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Many years of Boy Scouting established a deep knowledge of campfires in my brothers and me. Same for my Eagle Scout son. Hopefully the California permitting process includes some safety information/training/guidelines. Mike

Many of us here were raised and trained to understand and control our campfires. Others, especially new campers cropping up with no training or understanding, not so much. This thread reminded me of our experience taking one of our nephews (age 14) on his first extended camping trip. I showed him how to start and build a safe campfire, with one match. We played with sticks, and magnifying glass as well. I also taught him how to correctly put out said fire, end of day. One night (perfect conditions scenario, it's our propery, and I take few risks) I showed him how to bank the fire, so we could make an easy start on breakfast, next morning. When we restarted that fire in the morning, with a half sheet of tabloid newspaper and a few twigs, I explained how campfires can unintentionally start wild fires, when folks unintentionally "bank" a fire by not extinguishing it properly,and leave it. He told me then, he'd never forget. I truly think he hasn't.

Onward Oliver!! 👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

I was told by the vendor that I bought the replacement cooling unit from that the gap is not that unusual and not to worry about it. It is completely sealed from behind the refrigerator when the new cooling unit is installed and sealed. The new cooling unit (backing plate) is sealed with spray foam and foil tape so that it is air tight.

Thanks for the suggestion - but.... I happened to have an old "brush" laying around the shop - so - I made my own and it works well. Perhaps a bit dorkey looking though but nobody sees it except for me. Bill

I'd go ahead and make your reservations for a camping spot now. I don't remember exactly what the Lake Guntersville State Park's policy on cancellations is but I do know that it is very reasonable which should allow you plenty of time to cancel if you need to. Once the registration process for the Rally itself is announced (HERE on the Forum) you can register and, once again, cancel if you need to. There are places fairly near the State Park (and even within the State Park) where you could camp at the last minute (Mostly boondocking as far as I know). But, that could be a bit more risk than you might want to take given the new member of the family being along. If/when you call Guntersville State Park - be sure to mention that you are with the Oliver Owners Rally. The Park has set aside sites just for us at a reduced price. Bill

Don’t forget, if you’re camping in California, it’s almost time to get next year’s free California Fire Permit if you’re planning on having a campfire, or using any type of flame emitting device for outside heat, cooking or light.

FYI: With 2, count 'em two, 50+# Huskies traveling with us everywhere - we have dog hair. The TV and OTT get dog hair removal operations using the Bissell "Hair Eraser". This device is the bomb - for our application, that is; a great pet hair management system. It lives in the closet and out of the way. Charge lasts for 2 -3 thorough vacuum drills (TV and OTT) - great suction, easy to clean filters, and no weird issues, so far. Those traveling with pets would not be sad to consider it or a similar unit, IMO:

My Victron worked excellent this summer. Im not retired but still spent 35 days this summer in my camper. I love power assist. Ran batteries Dead only 5 times on trips. I only have deployable solar panels. Im expermenting with a pecron and victron dc to dc charger. It has 4700 wh on it. I Trickled charged my Battle borns with 130 watts. Im currently putting in DC fridge. Thanks to everyone in the forum also adding the table on outside that is included on newer models. Thats my winter projects. I am overwhelmed at work and have not logged into forums in while. Multiplus is working well. Powers my a/c for about 5 hours. Have original penguin II. Expermenting with new flat solar panels from Bouge RV going to mount on top of oliver. 2021 Oliver Elite II. Only issue I have seen is when the victron is running hard its fans vibrate or radiate through the olivers fiberglass walls under my bed. Hottest it has been in cavity with Victron is 94 degrees , we had a mild summer in Montana. Did not get overly hot, like last year of 104 for 4 to 6 weeks. Weather has been all over the board up here. With the victron i set it to pull1200 wattes from my house plugs and can run a/c plugged into my normal outlet at house or anywhere. THe a/c will pull around 1450 watts , it just pulls extra wattage from battery bank and recharges them between cycling of the a/c . Take care My rig did not come with solar. Going to try flat panel on top. Little scared about heat impact on fiberglass, have used flat panels in past get extemely hot underneath. (PS white spots are reflections on my lights in my shop) Merry Christmas.

