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I passed on the propane QC (Quick-Disconnect) port option to save money, knowing that Oliver runs a terminated line to the rear. I now have fore and aft QC ports on my 2020 OLEll. Here’s what I did: The terminus line cap was simply removed and an MB Sturgis Quick-Disconnect valve fitting installed. This port is primarily used to fuel my Blackstone griddle, which is generally set up at or near the rear of the trailer, or to the curbside if there is a picnic table of close proximity. For the forward QC port, a ‘T’ fitting was installed in the existing line connection. A short hose was then installed leading to within reach through the propane housing screw port where another MB Sturgis valve was positioned. I did not want the QC port located low and exposed in like manner to the way Oliver installs them. This is the QC valve fitting with a 10’ hose connected. The 10’ hose is staged on top of the propane tank just inside the screw port opening. For use the screw port is first opened, the valve is opened and hose deployed. This port is primarily used to fuel a dual-fuel generator staged on the trailer tongue or TV tailgate, or with an added length of hose for a fire pit. QC propane ports in action!

Thank you for "The Rest of the Story"! It is a great team at OTT, one I call "World Class". Keep up the great work, Geronimo John

I understand what you mean now, but yes there was photo shoot and video that day. I thought your photo came from seeing it out on the road. It would make sense to wrap after the photo/video. I was also there that day and in the photos. It was quite the occasion and we were all very excited.

Willie was a dumpster cat. Now has a great home and the coolest cat we ever had.

Everything is good, no debate from me. We just want to make sure we get accurate information out here before it blows up into something that it isn't. Example hahaha:

Not sure about that particular one. Was it a private transport? Not sure. But I have seen them leaving our facility wrapped. Oliver really does take everything into consideration. I have never seen or heard of anyone at Oliver doing a "half-job" on anything. Ever. That's the Oliver Difference.

My guess is that the round exterior and by default, the round interior where the beds are is stronger than a squared off section would be. I remember the geodesic domes that were strong due to their shape. If it was square I would guess again that there would be more stresses on the corner. The round shape I believe is stronger. It's all a guess on my part. Maybe someone with a structural engineering background could verify yay or nay. More room on the bed in a rectangular shape would be nice, but I make it work for my feet facing aft. John

Now that about wraps up the wrap debate! 😄

The tanks are only ones that were used in the propane exchange program. If our tanks in our trailers have not been exchanged, this is a non issue. Below if from the CPC. GJ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Recall Details Description: This recall involves EVAS 20 lb. propane exchange cylinders with model number EVAS – M0859, a serial number beginning with a “W,” and a date code of either “06-23” or “07-23.” The model number, serial number, and date code are stamped on the collar of the cylinder. While the cylinders were initially sold with an AmeriGas label, consumers could have exchanged these cylinders with other propane distributors who would have then placed their own branded sleeve/label on them. Remedy: Consumers should stop using the recalled EVAS 20 lb. propane cylinders immediately, close the top valve completely and return them to any AmeriGas Propane Exchange retail location for a free replacement. Consumers can find exchange retail locations at https://www.amerigas.com/locations/find-propane. Worthington advises consumers to close the valve on top of the cylinder completely when returning them.

Mine had the rubber insert, edges a little chewed by pack rats. Like @MAX Burner wrote, it should not leak without the male connector inserted. Looked at mine again yesterday and the valve was at 45 degrees again, partially opened by our sewer hose, the end of the hose being right there. If I do not remove mine, I will use a zip tie to keep the shut-off valve at 90 degrees (closed).

