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I use Turkish towels, they dry super fast and fold up nice and small. I’ve had mine for three years and still look like new. https://www.etsy.com/shop/HouseofPeshtemal

You can extend any thermostor/aka temp sensor a reasonable distance, just use HIGH quality connections (solder and heat shrink) and use an equal or heavier gauge (smaller number) wires. Then no worries - you won’t see any significant resistance increase. Especially for a sensor that has a range of 15,000 to 30000 ohms like the Zamp solar one!. Adding a few ohms to those figures is irrelevant. NO, NOPE, NO WAY: If you do anything in terms of splicing or repairing, always test the sensor before and then after the operation, in equal environmental conditions.. https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/4205-how-to-check-your-zamp-battery-temperature-sensor-for-proper-operation/ John Davies Spokane WA

A piece of small pool noodle does the trick for us.

We use Turkish towels. Light woven cotton. Pack small, dry quicker than regular towels, but still feel like cloth.

Some nights, after a long day of adventures, I don't feel like slicing and dicing. One of my favorites is Idahoan Red Mashed potatoes, as a side for something on the grill. Two cups of boiling water in the tea kettle, a big dollop of sour cream and a bit of butter, stir, cover, and stir again, good to go. So easy, and tasty. I also love the microwave rice packets, though I don't have a microwave. I just add a little water, and heat. Both store in the pantry, and require no refrigeration.

For years I've used dark colored towels that had seen better days for camping. Obviously, the color was to hide any real dirt they might come into contact with and being a bit fraid around the edges or having a couple of small holes really didn't hurt the function or my fashion sense. Unfortunately, even when camping in the relatively dry western mountains, these "normal" towels would tend to "sour" and during the occasional periods when it might rain for a few days in a row, they might never get dry. In talking about this with Shallowgal it was recommended that I try towels like THESE. I was warned that these towels would not be as soft and fluffy but that they would pack down to a very small size and would dry me and wouldn't "sour". I don't know (and really don't care) if it was the pups or the humans - but - Shallowgal was right. These towels are exactly as advertised. The smallest of the three in the set linked above I use in the kitchen. The middle size is about perfect for the Ollie bath while the largest size is good for the beach, campground bath houses or my shower tent. Bill

Great pic - looks like "ad" quality. Bill

We use both - depends on what we're doing... We really like the Turkish towels for the OTT, wicked absorbent and dries quickly. But for motorcycle trips, our packing volume is WAY limited so we opt-in for microfiber, great absorbency and quick-dry factors, but the biggest plus is no volume penalty paid: The "SEATOSUMMIT" towel is 28" x 42" - perfect for packing into the Eagle Creek Dopp kit... By the way, we spotted our first OTT on this, DAY-3 of our MC tour up the spine of the Rockies! I'll post the particulars in the appropriate thread. Greetings from Cortez, CO!

Hormel ComplEats: https://www.hormel.com/Brands/Compleats and Barilla microwave pasta: https://www.barilla.com/en-us/home/ready-pasta-hub?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=PastaShapes-ReadyPasta-GenericPasta-Brand-Exact&utm_term=barillareadypasta&ds_rl=1275463&ds_rl=1274610&gclid=Cj0KCQjwldKmBhCCARIsAP-0rfzMGAPP641nZnmYHO-0RD4XqtFZEREUicUtRMCF8aPeLKnE1vl4uc8aAgrXEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I do like to eat - but - I really do NOT like to cook. I fully understand that there are those who get into that cooking thing and I really do appreciate it when they feel sorry for me. My wife found some of THESE (in the chicken flavor) at some discount store. Throw in some hunks of real cooked chicken and its a quick decent meal fast. Bill

Agree about the potatoes and the microwave rice... Sometimes I'm just not hungry and I'll have some ramen noodles- reminds me of the hungry school days! Another favorite of mine is the hot dog, or "tube steak" 🤣 with a slice of cheese melted on there.

We use the Nomadix micro fiber towel’s dry fast and easy to clean, little expensive.

