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Hi everyone. Our forum is a great place to gather and share information about our wonderful trailers. A few years ago (2018) the moderators put together their thoughts on how we should all "play together" here to foster the Oliver Owners family harmony. If you haven't seen these before, please acquaint yourselves with our Forum Guidelines. If you have seen them, consider taking a few minutes to refresh your memories. A family that plays well together is a happy family. Enjoy your trailer as you wander about this great nation! 1OLIVER FORUM GUIDELINES Welcome to the Oliver Forum, a great place for Oliver Travel Trailer owners and future owners to interact, share knowledge, solve problems, and most importantly, to develop friendships. Respectful and considerate responses help build this community. You’ll find a wealth of experiences here, and many owners willing to share their experiences. Have fun, but please keep others’ viewpoints in mind. Respectfully state your point, share your information, or ask your question. Keep it casual and friendly. Reread your post before you hit submit. Is it helpful? Thoughtful? Please try to stay on the original topic of the thread. Confusing the issue may cause the member’s original question to go unanswered. Start a new topic if you have a new question. It’s important for all members to have the environment and opportunity to contribute in a considerate manner, and to learn. Inflammatory and trolling comments shall be removed by a volunteer moderator. We encourage members to use the “REPORT” function (bottom right corner of each post) to help us, as we’re not reading every post, 24/7. If your post is removed, you’ll receive a PM about it. If there is a continuing problem, further action may be taken, up to and including your removal from the forum. Some inflammatory topics to avoid include religion and politics. We’re all about camping, and Oliver campers. Over the years, we’ve seen a few simple topics turn into heated debates. It’s natural to want to jump in, but honestly, it’s often better to let it go, and hit the report button, instead. We moderators are avid campers. Even as we write this, we are all out camping, some with limited bandwidth. We respond as quickly as we can, and the sooner we know, the better. Some have asked why our forum is linked to the Oliver website. Valid question. Since the beginning of our forum in 2008, Oliver Travel Trailers (OTT) has paid for our Oliver “sandbox”, including our web space and an administrator who knows way more than we do about maintaining the software, for which we are very grateful. OTT DOES NOT CENSOR OR INTERFERE with the moderators’ management of the forum content. Moderators are not employees of OTT. We are Ollie owners, and receive no remuneration. OTT does have a employee designated to read the forum for the purpose of improving the “Ollie Experience” for all, but that’s a few minutes a day in a busy job description. If you should ever have an issue or a warranty claim, call tech support. Your post might not be seen on the forum by an Oliver employee. With that in mind, we moderators ask you to communicate directly with the company and afford them an opportunity to satisfy any serious needs before flaming OTT on the forum. We are not asking that anything to be swept under the rug. Just, please, let Oliver Travel Trailers have the first shot to meet and exceed your expectations. Sometimes, communications here may be misinterpreted, because the written word just doesn’t carry the visual clues of face to face conversations. Should you believe a post is a little ill-mannered, consider the poster might be trying to be helpful, but isn’t able to put his or her words together the way you might. Forums work best when our skin tends to be a bit on the thicker side. Remember as well, whatever you post will likely be permanent, and picked up by automated internet software programs. Though this is our forum, it’s still on the world wide web. Our words may very well outlive us. Please, be especially patient with newbies. Our search feature is still being tweaked, and they may not have found an answer by simply using “Search”. You may remember your own newbie questions . . . of many years ago. If you have already answered the same newbie question as many times as you care to, relax and allow someone else to step up and reply. Help foster a community of teachers. We recommend all phone numbers and email addresses be sent in private messages and NOT posted. If you must post personal data, we suggest you post in a manner so trolling automated internet programs will not grab your personal information and use it nefariously. For instance, a phone number might be “8ThreeZero, 5one5, 9 2 eight seven”, or for an email address, something like “Bill DOT Fisher at flyboy DOT com”. Please reread this, and help us continue to make our forum a great place for everyone. We hope you enjoy our forum. Thank you, bugeyedriver, SeaDawg, ScubaRx, Mike and Carol, topgun2 , Mossemi Oliver Owner Moderator Team