That's a good question @mossemi - As a safety feature, the ball valve on the QD can only be opened if the spring-loaded collar is in its extended (normal) position. If the collar is pushed "back", it allows the user to insert the male connection of the LPG hose. When the connection is correct, the collar springs to its normal position allowing the user to open the ball valve. When disconnecting, the valve must be closed in order to push the collar "back" and pull out the male end of the LPG hose, therefore, not allowing a disconnect with the valve open. But since you ask... I'm curious.... I'm going to go check right now. STANDBY 10 min. later: ....OK, I'm back. After opening the ball valve and squirting soapy water into the female QD there wasn't any bubbles observed from a leaky QD fitting. But, now that you've brought this up, we're going to add it to our periodic maintenance procedure! We've always checked the QD with the LPG hose connected and gas valve open, but never without a hose connected. Good Call! Cheers!

@jd1923 i have also inadvertently opened my rear propane quick connect valve by accident, but I just emptied the tank. Never smelled anything. But I am not smart enough to say it’s a bad design. After all, this is my first and only travel trailer. I chalked it up as user error and moved on. But your recent issue caused me to rethink the issue and I think I’m going to try putting a quick connect plug together and see if it would stop a leak with the valve partially open. Has anyone else done this? Mossey

@Geronimo John What's a BLuetooth Radio? My bad! Poor choice of words. I consider any device that can receive, transmit or both an RF signal, a radio. Let’s use a cellular phone as an example. Smart cellphone's have several "radio's" inside of them. First is the cellular radio which is actually a transceiver, meaning it can transmit and receive RF/radio frequency signals. Second is the GPS radio which can receive satellite signals and provide location service when you are out of cellular service. The phone also has an A-GPS which is Assisted GPS which receives GPS data from the cellular network and combines it with the satellite data. A-GPS works better indoors where satellite signal are weaker. The third is the WiFi radio which is also a transceiver. The fourth radio is the Bluetooth radio which is a transmitter. Were you using a dongle or just the 712 Smart (Shunt and Display Combo)? I am using a BMV-712. If not using a dongle, does the 712 Smart System broadcast the Bluetooth "signal" from the shunt or the display? From the display. I believe part of the inherent Bluetooth transmit problem with the Smart Shunt is the placement of the Bluetooth transmitter which is stuck onto the shunt itself. It will never transmit an omnidirectional signal so it is probably possible to increase its transmitter range by changing its orientation. The same thought would also apply to the Smart Dongle which I believe is also directional by design. Mossey

We have a LPG line run all the way back to the curbside behind the bumper - we added a Quick Disconnect to it a few months ago. It's been coming in real handy when cooking at night under the awning because of the proximity to the rear LED light just above... ....YUM!

I would suggest that only 150 lbs (including the box) be added. Same weight that OTT recommends for bikes and bike racks on the back.

Better safe than sorry for sure. Definitely worth a check.

I use the Mopeka. So far so good. With automatic tank switchover it’s nice to know what’s left in the tank.

Thank you sir! Full speed ahead!

Check your tanks! https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2024/EVAS-20-lb-Propane-Exchange-Tanks-Recalled-by-Worthington-Enterprises-Due-to-Fire-Hazard

I would be happy to oblige, but I parked the trailer in storage this morning and then drove home about 600 miles away. I’ll try to remember to get pics when I go get it in a few months. I recall I cut one hole (used 2” holesaw) in the same spot on aft wall where a battery cable had been routed through but now unused, while doing my Battleborn battery install. The other 2” hole is on the forward wall, down lower I think. I also cut several other 2” holes in bulkheads throughout the basement on street side and rear compartments to facilitate convective flow. I’m still brainstorming future plans to introduce warm cabin air to basement in extreme cold, which might include small, quiet 12v blower fans. We camped several nights this winter out West in low teens with no freezing problems or battery issues. Last night in mountains it was 24. So I’m wondering if I need to worry much about additional mods, as I’m not really planning on camping any colder than that.

Doesn't really sound particularly dangerous: "The potential defect we identified is part of the propane tank/cylinder valve assembly that could result in a leak after disconnection from the grill- but only if you forget to close the barbeque tank/cylinder valve." (Emphasis mine.) I always make sure a tank is off before disconnecting the hose.

And, they're apparently only a hazard of left "on" after use. So, if you turn your tank off in storage,as most prudent folks do, no panic run to the snowy storage unit necessary.

