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Yep, did that once. When I thought about it without cobwebs in my sleepy eyes another approach came to mind. I always use my curb side tank as my primary tank. I keep the street side full and in reserve. WHEN the above situation occurs, I still have to stumble outside, open the hand hold, and flip the tank switch. In my sleepy daze I don't bother putting the hand hold back in because its cold out there. Will do that in the morning. Back to the kitchen, light the cook stove and the furnace fires up. I'm then sound asleep in 2 minutes. Then later the next day I notice that the hand hole cover is missing. So I ask my lovely bride "Honey, where did the dog house hand hold cover go?" She rolls her eyes and say's "It's in the basket dear". GJ

Please submit a service ticket, even though you apparently fixed the oversight yourself so your pump would function as it should. Oliver needs to be advised of this obvious quality control failure. Based on my experience with Hull #1291, and review of dozens of reports like yours on this forum, Oliver's attention to detail and quality control during production is, at best, inconsistent. Very sad given the premium price charged.

A bit of Dutch Country

Your profile states you own a 2014 seventeen foot Casita, is that correct?

I find this a very interesting thread, with lots of neat ideas. OTH, I am sorry you guys have to deal with this “rain” stuff. 😉 John Davies Spokane WA

Sorry to hear about your issues with your trailer. Oliver has been very good addressing our very minor issues to hull # 901. And we have been very pleased. I have no problem working and keeping and eye on the systems of our trailer and annually check all electrical and mechanical connections due to road vibrations helps feed my OCD. Have fun and safe travels.

Not a bad cover and slightly "softer" than the Chicks version. I liked it.

Reading through this thread this morning I like the many perspectives being shared. But the best part is for a new person with minimal or no travel trailer towing experience, it quickly becomes obvious that loading and balancing for proper tongue weight is a concern and focus for the experienced and for good reasons. We are fortunate in that Oliver has engineered our trailers to be easy if not forgiving in this respect. We do have a considerable amount of cargo capacity, so it is important to be mindful of the placement of cargo in relation to balance and especially tongue weight. This also emphasizes the importance of understanding the capacities of your tow vehicle. Everything you put in the trailer effects the TV loading. If you are operating on a thin margin with the TV it is critical to be mindful of all these considerations. A good emphasis on tongue weight is the focal point because that is the one factor that will most effect stability and safe handling of the trailer while driving. It also effects the steering characteristics of TV. The last thing you want to do is add weight to the rear in a way that reduces tongue weight, especially weight at the bumper hitch. It's fine if it offsets weight added to the front but should never cause a reduction in tongue weight below the 10-12% that's required for stability. Like @Katjoeluded to, weight added to the rear hitch has a way of magnifying the "whip effect". Point being it's wise to be mindful of loading cargo, especially heavy cargo. For a new person my advice would be to stay mindful of all these factors, and if you load a certain way and notice a change in stability, consider alternatives to the load to improve. Each of us kind of seek out the sweet spot for a TV/trailer combination. Great discussion folks.

Hull 505 - Galway Girl Made it to mile 0. Updates later.

..on Schoodic Peninsula headed for Schoodic Woods campground…has a green swoosh. Who might that be?…just a couple miles from my home.

Yep. Tightened all the fittings and screwed down the hold-down straps. Very strange symptoms. When the pump is sucking air, you can barely hear it. If anyone keeps getting air in the lines the first time you use your pump on a trip, check those connections.

More importantly, did @Steph and Dud B find a resolution?

Sure looks like he does. I hope so!!!!!!!!! GJ

I am in the process of re thinking all this as well. Going to take my bulb seal off too. I believe in some cases like mine Oliver installed it tight against the awning and in others like mine left a small gap. (bad installation) Debris definitely get stuck in there. I like your idea of installing gutter guard below say about 2 or 3 inches. You could even have a high point in the middle gradually sloping down to front and back. Nothing would get caught up top in a hard to reach area either. The other thought I had was installing a new bulb or the gutter guard (or something similar) up top in the valley between the top and the awning cutting sections to fit in between the mounting brackets so it would be flush with them for a smooth path. Also on the brackets, mine are just L brackets with no middle piece to drill a hole through so that is not a problem.

