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As to water penetration, we have recently weathered some heavy rain in the Carolinas with surprisingly (to me) good results. There is a lot of condensation in the trailer, but I am finding that is more due to temperature differentials and humidity than water penetration, and we have so far managed to deal with it by airing out the trailer when weather permits. One other thought (gleaned from running cattle in the Sierra Nevada): stay away from the tall Valley Oaks if you can. They shed a lot of wood, more than other oaks, with heavy wind and rain, and their branches can be quite large and heavy. There is some good advice in this thread about dealing with high winds. Thanks, all.

All really good advice, especially Patriot funny comment of being in a brushless carwash. Got through the night with all ok. Mike and Carol's event with 60/70 mph gusts must have been a wild ride. I was reading flat sided trailers can be blown over with 55mph wind and more aerodynamic trailers have been know to blow over with 70mph winds broadside. Winds have yet to get too crazy but I'm liking nose to the wind hooked up for the rest of this storm.

We were once stuck in Winslow, AZ with a major sand storm headed directly for us with predicted wind speeds around 40-50mph. A seasoned truck driver walked over to where we were parked and advised us to put the truck/trailer combo pointed into the wind with which ever end that was least important facing the oncoming wind. He claimed he'd seen the sand storms take all the paint off vehicles that were not oriented correctly into the wind. We took his advice and did not suffer any damage.

Here is what we chose for the front of our Oliver. 😄 Christi, Matt, and Lucy

In emergency situtations, having options and being ready for them is always a good thing. If your 2019 F-250 is 4WD, it could be a huge asset should you HAVE to move. Should the winds and flying debris allow you to safety get hitched up, I recommend you do so. You may be a bit nose high for the night, but if you have to bug out, you could do so quicky. Again, only if the storm calms and you could do so. Only you can make that call. Risk/Reward. God bless you and family. GJ PS: I've been in our OE2 in 50+winds. Best to be facing them head on IMHO.

You should be okay. We just endured a night of wind gusts at 50 mph with rain and sleet a few days ago in New Mexico. The trailer was rocking but we were warm and cozy. No leaks. Covered in snow in the morning and still no leaks as it melted. Mike

Good luck, and God bless you and family.

We endured 35-45 mph winds with a lot of hard rain and wind gusts in our Ollie camping up in Floyd County in SW Virginia a few years ago. It was a real doozy of a storm that lasted well into the next day at noon. Other than a little periodic rocking from high wind gusts our Ollie handled the conditions well and we had no issues with water intrusion. Our Ollie was not coupled to our TV at the time of this storm. It truly was the closest thing to being in an automatic brushless car wash we had ever experienced. We hope all goes well and you stay safe! -Patriot 🇺🇸

Recommend you attach your Ollie's safety cables to your tow vehicle. Nothing like having a 6,000 pound anchor. But not at the risk of life. GJ

Hope all goes well for you and your Ollie. Keep us posted. Batten down the hatches!

Do you have shore power? That would be good, because intense wind blasts can screw up propane appliances. I used to rush outside with my sister to sit in the car to listen to a big storm passing over. Of course I was six and she was nine..,.,. Stay safe. John Davies Spokane WA

not attached, can not get level when attached. riding the storm fine so far.. if it gets crazy, i'll consider your advice to hooking up..

Were you attached to the trailer, or no? A big tv, attached, especially to windward, can make a difference.

Good luck to you. Hope your Ollie keeps you safe and dry.

Agree with you on BB’s, I’m very pleased with mine. Warranty is currently 10 years!

And it’s a DPDT (double pole double throw) switch, so it doesn’t matter which set of 3 inline terminals you use. Either set of 3 will work. The other unused set of 3 inline terminals will just serve no function since the switch is only switching one load (the pump).

This pic may help to add to what bhncb posted. Black wire to the middle terminal of one set of terminals. And the gray to the outer end terminals. Both of my gray wires have a red stripe. The spiral wrap is something I added to clean up the wiring a bit.

We routinely tow in windy weather across west Texas on I-10. I slow down and pay attention! We’ve never had to pull over, but I would if I felt things were unstable. I think it’s the unexpected gusts that get big rigs on their sides.

We really enjoy bluegrass and Tom Adam’s is a favorite of ours.

