the installation. John Harder, President of Zarcor, had previously sent me a sales receipt showing the cost of the parts as $149.00 and installation labor of $120.00, for a total of $269.00. The sales receipts also showed a discount of $269.00 for allowing Zarcor to use our trailer to make an installation and sales video. Thus the cost to me was $0.00. John's team demonstrated their experience by carefully removing the inner trim from our entry door to remove the standard textured glass. I had previously seen photos posted on the OTT Forum where the fastener tabs which retain the inner trim had been broken during removal. Javier, the primary installer, carefully inserted the plastic release tabs into the slots around the inner trim. Several fastener locations could not immediately be released. Javier's experience became evident as he continued to work the release tabs until all of the fasteners released, undamaged. The RVLock 4.0 which I had installed post delivery had to be removed to permit access to the slots to free the fasteners on the lower right corner. Once the inner trim was removed, the textured glass was easily removed and the new clear, tinted glass inserted, with new sealing caulk around inside of the frame. The outer window trim was not removed, retaining its factory seal. Once the tinted glass was in place the Clozure Shutter blind, consisting of two sheets of acrylic, was fastened to the inside of the glass with small Velcro disks. Each acrylic sheet is coated with vertical white stripes approximately 3/4" wide, alternating with clear stripes. The acrylic sheet against the glass is fixed, while the other sheet slides approximately 3/4" left/right to open/close the shutter. Moving the acrylic sheet causes its white stripes to cover the clear areas of the fixed acrylic sheet, preventing light from entering. A plastic handle attaches to the movable acrylic sheet and rides on two screw mounted glides to move left and right. The two acrylic sheets which form the shutter are easily removed for cleaning. A minor interference problem was encountered, with the open/close handle not able to move fully due to the position of the RVLock. Zarcor will modify the handle slightly to eliminate the interference issue and provide a replacement handle. The entire installation, with video recording, took approximately one and a half hours. We are pleased with the new window and the operable shutter. We now have visibility through the window in the entry door and a means of controlling entry of light to the cabin. The tinted window closely matches the other windows in the trailer. During the day there is little or no visibility into the cabin through the new tinted glass. At night, with lights on in the cabin, there is some visibility from the outside. With the shutter closed there is no visibility into the trailer and nearly all light is blocked. Although we have owned the trailer a short time, we quickly learned the textured window admitted a lot of light from the early morning sun. It also admitted light at night from nearby campground lighting. These problems are solved by the Clozures Shutter Blind. The Zarcor team indicated the processing of the installation video would take a couple of weeks before it is posted to the Zarcor website. I will post an update when the installation video is available. Below are photos from the completed installation. Exterior view of door with shutter blind open Interior view of closed shutter blind Interior view of open shutter blind Handle to slide shutter blind open/shut (RVLock 4.0 on right) Regards, Don

https://letsrv.com/the-rv-gray-water-dumping-guide/ John Davies Spokane WA

We in Maine do have hot humid weather in the summer, but not like down south. Generally we will have hot spells in the mid 90's that lasts 2 to 4 weeks straight. I live along the coast so the humidity is very high during these times, making it feel like 100. I use a small ProBreeze dehumidifier (see picture - 1200 cubic feet (205 sq ft) Electric Mini Dehumidifier). I do have to empty the water container every 3 to 4 days, but that is better than having a large dehumidifier like some others are using and it is easy to store when traveling. For the past 2 summers this dehumidifier has worked fine for me, keeping the Oliver dry and no mold has formed.

We’ve camped in 100+ degree weather but prefer not too. Usually, it’s a night on our escape trip out of Texas to cooler places. I try to stay at a campground with electricity on those nights so we can run our AC at the highest noise level, I mean highest cooling level. We did spend three nights at Palo Duro Canyon state park up by Amarillo, each day was over 100. We went to the musical and even though it was dark, it was still mid 90’s. The AC kept the trailer cool and kept us awake. Mike

Maybe the younger ones should pay attention to the mostly retired... I find the Ollie 2 a very good boondocker with great road clearance. Just saying... Charlie.