Mike, because of the catastrophic fires we’ve had in the west it’s needed, I’ve had family and friends lose everything because some ass is careless with fire. I’m surprised more states haven’t implemented similar permitting. The permits are free, and it’s a great way to educate the citizenry, and hold idiots accountable. The permit is required for just about all open flame devices, including lanterns. Visiting campers on private property are required to have written permission of the owner.

So, since D works from home and spends quite a bit of time on Zoom, Teams, etc., we decided to get into a Starlink-Mobile kit. The kit will allow her to work from Casa Blanca with Starlink's scorching fast internet connectivity and allow us to travel more often. Today we played around with a proof of concept for using Starlink in our Oliver - there are literally dozens of YouTube vids and deep rabbit holes for ideas of how to integrate Starlink with RVs. Here's how we'll be lugging is around: We're using a 12-gallon plastic Husky tote with custom-fit travel pieces from Etsy to keep components from bouncing around when towing. Its a neat and tidy mobile kit. Next, we didn't want to use the Starlink-supplied "quad stand" so we modified the top of our E-Z Flag Pole to accommodate the "Dishy" mount that would normally be inserted into the stand. We inserted an adapter (a 3D print from Etsy) into the top of the E-Z pole so the Dishy just snaps inside. By drilling-out the upper mostIMG_0441.HEIC flag connector with a step-bit, we're still able to fly the colors. We used the exterior curbside AC outlet for the Starlink router power connection. With the inverter energized, it took about 10 minutes for Starlink to connect to its satellite. Energy consumption varies between 60 and 80 watts according to our Victron Smart Shunt via the Cerbo GX. The solar modules are generating about 180watts at today's low sun angle, which more than makes up for the inverter/Starlink consumption. We'll likely put a through-hull connection using a modified waterproof Furrion capped connection (same one OTT uses for the satellite coax connection). The standard supplied cable is 75' and needs to be shortened anyway - so we'll do that when we install the modified Furrion. More later...

The more I look, the more places I find to put it

I have friends displaced by the paradise fire so please don’t dismiss the question by just calling ignorance. I am not questioning the need for fire safety, but rather how requiring people to fill out a form addresses it.

I have it and it's worth having in my opinion. I can be in the tv and backing in and stop at the spot that's most level. We were in a deserted state park in Oregon and we checked out about 10 pull-throughs until we found the most level one. Totally worth having. John

It’s a bit easier to understand when your friends and family are the people whose lives have been disrupted by a fire…

I don't think there's any "downside, " unless you get a better status as long term policy holder with your auto insurance. We have a wonderful homeowner's insurance agent, a different company for boats and vehicles, and good Sam's for the Ollie. Shop around. See what works best for you. The insurance on the Ollie ( non-motorized) is the least expensive policy of all the others, but you still want backing from a reputable company.

We have a different insurer for the trailer (Progressive).

Other than not having a multi-car discount, I don't see any. We've never insured our trailers with the same as our auto-home carrier.

I personally use the following safety procedures when ever I am jacking up Ollie for service of any nature: Keep Ollie fully connected to your tow vehicle. Nothing like having a 6,000 pound anchor attached. Flag the steering wheel as a reminder that you are connected and the TV can not be moved. Pocket any spare keys that your partner may have as further precaution. Use all three jacks to elevate the trailer only as high as necessary. Be aware of the geometry aspect of doing so, especially on the front jack. Use safety blocking at both sides of the trailer if your body is going to be under the trailer, especially if you have any tires removed. GJ: PS: No comment on using your jacks for service purposes..... This topic has been beaten to death several times already. If new, look it up.

Kirk, we use the flat pad accessory.

Because we have the raised bed option in our Hull #050 and thus have an additional 28 cubic feet of storage space, we have never utilized the aisle for storage. That being said, I don’t see a thing wrong with using that space for storage while traveling. When I was in high school, I packed trucks that came to purchase items from one of the businesses that my parents owned. I got really good at it because they would continue to buy stuff until their vehicle was completely full. One thing to remember while moving down the road is that things that can move will do so 99% of the time from the rear toward the front. Pack your totes as far forward as possible. Right up against the bathroom wall is best. Keep all totes on the floor rather stacked on top of each other so they won’t turn over. Also, when packing the inside of the trailer, know that the stability of the trailer is dependent on the location of the load. Sixty per cent (or more) of the load weight should be placed in front of the axles.

