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Showing content with the highest reputation on 08/03/2023 in all areas
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Hello, I have been meaning to introduce us since we became Oliver owners. We are Bobby and Nadine, we live in East Texas and are lifelong campers. This latest purchase raises the total count of RV towables to 13 (over a 43-year period). The Oliver is our second fiberglass trailer, we owned a 16’ Casita for several years and enjoyed it, but it became too small. We were in the market for an Air Stream, but my wife reminded me of the Oliver we saw once at a fiberglass rally. We were both so impressed we called Phil and placed our order. We picked up our new LE II back in December of last year. Glad we made this choice. The folks at the factory have been great and I would recommend the trailer to anyone that is interested in luxury camping! I wanted to share a recent experience: We left home in early June for Lake Placid, NY. On our way we stayed near Connellsville, PA. To our surprise we woke that morning to 44° F! (cold by our standards) Being from Texas and having never traveled this far north this was quite a shock. So, I set the thermostat on the Tuma Vario Heat furnace. Yes, it made it warm in short order but the noise coming from the vents was deafening. Sounded like an angle grinder on a sheet of steel. I promptly turned it off thinking the thing would self-destruct. Thankfully my wife had remembered to pack “the Cube”. I plugged it in and after 10 minutes it was nice and toasty. We used the cube heater off and on till we returned home. I contacted Jason Essary in service for warranty repair. He told me that Truma had a mobile service technician in Texas. I called Truma directly with the supplied number and scheduled an appointment. The tech (Todd) drove from the Austin area to my back yard 3 days later. He checked the unit out and said it was 100% covered by Truma’s warranty. Unit was defective from the factory. He replaced the noisy unit with a brand new one and extended the normal one-year warranty to two! The entire service call lasted less than 45 minutes. Super service, and a super nice guy. Well, this howdy turned out to be much longer than I wanted it to be. Just wanted to share. Bobby Christall Hull# 13076 points
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Chris - I completely agree. Use-case example; we were traveling over the 4th of July weekend and found ourselves in Bowling Green, KY without a reservation for the night. It was one of the hottest days of the year (July 2) and I saw a Cabellas and made the comment, we can stay there for free and there are restaurants all around it so we can go out to dinner. A little hesitation on her part but she said, ok. There were 2 other campers there and we found a nice spot, went in to talk to the manager and they were like heck yeah. We went out to dinner and came back to the trailer around 9:30pm, it was still 89 outside. We ran the a/c all night long and when I got up around 0630 we still had 68% remaining battery!! Now THAT is impressive! BL4 points
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Totally agree Chris, buyers remorse is for soft people LOL -- first observation. For weeks now, my batteries have been at 99% and within 24 hours of installing this little guy, they now show 100%. You should have seen the spousal eye-roll when I shared that little nugget... BL4 points
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4 points
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In 1423 during the Hundred Year's War, the English defeated the French! I have no idea of what that means but it certainly is exciting. Delivery day will go by soooooo quickly and you will be getting more information than you can possibly absorb. However, relax, take in what you can, ask questions (the Oliver folks are very patient and understanding). Get a good night's sleep both before and after delivery day. If you've not taken the factory tour, see if you can arrange it to take the tour the day before delivery and take pictures of everything. Enjoy yourself! This IS FUN! Bill4 points
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@Wandering Sagebrush, the zamp port is wired "backwards" from sae standard, ostensibly to protect folks from a nasty shock. Do you know if Oliver installed it originally, or if the previous owner installed? Since this is the first time you're using it, I'd probably check the polarity. If it Checks out wired to zamp standard, you need to use a zamp wired panel for "plug and play, " or buy an adapter to reverse polarity from the panel. Other brands don't wire the same way as zamp....3 points
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Is this a contest? If yes - then count me in! 🥴 Bill3 points
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Given the number of issues and the level of your frustration, I wonder about the feasibility of taking it back to the mothership and letting OTT staff do a complete service. Most of the issues are probably still under warranty. I realize it might not work due to your schedules and the downtime waiting in Tennesee, but it sure beats throwing your hands up and not camping or selling it. I agree with other folks that there's a learning curve and you've got to look at each issue individually. When I picked up #841 in July 2021, I sort of assumed that everything would be perfect. Far from it. There were a bunch of problems in the first six months that I had to deal with, but everything worked out thanks to OTT service and this forum. It kinda stressed me out. But now I'm feeling that I'm over that hump and haven't had any problems in a while.3 points