Here are a few photos. The first two are photos of us setting up—you can see what the surface was like. The last shows the full Kimberley display. Oliver had the Elite II on display behind the Kimberley display. BTW, this was the first time Kimberley had all of its Kruisers, the Karavan and the Kamper on display in one place—they haven’t even done this in Australia!

These are “collector special edition” cups! Those sharp fly tying eyes 👀 nice catch! 😅

Yep, my bad. I was just checking on Delaneywud and saw your post. It’s rough getting old. Mike

@John E Davies John - I forgot you lived in the area before. LBL is great. We really like Piney Campground. We were over there on Saturday getting my Military Annual Pass renewed (FREE). They just signed legislation to make the military passes LIFETIME FREE. Will be getting that one after the first of the year. It’s an inter-agency pass for seven different agencies, NPS, COE, BLM, etc. Brian

Barb and Ben, John‘s map of LBL (Land Between the Lakes) is a good one but it will take you out of the way. We are located in Paris, TN and live a few miles from Paris Landing SP, there is also a KOA nearby. We are waiting on a 2023 delivery and have sold our Airstream. If you are only stopping over and don’t need a campground, you can stay over night in our driveway. We have 30 amp hookups. We are about 2 hours from Hohenwald. If you take 412 over to 641 it will take you to Paris, TN. That’s about 1/2 way to Paducah so if you are wanting to make up some time, you might want to keep heading up that way. Safe Travels, Brian

We use this larger Pro Breeze and it has served us well. We don’t use a drain hose as we store our Ollie here at home. We empty it about every 5-6 days it shuts off automatically when full. It’s very quiet with just a tiny bit of white noise. It’s also stores and travels easily in the closet.

Maybe the folks at Oliver could produce a photo calendar featuring the fine photography of Ollie owners? I believe that everyone on this forum would want one. It would also make a great marketing tool. I slapped this together in Photoshop as an idea.

That is true but the charger/converter section of the Xantrex will still charge the batteries and pass 120v AC to the outlets when the inverter is turned off at the control panel and you're connected to shore power. We usually only power up the inverter section when we need to run 120v appliances off the batteries. I had never considered leaving the inverter section on while connected to shore power. I can see that could be useful if you have some sort of critical 120v equipment that you would want to ensure constant power to. OTOH, running the inverter when you do have shore power adds inefficiency and heat. You're basically taking 120v AC, converting it to 12v DC to charge the batteries, then inverting it back to 120v AC to feed the outlets. In special circumstances I can see value in that. Maybe you're running the air conditioner for a pet while you're gone and don't want it to stop if the shoreline power failed. Leaving the inverter on would be an elegant solution (provided you return before the batteries are exhausted). The downside, however, is increased runtime for your inverter - which might lead to its failure earlier than if you only ran it while boondocking. Just another way of looking at it.

One of the great features of the Oliver trailer design is the fast and easy (no tools needed) access to ALMOST all of the plumbing, heating, and electrical systems through the hatches under the dinette seats and the beds, or by removing the kitchen cabinet drawers. One area that’s NOT readily accessible is the area under the bathroom vanity, even though there is plumbing, electrical, and furnace ductwork all tucked inside the vanity. The storage cubby in the front of the vanity is screwed AND CAULKED in place by Oliver at the factory, so access is a bit more complicated than the other areas. I recently needed to get into that vanity area for some inspection and maintenance, and after completing that I wanted to make future access easier (no tools needed and no caulking). I know some owners have replaced the storage cubby with a hinged marine access panel, but I didn’t want to lose the cubby storage. So here’s a detailed description of a simple modification I did, along with links to the parts used. Access is now fast and easy. No-Slip Clip-On Barrel Nut, for 0.025" to 0.15" Panel Thickness, 8-32 Thread Size https://www.mcmaster.com/94850A111 #8-32 x 1" Thumb Screw Stainless... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09FZVLZKD?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share uxcell Edge Trim U Seal Extrusion, Silicone White U Channel Edge Protector Sheet Fits 0.5-2.5mm Edge 3Meters/9.84Ft Length https://a.co/d/1uWUZB3 Molex -3 Match Set - (3-Pin) w/14-20 AWG, Wire Connector - 2.13mm D, Latch Lock, MLX https://a.co/d/gapvioi

