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We were in the backyard here in northern Ohio, with almost 4 minutes of crazy skies! Light clouds and maybe a bit of missed focus left the edges soft, but these came out fair. I'm sure there will be a lot of pretty spectacular photos posted across the country!

Talked to the race car shop this morning and he can weld Ollie's frame later this week or next week. He wanted to know what kind of aluminum Ollie's frame was made out of, so I contacted Oliver service department this morning and Mike replied quickly this morning letting me know it's made out of 6061 aluminum. The race car shop was very happy to hear Ollie's frame is made out of a very good quality of aluminum. 🙂

It was cloudy here, but full eclipse peaked through a few times for 15 or 20 seconds. The darkness was weird. Mike

Sun in and out at Grapeland, TX...not quite in 100% path but close enough :) Having fun... John

Same here. Not difficult to swap out. The light is nice. I think you’d be fine without the rain guard. Mike

I know many of you are at an RV camp with others... but where ever you find yourself, have a fun, safe day. Here in Ohio we have family all around us and we will share the time with them. If you have a great pic or story from your experience share it here so we can all enjoy it with you!

I think we have good news. Having poured some scented grey tank cleaner in, 24 hours later we have a mild laundry-soap-scented odor in the same place. So, one way or the other, I'm pretty convinced we are getting a whiff of our grey tank. Thanks for everyone's attention and hand holding. Much appreciated. 😀

Thank you, sincerely. But as I mentioned to John D over on the FB group, I’m not particularly pleased. It almost looks like movement more than missed focus, but it was on a good tripod, we had no wind, 1/500th second, mirrorless camera so no shutter bounce, and remote release. Not what I expected from $4k of equipment I guess I don't work well in a hurry...

We are just past "peak" here is Western North Carolina with around 85% covered - only a small fingernail left showing. While it is partly cloudy there are enough breaks that a fairly good view can be obtained. Unfortunately though it didn't get dark enough for the birds to stop singing. Hopefully all of you in the "total" path get a chance to see the diamond ring! Bill

If they haven’t already, they should touch base with Oliver, maybe strike a deal as a supplier!

I'm going to drop by the race car shop this week. Plan to have it welded. As mentioned previously, everyone Ollie owner should inspect their frames. Mine should not be a difficult repair, just need to find a good aluminum welder. If you are close to TN, Oliver is still doing fiberglass and aluminum repairs. 🙂

This question has probably been asked many times but I'll go ahead with it anyway ... is it possible to leave the outside of the unit mounted as is, forego the rain guard and merely replace the "guts" (inside mechanism with led light), rewire, replace handle and trim, and be done? The units seem basically the same construction. That way no reseal and drilling on the outside hull. Maybe a call to the manufacturer will reveal some good news. Then again???....I'm prepared either way :) John

I see that many owners think that Oliver Travel Trailers is a big money maker or at least a profitable venture. OTT is only a small slice of the parent company, Oliver Technologies Inc. There are at least nine more divisions besides OTT. They also make the Safe-Step walk-in tubs. They make a whole line of items for the mobile home industry. These are the parts that most people see in Hohenwald and know about. They also have other manufacturing facilities around the country making a multitude of other products. Some of these are owned by the company and some are ventures fully owned by individual family members. As far as houses go, the family has different residences all across the US and I'm sure if any of them want a house in Bermuda they can get it. I knew Jim Oliver personally and he was proud of the Oliver name and everything he put it on. He instilled in his family that same desire to produce a quality product that could last longer than a lifetime. I'm going to say that the company is going to be fine and they are not planning to sell.