This link provides a better description, and better photo of what to look for. Highly unlikely anyone in our group is affected, with such limited numbers, but definitely worth a quick check. Recall involves 490 tanks, manufactured within specific dates. https://www.amerigas.com/recall

AMEN!!!!!! Got my vote for a mold mod. Hopefully it does not cost over a million dollars! 🙂

I would love to see pic's of that. One low and one high would facilitate natural convection. GJ

Using the "Any Victron device that has the word "Smart" in it's name has Bluetooth connectivity" may open up another option. Can we combine my having the Victron 712 Smart Shunt in the battery box and your "Higher is better than closer" concepts? What if I connect the dongle to the shunt and run its five feet of cable up to the upper cabinets of the street side. Then extend the dongle forward until I run out of cable. At that location, stick the dongle to the ceiling of the cabinet. Much higher than under the dinette location, and not much further back. Your thoughts? GJ

I'm thinking two of the smaller 300s when they run another Black Friday sale. Two sitting sideways will fit nicely with enough room left over to mount a DC-to-DC charger on the wall behind them, huh. It will be a great Christmas gift for us and the Oliver!

We had a propane (LP) issue on our last trip. We arrived at our third stop and I setup the outside camp, the blanket, chairs, grill and fire ring, etc. Then I decided to start the fire ring, since it was getting late, and it gets warmer after the stones heat up. The fire ring flame was half of its usual force. I hollered at Chris, who was inside getting things ready for dinner, to start a kitchen burner. This is something we do each time we open the LP tank valve, so that we know there will be gas to the furnace later. The kitchen burner was also at half strength. I was puzzled for a while, and eventually checked the rear LP connection. You know that idiotic design where you have to release to bumper, revealing the sewer hoses, to hook up (why not mounted like the front one, aimed curbside)? Turns out the rear shut-off on that port was half open and it was leaking out of the cable connection without a fitting in place. It's not supposed to do that! I moved the shutoff to 90 degrees, and it stopped leaking. It had moved likely from the sewer hose hitting it over bumpy roads. The fire ring and kitchen burner were now again at full pressure. This useless rear connection is also dangerous in another way. They run a copper/brass line without protection directly under the frame. This is somewhat OK in front of the trailer wheels, but not a good idea near and behind them. One of several reasons to have the LP off when towing. I will be removing this line soon, certainly before our next outing. We never have a need to connect at the rear and never pulling the bumper to do so! I have a 12 ft line to a T-connection for grill and fire ring and they each have lengthy lines. We can connect at front and position the grill as far as the rear bumper if we need to. I will post info and pics on removing the rear LP line, just past the furnace T, which btw is also behind the trailer wheels. I will cap the rear line and likely add some form of stone-guard or protection. More on this coming soon!

Conversing with a gif is a hobby of mine. Lol

Willie is a beauty and also a lucky kitty. Thanks for posting and also, Welcome to the forum! 👍

For many of us, that's plenty cold. Our much older 2008 is good into nighttime temps of high teens, if daytime is warmer. I'm with you. I'll leave intended winter camping to others. If and when we ever get lithium, I'll make sure I have heating for the batteries. I'm good with good blankets.

Correct on location. I can pick it up just outside Ollie, but at 10' I lose the Victron Connect signal. Hence the need for an extender. From today's reading, I have learned that any Victron device that has the word "Smart" in it's name has Bluetooth connectivity. This would seem to imply that it should not be necessary to upgrade to the Cerbo or other computer based systems unless there are other features you want to have. Is this thinking logical? GJ

We always carried the extra 20 lb. tank in past RVs. I really like being able to plug into the two 30's we have onboard. It was some work to remove the regulators in our grill and fire ring, but glad to have done so. I would prefer if OTT got rid of the rear one forever! What a dumb design! The front one should be built-in to the propane housing, 12" above where the current one is located, vs. just bolted under the frame. It would be safer and more usable. I do agree with you @Rivernerd. If I was to buy new, I would opt out of these connections and build one myself, since it is convenient. I was under the Oliver today and these LP fittings are on with more than Super-Glue. Tomorrow, I will spray some penetrant on the LP fittings... I have 2 weeks of other projects, before I can get back to this one!