As Cajun cook Justin Wilson used to say, "I am what dey call a Safety Engineer. I wear a belt wit my suspenders." This is similar to what I do with surge protectors...I use Southwire Surge Guard (Model 34931) at the power pole and have the standard Progressive Industries Electrical Management System (EMS-HW30C). It's a case of we have it, might was well use it logic. We do not use any autoformer or voltage boosting equipment. The stated low voltage limit for the Southwind is 102 VAC, whereas the limit on the Progressive is 104VAC. A couple of weeks ago, we had our first power problems at a camp site. Highly variable voltage that would drop over time as the air conditioning cycled on. No other sites seemed to be having this issue and the park rangers said they knew of no problems. The problem disappeared until the middle of the night after a storm passed. As pole voltage would drop, the Southwind at the pole would trip off before the Progressive, which I found interesting given their low voltage specs. (Of course, I left my voltmeter at the house so I could not investigate this further.) The Progressive was indicating a low voltage event which makes sense. Strange part was when the Southwind at the pole would trip, the inverter (Xantrex Freedom XC 3000) would not transfer over to battery power. I was concerned about impacts of hard power shut-downs that were occurring. Additionally, when pole power would come back up and the Southwind would turn back on, the Progressive delay function would seem to kick in. So even though power was available, we were waiting for the delay function to help save the A/C compressor from short cycling. We ended up using battery power for the rest of the night. Next morning with low voltage still coming and going, I removed the Southwind at the pole thinking maybe it was having some problems. This left us with just the Progressive Industries surge protector. Now, when the power would drop below 104VAC, the Progressive would trip and the Xantrex would switch over to battery flawlessly even with air conditioning running. I have not spent much time trying to figure this out, but given the different limit voltages, surge protectors in series may be a case of too much of a good thing is not always better? We are going back to the same site this weekend and my voltmeter is already packed! The state park has told us the site is now working perfectly so I may not be able to get more info on this.

I impressed with some of the posts about this issue. I did open a ticket with Oliver asking about what they would recommend. The discouraged me from trying to run the wiring and power from the cabinet access panel adjacent to the entry door and suggested using power from the 12V DC supply that powers the fridge. I decided to use a new bus bar and split the negative and positive 12V power cable and allow for connection of the fan to the bus bar. I have attached a picture.

The ones that will eventually be available in the Company Store will actually read "Travel Trailers"!😁 Bill

I was asking Serge, the OP who started this thread last year, not the Austin “bot”. I was wondering what happened, did the sale fall through? Serge seems to be a live human being.. John Davies Spokane WA

🤣🤣🤣

We also like these insulated adult beverage containers! 😊

John, I’ll get some photos from other Kimberley owners and post them. Yes, it was extremely dusty. We spent a lot of time keeping our campers clean. My windows screens are still needing attention. Scott spent some time in my T3 and he also looked closely at the suspension and hitch. I think Oliver could produce a model with true off-road suspension and an off-road hitch. Also disk brakes. Based on my conversations with Scott, I think Oliver attracted many potential new customers. I’d be curious about actual sales resulting from the trip to the Expo.