Ok... I love these forums! Nothing like great ideas shared by a group of common minded OTT owners. I'm thinking I stole this one from a comment that @SeaDawg mentioned a while back regarding his "LED-lit" Shower Fan. Well, Diane read his post and thought it would be a good upgrade - so, the new MAXXAIR w/LED unit arrived yesterday via Amazon (Happy Wife - Happy Life category). This would be the short story of its installation... First off, the original VANAIR Ventline fan assembly operated perfectly - no leaks, no bearing wobble, smooth actuation, but alas, no LED. It's the exact unit we had in our previous SOBs. BTW: Its up for grabs - a "freebee", I'll cover any CONUS shipping costs for anyone needing a Ventline. There was major brain cramping involved to plot-out a list of instructions for the R&R drill, especially the Removal phase. The first "R" was straight forward - using a plastic "razor" scrapper to remove the butyl tape from the gelcoat. Cleaned gelcoat with a fresh microfiber cloth doused with an ounce of rubbing alcohol. 2. Filled original mounting holes with clear silicone, they will be further sealed with the butyl tape attached to the new fan housing. 3. Cut-to-fit the included plastic sleeve that fits between the top flange and bottom (shower side) trim piece. Applied clear silicone around circumference of plastic sleeve and upper gelcoat. BTW - the OTT factory fan hole was exactly the correct diameter - no additional cutting was needed (WHEW!). 4. Mounted new assembly up top, carefully pre-drilled/chamfered 8 new holes in exterior gelcoat. Lightly torqued-in stainless screws enough to "push" butyl tape out from flange. Trimmed tape and applied clear silicone around perimeter of flange. 5. Rain guard: The new unit included a "rain-guard" which may be helpful if operating the fan in a heavy downpour. Applied butyl tape on the RG flange and carefully pre-drilled/chamfered 6 new holes for the RG. Trimmed tape after torquing screws in and then applied clear silicone around perimeter of RG. Attached fan cap with the provided 2 white screws. 6. Applied clear silicone to the trim piece groove where plastic sleeve seats. Carefully pre-drilled/chamfered 4 new holes for the trim. Connected 12vDC power to fan motor and LED - used solder and heat-shrink for connections. Tucked wires inside trim piece and mounted it with 4 screws. 7. Unlike the Ventline unit, the MAXXAIR has a locking mechanism when depressed allows the fan lid to open/raise. Its raises/lowers smoothly. Fan and LED each have separate switches. And as, I believe, @Patriot has recently said, "Let there be light!" One and done... Happy Wife.

I used six #6 5/16 screws on each slide. I also made new holes (i.e., I did not reuse previous holes from which the screws had released). #8 5/16 screws would probably also work. I agree with your strategy of installing additional screws, even if not needed,. This will prevent an on-the-road fix later on.

Very nice, Steve :)

I'm wondering how your fridge works at all, on gas. I don't have a photo of mine before we converted to a dc fridge, but I don't see how the exhaust heat can evacuate with all that insulation in place. If someone doesn't answer with a properly vented fridge, send in a ticket. I'm sure Jason or someone can tell you what it looked like before that retrofit...

We empty our Pro Breeze condensate tank usually about every 5 days. It has an auto shut off in the any event if we are delayed in emptying it. So far we have had zero issues with mold or mildew and we factor this into our maintenance cost keeping XPLOR mold and mildew free during high seasonal high humidity. We don’t run the dehumidifier below 45 degrees or in the winter months.

Steve - I'm guessing that the attached really doesn't help you very much, but its all I have. Hope it helps some. Bill

It will look better than new Bill, great work on locating a solid shop. 👍🏻😊

That's good news and good luck with the weld.

GJ NOTE: Below costs were created with total disregard for either the cost of money or inflation: +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Several times I, and other owners have discussed running dehumidifiers as you successfully do. For a group of us though that can't monitor our trailers for months at a time, the issue becomes the condensate pan service. Your post rekindled this problem and sparked an idea that may work. I store Ollie covered in a dark barn. In the fall, as part of my winterization I run the A/C temp down to around 60 degrees F to dehumidify as best as possible. OPTION ONE - DAMP RID: To aid in humidity control, I use two of the large Damp Rid buckets and deploy them inside Ollie before I protect her further with a trailer cover. Each summer I uncover her and the Damp Rid buckets have fully exhausted their abilities. So, I know that at some point they have no longer been able to keep the humidity quite low. That said, I have not had any problems so far. The Damp Rid costs $28. Three year Damp Rid cost = $84 OPTION TWO - PRO BREEZE: To use the Pro Breeze for extended unattended use, I would place it on the counter by the sink. Then place a funnel and drain tube under the existing condensate drain port . As the Pro Breeze worked it's magic, the condensate would drop into the funnel and down the drain tube. I would run the tube down the kitchen sink drain and past its P-Trap. Once past the P-Trap, the condensate would drain downhill to the gray water tank. By running the hose past the kitchen sink P-trap it would not render the P-trap antifreeze in the trap ineffective. I would keep the trailer nose a bit high and crack the gray water tank drain valve a bit open to ameliorate the Pro Breeze condensate freezing concerns. The hardware to install likely would include a freeze stat to prevent running of the unit when temperatures are below freezing. The costs of this would option are about: $28/year in power (Assumes 4380 hours run time, at 16 cents/kwh.) Three year power cost: $84. Hardware, about $30. Assuming it lasts three years, $70. Three year Pro Breeze cost = $184 Your thoughts? Any better ideas?

