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Campground and Pictures from hiking around Blow Me Down Provincial Park

@rideandfly, I'm actually always grateful when folks honestly post the items they overlook, as we do. It's really helpful to newbies. No one is born with a complete camping "gene set." It's learn as you go. Reading manuals and watching the videos available now (like Oliver University) is great. (Even then, stuff can get overlooked, or lost in the shuffle.) You and I didn't have those as kids. Good news is, we're still alive to tell the tales. 🙂 ! when we share mistakes and overlooked items, we help others as much as when we share successes, imo.

@Skipster, everyone who drags a trailer around eventually makes a mistake (or two, or three, or a hundred) of some sort. Don't be too hard on yourself. You'll never do it again, I'm sure, and you didn't start a fire, thank goodness. Scarey mistakes like this make us all more cautious about checking and double checking...well, everything. If you shop around, a replacement suburban isn't that expensive, but getting it installed can cost $$$ You may need a new one. Is the water heater leaking anywhere else but the pressure relief valve? Try the replacement valve, first. Ps, I looked at your old posts. 2021, hull #822. Newer Ollie. If you need help updating your profile and signature, just send me a pm. Good luck.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/197254197346376/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&multi_permalinks=1488841854854264 This is the latest addition to their membership requirements. Dear members, Due to some issues that have arisen, and our desire to be consistent in application of our group rules, we have decided to eliminate Pages as members, and to also eliminate members who use obviously fake names. The purpose of this group is to be a friendly, helpful band of fellow travelers. The group is classified as Private, meaning only members can read posts. This protects us from scammers. We will be culling our member list, and contacting those members who are not using their real names. People who have experienced having their Facebook accounts scammed or cloned should know that the fact that the group is Private helps prevent those types from infiltrating the group. Also the due diligence of your administrators in vetting new join requests helps keep you safe. To increase your personal account safety, you should go to your privacy settings, and make sure your selection on who can see your posts is “friends only”.

Trust but verify...I am still going to lock down my Lithionics batteries. I will post the solution once it is final. Brian

Our Honda 2000i starts/runs the Dometic A/C with Micro Start installed. You need to make sure the fridge is on gas because the fridge will default to AC if it is set to Auto. The generator can't run both. I thought I had a bad genset until I figured this out.

No, I don't think she was aware of this forum at the time and was using RV Trader, Fiberglass RV's for sale and FB marketplace for her searching. She was actually more interested in a Bigfoot at the time and I'm thankful she found our Ollie first.

I had these locks on my boat and every Southco key I ever saw was exactly the same!! I have never contacted them to see if you can get something different but I think these are just meant to keep the honest people honest. The bad people don't care anyway... BL

I agree. I'm again thinking about this topic. Some options using a pair of rivet-nuts (Blind Flange Nuts), mounted in the battery "Outside" tray slides and a pair of matching bolts thru the inside "Inside" tray slide as an approach. I am thinking of using grade 8 security bolts like these. This would make pulling out the tray impossible. If there is not enough clear area in the slides, I would consider drilling through both and mounting the Rivet-Nuts in the battery box side walls and using longer security bolts. This may require using some poly sheets to reinforce the walls. The special bit would likely be in a small tie bag behind the batteries where only I would know where it is located. My Blue Sea Master Cutoff switch is accessible by just opening the door to the battery area. So this is not a concern from a safety standpoint. I had thought of doing something like this long ago when I had L/A batteries, but figured I was no longer as profitable target as our Llitho's are. Now that I also have Lithium's, I need to elevate this Mod to my "A" To Do List. This likely will slow down any bad people.

Your eyes are better than mine. I looked at those pictures a couple of times and came away thinking they were not even for an Oliver! Back to the original topic, I live in a town of about 30k with a couple of glass shops and an RV repair place and nobody will touch my window repair. There's another town nearby of about 100k and with a Camping World and so I suppose I'll call down there and see what I can find out. Just documenting for posterity / anyone in the future who has this issue...

For what its worth... We used Centramatic balancers on our AS for 12 years with no issues other than experiencing fewer interior popped rivets. We ran Michelin RIBS on 16" Sendel aluminum wheels.