We did.....on the way to the Q this year. 26 years ago we and the inlaws stopped there and the only one to visit was my late father in law. Since we poked fun at him he wouldn't divulge any details so we had to take a look for ourselves this year. I can only say one thing...."now we know" John

Because we always carry a spare 20 lb. propane tank, we opted to forego the front and rear low-pressure propane connectors on our Hull #1291. We prefer to be able to position our propane camp stove quite a distance from the trailer anyway. Your report has confirmed that our choice was the right one for us.

With the tremendous effort that OTT expends in their make ready process, I'm surprised that they don't "Shrink Wrap" their trailers for transport. GJ

These Air Tags are really cool, though I hope to never have to track down stolen property! I drove yesterday to fill the Oliver LP tanks plus two tanks we have on our deck for the grill and fire ring. So, I was at the Ford dealer on Sandretto Drive, waiting on the tanks being filled (see pic). Two tags for my keys and truck were at this address. The Oliver is shown parked at home and our GX was at an address on Lee Blvd. When I got home, Chris was already home and I mentioned, "So, you went to Trader Joe's?" She asked, "How did you know?" I replied, I tracked you!" Chris has a Samsung phone, so she did not get a tracking notification.

Agreed, LifePOH batteries do not require ventilation as they do not generate gas. My comment was intended to clear up what might be a misunderstanding by some readers. Lead-acid batteries generate gases during charging which may vent into the battery compartment, these are corrosive and flammable. That’s what the external vents in the door are for, and Oliver is required to put them there to meet RVIA standards. SeaDawg recommended sealing the external vents, which many of us have done, along with extra insulation. Venting into the basement isn’t required, as you have experienced, but it may help in temperature extremes, as many previous threads have discussed. For example, parking with the street side in full sun in Arizona in the summer @ 115F ambient. All I have done is cut two 2” holes in the sides of the battery box. I’ve noticed it is cooler inside the battery box on very hot days with the street side in the sun.

I see Intech Sol trailers next to the Ollies. Same dealer? The Massachusetts Oliver dealer also sells Intech Sol trailers and had them next to the Olivers at the Springfield show. Interesting side by sides with some similarities. The Sols also have aluminum frames. They have a one-piece fiberglass roof and seemed to us generally well made for conventional skinned trailers. I can see how a customer interested in a Sol might be swayed by an Oliver. And vice versa.

No "facts" from me but I agree with your street side reasoning for yet another reason. Since most roads have a crown (the middle of the road is higher than the shoulders of the road such that rain can drain to the shoulders of the road more easily), there is more of the vehicle's weight on the curb side tires versus the street side tires. Therefore, the less weight you have on the side of the vehicle (or trailer) that has only one tire or any questionable tires the better off you probably are. Bill

I have a 30A male to 15A female connector along with a home outlet circuit tester. These testers are much cheaper than the 30A tester, and I already had one. This allows me to check proper wiring at the 30A outlet in the pedestal before plugging in the trailer. In theory the inboard EMS does these tests, but why plug in if you already know the pole is incorrectly wired? I do not use an external EMS/protector.

Back in the day, Oliver used a tiny part of the facility. (We are #12.) I think it's actually measured in acres. When we picked up our trailer, it was parked in part of the very empty floor. We are so delighted to see the parking lot filled, and space used, when we visit. A very forward thinking family. Not to mention what they have done for the Hohenwald employment opportunities. In my humble opinion, it's been a great symbiosis, between the Oliver family, and the local economy. Most of the current Oliver folks don't know me, but even with a 2008, I'm treated with kindness and respect, on a timely basis. I'm sure @bugeyedriver and @ScubaRx remember the old days. We're a few of the original 50. It's fun to reminisce, but even more fun to see the growth of our favorite trailer. Old school, fuzzy photos, below. I'm so very proud of their progress. Great company culture. Great trailers. We took a chance when they were pretty much brand new. But, my engineer husband and I know quality when we see it.16 years in, we are happy campers.