LOL! Come on guys it's obviously the base mount for an "entertainment pole"! 🙂 GJ

The newer rearview cameras that are installed by Oliver have a built in "hood/cover" that helps protect the camera from sun and rain and (perhaps) some glare. However, those of us with the older cameras no such "protection" is built-in. So, after seeing another one of these cameras where the owner (sorry, I do not remember just who that was) fabricated a hood/cover, I thought that I would try to do the same for my camera. I had some reasonable flexible plastic sheeting laying around the workshop that had originally been used during the installation of a "ceiling" under part of our decks on the house. I believe that the product was called "Underdeck". Anyway, using a bandsaw I cut out a rough shape and then used a heat gun to soften the plastic sheet such that I could hand mold it into the basic shape I wanted. Next, I refined the rough shape again using the band saw and then started sanding until I was basically satisfied. A bit more molding of the cover using the heat gun - note that I actually used the camera as a base for this "final" molding but was careful to not let the camera get too/very hot for the obvious reasons. Then it was a bit of hand sanding - this is not really that difficult given that the plastic is fairly soft. Perhaps the "final" detail of the project was the most difficult - the placement of the holes that aliened the outside bracket with the plastic hood with the holes in the camera body. Note that the bolts that attach the bracket to the camera body are not very long and with the added material of the plastic hood being involved there is not much room for error on this step. Finally, when I was satisfied with how it looked I spray painted the underside of the hood with ultra-flat black paint so that glare/reflection would be reduced. Questions? Bill p.s. Note: In the pics below it really doesn't show, but, the top of the hood does not rest directly on the top of the camera. This allows any heat from the camera and/or the sun to be dissipated such that neither should be subjected to too much heat. l This is the hood that I copied. I reduced and shaped the edges of mine such that there would not be any interference by the hood with the camera angles out to each side. The above is the camera mounted prior to making the hood. TopTop Back Front

SeaDawg is correct. You don’t want the old outside vents open, dirt and bugs would be the least of your worries. Rain and water spray when washing etc. would end up inside of the trailer. These compressor fridges are not sealed around the backside like the absorption fridges are. Even absorption fridges (my Dometic wasn’t) aren’t sealed underneath, remove the lower grill from a trailer with an absorption fridge and look under the fridge. Mine was open all the way to the front of the fridge. The compressor fridge has to have plenty of air circulation behind to vent heat from the condenser coil. Without proper ventilation not only will the compressor run a lot but, the excess heat will eventually damage the compressor by causing the motor to run hotter. Without proper ventilation the heat cannot be removed from the condenser coil which will cause high head pressure in the compressor itself which will cause the motor to work harder drawing higher amps thus overheating the motor. Sort of a vicious circle situation. During normal running there isn’t a whole lot of heat to deal with, not like the absorption fridges so venting to the inside of the trailer is not really noticeable. The installation manual usually has a specification for the minimum square inches of open area for ventilation. That spec should be followed fairly closely.

In our case (indel b truckfridge/non marine version of isotherm) the minimal heat generated is vented to the inside. No outdoor vent specified. No dirt. No mud dauber. No screens necessary. I've used 12v danfoss/secop compressor fridges in three countries. None had an outside vent. A big advantage, for us, on dusty roads, actually. The waste heat, without the flame of a 3way, is quite minimal. Can't even really feel it, with a hand next to the vent grills (interior). Biggest issue with 12v dc compressor fridge is having enough battery power, power management skills, and a way to recharge batteries. 60 ah per day is our average, and with our relatively puny 2 x 12v 105 ah agm group 31s, it does require monitoring, if you're not plugged in all the time. Me? I'm perfectly happy with the tradeoffs I have a smaller freezer, big fridge compartment, interior light, no exterior panel lights at night, and most importantly, a fridge that cools down quickly, and stays consistent in temp. I think we're six years in, and I'm super happy that we made the swap.

