Leaderboard

Actually - your assumption is correct. But, as SeaDawg mentions, the valve is located between the shower pan and the grey tank. This means that when you run water in the bath sink, the water flows towards the grey tank but when it hits that closed valve the water can't flow into the grey tank and, thus, winds up coming up through the drain in the shower pan. I agree that this is an honest mistake. But, I disagree that you will only do it once - at least if you are anything like me 🤪. I did this so often that I actually went out and bought a second shower mat so that I could let one dry while I still had one to use. Of course, once I bought that second mat I've hardy ever had the need to use it. But, like the good Boy Scout that I used to be - I'm prepared! Bill

It’s one of those problems created by failing to RTM. Similar in nature to an issue those of us with an IT background refer to as “Loose nut at keyboard.”

Well, those grommets aren't doing a thing for you, right now. Nylon or some other type of plastic, useless if not seated in the opening. Rough fiberglass is abrasive. Now's a great time to replace with a barbed grommet, or cable glands, that will stay put, since you're pulling the batteries, etc.. Material of your choice. Also, carefully inspect the cables for any apparent abrasions in the sheathing. Hopefully, none, but you do want to know. I'm always inspecting ours, as battety compartment is pretty much under our heads. Btw, in Florida heat, we inspect water levels in the sailboat (fla batteries) monthly, or at least every 6 weeks, in summer. I would certainly do the same in Arizona. Use distilled water only, as you know, of course. Winter, we can check every two to three months, and seem to be ok. Our trailer has agms. As @John E Davies suggested, I would definitely check all 4 batteries. Your system will only charge to the level of the weakest, and if you have a bad cell in one, you'll have issues. If I were you, I'd still check in with Ryan at bluesky/sunforge, and make sure your settings on the charger are correct for your type of batteries. I do agree with you, that for many of us, fla or agm, is plenty, if we limit power consumption. By the way, not for you, but for future readers of this thread, do NOT go over your skill level zone , with electricity, and electronics. If unfamiliar with making connections, get a professional to help. Make SURE panels are covered and turned off before attempting work . Better to be double safe, than sorry, and fry something. Or, hurt yourself.

It's an honest mistake you'll only make once. Just like the ankle high water, when showering, and forgetting to open the valve. Fortunately, the valve handle is actually IN the shower are, instead of elsewhere, as in a few other trailers.

@Wandering Sagebrush, don't be too hard on yourself. Some of this stuff isn't even in the manual, or it's buried. Or, you heard it and forget. Wet feet, backed up drain, etc, etc. I'm guilty of being that loose nut at keyboard, from time to time. It's all good.

Thanks, @topgun2. I should have been more clear, but I think @Steph and Dud B covered it. The sink doesn't drain "directly" to the grey water tank, as it shares a drain with the shower, and, thus, the valve restricts odors and backup while traveling/jostling, but also means wastewater from the sink has nowhere to go but backing up into the shower, if the valve is closed. In our boat, our bath hand sink water goes to the toilet. (Water saving/flush help.) In some rvs, sink water goes to black tank. You just have to know where it goes. (as in, I have to remind folks on the boat to make sure the hand sink isn't overflowing the toilet! I installed faucets requiring contact to make sure they were never left running..) It's all good, once you know your way around. Former girl scout. Be prepared, for myself, and others. Lol.

The cable lugs with the spacers have been address, but I have to say I was shocked, no pun intended, to see these kind of connections. This is grossly out of standard and a serious problem. It's hard to tell from the overhead photo, but it appears there may be additional spacers at other connections as well under the cable lugs. As was mentioned above, you need to have sparkling clean connections and all lugs should be stacked together against the lead base of the battery terminals, no spacers if possible. Any resistance at any and all of these connections will play havoc with your charging control system and it's efficiency. I firmly believe this could be a root cause that needs addressed before you trouble shoot other components downstream. I would systematically check/correct every connection in the system as a starting point. I wouldn't replace any component without verifying it's function first. Doing otherwise just introduces more variables to the problem, and of course adds undue cost.