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@Steve Morris: Steve, nice looking set-up for the bikes, brother! Really like the license plate mount and the hard point tie-down through the spare tire cover... Great idea. Our's is slightly different, but what we found very helpful during our road trip this week (in reducing the jostling), was adding 2 tie-down straps at both ends of the top tubes and the other ends (left and right) back down to the ends of the square tubing. No issues... Rock-Solid!3 points
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The easiest problem first - Do you have an Allen wrench and know how to tighten the backflow valve that is located just inside that fitting? If not instructions can be found here on the Forum. Second problem - Have you tried turning your inverter on/off via the switch that is located ON the inverter itself - I presume that you are using the remote switch and it can sometimes fail. If this works then you know that your issue is with the remote switch and we can work to correct that. If using the switch on the main unit doesn't work then the "hard reset" should be tried. If that doesn't work then a call to the manufacturer is in order. Let us know. Bill3 points
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3 points
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After 6k of towing, I am pleased with the Q7. Would definitely recommend getting air shocks and also like the rear wheel steering, keeps the trailer almost perfectly in the car’s tracks. I would also recommend getting mud flaps, we added them a week ago and they really reduce stuff hitting the trailer. The biggest downside is limited storage space.3 points
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I would pull out all of the drawers and look for water damage to the wood framing under the sink with a headlamp. Even with the plumbing leak repaired, there may be residual water damage that has allowed mold or mildew to grow. Also, remove the plywood panel under the sink, on the floor of the cabinet, that enables access to the receptacle that powers the fridge. You may find the source of the odor there. Also, ensure that your gray and black water tanks are empty. Even standing gray water can stink, especially during the summer months.3 points
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I found this item on the Victron website under "Accessories" and thought I would give it a try. It is called the Victron Smart Sense and is only $40 on amazon. Watch the Victron video HERE. This was a very easy installation and completely makes sense to provide Voltage and Temperature feedback to the MPPT charge controller to optimze charging. It uses a private virtual network to communicate. Not sure if it has improved my situation but man, do I feet good about myself...lol LINK to view product on Amazon BL2 points
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In 3 yrs of owning our Oliver I have not seen the need to double up with an EMS for added protection. The Olivers built in surge protection has performed flawlessly. Patriot🇺🇸2 points
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We sanitize our fresh water tank twice a year and are also very careful about wiping dishes and silverware of food particles. My wife, Paula, suggested we might drain our freshwater tank after the first step of treatment into the grey water tank as an additional treatment step and the drain the grey water tank. It seems like a good idea so we have added this step to our sanitation schedule.2 points
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@JRK, I see you have a 2021, so it should have the extra latch on the drawers. Silly question, but do you give the drawers a little push in before you leave - to engage the latch? Also, we had one drawer that opened. It was my wife's plates/bowls drawer. The contents were too heavy. After we redistributed the load all the drawers stay closed now. As I've posted, we've also been frustrated by many issues with our Oliver, but there is hope. We just returned from 2 weeks of dry-camping and had no issues with the Oliver at all! It worked perfectly. It took us a year to get here but we're hoping the teething pains are over.2 points
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The water pump power supply does not go through the inverter. The water pump is 12V. The inverter output is 120V. There should be a fuse in the 12V fuse panel that supplies 12V power to the water pump. I would start my water pump troubleshooting there. With regard to the female hose connection, you will need a 1/2" Allen wrench. I carry one in our Elite II just for that purpose. 1/2" is not a size commonly included with Allen wrench sets, so you may need to order it. Amazon link below. https://www.amazon.com/Eklind-14232-Long-Hex-L-Key/dp/B000GARYA8/ref=sr_1_5?hvadid=409948196806&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9029558&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=2706863334268031158&hvtargid=kwd-48266044980&hydadcr=1609_11255806&keywords=1%2F2+allen+key&qid=1691070091&sr=8-5 Good luck!2 points
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A bit off topic, but the kitchen drawer hack reminded me of a great small company for things like footman loops, bungee cord, webbing and related hardware. Strap Works in Eugene, Oregon.2 points