I do not recall any thread and/or post about that "hood/cover" on the rear camera. However, hopefully tomorrow morning I will have a chance to post about the hood/cover that I fabricated for my camera. Stay tuned. Bill

UPDATE: Well, after about 8 months and 5,800+ miles of testing the Lippert hinges in various windy conditions - they all but make the outside "door hook/latch" obsolete. We no longer use it to prop the door open anymore, FYI. As @Patriot might opine... a "sano mod"! HA! Cheers, All!

I keep the Ollie outside in the winter here in Maine and the solar panels get sun most of the day (when the sun is out). The batteries are almost always at 100%. or close to it. If we get more than 3" of snow, I brush off the snow so the panels are always providing peak power. It seems that even with 3" of snow or ice on the panels, they are still providing some energy. When the sun is out, the panels warm up enough to melt the snow on the panels if it is not to deep on the panels. Even on cloudy days the panels are providing a small amount energy. Over the last 3 years of ownership, I have been very impressed with the solar panels on my Ollie. So much so that I am adding solar panels to the roof of my home.

Being way up north, I always drain the Truma Water Heater, then shut of the valve to the Truma and add the RV antifreeze to the system. I use 2 gallons of antifreeze (have a compost toilet so do not add anything to the black tank) and use the procedure that Oliver University teaches us on how to winterize the system. The winterizing procedure only takes a hour or so and is the best insurance you can buy.

That came out great! It almost looks like it came that way. You mentioned that newer cameras came with hoods, but the one on my 2023 did not. This project will be added to my long list of modifications I want to make once it warms up. For material, Kydex might be an option. It is a moldable sheet frequently used in custom holster/sheath making. I've never fiddled with it (I like leather), but it should be a good option. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=kydex+sheet&crid=DUJIHI52K2HN&sprefix=kydex+sheet%2Caps%2C156&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

I forgot a couple of pics of the material used: AND rough measurements - 4" front to back 1 3/4" top down to the sides 2 5/8" from the back to the apex of the curve at the front on the sides.

Tish Hinojosa is one of my favorites.

I will have to ‘entertain’ that thought!

When we added our BB Lithium batteries a couple of years ago I also replaced the PD4045 45 Amp charger that was installed in our Hull #050 back in 2014. I have been satisfied that it is doing a good job for us. When the BB’s voltage drops and it is in bulk mode our Blue Sky IPN Pro indicates it is delivering 43+ amps to the batteries.

Scott Oliver was at the Boston show, along with the locale dealer, Tim of Tim's RV. It was a great show and finding parking in Boston was not bad. Only had to park one short block away from the center. Tim will be at the Springfield RV show, but I do not know who else.

Well, "never" is a really long time! And ""out of sight, out of mind" should not be taken literally. As with virtually all things these Andersen Chains should be inspected at least annually. With the woven sleeves mentioned, this is a fairly easy thing to do since they are normally held in place with one or two "zip ties". Each Spring I simply clip the zip ties on each end and push the sleeve back as far as possible looking for damaged places in the chain and hit it with a power washer. After it dries, the sleeves are rolled/pushed back into place and secured once again with a new zip tie. Bill

I hope this new owner mistake is not a costly one for you. This is a good example of the my concern with the increasing complexity of our trailers over the years. The Suburban hot water heater has a shut off valve and an anode at the bottom of the tank. To winterize just turn the valve off and remove the anode when the water is not hot. Done. Can't say the same for the Truma system. As you now painfully know. As an ole brown shoe Mechanical Engineer, I prefer not to have combo systems due to complexity. Granted the integrated Inverter/Converters are super nice, cool and somewhat space efficient. They are also by far more energy efficient than the 2018 version we have. That said, they are also single point failure systems of great complexity. Should we lose one of the features (Inversion/Conversion/Solar/120 Shore Power/Battery Power/Solar Power, with independent systems we can survive just fine. But with a single point failure, you CAN HAVE no refrigeration, lighting, heat or AC. Then when there is a failure, trouble shooting the computer systems in the field can be a real PITA too. So there is something to be said for simplicity of systems. In the mean time, it is wise for all of us to occasionally revisit the Oliver University Videos. All of them. GJ