As far as the pump running all the time. You could have a air leak on the suction side of the pump. Check all the threaded connections to make sure they are tight and put your hand on the other connections to see if you can feel a suction.. A good test of the tightness of the suction side of the water lines is to line up the valves to suction water out of a bucket using the rear boondocking connection. If you can pull in water from a bucket then your piping is tight. If not that would indicate a loose connection somewhere.

If the valve is closed, and you put water down the bathroom sink, it will back up into the shower pan. If your valve is open and sink water is still backing up into the shower, I would suspect a clog in the sink drain line downstream of the shower drain.

Ours usually reads 100% well before water comes out the overflow. Not exactly precision instruments.

There's a couple on YouTube that just took their new Ollie to Alaska: https://youtube.com/@HardAleeAdventures?si=x3xpbvrJ5jftzF4J

Also get yourself some tape like THIS. That way you will not be getting the spray adhesive in places yo don't want or need. Indeed, where possible I'd only use the tape. The reason for this is because an air gap between two layers of the insulation will only increase the insulation qualities (i.e. R value). Then, with my Ollie I first looked at places that were most exposed to the cold and/or heat. Things like the basement door should be considered and, depending on what types of batteries you have, you might want to put a layer of insulation on the battery door. Then - the attic is a place and all areas you can reach in the between the hull's. Have fun! Bill

I agree with John. Alaska was beautiful, but the drive from Jasper to Banff was almost beyond words. Side note - make sure your brakes are in great condition for the drive southbound. We did the Alaska Highway northbound and Cassiar southbound. Eight weeks total, 12,000+ miles from Georgia and back. Incredible trip.

I recommend going to the Glacier/ Banff/ Jasper areas on the return trip. The scenery is so stunning that it will make Alaska look dreary in comparison. The west route Cassiar Hwy up BC is pretty stunning too, way better than the Alaska Highway. But it is a lot twistier and slower and can be extremely dirty if it is wet weather. John Davies Spokane WA

Looks like that RecPro hatch would work well but I'm trying to keep most things as original as I can.

jd1923, Using your 3 way fridge when the trailer is not very close to level in all directions is dangerous over the long term. This is true even when you are running it off shore power. You have a couple of choices, grade your parking spot and always level the trailer when camping, or install a DC compressor fridge with extra solar and battery capacity to run it. https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/8865-fridge-fires-if-you-have-an-older-hull-you-really-need-to-pull-out-that-fridge-now/ There is a device called Fridge Defend that will monitor temperatures, but it is impossible to install in the old hulls without removing the fridge first, due to inadequate access from the outside. You cannot even inspect most of the critical components annually, as called out in the Dometic manuals, without doing that! Bad Oliver engineering on display here! ALL your Ollie systems are designed to operate when level! The fresh and grey tanks are long and low, so minor variations affect the sensors and how much water is available to the pump... There was a factory “fresh water pickup tube” mod available for the older hulls, it moves the pump supply tube up top where it belongs, instead of at the back rear wall of the tank. I am guessing your Hull 113 tank was never modified, so you are only able to use about 20 gallons at best, when level, and less than that if the tongue is low! https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/2261-how-to-fresh-water-tank-suction-tube-mod-no-spin-welding-required/ This “no weld” modification worked very well for years, but actually adding the top fitting is a better solution from an engineering perspective. I do not know if Oliver ever issued alerts to owners about this, it really should be a Technical Service Bulletin! John Davies Spokane WA

It does drain into the gray tank, but it has to get through that valve first in order to get there.

With the long and low tanks, the see level is definitely an approximation, especially if you're not "perfectly " level, front to back, side to side . Even so, they are more "accurate " than most, since the sensors are exterior, and properly calibrated, they do a reasonable job, so we opted for see level when we installed new grey and black tanks to increase holding capacity in our sailboat, seven years ago. If you think it's fun getting actual readings in a trailer, think about a sailboat on a heel. 😁 I'd recheck the valves, and look at dewdev's suggestions.