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Originally, the LEII's came with all 5 wheels and tires in the 15 inch size. But when 15 inch tires started becoming a bit hard to come by, Oliver decided to start putting 4 16 inch tires on but continued having the 15 inch size as a spare due to the costs involved with changing the molds so as to accommodate the larger 16 inch tire size. There is nothing "wrong" with the 15 inch spare in that it is really a "spare" tire and the Ollie may be run with this spare in use until either a new 16 inch is obtained or the original 16 inch tire is repaired. Like Mike, I do not remember when the molds were changed to the 16 inch size (2018 ?), but, for those trailers that have the 15 inch spare it is certain that a 16 inch tire will not fit - heck, the 15 inch barely fits. Since I still have my original spare tire, I've not researched what is available. However, it would seem that now with 16 inch tires becoming less popular the tire manufacturers would produce a suitable tire in the 15 inch size. Bill2 points
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2 points
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@JRK: Hey, brother - really sorry to hear about the issues with your rig. Your frustration is noted. Sometimes these toys of our's are a kin to eating the proverbial elephant - it can be done, but it takes one bite at a time. Probably preaching to the choir here, but preparing and studying a comprehensive and prioritized list of "squawks" or discrepancies sometimes helps us get our head around the big picture. Then making a maintenance schedule or just a "punch list" helps even more - after some time and effort, the list gets smaller. A few other gripes may pop up in the meantime which get added to the others. This process clearly doesn't reach completion over night and takes patience - in our case, the end of the "to-do list" will likely never happen. So be it. Totally understand that if an OTT owner doesn't have the confidence in their rig that it'll perform safely while being towed and systems operate correctly when camping,then trips get cancelled, it'll likely sit in storage - then eventually get sold. However, many of the fixes for the annoying issues described above are addressed by others on the forum, IMO. FYI, We have yet to encounter a discrepancy that either a call to the OTT factory or a shout-out to the forum that couldn't be solved - there have been dozens. For example here's a couple ideas for keeping drawers closed while towing: 1. Search for this title - this fix uses bungees and stainless steel tie-downs: "Kitchen drawers. - keeping closed" 2. This one uses Raingly tie-downs and nylon straps: Enough "apple pie and Motherhood"... Hang in there - you'll soon see the light at the end of the tunnel; it might even be a rear Oliver sign!2 points
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Sorry to hear about all of these problems. Can you let us know what you have done to get resolution? The drawer problem is common in earlier trailers and is easily fixed. I installed some stainless steel strap loops (from Amazon) at the top an bottom of each bank of drawers, run a tie down strap through them when traveling and they won’t open again. Is your city water failing or just lose? It can be tightened with the proper size wrench inserted into the connection. The shower hose kinking might involve taking off the front of the bath sink to access it. Not hard to do, you just need to cut the caulk and remove 4 screws. I would look for a good RV guy who knows electrical systems, I had some similar issues and my local RV guy found some lose connections behind the fuse panel and was able to resolve everything there. Check your water pump to ensure the two red wires are connected, if they are the issue might be related to all the other electrical problems. Intermittent lights flashing while driving sounds to me like something is lose. If you have specific questions ask away and someone will have a solution. Mike2 points
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EDITS IN GREEN: Ok, now that I have my Houghton 3400 heat pump installed and have run it in 106 degrees full sun on our OE2, I can respond with a professional M.E. opinion: The 13.5 KBTU Houghton 3400 is NOT oversized for hot running conditions. I would not recommend a 11,000 BTU unit for an OE2 if you go to hot places, Secondly, again in my opinion the humidity problem is certainly caused by re-evaporation of humidity on the coils after the compressor is shut down. Frankly IMHO, this is a bad design element of Houghton units for USA use where humidity issurs are common. But for the dry Aussie Land it makes sense. As such, I am doubling down on my long-ago suggestion of adding a relay tied to the fan low speed and compressor as a trigger (Mounted in the upper unit) to shut off the fan when it auto cycles to low speed while on auto. This suggestion is exactly what another AS owner (GSMBear) posted last month on their web site and one of our owners posted on ours. I took a deep dive into that video and the relay part is relatively easy. But one also has to know how to relocate the room air sensor from the supply air duct to the ambient area. Detailed info on this must be known before just adding the relay. GJ2 points
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AND for those that sell tar remover!😒 Travel speed - on dirt roads - depends as much as anything else on how smooth the road appears to be. I've been upwards of 60mph on nice smooth dirt roads. Wash boarded dirt roads see me doing about 5mph.2 points
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It sounds like your Truma A/C came with the optional "water-maker" feature installed.2 points