If your trailer will be exposed to freezing temperatures while in storage it's very important to do the full winterization procedure. It's not just the Trauma that can freeze and crack. Water lines and plastic fittings throughout the trailer are susceptible to cracking or splitting because of water expansion when it freezes. After bypassing the Truma (or getting it repaired) reconnect to city water (with a pressure regulator on your hose) and check for other water leaks. Look underneath the trailer and see if you have water coming out of any the scupper (drain) holes on the bottom of the trailer. Another way to check for leaks is to disconnect city water, fill your fresh water tank, and turn the water pump on. If the pump runs for more then a few seconds, with no faucets open, you are losing pressure somewhere. Good luck.

One of the most beautiful, yet sad tunes ever written. Ashokan Farewell, the haunting melody in Ken Burns’ The Civil War.

Here is my latest modification for an antenna pole holder. I used a 3” (bolt side) x 4” (height) x 5” (wide) .250 inch thick right angle with two .375 U-brackets while utilizing existing bumper bolts, washers, nuts and holes. I made sure the round pipe was 2 inches away from edge of the right angle aluminum (towards rear, away from Ollie) so that this pipe did not interfere with the swinging bumper when closing/pinning with locking pins. Make sure the 2 holes in the right angle are away from the right angle radius so that the large existing washers will not be on top of this radius (so washers are flush on top of metal). The U-brackets will allow you to move the pole upward or downward, along with removal for when towing so the lights are not blocked. The 22 ft flag pole I purchased is fiberglass from polesandholders.com and it is collapsible. The flagpole holders from this site will not work for my chosen bumper location. The inside flagpole holder pipe diameter will be determined by your flagpole outside diameter measurement.

So to leave the hot water tank on during a freeze, do you have water running to the trailer? Are you draining the Truma as well? Would turning the hot water tank on (truma) which has been drained, not damage the water heater? We are in Central Mississippi, which has some winter days with temps below freezing and then warmup up the next day. This year we have had one "hard freeze" where temps do not come above freezing the following day. BTW, this repair can only be done by a Truma authorized dealer (Truma will not sell parts for you to fix yourself). Just talked to a dealer and it is $1000 to replace the Truma tank. I asked the Truma dealer what was so special about the truma vs. the traditional 6 gallon heater. He said they rarely have repairs for things like the boards...which seem to hold up well. But they do freeze quite frequently and they keep these tanks in stock....And this place in in South Louisiana!!! MAKE SURE YOU GUYS ARE DRAINING THE HOT WATER HEATERS!!!!

Steve: I have not observed any of the inverter or converters not being able to produce their rated outputs. But rather I am referring to their efficiency of their process. Specifically the the ratio of output divided by input. My PD 4045 and 4060 Converters and the Renogy 3000 watt inverter were all very low. If I recall it was on the order of 50%. When I asked Dragonfly Industries (Battleborn guys), their comment was that some systems for sure are not as efficient in their process as others. For RV Camp Grounds it's not much of a concern. But for Boondockers it should be a consideration when replacing these power conversion elements. Other considerations of course are: Will it fit, what's it cost, how difficult will be the installation process be, what is the reliability of the various units, etc. This summer I'll retest mine and post real numbers to start a thread for comparison purposes. GJ

LOL, I was thinking of someone covering their safety chains. Since we see too often see other trailers with their chains sparking on the pavement. But then we can't fix stupid.

No, I didn't shield the bottom - I rarely drive at night and have not noticed a problem in the rain. However, I did notice glare caused by the sun reflecting off the Oliver's white shiny surface. That cause me to paint the underside of my "hood/cover" with ultra flat black paint. This plus moving the camera a bit further aft/towards the back of the trailer helped. Hopefully in about a half hour or so I'll have a chance to take a couple of pics of the hood/cover and post that under a separate thread. Bill

I'll be curious to see if you shielded the bottom as well. Those three amber running lights make the camera nearly useless at night; especially in the rain.

It will open in the Numbers app.