We had the first tankless water heater installed. Pete (wonderegg/bugeyedriver) had the first solar/pv system. (Both by Oliver, originally) . Many of us installed dc fridge, before Ollie adopted it. Composting toilet,ditto, user driven. I personally think Oliver has been very progressive in installing modern upgraded systems. Imo, sometimes too progressive, and "got ahead of their boots." Manufacturers have to weigh cost vs benefit, and warranty costs. And, to maintain rvia certification, must use materials and components that meet and have those certification credits. We, as 16 season owners, can do whatever the heck we please, and, we do....with careful study. You can, too, when you're out of warranty. I will say this. We, like many others here, weigh every major mod we do very carefully, and often consult with Oliver and/or oem supplier, like BlueSky, as in when we doubled up on solar panel wattage,, requiring upgrades. Like so many others here, we take everything very seriously, especially safety. It's our home, sometimes 5 months out of the year. We'll look forward to your reports, years from now, if you incorporate the centramatic rings. Certainly an interesting idea. I'm not just ready xmfor it.

Agree with SeaDawg, don't be too hard on yourself. When we were teenagers, we plugged a home trailer into electric power before putting water in the hot water heater. The hot water heater element got so hot, it deformed & electrified most metal parts on the trailer, making it a shocking experience to touch the trailer. To this day I remember that when ever working with electric hot water heaters. 🙂

You could expand the universe of buyers, a bit, by posting there. I'm a member, though rarely interact there. Your mods, and ollie,,are well known here. It's a pristine, well cared for, well modded gem. Someone will get lucky.

This FB site may give you a lot more visibility and help you sell your Oliver. https://www.facebook.com/groups/OliverforSale/?notif_id=1687050081794225&notif_t=group_r2j_approved&ref=notif Patriot🇺🇸

Asking in advance for forgiveness of the thread drift... Just couldn't help myself. One of my faves from the 70s.

SkIpster: Here is all we know about your rig. Trying to give you great advice is really difficult by not at least knowing your trailer or TV info. For examples, see John's above or mine below Errrrrr my profile for examples. If knew that info I might indicate that for that vintage trailer, it is time to replace your Temp Pressure Relief valve. But I don't. So all I can say is: You were really lucky. Once a Temp/Pressure relief valve reaches about 5 years old, with good maintenance it IMHO is at the end of it's life especially if is has actually been activated. If serviced and a good anode is always in play, ten years is my recommend must change out recommendation. But can't say either because your Ollie and TV info is unknown. Please add both to your profile info and we can look it up. Also please add it to the tag line as JD has above. Added suggested TV and Hull info below. It's easy. Just go to settings in your account. At the bottom is Signature. Edit there. GJ

I would have to think about it minute or two.............

I lost one, so I ordered two sets of two, $7.34 plus $13.70 shipping! Oh well, $21 for all of them. FYI you can't find these at your local Ace hardware store. Do they still use these on current hulls? John Davies Spokane WA

About the same price when we bought ours in 2008... $50/wheel

Ah, ok I see what you are saying and NO, the only locks I have ever used from Southco have been "stamped", not cut. I would be much more comfortable If I could swap out my lock with a cut key lock. Looking now. Brian

In my opinion, one other serious downfall with the iPhone setup is the only choice given is SOS. When you find yourself in a bind with no cell service you can hit the SOS button and text only with Apple. IF you have identified people to contact in case of emergency, Apple will notify and relay certain information. With inReach, I can text anyone I want to, send them my location with GPS accuracy, they can track my progress on a private weblink. All this without even hitting the SOS button. I think there is value in being able to communicate and collaborate with others in lieu of calling for help. Brian

Nope that would be incorrect. All four rear lights can be seen. Yes, this bike cover works great.😉

That is good info, thanks. I am glad you ended up with an Ollie. John Davies Spokane WA

Yes the Apple fee remains to be seen for sure. If they keep it reasonable it will sell, if not I agree with you most won’t opt in. I am willing to wait and see how far Apple takes their SAT/Comm. 👍🏻👍🏻 Patriot🇺🇸

Do you know why water heaters have a relief valve? Because otherwise they can explode violently. Consider yourself lucky.… if your shore power switch is on, you probably fried the electric heating element. Those are cheap. The valve should reset after cooling, I am not sure why yours did not. You can buy one at any hardware store. Good luck. John Davies Spokane WA