I concur. I always carry a Safe Jack 6-ton RV Jack Kit when trailering. See the thread linked below, with one caveat: I have found that the 2x6 piece into which I drilled a hole to hold the jack post broke after couple of uses. So, I adopted the suggestion of another forum member and cut most of one side off of the u-shaped attachment, so it does not impinge on the wiring just inside of the frame at the jacking point. I now use the modified u-shaped attachment, for a secure grip on the frame when using the Safe Jack. I also lower all three "stabilizer" jacks to supplement the support provided by the Safe Jack if I am ever putting any part of my body under the trailer.

@Emgmtg, I just took some no so great photos of my fins and noticed similar gaps, My guess is for easy of assembly, the cutout is a tad larger than the fins. This gap is also covered by the backing plate? Was any sealant used around the edges of the backing plate when you disassembled? Hope this helps.

Given that yours is a 22 i dont think itd be too much of an issue, i believe the only venting that is used comes out the top and bottom on the front facia of the convection microwave on mine. just check with oliver they can probably even sell you everything needed to do it. I love mine and use the oven function quite regularly moreso than the microwave. if it ever gives out i may even try and forgoe the microwave alltogether and find a propane oven or just a toaster oven.

First, congrats on the new to arrive family member. For a trailer jack, I recommend something like a Safe Jack in a size and with adapters that best fit your needs. I also always have a piece of plywood that can be used as a stable base for the bottle jack if you’re in gravel or loose dirt. Edit: there is a thread that shows shower curtain mods that I believe are better than the OTT design. I like the mods that use boat rail tubing and fittings.

Congrats! Heck of a way to get the new year rolling. I either use the on board jacks in emergency situations and/or the jack that came with my truck. As with any jacking situation, much depends on the location, the surface that the jack will sit on, the weather, the time of day, how far you will need to jack the trailer up, etc.. There are also jacking aids made for tandem axles trailers like THESE and, of course, you can always use combinations of other things you might have on hand anyway like 2x6's or "lego" leveling blocks, Andersen like leveling ramps, etc.. In all cases, the usual safety precautions prevail! I don't have one of those "fancy" things. However, I believe that this topic has been discussed previously here on the Forum - you might try the Search function. I assume that you are talking about your new Ollie 😄. Hopefully one of our Florida members will chime in here and give your the scoop. Past that I think a review of your State's regulations online will get you the answer you desire. I'd go ahead and make your reservations for a camping spot now. I don't remember exactly what the Lake Guntersville State Park's policy on cancellations is but I do know that it is very reasonable which should allow you plenty of time to cancel if you need to. Once the registration process for the Rally itself is announced (HERE on the Forum) you can register and, once again, cancel if you need to. There are places fairly near the State Park (and even within the State Park) where you could camp at the last minute (Mostly boondocking as far as I know). But, that could be a bit more risk than you might want to take given the new member of the family being along. Bill

Last year I got Twist a hand held vacuum. Because I already had other Ryobi items in my shop I bought one of THESE. It works well, is easy to clean out and I can use multiple batteries even though the "wall charger" it comes with does a good job of keeping it charged as long as I have my inverter on. On the negative side is the "nozzle" - it is ridged and does not have a "brush" on the end which would be better for getting down into the "groves" that are in the vinyl flooring. Bill

@Heather and Eric We have the convection microwave and absolutely love it. We upgraded to the convection microwave when we placed our original OLEll order, And I can tell you it really works great with zero issues regarding high oven heat. There is nothing like a roasted chicken with sides on a rainy cold night. Or the ability to heat up homemade chili or bake a lasagna while traveling. On our recent 6000 mile trip out west we used our convection/microwave a lot and we’re sooooo glad to have it. It’s hard to imagine not having a way to enjoy hot food. You can’t always rely on a campfire or grilling if there is a fire ban or it’s raining or high winds. We also carry a Weber Q1200 and it gets a lot of use as well. A quick call to Oliver will likely provide the answer you’re looking for. I would bet the conversion is not that difficult especially since your Ollie is a 2022 model. Please post up what you learn. 👍🏻😊 Happy Camping and Happy Cooking! 👨🏼‍🍳 Patriot🇺🇸