Thanks both for the quick reply. The valves are all in the "normal" positions. I'll ran the water pump, turned the city water back on & opened the fresh tank drain. Water drained for a short while & stopped. Water flow in the camper is normal (from city water). Monitor shows 13% in fresh, but nothing more coming out. Thanks again. Seems like something quirky.

Smell just Much more likely is you are smelling one of the sources as mentioned above. But just to cover a very remote possible source not yet mentioned: Take a strong wiff of your over the door head bumper. Could have gotten wet and went south on you. Not likely, but worth a 4 second check. GJ

@rideandfly bummer but at least yours has not completely come apart… yet. Had a busy week and have not had the time to get mine repaired but did some research on aluminum welding. As you might guess opinions are all over the place from boat builders in Australia using adhesives instead of welding to TIG welding and other methods. There seems to be a lot of concern with aluminum welding weakening the material. I don't have an opinion yet but the Aussie who builds aluminum boats using adhesives really caught my attention. The big question now is, how many more of these broken welds are running around out there being unnoticed? Thanks and good luck with the repair.

Found a cracked weld under the water heater yesterday, believe it's same area as Routlaw's weld break. There's a local race car shop that's done work for me in the past that has a very talented welder. Will give them a call. Our Ollie is 2015 #75 LE2. Running 45PSI in the tires, dropping tires to 40psi this year, and always travel with empty fresh, black and grey water tanks. 99% of travel is on pavement. First owner never ran more than 50psi in the tires and we are second owners.

People have way too much time on their hands. Why do people have to keep on speculating and coming up with all these theories? Why not just load your Oliver and go camping? 🤣

There’s a check valve with the water pump that fails occasionally. Every now and then I get water coming out of the fresh tank overflow when connected to city water. What works for me (until I fix it) is to turn on the water pump and let it run a bit and then it usually stops. It’s not been a repair priority because it doesn’t happen very often. Mike

That’s not something we do either, if we’re that far out of level we stack some lego’s to bring it up to a point we can use the jacks to tweak it. Mike

We replaced the entire unit, and never looked back. The seal was broken on the old fan. It wasn't a huge job, and could have been done from a scaffold or ladder, on the outside, with longer arms than mine. The release mechanism, and bezel, on the inside are different, so my answer would be, I don't think so. Get the new fan, enjoy the overhead light, and don't look back. I think, personally, this should be an upgrade offered by Oliver. It's not a huge price difference, but I do so love an overhead light, and a fuse that can be replaced without tearing the fan apart. I was concerned several years ago, when we changed it out, that fan noise would increase over time. It hasn't, at least for us.

Also, there’s a difference between leveling and raising. In the early days a buying point was that you could raise the trailer with the rear jacks. As Steve says that’s before liability issues came in. I still raise my trailer occasionally and have for years. Of course, I’m not recommending it (must be those liability issues speaking). PJ does a good job on her videos, memorizing a lot of features and capacities. Mike

There’s nothing inherently wrong with using the rear jacks as levelers. In the early days, that was one of the of their main selling points. Then the lawyers got involved. The rear jacks are exactly the same as the front jack. Do you use the front jack to lift the trailer?

I would not rely on a detector, if we smell propane, we shut of the tanks and start troubleshooting. Trust your instincts! Mossey

Which reminds me of a "trick" I learned a number of years ago for a fridge in storage. After all contents of the fridge are removed and the fridge cleaned and dried, place some crumpled newspaper in both the fridge and freezer - it only takes 6 or 7 sheets. AS Patriot says - leave the fridge door cracked. When its time to get the Ollie out of storage, simply remove the newspaper, turn on the fridge and stock it. There will not be that funky fridge smell at all. Bill

It appears my source was misinformed, or I didn’t pick up on the date. Thanks for correcting the record.

We’re not camping but are only about 45 minutes from where most Oliver campers are and we live in the path of the eclipse. Unfortunately, it’s pretty cloudy. I can’t even see an outline of the sun through the clouds. Hope it clears up some in the next hour, otherwise there will be disappointment in Texas Hill Country!! Mie

Off topic, but… While traveling earlier this month, I met a couple in a beautiful Tiffin Allegro RED. While chatting, they mentioned that Bob Tiffin sold the company to Thor 🤬 last year, and that the Tiffin culture was rapidly changing.