Same here, if the temps dip below freezing I turn on the hot water tank and the heater.

Eva was one of my favorites, and gone far too soon. Her cover of Fields of Gold is so great.

I'm not really sure that is a good thing. GJ

All really cool ideas! Love them all. Having such helpers when in the shop is wonderful for sure. But for on the road, or in the absence of a shop as in my case, weight is the enemy. As such, I must take a minimalist approach. And I am in the camp of using tools I already have. That said, at my vintage, I am well beyond tossing around our great E-Rated tires. But I always can find a helper capable of raising or lowering a rear jack from the trailer tongue. (NOTE: My 6,000 pound anchor rule is in play.) Taking Tires Off: Breaker Bar the lugs on one side of the trailer. Place safety jack stands under the frame ahead of and behind the two tires. Have helper raise that side jack until the first tire is not holding weight and adjust safety jack stand as needed. 20V Dewalt impact off the nuts. Repeat for second tire that side. Adjust jack stands and lower trailer onto them to take the weight. At this point the OEM rear jack becomes the safety jack stand for the two loaded one. Putting Tires On: Place tires near their axles. Raise rear jack and adjust safety jacks to allow lowering of the frame. Put tire onto the spindle and install lug nuts. Slightly tighten. Repeat with second tire. Have helper raise the trailer, remove Jack stands, lower wheel to allow for full tightening of lug nuts to 80 ft-pounds, lower axles to take full load and re-torque to 100 Ft-Pounds. done. Bottom line why are we even trying to lift the tire up onto the spindle when we can lower the spindle down to the tire using the electric jacks? Sort of an old biblical story in that one..... GJ

Love the Starlink setup and am proceeding with the same awning mount along with a second form my Cell antenna. Wondering if there is a post about the camera cover @topgun2 asked about? I find the camera image in daylight less than ideal.

Please report what is ultimately done to repair your Truma water heater, by whom, and what it cost. That will be good intel for others (like me) who own Truma water heaters. Good luck!

I was reading Galway Girl's Blog about their DC System upgrade and found another pipe flange installed on the interior top of the SS wheel well. I still don’t know why it’s there, unless I have missed someone’s response to that question, but Ronbrink's is not a 1 of mystery. Mossey @Ronbrink's picture @Galway Girl's picture

Airhead had a connection kit on their options page last year. I just looked to link it, and it is no longer there. All they offer now is a fitting for the bottom of the urine bottle. https://airheadtoilet.com/usa-shop/

Thanks! I used white 1/4” thick plexiglass from Amazon and the table was ordered directly from Oliver. The rear wall of refrigerator cabinet, from bottom to top vent, was covered with 1” insulating foam board purchased at HomeDepot.

I built this gadget to lift the 75 pound wheel and tire on and off the trailer. I couldn’t come close to putting a mounted tire onto the hub. With this thing, even Tali can take them off and remount them. I built it for under $50.

I use a Home Depot bucket. Easy to clean and cheap.

The Truma has a small plastic water tank that circulates the heated water. When winterizing, you have to shut the water supply valve to the water heater off. This is located under the street side bed. On the outside, there is a big yellow lever you have to pull down on the Truma after releasing the pressure. You drop it down as far as it will go and then remove the filter. There is a convenient sized hole to the right of the water heater to put that in. The water will then drain out completely. If, however, you don't do that and it freezes, the tank will crack. That is what you are seeing in the video. As far as I know, only a Truma authorized dealer can fix that for you.

From the lake - it is just about ALL climbing (except for the return that is).

I had just enough leftover web sleeving after covering my bike security chains to treat the Oliver tow chains. Marring the bulldog is one thing, but very expensive ebikes is another!