Gotta love this comment, "once!" I never thought the microwave/convection oven was such a great idea. At home we love our Emeril Air-Fryer. Couple years ago, his small model was on sale for $100 (now $200) and I bought two at the time (it measures 19x15x10"). We keep it under the front dinette seat where it fits nicely. In fact, there's enough room down there for a small pressure cooker and Chris' blow dryer too! I have a rubber mat under it and a short appliance extension cord so we can run it anywhere, inside or outside. At 1500W it can also run off the inverter when our batteries are good. merileveryday.com/shop/air_fryer_ovens/emeril_lagasse_power_airfryer_360

Ralph: I agree with your sage advice: "don't leave home without it". Not for sway control.... Ollie has near zero. But for porposing and general handling. Your quirks comment got me a LOL. For sure for sure. To a new Anderson user, my Anderson Golden Rules are: Keep the Andersrson pin, pin hole, plate and shaft clean and lubricated. When disconnecting, loosen the big nuts all the way until the square shaft threads ends are well inside the nuts. Raising the connected Ollie/TV up with your front jack will greatly improve your effort to connect the Anderson plate. Make sure to disconnect your Anderson only with the TV and Ollie in line.. ie not at an angle with each other. Failure will result in bad words when you try to reconnect later..... GJ

OK - but it will have to wait until the next time I'm out at the storage yard - should be within the next two weeks. Bill I finally got out there this morning! Not exactly what you were asking for but I hope that the pics and measurements do you some good. This plastic bin fills the space below the forward dinette seat about as much as possible while still allowing relatively easy removal. With the bin in place I still have room for light things such as a bag or rags and a bag of individually wrapped plastic eating utensils. The top/lid snaps onto the "handles". To access the contents, I simply un-snap each side and rotate the lid 90 degrees. If I want to fully remove the lid for some reason, I un-snap the lid, rotate 90 degrees and then lift the lid out of the compartment. The measurements of the plastic bin at its largest points are: 15 3/4 inches wide - 21 inches long - 11 1/4 inches high/tall Bill

Our 2008 originally had a small convection microwave, with a round marine vent on each side of the cabinet. Since we rarely camp with power, it was pretty much a bread box. When it finally died, we converted the microwave cabinet space to a little "pantry." Do you actually use your microwave much? If not, you might be better off with a cabinet, and carry a small but effective toaster oven or air fryer that you could pull out and use on the counter. (A number of folks here have a small Breville. )

I'm guessing Scubarx was only thinking about the monocoque fiberglass hull, and molded furniture and inner hull, not the non-structural drawer unit. The wood floors on some other brands of molded fiberglass trailers, and in Airstreams and other brands, and stick and staple framing, have of course been water and rot and separation issues for some owners of other brands. Those issues we'll never have to deal with, as Ollie owners. My 2008, like every other Oliver, has the beautifully constructed (but heavy) drawer unit, and a few bits of (usually laminated or encased) plywood where fiberglass or plastic is impractical. (I have the old school heavy tabletops, for example. There's a thin piece plywood under the fiberglass tabletop.) Lids for my storage compartments under the seats are plywood, with a laminate top. After seeing moisture damage in a bunch of used sob trailers, noting failure in spots everywhere from floors to cabinet doors in various units, we found the Oliver's monocoque construction, and extremely limited use of wood elsewhere (and only non-structural, protected areas) to be refreshing. And, 16 seasons in, no moisture issues with any of the drawer unit, nor any of the limited other bits of wood in my unit. Nor, of course, the fiberglass structure.

One of the concerns about installing a microwave / convection oven is the ability to allow any extra heat between the hulls to dissipate. Many hulls did not come with adequate vent holes in the cabinet walls to enable the heat to escape. While the oven does vent heat out of the front, there is a concern about any extra heat trapped between the hulls. Fortunately, The Wonder Egg - Hull #14, has extra vents in the side walls behind the oven, so I have gone to the micro/conv. option. The unit is deeper than the oven it replaced, so a plenum was added to accommodate the extra depth, resulting in a minor loss of space on the "chopping block" in front. It cooked a fine, crispy chicken once. Woohooo! Should you go with that option and your trailer does not have cross ventilation behind the oven, you may consider adding some before making that modification. How many, and how large, is up to you. I would think the more, the merrier.