Yes, we were attached! Wind was hitting us broadside on the street side. We endured higher winds (60/70mph gusts) a few years ago while not attached, camping in southern Arizona. In that case the wind was in the same direction that the trailer was pointed hitting us in the back. We didn’t get much sleep that night.

Some may remember this song from the movie Shawshank Redemption which is probably my favorite movie. If this isn't your thing, at least try to listen to it until the actual duet begins. Their harmonies are beautiful.

You don't need to shut off the main valves unless you expect to be blown into the surf. Just don't use the fridge, WH or furnace on gas, unless you have to, because the flame could blow out and/ or the draft could go in the wrong direction. All the appliances rely on natural convection (chimney effect) for their proper operation.In other words, normal winds. John Davies Spokane WA

yes, we have shore power.. i still have the propane open so we can cook and so on. are you recommending to turn off the propane value during the storm? Yea, I like a good storm as well. Going to have cabin fever by the time this one passes. It's forecast to be a major event until tomorrow afternoon. then we will see how long before they can clear 101 for travel.. hope to get lucky, we have been on the road for 7 weeks and would like to get home.

Careful examination of the blades on the switch in good light should reveal which ones have scratches on them and which ones don't. The scratches, of course, indicate that they were originally used. The three unused blades might even be a bit dusty already, which would also indicate that the other terminals were the ones that were originally connected.

Oliver uses a DPDT switch here but only one of the poles is utilized. Therefore, use the three inline terminals on either side/pole of the switch. You could look for use-marks on the switch terminals to determine which pole the wires were on originally. Two of three wires (travelers) should be the same color. The third, different color, wire comes from the fuse. Connect the fuse wire to the middle or common terminal and the other two to either of the end terminals, doesn't matter which.

Good morning Oliver family, We just became members last Thursday!! We are so excited about our upcoming adventures. Question for you. I ordered several upgrades from Foy Sperring and one of them was the wood insert to put in-between the twin beds to convert it to a queen. We have the new mattresses, not the KTT. Does anyone on the forum have this? Can you tell me where you ordered a foam insert for the middle and at what depth? Thanks in advance. LOVE everything so far!

Mike might be onto something here. Take a real close look at the joint I've circled in the picture. The vertical separator piece is notched to provide relief for the frame. It looks like this joint may not be put together correctly and the separator is pushing the frame channel apart. If so, open a service ticket and include a close up shot of this area.

That’s odd. Might be either a defective piece of weatherstripping or the window frame may be deformed a bit too wide. I’d try swapping that piece of weatherstripping with the piece from another window to see if the problem follows the weatherstripping or the window.

Hello, That looks like the removable weather striping. You just push and seat it back in place. You remove it when you clean the window track and weep holes. Steve

Wax, wax, wax. And, did I say, wax? Bill

Sounds like advice from and old motorcycle rider to me! And in the right circumstance this advice certainly applies here. Bill

As Mike stated "slow down and pay attention!" for sure. When I-70 towing across Wyoming in the summer, we just about always encounter thunder boomers. When I see the first one, I turn on my rear view camera to be better aware of any approaching high speed idiots coming up from behind. The thunder boomers there tend to set up on alternating sides of the interstate about every ten miles. When their broadside gust fronts hit us, I have found it much less of a "white knuckle" event by also "going slower, paying attention, and practicing active driving. Broadside, those gust fronts can easily move our loaded F-150 and Ollie sideways a few feet or more. In traffic you have no choice but to fight it and to stay in your lane. This is when having a TV rated for 1/3 more than being towed, a properly loaded Oliver Trailer, and our Anderson combine to provide peace of mind. That said, when the road is disserted and if you are anticipating the arrival of the next cumulonimbus gust front based upon which side of the road it is on. Once I clear an encounter, I will move into the lane towards where I can see the next thunderboomer developing. When you have a 95% probability of being able to anticipate a gust front's direction, you can relax just a bit. When it hits, I know the traffic situation around us, and if clear, I can safely act to somewhat depower the gust front by drifting with it into the vacant down wind adjacent lane. This is what I meant by active driving when it is safe to do so. GJ

Patriot - I'm sure you will like these guys! We've been lucky enough to see them live a few times. They are a bunch of incredible musicians who put their heart and soul into their live performances. This song was originally written and performed by John Mayer but I like the Stringdusters version of it better.