Welcome to the forum, please fill out your signature so we know what trailer and tow vehicle you have. Do you have towing experience? I can’t recommend any specific places along your route, though Land Between The Lakes is near Paducah and has a whole bunch of camping options and 170,000 acres. The last time I was there was around 1976, so my memories are off a little 😬 I do caution that some of the secondary county roads in middle and west TN are extremely twisty and up/ down/ up, and they should be avoided if you haven’t towed before. Stick to major state and US highways and avoid the ridges and “hollers” (hollows). John Davies Spokane WA

It seems to me that if you are headed towards KC then Paducah is in the wrong general direction. However, if you are in Paducah then I highly recommend Red's Donut and Coffee Company, 4790 Village Square Drive, Paducah. Bill

Our trailer has what I would call the base systems, like I said in a previous post you need to be a plumber, electrician, etc. to own a travel trailer. Now I'm none of those, but do have a good knowledge of mechanical operation of things and what goes where and why. Like all RV's things are always going to go wrong, but for me the fewer things you have to go wrong is a plus. I see after reading on this forum that many have not only the factory base system, but other systems to backup those systems which for me just adds another thing to go wrong and thus makes diagnosing the problem that much more complex. I'm a believer in the KISS system and with what is manufactured in todays world you should find yourself giving it a try, buying the latest greatest gadgets for your RV might just drive you to become less likely to enjoy you camping experiences. trainman

We use this one. Works great and is very compact for a compressor type dehumidifier.

It sounds to me like the Truma AC has a soft-start capacitor built in to the unit by design which is why they will not honor warranty if a capacitor is added external to the Truma. I speculate that two uncoordinated capacitors in series may not always work well together. A soft start capacitor provides instantaneous reactive power reserves and it is reactive power that creates the electromagnetic field which allows any conductor to transmit real power. It is reactive power that supports voltage. Large generators on the bulk grid are designed to vary the amount of reactive power they generate in real time (simultaneous with generating real power or watts) to support grid voltage. Small generators like the Honda are rated at unity power factor and are not designed to inject or boost reactive power when faced with inductive loads like a sudden AC compressor load. Hence the need for a soft-start capacitor which minimizes voltage sag for the fraction of a second when the compressor starts. From the guidance out of Truma mentioned above, I expect that they have designed the unit with an integrated soft start capacitor that mitigates voltage sag on startup. (Just like the external soft-start capacitor that Oliver installed in my 2020 LE II does). I am reasonably confident that the Honda EU2200i, or any similar nominal 2,000 watt generator will start and run the Truma, or I don't think OTT wouldn't have made the switch.

Now I'll correct myself after reviewing the manual. The Xantrex can indeed function like a UPS, switching back and forth between shore power and battery automatically. Pretty nifty trick. (Note that setting 11 should be on APL if you're running the A/C.) The only downside I can see now would be forgetting to turn it off when not connected to shore power and draining your batteries by accident (or having the shore power fail without you knowing it, with the same result). Interesting.

Agree but I don't think it is more than 20 amps since it is on a 20 amp breaker inside the trailer. BL

I had a chance to try out the Ollie during our recent publicized heat wave last week. The first day I was boondocking the high was 118. Wow. While driving in the heat, I was very happy to see that all my tires did great, both on my truck and on the Ollie. Believe it or not, I haven't had any air loss in the tires since last summer when I picked it up. It sits most of the time but I have taken it out on a few trips. I've got about 3500 miles on it so far. Attached is a pic of my dash readout of the GMC TPMC system from my truck's dash. I wish I had a generator to run the AC for longer periods b/c it was sooooo hot. I've got the Lithium Pro which allows me to run the AC off the batteries, but I do it just for short periods, like 30 to 45 minutes. I'm careful b/c I don't want to run the batteries all the way down while boondocking without a generator. I've never camped with a generator but I'm thinking that at times like this it would be very nice. The solar panels, including my 100w portable panel plugged into the external Zamp port, did put juice back into the batteries but no so much that it was like plugging into shore power. They raised my SOC about 15% each day, but then I used that up in the evenings. I experimented with trying to cool down the interior during the middle part of the day. No shade. The first day I ran the AC to bring the interior temp down, then shut everything up and left for five hours. When I returned the interior was like an oven! 105 degrees. The next day I kept the bathroom window and the rear window opened a crack and put the fan on at 30 percent blowing out to draw air through the trailer, then left for 5 hours. When I got back it was again very hot inside, but maybe a few degrees cooler than the previous day. So much for that experiment. The Norcold fridge performed well. I had it up to 8 and the first day it was maybe too full, but it kept things cold enough. Not very cold, but cold enough not to spoil. The ice was still solid when I returned. I did rig up a little battery powered fan to blow hot air away from the exterior top fridge vent, which I think helped a bit. At night I kept the ceiling fan on blowing in (30 percent) and another battery powered fan to blow across the bed and I slept well. So, after testing out the Ollie in 100+ temps, I've decided that I need fridge fans (probably the Fridge Defend as discussed elsewhere on the forums) and also a generator to keep the AC on for longer periods. Also I didn't need to turn on the hot water heater because the fresh water tank warmed up to a cool but comfortable temp for showering.