"No refrigeration " and "quick and easy" is sometimes for the win! I remember one really cold, rainy, and windy night in Canada, when we tried repeatedly to start a fire with wet pine. It was a no go situation. Although late summer, it was really cold. We had dried soup mix, on the stovetop. Satisfying and good. And hot. I always have some in the Ollie, and I carry it in my luggage when we fly and camp... Iceland, Scandinavia, Australia, etc.. There's always water, somewhere. Stores may not be open. Especially landing on Sunday. Made freeze dried chili in Norway, in a dry cabin, one night, after landing in Bergen, and driving an hour and a half toward my cousins. No real stores open, en route. Good to have, as backup. Not our usual meals, but they are great in certain circumstances. Tonight's camping dinner, everything fresh. Vegetables from my neighbors ' organic garden.

Same here! 👍🏻

Micro fiber for the win! They dry fast on the back of our chairs, and are super absorbent.👍🏻

Actually - me too. However the towels that I referenced above are slightly different and even lighter than the "Absorber" jobs. While I'm here I should add that it was Mike that actually found the towels that I have since the ones that Shallowgal recommended were no longer available. So - thanks to both Mossemi and Shallowgal. 🥰 Bill

Hi, and welcome! And, congrats on your Oliver. Which bath fan do you have? MaxxFan, or ventline? (The Maxx dome has a clearly visible fuseholder on the inside. The ventline doesnt.) As a temporary fix, i've seen folks use a piece of pvc or a rolled up towel through the handle to keep it from opening. Scroll down through about halfway, and you'll see some solutions. Your fan may have been installed incorrectly.

Found that part, Cash Acme 1/2 Inch V-101 Anti-Siphon Vacuum Breaker, Brass Plumbing Fitting, 17383-0000 FYI it is about 6 ounces and designed to attach to rigid pipe like a house hose bib. It should be mounted with the diaphragm (plate) facing up, so water will drain out and not pool. FYI that white check valve will function in any position, but ideally it should be horizontal to rule out the effect of gravity and road bumps. If yours is vertical, you could switch the position of the 90 degree elbow to correct that. John Davies Spokane WA

I suspect that other owners were breaking the old style line by putting heavy stuff in that storage compartment. While you are in the bath cabinet, secure all the other loose parts that flop around. Maybe the next bad roads won’t break stuff. I bet that very heavy brass vacuum breaker doesn’t have a support bracket. https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/9039-how-to-bath-sink-compartment-mods-duct-rework-insulation-disconnect-flush-line/ What tire pressures? I always ask when owners report this sort of failure. I towed over all kinds of nasty roads including British Columbia and never had problems at 42 psi and careful driving (ie slow down for those visible tire eating potholes and whoop-de-dos…) Please post lots of pics, this is informative. Thanks. John Davies Spokane WA

More than likely - so were they!

My wife and I rarely use the Jensen TV and DVD so we have learned about it as we experience issues along the way. I have a couple of things to share with the group. Most of us have had to use the reset option on the Radio/DVD to correct anomalies. We recently ran into an issue with play back of a DVD movie, actually two movies. We set the source to AV on the TV using the TV remote and we had sound right up until we hit play on the DVD menu. After trying multiple times, and trying another DVD, we finally remembered to do a reset of the Radio/DVD player and Voila, everything returned to normal except I lost all AM/FM presets and the time setting. Another issue I ran into awhile back was not being able to scan for channels. After much trial and error, I realized that the source needed to be set to TV before that item on the menu would be available to select after hitting the menu button on the TV remote. Finally, I sleep on our twin bed with my head adjacent to the aft. The TV power LED is always on when the TV is off if it has power. The blue LED is quite distracting so we simply unplug the power cable on our TV and only plug it in when we need to use it. I shared this with an Oliver owner at the Maine Oliver Rally in this year and discovered on the older units that have the Jensen TV, the power is on the back of the lower right of the TV as opposed to our TV where the power cable can be accessed on the upper left of the TV. One less suggestion, the Omni Antenna isn't only used for the TV. It also improves reception on FM on the Jensen Radio. If you get an intermittent weak signal, and can afford the power usage, turn on the Omni the attic and see if it improves reception like it does for our 2019 LEII.

Again prior to my last trip my wife 😍 got me one of these (meatloaf and gravy with mashed potatoes). Certainly not the best I've ever eaten, but, surprisingly decent and certainly quick. Bill

We're on DAY-3 of a 14-day MC tour up the spine of the Rockies to MT and today we saw our first OTT of the trip... The Ollie in question was traveling north on CO 145 between Dolores and Rico at approximately 1345 today 10AUG. Tried to get a pic, but was a little busy at the time negotiating a few turns at a rather good clip... Anyone know who this might be? It's a small world so we won't be surprised if someone sees this post and shouts out, "It's us!" HA!