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I've towed my LEII with two different 1/2 ton trucks both here in the East and through out the Rockies out West. Absolutely no problems . However, you will need the Andersen weight distribution hitch AND you will need to pay particular attention to your payload capacity. Bill p.s. picking up a new Ollie in October is fantastic! You've got the better part of two months to do some serious camping and then you have the winter to do your mods plus get all those things you've learned that you want for that new baby. Welcome to the family!2 points
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I have stated this many times in the past but it bares repeating. We never drink out of our storage tanks, ever. IMO you're just asking for trouble if you do even though I know others will disagree. For one the water taste terrible after only a few hours of storage, this alone should be a warning. However we carry two 5 gallon BPA free water jugs along with us with water from our house and another 1 gallon BPA free jug. The two large jugs are stored in the truck bed and the smaller 1 gallon stays either in the camper or back of truck cabin depending on what we are doing for the day. The storage tank water is used for dishes and personal hygiene only. We do not even cook with the storage tank water. Hope this helps.2 points
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Late yesterday I put the system back together without being able to absolutely identify the problem on why this furnace does not work at higher altitudes. I suppose I could just start replacing parts one by one and hope for the best. Tearing these things apart is a major ordeal and just to get to it one has to disassemble the entire back end of the Oliver. If I have to do this again make no mistake there will be some serious re-engineering of how that part of the basement is reassembled and constructed. The next step would be to measure the gas pressure at the propane tanks. I understand not all pressure valves are created equal, could be mine is due for a replacement. I should take off for the Beartooths for a couple of days, that will put it to the test again.:))2 points
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Here's some pics of the installed locks. They're pretty close to identical and require no modifications whatsoever on my 2021 LE2. I had to get some 1" stainless 8-32 screws and locking nuts but that's about it. I like the keys as they feel much better than the old stamped ones. The locking mechanism on the inside is a little different engineering wise but, no lock will keep out a determined thief anyhow. We'll see how they hold up over time but they look just fine.2 points
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https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/6729-how-to-check-your-sewer-grey-vent-under-the-galley-counter-top/ https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/6721-how-to-secure-the-loose-grey-drain-vent-plumbing-under-the-galley/ I 100% agree about using a tank treatment, if you never add anything it can get pretty gross in the grey tank. John Davies Spokane WA2 points
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Look under the dinette seat and trace the gray pipe from the bath into gray tank. Ensure that it is firmly seated into the top of the tank. When our trailer was made that connection was just a friction connection, the pipe was jammed into the top of the tank. A year or two ago that connection came lose after some bumpy roads. The gray tank pipe from the bath was out of its hole with part of the pipe on top of the tank. It is now permanently attached! We use Happy Camper in both black and gray at the end of trips, keeps the odors in check. Mike2 points
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This is good advice. Even though the smells are different, gray water can stink as badly or worse than black. This is caused from allowing food particles to go down the drain when washing or rinsing dishes in the sink. The food goes into the gray tank and begins to rot (think old dumpster in the alley behind a bar.) I wouldn't hesitate to sanitize the gray and black tanks with chlorine just like you would the fresh water tank. Let us know if you get resolution.2 points
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1 point
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Mine the positive is fused then connected to the positive busbar under the street side bed, and the negative wire to the negative busbar under the rear dinette seat.1 point
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JRK As previously stated you could take the Oliver back to OTT for resolving all your issues at once. As far as the kitchen cupboards, the new Olivers have drawer tracks (that hold the drawer in place) that have a "soft close" feature that keep the drawer closed (kinda of like a soft lock). If you are handy, you could replace the existing bottom drawer tracks with these new "soft close" tracks. I think you could buy them from Olliver or they sell them on Amazon. Good luck. You will fell better as each item is corrected.1 point
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1 point
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I mounted a piece of square aluminum tubing (1" x 3" x 12") under the front inspired by @mountainoliver and then I added a strip on aluminum on the inside back for additional rigidity. I don't think I needed that as they welded nice aluminum angle brackets along the front and back. I will NOT be carrying a generator in this box, it is primarily for our camping needs. I just have an issue putting things that are wet or dirty in the basement so close to the sleeping area although I try to clean them as much as possible before putting them in there. BL1 point