That post extension is very bad. Steel is VERY wrong for this application. Put back the OEM style short stainless bolts, never put steel washers or extensions of any kind between a cable terminal and the battery terminal. If you feel the need to have increased height, use a solid brass or copper extension. Also, the cable should not be stressed like those are, the tight curves will cause wire strands inside to break. John Davies Spokane WA

Our tank maxes out at 88%, with water pouring out of the overflow. Oliver said our fresh water monitor was fine, but the gray was bad and they replaced the gray monitor.

I have a friend with 15 year old t105's, still going strong. Of course, he's a maintenance freak, they dont have an inverter. and they've been his all along. (You can't be sure of their maintenance prior to your ownership.) Glad everything worked out. As you get to know the Blue Sky gear, I know you will love it. It is seriously tough stuff, and extremely dependable. They've been talking about adding Bluetooth control to their new pro digital panel. I'd call Ryan at sunforge/blue sky and see if it's available yet. If so, I'd get the new pro touch panel, with more info, and abandon the old one. Install the new at a readable height. I think it's less than $200. If no Bluetooth available yet, then move the existing Pro. Blue Sky offers a "panel" to enclose the upgrade, smaller footprint. All you'll probably need is the nerve to cut a new hole somewhere, and possibly a longer telephone type cable. 🙂 I've been totally ok with our old school pro, but we'll upgrade (someday when they get Bluetooth) to the new and cooler digital panel. Ours is located in the face of the attic.

Bill, when you wrote "original" could you mean your batteries are the originals, now 7 years old? If so, this is a testament to life of the 6V golfcart battery! I will certainly remove these tall posts soon. They can't be good, would accentuate any vibration of the main cables down those two extended posts (same thing on the main -neg post). A past owner must have added this for some reason, maybe for better clearance of the cables. I need to remove all four batteries anyway, for a repair to the back of the bay. More on that later...

It is back to normal now that I have water in the FW tank.

Make sure that your valve configuration is proper and that those valves are fully set into the position you desire.

Our tank gauge also differs quite a bit depending on the level, which makes sense knowing the shape of the tank - long and flat. It takes forever to drain if not at the right angle. The pump running continuously would be a concern. My understanding about pumps is don't run them dry. This typically destroys the impeller. Be interesting to hear what you find out.

On our way over to Cortez CO we detoured into the town of Telluride aka “ski meca” with our Ollie in tow and actually scored a spot to park right on Main Street. The Aspens are just popping in peak color in many areas. We enjoyed a great lunch in town and took the free gondola ride up the mountain. It was short sleeve weather and really a great day. We will do a little exploring in Mesa Verde NP today. Onward!🇺🇸 Telluride from the mountain side State route 145 is a really beautiful drive especially this time of year.

Thank you Bill for your encouraging words! 😊 Cortez CO weather looks like it’s going to be amazing. Mid 70’s full sun for a daily high. Nice cool nights in the upper 30’s to 40. We are looking forward touring Mesa Verde NP and the Great Sand Dunes NP. This will round out our NP goal here in CO with our Park PP stamped. 😊 Rocky Mountain NP CO National Monument - (a National Park Service) Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, Mesa Verde NP - soon. Great Sand Dunes NP - soon.

There's some very good fishing at the bottom of the Black Canyon. However, the good fishing comes with three "problems": 1 - getting down there; 2 - getting back up from down there; 3 - rattlesnakes! Certainly those three things do not take away from the beauty though. Bill

Reaching New Heights- Yesterday we drove through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. We have had excellent weather and it was a beautiful day. We had the park pretty much to ourselves. We entered free with our senior pass. A must see for sure. Onward to Cortez CO today for more exploring. IMG_9898.mov

We use the same rubber chocks as shown above, bought at Harbor Freight. We also use X-Chocks, they do help with movement when inside the camper.