One of the advantages of having a vintage model!

This mod might be a bit problematical. For a number of years, owners of Ollies requested convection microwaves. Unfortunately, the reason that I was given was that the area where the microwave is located simply didn't allow for the additional heat that a convection oven would generate. I have no idea of what may have been changed such that we finally got this choice of oven - that change could have been structural and/or regulatory. In any case, if you are considering this change, I'd recommend that you make absolutely sure that it is safe before you do it. A discussion with Oliver Service just might yield valuable information in this regard. Good luck! Bill

At least in my Ollie - there is wood in the drawers and behind the drawers, wood on the interior of the microwave area and wood in the panel between the both and the forward dinette seat. Of course, all of this wood is reasonably well protected from water and is not part of the integral structure of the Oliver. Bill

Chris, there was a time that the CO/LP monitors required a hole to be cut because they were using a panel mount model. This one looks like the monitor was replaced with a different model when the original reached EOL. I agree with you about the Scotch-Lok connectors. My Hull #050 was full of them I've replaced most of them with Wago connectors.

Every time I work an install, I see stuff that's not right! OTT makes a GREAT double clamshell hull and then they just become another RV company. I worked as a professional auto accessory installer, back in the 70s-80s when cars came with AM radios and not much else. This work paid for college, and I must have installed over 100 car stereos, 60 auto alarms, 30 cruise controls, gas tanks, moonroofs and more. Management told us repeatedly to NEVER use 3M Scotchloks, that ALL connections must be spliced and crimped! Scotchloks are prone to failure, as they only just cut the insulation and touch the wire. 3M Scotchlok Electrical IDC 560B-BOX, Double Run or Tap, Flame Retardant, Blue, 18-16 AWG (solid/stranded), 14 AWG stranded (Pack of 25) - Fastener - Amazon.com This is all I found under the dinette, connecting the 12V USB connections under the dinette, and the CO monitor (I believe that's the unit under the seat) and 3M Scotchloks are used to connect the water pump too. Look at the 4" square cutout for this panel! We are ALL so worried about drilling into the fiberglass. This device ONLY needs 12VDC connections. A 1/4" hole would suffice and they cut a 4" square hole! OMG, which actually made their install harder as you can see the mounting screws just made contact. The double-white wire is power to the LevelMatePRO+ that I installed with crimp parts and taped. I rewired the CO monitor and USB ports that I found disconnected. Not pretty, but all fixed now and should be more reliable. I did tie up the wires after the picture. Hoping y'all with hull numbers >1000 have better installations. We bought an old hull, and I can only fix so much. 🙃

We purchased the LevelMatePRO+ as a suggestion from @Ollie-Haus on a Black Friday post in our General Discussion forum (thank you Ollie!). We bought ours at the Black Friday price, about $110 total, taxed and shipped. Get the + model, as it can be hardwired via micro-USB, battery removed. It scared me seeing pics of this device screwed into the Oliver fiberglass, or even taped in position viewable in the living area. These devices do not need to be mounted in eyes view. I mounted ours under the rear dinette seat, where ample 12VDC connections can be made (see pic). Ours is screwed into the PD5100 Automatic Transfer Switch. Two 1/8" holes in this plastic housing vs. drilling into fiberglass seemed like a good idea. The installation instructions are wrong. They state to hardwire to 12VDC to cut the USB cable and to wire the white to +12V and the black to ground. This is wrong as the RED wire is +12VDC standard on all USB cables. Anyway, it's wired correctly now, and the final step would be for me to level the trailer to calibrate. Otherwise, it works well enough as-is since it was mounted pretty close to level.

I have the Retrax tonneau cover with the T-track sides. This allows install of Yakima crossbars. On the Yakima HD crossbars are two 1Up bike carriers. These are rated for E-bikes. The bike in the photo is my size XL E-MTB with 29er size wheels. This setup has worked well and is surprisingly stable for my beast of a bike. It’s 50lbs but I remove the battery to be under 40lbs. For me this setup works great. I am able to hoist it up on to the rack as I’m 6ft5in tall with good shoulder strength. It would be tough for someone smaller and likely would need something to step up on.