We like this State Park because of its close proximity to the Old Mexico border town of Puerto Palomas. Palomas is fun for its shopping, restaurants, and local color. PV SP is located in very south central of NM in the town of Columbus which is about a 5-hour or so drive for us, the boys, and Casablanca. In fact, we just returned Monday from a "let's go where it's warm" roadtrip with our RV friends. The park was originally the location of US Army Camp Furlong. General "Black Jack" Pershing, who would later command the Allied forces of World War I, pursued Pancho Villa into Mexico. This pursuit was initiated after Pancho Villa and his soldiers attacked Fort Furong on March 9, 1916. "General" Pancho Villa State Park contains extensive historical exhibits which depict this raid, the first armed invasion of the continental United States since the War of 1812, and also the last one. "Black Jack's" 11 month pursuit led 10,000 American soldiers 400 miles into Mexico, but ended without the capture of Pancho Villa. Several buildings dating from the time of Villa's raid still stand in Columbus, and the U.S. Customs House, built in 1902, serves as the visitor center. Annually, in early March, the residents of Puerto Palomas conduct a mock "raid" into Columbus in memory of Pancho's assault on the US Army - a popular event for RV'ers to watch from the SP. The border crossing is a short 2 or 3 mile drive from the SP where there's POV parking and an easy "walk-across" into Mexico with the two Knuckleheads, "Magnus and Oscar". After a stop at one of the many "pharmacias" - we usually head over to the "Pink Store" where there's artwork and souvenirs from each of the 31 Mexican states. Shoppers can enjoy "free" adult beverages courtesy of the owner. The Pink Store also boasts one of the best restaurants in the region. The boys are welcome in the Pink Store and its restaurant: Although the Park has accommodations for full hookups, they've been struggling with a septic system issue that is expected to be resolved in mid-MAR - so our group opted for no-hookup Bdock sites. Pancho Villa is a popular location for many RV rallies in the spring and fall when the weather is absolutely phenomenal. Check it out when your in the area... It's very cool. Cheers! A & D

As far as our tow vehicle 2013 F250, back in 2014 I had a Ravelco anti-theft system installed. As of a year ago they had never had a vehicle stolen. They can't hot wire, or start the truck unless the Ravelco FOB is plugged in. Back then I paid around $400. They are headquartered in Houston and have install dealers across the country. They would have to pull the truck onto a flatbed. Our 2019 Ford Edge is a different story. We keep our keys in the house on the table or on my wife's purse, and may get a metal box, or just wrap them in foil. As far as push button starts, not sure whether Ravelco can install in these late model vehicles. I will be following this.

Well, I'll be .... Sure enough, the metal box continues to NOT allow the door to be opened - there is simply no response from the truck with the doors or lights or automatic deployment of the step - no matter how close or in what position I place the box. However, as with Patriot's safe in the console, the truck started! I placed the metal box inside the console, outside the console, in the back seat, and under the seat - all with the same result. Interesting! Bill

Actually, I tried the Altoid box but it wasn't big enough for my fob to fit in it easily. We used to place our fob's in a ceramic bowl in the breakfast room but stopped that when we first heard about this "new" way of stealing a vehicle. So, we now use a simple metal can in the house versus the bowl. I opted for the hinged lid for inside the truck because it was easier to get the lid on and off versus prying a friction fit lid off a regular can. Also, my issue with the foil was that it would get "wadded up and I'd have to get a new sheet. I did test my metal box and the truck would not open from the outside when I placed the box on or near the handle. But, I did not try to start the truck when the fob is inside the metal box inside the truck - that gives me something to do today! Bill

I have heard the empty altoid peppermint boxes last longer than the cinnamon.😄 Please post up your findings.

He'll be sorely missed by many, many, many....

Listened to Chris Stapleton and George Strait concert in Denver Saturday at Empower Mile High Stadium... NICE! 70934978029__5930F5C9-B962-4BBA-89E4-AEFEA87AE9AF.MOV

I come from a family of dancers. My parents were award winning ballroom dancers. When they took to the floor they mesmerized everyone by their synchronized smooth dance moves. I use to love watching them dance! I’m listening to Glenn Miller right now, flooded with memories of the many times they wowed the crowd dancing to this song.💃🏻🕺🏻❤️

OK everyone, you are driving me crazy! So little time to listen to all this good stuff. This is still one of my favorites - shame she had to die at so early of an age. Bill