Glad to hear all is going well so far. And nice TV by the way! 👍🏻 Patriot 🇺🇸

Some beautiful music from Wynton Marsalis. I don't care for his jazz nor do I like jazz in general but his classical pieces are incredibly beautiful. I'm especially fond of Baroque music both from Wynton and from Yo Yo Ma.

I wholeheartedly agree this is a much stronger solution than using the connectors that Andersen provides.

thank you for the advice. I have the hot water on gas.. too stormy to go outside and flip the switch to electric . will shut off till morning. everything else is running on shore power... wind is increasing. rock and roll here

Bill, it's quite impressive that you are still running on the T105s! We replaced our 2018s in the spring after many electrical issues. I waited for the Battleborns to go on sale and yes, big invesment up front, and yes, the peace of mind about no more need for constant battery monitoring is worth every dime to me. Now I monitor our batteries more out of curiosity about our actual AH usage than a need to make sure we're staying above the AGM threshold.

I completed the installation of my new VMAX AGM batteries. There are 4 - 6V 237Ah batteries. Due to the very slightly dimension difference I eliminated the straps that clipped on the battery tray and use two heavy Nite EZ cargo straps that each hold down 2 batteries. After testing I feel confident we are back to normal when we don’t have shore power overnight during the heating season. I drew the batteries down almost 70Ah and still had a 93 SOC.

That is the year O II we have, and had to replace the circuit board. If I recall correctly there was a "rash" of substandard boards around at that time...

bhncb and dewdev.. have been without a computer as well as heat. just got my pc back on line. thank you for your thoughts. we are still on the road and have been relegated to camping when we can have power. we have a small oil filled heater that does a good job keep the chill away. I'm tapped and have this repair exceeds my skills. we are headed for the barn and will be home next week. the trailer is already repair slot booked. I will let everyone know what was wrong when i get it back from the shop best to all

Mine from a year ago has a car door lock style cover of their the locks and work great in the cold/snow. Maybe they had a supplier constraint that forced them to a different style. Pick below from the db website might be the new design…

Is that to keep some tension on the TV so if the trailer bounces, the TV doesn't come down to viewing position? Any pictures of how you do that? John

Could you please share a photo of this technique? Thanks.

We don’t have one but I’ve thought about it since we more often than not do not have full hook ups. Since the black tank is 18 gallons it seems that this size would be just right to empty into when the level gets to around 70 or 80 percent, and at 15 gallons should not be too difficult to handle. Mike

We're going to put our 21 gal "Turd Taxi" in a cargo carrier in the rear hitch of the Ollie: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004QEKGA0/?coliid=IYU4N4K30PK4C&colid=3HP9GD89VQ4XP&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it There's room for our tank and a few other things.

Those repair links are great and I would definitely use them on trailer SAFETY chains, but I would be reluctant to put them on the Andersen chains. IMHO each of those chains needs an inexpensive mechanical “fuse” that will fail before the actual chain does. If you drive over a really severe dip, like a 20 degree driveway approach ramp, the chains get super tight. The red bushings are supposed to take care of that situation, but if you already have your tension set tight, which I personally don’t, then the chains can get extremely loaded, especially if your speed is too high. I would rather pop one of those than split the red spring bushings. IMHO….! It is too bad that Andersen does not talk about this. I think they chose these for a valid reason, but they are not used at all with the standard length kits…. How confusing. BTW I think the cost of Andersen spare parts is obscene…. Like ONE red urethane spring for $35. These are no different than the suspension bushings or bump stops that you can buy for $10 a pair… https://andersenhitches.com/collections/weight-distribution-hitch-parts-accessories I don’t use loctite and I do use a wrench to tighten them. So far neither of mine has showed any sign of distress, with very light chain tension. John Davies Spokane WA

can't get home due to flooding, land sides and downed trees. Camping in Pacifica, Ca and catching the brunt of the storm off the ocean.. Winds 20, gusting to 35 mph and raining big time.. trailer doing some rock and rolling, high and dry so far but they say the worst is yet to come. Could be here a few days before we can navigate home on highway 101 to Arcata, Ca.

Yep, mine aren't like that. Just an open slot, no little door like yours. How old is yours?

Maybe because if it fails you will say very bad words and have to fix it by the side of the highway, or in a rainstorm…..? That is assuming you even carry a spare one. If you don’t have one, then you have to limp along and find a hardware store and hope they have one. Like electrical fuses, who cares? Until you need one…. John Davies Spokane WA