I covered this topic quite thoroughly in my Conversation on Communications presentation at the rally. I use the Garmin 66i with in-Reach. In short, the iPhone 14 is not world-wide at this point, doesn't work very well in foliage and, it's a phone. Not nearly as rugged as a Garmin product. One example I gave was from a couple that was up at the Arctic Circle (iPhones won't work in AK) and had an iReach mini when their Sprinter van went into a degraded mode and there certainly wasn't a Mercedes dealer nearby. They text her father in Austin who looked it up on the internet, came up with a solution, texted it back. They used their toothbrush and some contact cleaner to clean out the EGR valve and were back in business. Ultimately and individual call but I prefer worldwide reliability and a rugged device. Safe travels all, Brian

CV-2 - a very light coating. I wear a disposable glove, and rub a small amount all over and into the metal, after degreasing of course. Brake cleaner works well, with the jack fully extended. John Davies Spokane WA

RV owners & techs have posted helpful YouTube videos covering replacement of Suburban 6 gallon hot water heater parts and maintenance, if needed.

I don’t do Facebook or any other social media sites, but I am curious about what they offer that this forum does not? Why should we join them? Thanks. John Davies Spokane WA

You mean altitude?😁

We recently dropped off our Oliver II (2017, Hull# 222) at a local RV repair shop. Our tech, who has serviced our trailer since we bought it, discovered lots of water in and around the mattress on the curbside. (We recently had a strong monsoon rain here.) He took out the window and discovered that there was no water barrier between it and the inside of where the window fits inside the frame. He told me that normally this space should have butyl tape or some other material to keep water from penetrating the area. A couple of years ago, after a heavy rain, we had discovered that the same mattress on the same side had got soaked. I attributed it to operator error, that somehow we had failed to close the window correctly. It was quite a pain. Mold had already started to grow on the mattress cover. I contacted the manufacturer of the latex mattress. (KTT, as I remember.) I was happy to be told that mold will not grow in latex. We took the mattress out, sprayed the cover liberally with isopropyl alcohol and let it dry well in the Arizona sun. We were satisfied with the result: No further mold growth and just some residual stains on the cotton cover. Now I suspect that that original soaking was not due to our negligence but that of the Oliver workers who failed to seal the window correctly, and that the only reason that the mattress had not been soaked more repeatedly was due to luck--rain had not been wind-driven in that direction that often. My tech asks me now whether it would be a good idea to take out the other windows to check if they too are lacking that water barrier. Thus far, no leakage has been noticed from the rear or street-side windows over the bed or dinette. My question to you folks on the forum is this: Has anyone else noticed this lack of a water barrier on the inside of where the windows are placed in the window frames of the hull? Should I direct my tech to check all the other windows, or should I assume that this is a fluke, that the Oliver workers had failed to correctly seal just this one window? Also, what material is normally placed in the hull's window frame to prevent this disastrous leaking? I assume that, since I am past the warranty period, Oliver will not pay for this mistake in manufacturing. However, if it is a well-known mistake, other owners or potential owners should be made aware of the issue. I will appreciate comments and suggestions. Thanks.

Yea for $15 you can buy one of these: But most of us just take a plug and make our own for free. If you are a John D though, you would want to add a rope loop out the end where the wire normally passes. Then I would loop the plug around the handle of my generator so I don't lose it and also as a visual reminder to..... you got it....... USE IT! 🙂 GJ

Without a neutral/ground plug in an outlet on the generator, no electricity will pass through the EMS. So nothing about the A/C or any other 110V appliance would run. You’d know right away because the A/C fan would not even start up.

High security keys.... LOL Glad we can trust other Ollie Owners! GJ

I believe that’s the update involving longer screws and sealant to cover the holes above these screws on the top of the AC to eliminate water leaking/intrusion. See and

I've asked OTT for a recommended course of action. They recommend I remove the beads. That'll cost me $150 to unmount, remove the beads, and rebalance 5 tires. And that's assuming I remove the wheels myself and bring them to the shop. OTOH, the tire shop owner recommends I simply remove the external weights they applied when they did the spin balance and let the beads do their thing. (There's a whole big explanation of why spin balancing doesn't work with beads in a tire.) Before I do anything I've asked OTT to verify that there definitely are beads in my tires. I've also contacted a bead manufacturer to ask their advice in this situation.