As I have stated before, chaining two surge protectors, one at either end of you power cord is not necessarily bad (although, I suspect there’s still a potential for gremlins) it is not without drawbacks. Mainly, there’s the expense and trouble of dealing with two. I think you’ve made a wise choice.

The Ivation 14.7 compressor model NCeagle linked to in his post was not available when I needed one ASAP. Here is my experience with the Ivation 13 Pint desiccant model. Although a desiccant type dehumidifier I've been using mine for up to four weeks continuously in Florida since January. The desiccant types produce more heat than the compressor types plus a significant chemical odor. The unit is only used when in storage so the amount of heat and chemical odor have not been an issue. The chemical odor has diminished but it is still noticeable. I set mine at 65% and the SensorPush placed at various locations shows it works well throughout the interior. I leave doors and drawers a jar to help. I also have a canary on the table (salt shaker) it has not caked yet. The trailer is closed all the time so the unit spends most of the time dormant or monitoring, which is a very nice feature. In monitor mode the fan will occasionally run and oscillate for a few minutes then start the dehumidifier if above the humidity level set. The unit will also restart then run the monitor routine after a power cycle. I didn't have time to route my water hose outside so I placed the unit in the bathroom and ran the supplied hose to the open drain in the shower pan. I was concerned about excessive moisture and stench escaping from the drain, but I was pressed for time. To my surprise, and great relief, that has not been the case, even during the hot summer months.

So true! We were back at the same part this weekend and had similar problems. I watched the voltage at two different sites wonder all over from 98 up to 130.VAC. I spoke with three other campers to ask if they were having issues, they said not really - just their breakers inside their RVs were tripping. I asked if they were using a surge protector. They said, "What's that?" Oh dear. In fact, one sweet young couple was out for their first trip from the showroom and besides not knowing about a surge protector, they didn't even know to have a water hose to fill up their water tanks. Anyway, I was able to capture screen shots of the Xantrex app showing the incoming grid voltage to show the the part rangers. Come to find out, the single transfer feeding the park (Sea Rim State Park, TX - right on the Gulf of Mexico), is on the ground and has been completely under water on several occasions. My hope is they get the local utility to get that pad transformer replaced asap given the damage it is likely causing to some of the ill informed campers. As for is more really better, I think we are going to rely on the Progressive alone. It's easier at the power pole, less to cart around and works fine. I think it was a was a waste of money for me to get the Southwire given what comes standard on Oliver's today!

John, you need to decide if you are going to keep a small heater going in winter, and at what temperature. You definitely don’t want to let it freeze inside the Ollie with a dehumidifier going, and the compressor types don’t operate at all in really low temps, they ice up. I think all these dehumidifiers release some waste heat during operation, but I doubt if that alone is enough to maintain inside temps. If you plan to winterize the water system and let the trailer stay at ambient temperature, you will need to empty the tank and shut off the dehumidifier for those below freezing times. John Davies Spokane WA

Just had a little unplanned fiberglass rally in CT. The Sunday campers rolled in and there's now a Escape 21 in our row to our left and a Northern Lite truck camper to our right. The Escape owners said they passed an Ollie heading north while they were headed here.