To add to Patriot’s line of questioning, how difficult is it to access the spare tire?

Sorry @Geronimo John as this would not work. The female receptacle, screwed into the fiberglass side of the OTT has cracked/failed, threaded plastic fallen on the street! This item would only provide another male end like on our charge cords which are in decent shape. I need this OEM receptacle or an upgraded SmartPlug version. Then realized more issues on the upgrade cost. We have another shore power receptacle at the front for a possible generator, so this would also have to be upgraded or rendered useless! Thank you though for getting me to think about this again. I just went on eTrailer and spent $159 for the original stainless twist-lock receptacle. I would need 400 to upgrade to SmartPlug and another $200 or so to upgrade the front shore power connection. I should have this fixed next week, sorry no upgrade. Love eTrailer! I recently bought a Timbren suspension upgrade for your TV. Over torqued the supplied U-bolt (bad design btw on this part). The eTrailer CSR called the manufacturer first thing Monday and the company sent me TWO parts received by Wednesday, installed before the weekend!

Surely someone sells just the left half of this product. That could be just a $15 investment. GJ

This just isn't true... The Autoformer simply takes some of the available amps and boosts the voltage inside your camper to an acceptable range when it encounters a low voltage situation. During a low voltage situation your AC and fridge will be drawing the same watts at the pedestal with or without an autoformer in the circuit. Probably less surge amps at startup since the motors will have acceptable voltage when starting.

I don't have issue with anyone's particular camping style, as long as it doesn't bother others (referring to loud, obnoxious and bright during the night people). Personally, I love being outdoors most of the time. However, I'm not a big fan of heat and humidity and I sweat a lot during the summer. A/C is a must in the southern latitudes, especially at night because I don't particularly sleep well on wet sheets. If I could chase mild climates during the year, I would, leaning more towards colder regions. In Spring, Fall and southern Winters, I will gladly park my rear in a free location and just use the batteries. This is the ideal situation. The Oliver is the first camper I have ever had that contained batteries with enough capacity to boondock effectively. The option I chose when I bought the trailer was 390 ah and 400 watts solar. I believe that if I don't use the A/C, watch TV all night long or run the microwave/convection oven, I will likely never run out of power. Of course, if the weather doesn't cooperate, and the solar panels don't get the optimal amount of sunlight, I will either have to cut back on power output or break out the Cummins generator. Most of the time, I would consider this the backup plan. For this reason, the power cable isn't all that important to me. I suppose I would change my mind if I owned an Airstream with one battery mounted on the front. Those things are dependent on external power sources unless someone refitted them with a much larger battery bank and solar. This is also one of the other reasons I went with Oliver over the Airstream. I don't want to be dependent upon someone else's power.

I’m not sure if Oliver bought the tractor/trailer showing the video but man is that a nice rig. Keeps the trailers very secure and protected/unused even on the longest deliveries. Looks like most of the trailers in the parking lot have the Truma upgrade. Wouldn’t surprise me if that was standard equipment now along with lithium and solar. A really good decision on Oliver’s part.

That is an entertaining idea, the device comes with a 25 or 50 foot data cable, I can’t recall which. As I mentioned above, mine most likely does better (in terms of distance) than the Victron solar controller, because the round unit is located up above the floor, almost as high as the pantry counter top, while the controller is buried under the floor. I haven’t tried hanging the round monitor outside yet😬 Maybe it could go up inside the AC shroud, in a weather-proof bug-proof plastic project box. From that high up, the signal might even reach 200 feet. The top of my flag pole (28 feet off the ground) would be even more spectacular. John Davies Spokane WA