Thanks. But it still isn’t in the 2022 Owners Manual or any of the older ones, they say to use the tire pressure placard. which indicated 80 psi for LT tires. John Davies Spokane WA

The steel stems are for my TPMS sensors.

Wow, that pic reveals that the recommended tire pressure on an LE2 is 55 psi. Bravo, Oliver finally put it in writing somewhere. Has anyone seen this in an Owners Manual? Thanks for posting that Katjo! John Davies Spokane WA

CRM, Your on point with keeping the window tracks clean. We clean the tracks every time we wash our Ollie after every trip. Its easy so why not? I have never used the pipe cleaners or had a need for them. We do have the rain gutters which I think do divert the water away as designed. We have been through some very hard all night torrential rain storms without any water issues. -Patriot

Love the pipe cleaner idea and will use that whenever we're traveling. Had some issues with occasional small leaks from the windows myself while stored, but after a good track cleaning, and adding a piece of Saran Wrap on the window that also overlaps the window track, I've had zero problems. I think the biggest issue with Ollie windows is that small debris can get past that small gap between the outside rubber seal and the glass that eventually builds up to the point that where it blocks the weep holes. For me, the Saran wrap has solved that issue. Might start using a piece of window film instead for a solution that lasts longer and is reusable.

They had a rain booth when Anita took us on a tour in the fall of 2015. I’m sure it’s in use but probably can’t duplicate an Arizona monsoon! Mike

They do have a really large rain simulator or giant Ollie wash/wet weather booth. We saw it during our factory tour in Jan of 2020. I don’t know if they had this back in 2017, If I had to guess I would say they surely must have. I can’t imagine that this critical and very important step would be by bypassed in production by Oliver regardless of the pace of production.

Jeff, I’d call Jason and see what he says. It does seem that there should have been a barrier. Since you haven’t had any problems with the other windows it might be safe to assume they are okay. Southern AZ monsoons are a good test. We’ve been in lots of rain and have not suffered any leaks and we’ve never had any of our windows removed. As Sherry said, it doesn’t seem to be a common problem. Mike

Here’s our experience. We visited Oliver last week and they had a new side window sitting out assuming ready for installation with grey tape around the window perimeter where the window frame flange contacts the outer hull. It looked like butyl tape. We have had leakage issues with the rear Oliver sign and a porch light above the windows with water traveling between the hulls leaking out of the the windows on our #75 LE2. These leaks were not window issues. Once we resealed the Oliver sign and porch light, that fixed the leaks. I would discuss this with Jason.

Thanks. All well and good, I think I have seen that page before, but the specs are for steel wheels. Alloys usually have a lower recommended figure. John Davies Spokane WA

John TY TY TY, I was looking for something along this line. Especially the 2 & 3 Tabs. Maggie said we could $ave Money by buying an Oliver, and now i will track it and show here how much we will be $aving... I too will keep a paper log... which is an empty printout of the TAB, and i will fill it in each day. when we eventually return home, then i will transfer it to excel.

Reassembly. I installed Andersen connectors at the main wires coming out of the ceiling for easy removal in the future.... If you don't want to do that, use a couple of yellow crimp slices. ... Anderson Power Pole Connectors Connect the wires and reinstall fan circuit fuse if removed. The fan should come awake with a beep. Test the operator with the remote and the built in switches. If everything is good, reinstall the fan, lower panel and trim panel. Done. John Davies Spokane WA

Sealing holes. The four screws holding the fan assembly to the shroud are open to the weather, and lead straight into the trailer. Make sure the shroud is raised for access (in the normal open position). Remove screws one at a time, apply some clear RTV silicone sealant to each hole AND each screw and reinstall. This will stop wind driven rain from entering, but the sealant will not make it hard to remove the fan for service. Silicone sealant doesn't bond to stainless very well, but it is adequate unless the screw is retightened or disturbed. The inside of this area, showing sealant: Notice in the above pic, the Oliver outer hull roof and inner cabin ceiling are bonded together here, with spacers and an air gap. Notice the fiberglass honeycomb construction. It won't trap or be damaged by water (unless it freezes and turns to ice.) How cool is that! The wire harness above the circuit board - squirt that cavity full. Prevents seepage onto board. This does NOT stop condensation.