So - No one told you about the Ghost of Ollie Past?😇

Topgun, I like the Idea of the small USB drives. Great work around. I will give it a try. It is really weird when the Jensen hits its limit and just makes weird digital noise and is just stuck their. I have a strange thing that happened a couple of times. We always listen to music from the USB. The Oliver has been in the RV port (in storage) and the Jensen has turned on a few times by itself and playing music from the USB.

Instructions have the info. Basically the transfer switch comes with a super duty plug and that line plugs into the inverter. You disconnet the 20 amp wire at the breaker that serves the ac and replace it with a longer wire that goes back from the rear dinette seat to the back of the rear bunk. This line goes to the switch input labeled for the utility company supply. The other switch connection is used to reconnect the ac power supply. I mounted my second switch aft of the OEM one under the street side bunk. This required me to replace the super duty switch cord that was too short. Some owners elect to mount the switch on the wheel well to avoid this. Personally I like bolting the add on equipment through the fiber glass to a cutting board JB welded and bolted in place. I use small SS fender washers and bolts and it does not detract from the appearance under the bed overhang. GJ

We roll up a hand towel and insert it. Ours was leaking a bit on our last trip in some heavy rain, it’s not sealing right when we close it. I decided to go ahead and order a maxxfan with the LED light. I’ll install it in the next week or so before we head out to TN and KY in Sept and Oct to see some leaves turning. Mike

And I've thought for the past several years that I was the only one that was/is so plebian.😊 I swore to myself after the time I spent in the Army that I'd never eat anything freeze dried again (especially eggs). But, these things are actually rather good. Bill

David & Paula - I'll add another "thing" to watch for: If you use a USB stick for music (and I assume for video), the older units are limited to something between 2 and 6 gigs before they can no longer handle any greater capacity. Yes, you can still use a larger USB stick, but, you can put any more than something between the 2 to 6 gig on that stick and have it work/load properly. To help get around this issue, I bought a bunch of 8 gig USB mini sticks (like THESE) and placed different types of music on each one (i.e. country, pop, classical, movies, nature, spa, etc.). Depending on my mood I get the music stick of choice, put it in and then hit the random button and rock on. Bill p.s. larger amounts of data will not actually "hurt" anything - they will simply not load thus leaving the player and TV just sitting there looking at you until you take that USB stick out.

This is an exemplary, and prompt, response from Oliver Service. Such responsiveness is one reason we chose an Oliver.

It was quite painful to sell, but this was the correct move at this stage in my life. For privacy I won’t say who bought it, but he is a member and if he wants to announce it, that will be on his dime. I emptied out the RV bay for the first time in six years, washed the floor using a push broom and Dawn detergent, and lots of water, and moved my LC200 over to that spot. I now have a vast area to park a vehicle or do workshop type projects, and my wife now has a big corner dedicated to gardening, with two big workbenches, power, light and pegboard. A happy wife is a happy me… Plus I have even more room for my indoor 10 meter airgun range. We will continue to travel and explore the back country at times, but we will stay primarily in motels or B&Bs. But if we encounter a splendid isolated pull-off overlooking a great vista, we can pop the Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon and rough it for a few nights. It takes about a minute to crank up, and three minutes to put back down. It is pretty darn crude compared to an Ollie, but it is a simply stunning tent. I was really afraid that there would be a big mpg hit from the tent, like with the Yakima RocketBox Carbonite Low, but I was delighted to discover that I got 16 mpgs going to the dealer with bare round bars, and 17 coming back, and no noise at all at 72 mph. That is good mileage for a Land Cruiser with LT tires, they are gas hogs. It’s way better than the 10-12 I got towing “Mouse” at 62 mph. I may install wimpy Geolander AT G015 tires after our next big trip, they will save 52 (!) pounds of rotating mass and I expect to gain another couple of mpgs. They are great “tweener” tires for an Outback, RAV4 or LC200 that isn’t doing lots of rocky stuff. I have had two sets already on other vehicles and I am impressed. We plan to attend the Total Solar Eclipse rally in Fredericksburg next April, but we will be forced to sleep in the ground due to stupid CG rules. If anyone wants a dirt cheap big heavy Eureka! tent and fly in fine condition, come by and talk to me on Tuesday morning after the crowds have departed. After the eclipse, we will head home via the Utah parks and hopefully spend a few nights on the delightful White Rim Road in Canyonlands NP. I will continue to hang out here on the forum, but my posting will be dramatically reduced. The members here feel very much like family, I can’t just go away. John Davies Spokane WA