Being able to pop back to the Oliver while on the road, turn on the A/C and have lunch is priceless! IMG_4316.mov

Yes, you can put a pan on a Blackstone griddle and boil water. I suppose you could use a skillet, too.

We are currently using a Blackstone 17 inch. I built a special rack in the truck to hold the two parts of it. It cooks really well and is now easy to pack. I run it off the onboard propane tanks.

At about this time of year most of us really get the itch to: https://youtu.be/M6Ggp3TJjuE

Did that for four years and ended up with a trapizoidal shaped awning cover that eventually would barber pole foreward and required replacement. I no longer slope the canopy away from the entrance door. GJ

Exactly! We boondock 50/50% of the time - doesn't matter if it's a long weekend or a multi-week adventure, the TV hauls the 5gal treated water containers. We love how easy it is filling the OTT's fresh water tank procedure vs. what we had to do in the AS - no more wasted water after trying to fill the water tank!!! Let's don't forget how nice all the engineering designed features and details we have with Ollie's as compared to all the other SOBs, right?

I’m always very conscious of how we pack the camper, weight wise I try to keep balance of equal weight front and back, I never want it too heavy in the front because of tow weight nor too heavy in the rear for sway. Most of our heaviest items go in the truck. I agree with @SeaDawg it’s all a balance game.

That weight goes in our truck bed. Like @Katjo the closet is reserved for shoes.. (and jackets) We're always mindful of too much weight in the closet, or shower floor. And, want to keep it balanced.

Great, so I can bring all my shoes!😂😜

The factory replied. They said the closet has a frame cross beam under the closet and putting 165-lbs in the bottom of the closet is ok. They did caution to be mindful of the additional tongue weight.

I just tilt the Oliver nose up a little and just use a strong nozzle water hose and honestly just about everything washes out after a few rinses. A battery blower would work as long as the leaves are dry. Most dry debris flys off the roof when under way. My little HF battery powered blower. A great little toy, I mean tool. The broom is retired as this travels well and is fairly quiet. Just go buy one.

What else could go wrong? 😅 Adapt and over come is the flavor of the day! Always try and have a back up plan. One is none and two is one! “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong” into something that only YOU can do something about. You did well! Patriot🇺🇸

On the first night of a recent dry camping trip (using water from the fresh tank) my wife noticed a very low hum when she went to bed. I tracked it to the water pump. It wasn't the usual pump noise, it was a very soft, low vibration. I opened a faucet and found no water pressure. Closed the faucet, cycled the pump on/off and had water again with no further pump noise. Thinking about it overnight, I surmised the pump was running dry, even though we had a full tank. I suspected an air leak in the pump intake plumbing. Inspection under the bed revealed multiple loose connections on the intake plumbing side. Some very loose. I also found that 2 of the black tie down straps intended to hold the intake plumbing to the mounting board were just hanging loose off the pipes. No-one at the factory had finished the intake side of the pump plumbing before the pump assembly was installed in the trailer. This was an absolute, and obvious, QC failure since that assembly is done on a workbench before being put into a trailer shell. We have had a failure of some sort, from cosmetic to serious, on every single trip in the year we've owned this trailer. In another case, a carriage bolt was stripped and could not be tightened to spec. Even so, it bore green torque pen markings on it from the factory. It was impossible for that bolt to have passed a torque check. A loose 120v electrical splice that melted and charred also bore QC marks from the factory. None of our previous trailers had this many issues. This may be normal for pandemic-era Some-Other-Brand RVs but is absolutely not what we expected from an Oliver. Now that RV sales have slumped, I hope OTT is taking the time to be more careful assembling new units.