Because this is oftentimes the venue for much comtemplation!

@Emgmtg, that's a curious situation. As you know, the function of the "fins" is to absorb the warm air in the fridge. Where that warm air that bypasses the fins will go, with the gap, is a good question for Norcold technical support, or Jason at Oliver. (Kind of looks like yellow insulation behind the gap in your photo. If that's so, I'm guessing it "could" collect condensation, like the fins. But, im certainlynot a fridge tech.) I don't recall ever seeing a gap like that in any of our 3ways. I think you're a brave guy, replacing your own cooling unit. Kudos to you. Our neighbor replaced the cooling unit in his older motorhome, but he used to run a small-scale appliance repair business, on the side.

Thanks all, we are really getting excited.

Assuming you are going to reinstall the fridge, maybe use some real insulation like the pink Owens Corning 1” foam board, that is rated R5. I am not sure if regular styrofoam has that high an insulation value. The pink stuff is fire retardant and will not absorb moisture at all. Lots of aluminum HVAC tape will hold it in place and hopefully seal the gaps. The idea is to stop outside air entry. I sure would be reluctant to foam it back like yours is now, with the spray stuff…. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Owens-Corning-FOAMULAR-NGX-F-150-1-in-x-4-ft-x-8-ft-SSE-R-5-XPS-Rigid-Foam-Board-Insulation-20WENGX/315197840 You can also use that board to insulate bare spots like under the bathroom vanity. … https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/9039-how-to-bath-sink-compartment-mods-duct-rework-insulation-disconnect-flush-line/ Please start a complete thread on your job, I don’t recall seeing one for the Norcold unit. Good luck! John Davies Spokane WA

Hey, GJ! Thanks, brother... It's a work in progress for sure. Regarding your questions: 1. The E-Z Pole mast is designed with 4 nested aluminum sections with "twist-to-lock" fittings in each. To unlock, it takes about a 1/4 turn clockwise. Push the top section up first, lock, then 2nd, and 3rd. The pix show the mast at about 2/3 max height, FYI. The mast configuration gives us more use options - for example, we can use the quad-stand at the house should we lose our Xfinity/Comcast service. 2. I measured the speeds today in on the apron at 225mbs download; 28mbs upload. Basically faster than our Xfinity service. However, we've learned through some of the previously mentioned rabbit holes, that speeds vary depending on location. In some highly dense populated areas speeds can be slower, as Starlink "chokes down" speeds - same goes with remote locations. A subscriber can pay extra for guaranteed higher speeds. We've decided to try the basic plan for the time being. 3. The basic Starlink Mobile kit is $600. The Husky tote was $28 at Walmart. The custom fit packaging pieces were $50 from Etsy. The Esty pole adapter cost $15. We're planning to modify the kit (router) from AC to 12vDC. Switching to 12vDC drops power consumption by approximately 18%, FYI. I've already purchased the component parts to make the DC conversion for about $125. Parts needed are a PoI injector, 12-48vDC converter, and a standalone router. Easy peasy. 4. The Starlink Mobile monthly service is $150 - but, service is set up as "pay by the drink". If you're not planning to travel during a particular month, or your rig is in storage mode, you can access you account online and deactivate service. Only the "Mobile" option allows this feature, the "Residential" plan does not. Hope all is well on your side - best regards to June... Cheers!

The level mate is a really cool upgrade. We don't have it, but I saw it in action with camping with @Hokieman. We'd certainly consider adding at black friday price.

If anyone has been considering the Levelmate Pro+ Amazon has a great deal going. Love mine, takes minutes to level up the camper when setting up. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083ZMZPR8/ref=syn_sd_onsite_desktop_0?ie=UTF8&pd_rd_plhdr=t&aref=E1D817237BBAC56D29C60E0FB0F93BD6FAAB932FB1C7E241DD083DED270EED39&th=1

Note the 5000 lbs weight limit before requiring a WDH. Also, I believe the 500 lbs tongue weight maximum is on a label attached to the hitch. So both apply.

We ended up not preferring the king bed so we had another support panel made and went with a full size mattress. It is a standard full size. It gives us extra space on the benches that comes in handy for everyday living.