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I just ordered these. Made in North Dakota https://shop.agricover.com/product/rockstarcommercialtowflap1 point
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I live in the Idaho mountains, and I tow our Elite II with a 2019 Tundra with the 5.7L engine and tow package. I agree that it is "sufficient," with an Andersen weight distribution hitch. But, I definitely know that I am pulling a heavy trailer, which has quite a different feel that my lighter raft trailer, even when the raft trailer is heavily loaded. So, when I need to replace the Tundra, even though I am a Toyota fan, I plan to carefully evaluate the marginal cost of a Tundra vs. 2500-level Chevy or Dodge, or a Ford F250. Based on posts on this forum from owners of 3/4-ton and 1-ton pickups, I expect the towing experience with an Elite II behind such a truck to be less stressful.1 point
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Thanks we really like parking our Ollie under cover at home vs paying for a storage lot. It’s been a work in progress for sure. Since you don’t keep your Ollie under cover just be ready to address or stay ahead of the slow creep of your gel coat beginning to oxidize a chaulky white on the roof top and corners. Then there is the degradation of all your caulking from UV. Fun times!1 point
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https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/4376-7-cup-pur-water-pitcher-fits-neatly-in-pantry-affordable-filters/ The very first night we camped was in the nearby Fall Hollow (?) RV park that Oliver paid for. Our site had the fresh water spigot located BELOW ground, a few inches away from the waste pipe. Needless to say I did not use the fresh water supply. You can seriously contaminate the fresh tank, it is best to never drink directly from that supply. Use a cheap blue filter when you fill and some sort of filter system or bottled water for human use. Just say no to E. coli. John Davies Spokane WA1 point
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Howdy from fellow Texans. Welcome to the group. Glad to hear your issue was resolved quickly. I’m sure you wish you had some of that cool weather these days after this heat wave we’re enduring. We spent June and July in Colorado, heater ran every night! Mike1 point
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Last summer while in Colorado we camped in State Forest State Park just north of Rocky Mountain NP. We were at 9,100 feet and boondocking. All propane appliances worked as advertised, furnace, fridge, hot water and cooktop. Blackstone, Weber and Outland fire pit also worked fine while we were there. I was worried the furnace might not kick on but it did and kept us warm after the sun went down. Mike1 point
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I just posted a trip report on our last 2-week dry camping run. It was HOT and HUMID most days here in CT. We have the factory Platinum lithium package and found we could run the Dometic A/C for about 45 minutes at night while watching TV before going to bed. (We use the ARC input to connect the TV audio to the Furrion amp and speakers. With doors and windows closed, it was not audible outside the trailer.) That was enough to significantly cool and dry the cabin. We did that on the worst days, maybe 4 nights. If there was full sun the next day, rooftop solar refilled the batteries. If not, we lost maybe 4-5% SOC. We never used our Honda genny. Even with some cloudy days we could go a LONG time that way, probably a month. Last year we tried running A/C most of the afternoon. That definitely required the generator to run the A/C, recharge the batteries, or both. Not worth it. Also note, the Truma A/C requires a larger generator than the Dometic with soft-start, which runs fine on a 2000W Honda.1 point
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Be sure to look at trailers other than Oliver, that way you'll appreciate the quality that Oliver Travel Trailers puts into their product. We picked ours up last August and have logged over 11,000 miles and close to 15 National Parks. We've encountered no problems with the trailer to date.1 point
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You don't have a DC master switch. You have on/off buttons on each of your three Lithionics 130Ah batteries. That said, if you need to do a "hard reboot," just turning off the batteries did not work for me. Only physically removing the battery cables from the inverter resulting (twice) in a hard reboot.1 point
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Eagle Nest Lake State Park, NM... Where's Magnus? He's love'n the 60F temps (so are we for that matter)! His FAV spot - right under the Ollie steps! Red River, NM - 8,600' near Eagle Nest - great weekend romp! He's spent... Oh, well... charge up his batteries and go again in the morning. Cheers, A&D1 point
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1 point
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Got a call from Oliver yesterday. There are also 15 and 20 pound latches. The drawer by itself is 7 pounds (I weighed it today), so just a few items in the drawer puts it over 10 pounds. Oliver said that there are issues with the drawer latches allowing the drawers to open. They are looking into the problem. John1 point
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