Try - mduncan@olivertraveltrailers.com Bill

I wonder if Dexter built some axles with two left-hand brake assemblies. This type of self adjuster first gauges shoe/drum clearance when backing up, and subsequently performs the adjustment on the next forward brake application. If this sequence was flipped, and with the front and rear brake shoes being reversed, both phenomena might be explained. I would expect to feel a more pronounced "tail wag" if the side-to side braking forces were too much out of balanced.

AND we want the sewn-on logo in front to have a cloth backing, otherwise it itches like crazy and leaves weird patterns, aka a “third eye”. John Davies Spokane WA

Some of us more folically challenged men would prefer no mesh, too! 😁

Dena - I'd suggest that you send a PM (private message) in this regard to Matt Duncan (Marketing Director) Bill

Female style cap, not one with the mesh that men like. I have two Harley ones that are great. Would love an Ollie one.

Sounds to me like a serious running clearance problem on the hot side brakes due to malfunctioning auto adjusters. It also sounds like the brakes were so hot they couldn't release on your one backing up event. My trailer had brake temp problems, dragging brakes, etc. thanks to auto adjustment 👎🏼. I replaced with all new brakes and manual adjustment. Problems solved.

I was going to do something similar but then I found out about Fridge Defend so I decided to go that route instead. Ordered the product but haven't finished installing. See some discussion below.

And one last fish picture - an 18 inch cut-throat trout landed on the Buffalo Fork River near Moran Junction, WY. Bill

A bit of a fixer upper! With a nice view of the Tetons out the back window. These cabins are located on the Elk Ranch just south of Moran Junction, WY. Bill

A 15 inch cut-throat trout caught on the Wind River just west of Dubois, WY. Sure is a challenge trying to catch and land a fish while holding the camera and videoing at the same time. Bill 1409432380_VID_20220818_113639684(2).mp4

Keep in mind that new Land Cruisers are no more in the USA, at least for several years. That isn’t really the same as a brand new model Sequoia and unethical dealer price gouging. If you wait a year for a nice low miles used LC200 it will probably be even more costly. The Sequoia will eventually be “affordable”. I use that term loosely. https://www.motorbiscuit.com/why-toyota-land-cruiser-discontinued/ I bought mine used in 2018 with 90k miles for $42,000 (about half the MSRP). I do not plan to get rid of it unless it burns up, is totalled or is stolen. It no longer looks brand new, but it drives like one, with no squeaks or rattles, even with almost 160,000 miles. John Davies Spokane WA

Well, the 4 new Bright Way AGM batteries are installed, and the MPPT controller reprogrammed. Ryan at Blue Sky Energy clarified the questions that remained from Wanda’s helpful documentation. I wish I were better suited for this work. But great help from ScubaRx, SeaDawg, and Topgun2 made it possible to be successful. Thanks so much everyone.

Paper Plates, paper napkins, stainless steel flatware and no complaints. Personally, I like to discourage neighbors from inviting themselves to have any Meal with us. My wife is an excellent cook. I am an excellent eater. Since I have a high activity metabolism... I can eat at will, never gain weight and drink 60 ounces of water a day. If I am swimming in a lake... maybe twice as much. That is... Will I eat this or that? You Betcha... This is good. That is not... kind of eater. Neighbors: Be Aware... We have two Blue Heelers. Uninvited guests get to see our Blue Heelers clean off our plates with the 'Canine Licking Sterilization Process' and then they are stacked neatly, onto the kitchen counter. The Heelers already lick my face, so why not our paper plates, as well?

This is a little disheartening. The third row seats are slid forward and folded, you can see the odd raised ledge underneath where the hybrid battery is located. https://www.autoblog.com/2022/09/12/toyota-sequoia-luggage-test/ Those seats are not removable because Toyota wants them there to “protect the battery”. I am sure the industrious aftermarket will soon have a stout, completely flat cargo platform to install there, in place of those bulky and heavy seats, that will have tie-down rails and will provide enough protection for the electrical stuff underneath. It sure would be nice if Toyota would offer these trucks without that nasty third row. They did that for the last year Land Cruiser 200 Heritage Edition. I’m still hoping to see one of these in the flesh before too long. John Davies Spokane WA