The leaf springs are the same all around the trailer, side to side and front to back. The 4LF means four leaf ( four leaves on the leaf spring pack). There are other leaf spring packs with less leaves and some with more. The correct ones for the 3,500 pound axles have 4 leaves (1,750 pounds capacity per leaf spring pack x 2 per axle.

I wanted to improve the sound quality in our trailer so I bought a couple of JBL Charge 5 speakers after reading lots of reviews. The speakers are small and both will easily fit in any of the overhead compartments. I bought these so that we could use them while camping but I can also use them while working on projects in my garage and around our home both inside and out. About 2 minutes to pair them to my phone and they were up and running. We enjoy listening to music considerably more than watching TV while camping...at a reasonable volume level of course 🙂 The sound quality is really quite impressive and the volume at the 50% setting is more than ample. Reasonably priced IMHO to boot. https://www.crutchfield.com/p_109CHRGE5G/JBL-Charge-5-Grey.html?tp=63331

I have a couple of the JBL Charge 3's for awhile now and love them. Great sound, you can link up an unlimited amount of them, and they can also be used as a battery bank to charge phones and other devices.

We're using 95lb-ft torque setting on ours...FYI

It's been a while, so I don't remember the actual numbers, but I do remember that the cubic feet of space in their camper was much less than an LE2 and that is was also a fully foam insulated 4 season camper. The big giveaway that their issue (IMHO) is caused by an oversized unit was that it always short cycled at night, even on low fan. Shutting the fan down in between cycles would more than likely help some, but if they're short cycling and never getting the humidity down to begin with I don't see how it could ever solve the problem in their truck camper. I'm far more interested in learning how this Houghton performs in a low temp / high humidity environment in an LE2 for use as a possible replacement of our Coleman 9.2k unit down the road. Our Coleman, which for now works perfectly, is pushing 15 years old and I really like the idea of switching to a heatpump to eliminate the use of the the propane heater when power is available.

@Steve and Cindy, I suspect they are the same. It's just a light ring, added to the base model. This is one of our best easy upgrades, ever. (The installation manual is the same for both models.) We used modern synthetic butyl tape to bed ours, on the outside. I'd highly recommend that, vs. caulk. Having the overhead light in the bath, so bright, but not glaring, is a gamechanger. (Especially since our small light on the wall isn't working anymore. I need to replace that. )

Congratulations John on your sale of your Oliver and starting another chapter of your life. You will be missed on this forum. I have enjoyed reading about your posts, you have been such a great resource They have helped me solve many issues and given me several new ideas. Best of luck in your future adventures!

John, Thank you for all your helpful Post, I enjoy reading your articles. Wish you the best! Allen

Thanks John for all your input and help. Good luck on all your future endeavors, hope to see you on the road sometime. albert & terri

I've been spoiled by higher end audio for about 3 decades so the thought of cutting a hole in that beautiful fiberglass for a 5 dollar speaker hurts my feelings a bit 😁 The mounting patterns, sizes, and depths are all different so just getting what you want ahead of time seems logical if possible. I'm getting close to crunch time for my build so I'm just getting picky at this point.

Thanks…after service contacted me they said the new design has hose come in from side port, then all the way up under the sink to a valve. If you have the flush system where the lines run around the front of the tank then it has a vacuum break under the bathroom sink. That is where it is most likely leaking. You would need to remove the bath vanity insert (4 screws & caulk). The system runs up to that break which keeps any tank water from flowing to the inlet. The hose continues as a loop back from the front of the tank back to the flush input as you’ve shown. Vacuum break valve located under sink now used on newer trailers. I’ll tear into this when I get home. took this out our rear windo this am at Meziadin lake PP BC We had been sitting out there the night before!