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Travel Summary #4 -- Day-9: (D's convinced these diatribes will get the moderators to kick us off the forums...!). "BaaaH!", I say! Yesterday's drive was one of the best we've had, from West Yellowstone, MT down to Alpine, WY. Just by happenstance, we were talking with @ScubaRx Steve and Tali at a turn-out just north of Alpine when we spotted an Oliver northbound on the US-26 fly by us at about 1430. Wonder who that was? Anyhow, today's drive was a great one too, but just different. After a RO1N at the USFS campground near Alpine, we departed around 0800, fueled up, and headed south. Going through Alpine "proper", we noticed a couple of local events happening. The first was an "Antler-Fest" which really got Magnus' and Oscar's attention: This is the kind of Craft Show I love: The Knuckleheads seem to gravitate towards the moose sheds for some reason: I, on the other hand - - - - did so, too! We pressed on through Alpine and discovered that this was the weekend for the Mountain Man Craft Fair, The boys and I met Smokey, who was actually born in New Mexico, rescued in the Capitan Fire near Ruidoso. He live until the ripe age of 26! Not bad! All sorts of handmade crafts, pottery, jewelry, knives, axes, and various sundry arts were displayed for locals and visitors alike. However, the peak moment was when the Knuckleheads met two female puppy Alaskan malamutes - the day was good: After ample time viewing all the faire, we proceeded south towards Afton, WY, Montpelier, UT and then to Garden City, UT along the western banks of Bear Lake. Bear Lake was formed 250 - 500 thousand years ago and hold a crystal clear blue-turquoise color: We found a suitable campsite near Garden City, UT and Bear Lake where we will depart from tomorrow for a remote location near Joes Valley Reservoir, a BLM campsite where we will hunker-down for 3 or 4 days... More later, amigos...

I alwaze thouhgt a diatribe wuz a bunch of folk gittin together as a big group, figurin new recipees for wate loss.

For those interested, a short interim travel summary: So, we departed NM mid-morning, last Friday for Moab, UT. High winds and rain from Farmington to Shiprock slowed us way down, but the TV/Casablanca performed wonderfully. Moab and Arches were fantastic and we'll be staying there a few days on our return leg next week. We initially planned to spend about 5 or 6 days in Rock Springs, WY for an annual "Escapade Rally" -- but changed our minds after 2 nights there. Decided that the time away from home would be better spent exploring around the Tetons and Yellowstone. Dumping holding tanks and topping off fresh while the Knuckleheads wait for D to return... So we "pulled-chocks" yesterday AM and headed north on the US 191 (one of our most fav US HWYs) - stopped for a great lunch at a Brewery in Pinedale, WY. Smoked brisket nachos - OMG! Made our way to Jackson winding our way northbound on the beautiful US-19 following the Windriver Range and eventually the Hoback River into Jackson. The snow-capped Windriver Range in the distance below... Hoback River alongside the 191 - no wind and temps in mid-60s all day long: Harvest Hosted at the Jackson Hole Still Works - met some phenomenal young men that owned the distillery and they provided an interesting/educational tour of their very modern facility here. Our "boondock" location at the HH venue in Jackson, can you find Magnus below?: It's off to Coulter Lake, Teton NP this morning then up to Yellowstone this afternoon... More later... Cheers, All! A & D

Just make everything "good-n-tight" using hand tools and it's hard to go wrong.

Speek fer yerself. 🤓

Heck - most of the moderators I know can't even spell that word!😁 Two years ago I was fishing a fairly remote stream north of DuBois, WY and spied a pristine elk shed on the bank. Not wanting to carry that thing for the rest of the day fishing, I simply left it where it was. Later that evening I told the camp host about it and he thought I was crazy given that he estimated the value of it to be north of $100. The next morning he was on his 4 wheeler headed to retrieve it. Beautiful country and the people are really nice too. What is that "canon" you are carrying? Bill

Keep the stories and pics coming Buddy.

The install is straightforward. Cleaner look with additional option for above head LED light. Blocks most of the light.

It does a pretty good job. As well or better than the shades on the windows.

I could be wrong, but I thought someone here said that Oliver only orders 7k hitches to prevent any mix ups.

Summary: make sure your accumulator is not rubbing against the bottom of the curb side bunk. Check the cutouts above the rear jacks. Check the duct under the curb side bunk. I noticed black dust on the board that the water pump and accumulator are mounted to. Turns out that the pump, piping, accumulator, valve, etc. assembly doesn’t really fit together well but it is screwed to the board anyway. The misalignment between the pump and accumulator caused the rubber bushing in the mount on one side of the accumulator to become dislocated and the accumulator rubbed against the bottom surface of the curb side bunk. I caught it before it wore through. I also noticed that both cutouts to access the studs to manually operate the rear jacks don't line up with the studs and would have made it hard to manually operate the jacks. I’ll enlarge these later. Also the 2 bolts on the rear curb side jack could rub through the heater duct.

We are planning our next extended trip. Some time Jan-Feb, probably in/near Arkansas. We can go almost anywhere, but all I have so far is some internet searches for various state parks and cool hikes. We love hiking and various other encounters with the wondrous and beautiful. Anyone have suggestions on how to build an itinerary? My unsorted list of ideas so far: Ouachita Bull Shoals - White river Table Rock Devils Den Lake fort smith Buffalo National River Hikes: North Rim Trail, Mount Magazine State Park Yellow Rock Trail, Devil’s Den State Park Big Bluff/Goat Trail, Buffalo Wilderness Area Lost Valley Trail, Buffalo National River Indian Rock House Nature Trail, Buffalo National River Whitaker Point Trail, Upper Buffalo Wilderness Seven Hollows Trail, Petit Jean State Park P.S. If this isn't the correct board for this sort of question, plz let me know 🤪

We have done 6 weeks 2-3 times and that is about my wife's limit. We are planning a longer trip for August 2025 into Canada and the West coast.

Almost all modern home and commercial air conditioning systems are designed to purge the remaining cold air after the compressor shuts down and their ability to dehumidify is not compromised. With my application, the air in my rig is dryer than it has ever been. That said, with a simple change to timer settings, the initial purge could be eliminated.

@NomadLife what's your progress? I'm up to my eyes in brown with anticipation! 🤣 Anybody else want to know how this one turns out?

I am 6'2". Sleeping is great on twin bed. Very cozy. But the bathroom is not built for me. I'm OK with that. Cuz my wife loves it. And I'm camping. In 72 camping nights so far, I have always found someplace else to shower. My wife chose the Ollie 71 times. As others have said, there is no substitute for getting inside one and decide for yourself. Best of luck!

And here I was just researching upgrading the converter from an old PD4045 (lead acid only) to the newer lithium-capable PD4045CSV. Since I have tinnitus, it does not bother me to hear those "crickets", but it sounds like, no pun intended, that upgrading the controller in preparation for a Lithium upgrade will kill two birds with one stone. Since I don't trust purchasing the parts like this on Amazon anymore. I'll get it from Etrailer. I've used them before with great success. https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Progressive-Dynamics/PD4045CSV.html

I thought to be a "diatribe" you had to be complainin' 'bout sompfin! @MAX Burner yours is not a diatribe. We all want to read more and see more great pics!

The toilet area in the Oliver has more room than in most RVs. When we had the Bigfoot Class C with a large bathroom area, I had to have the door open with one leg in the hallway! Shower height not being tall enough is about the same as other RVs. Just realized why I've taken more outdoor showers (when boondocking) and campground showers since owning an Oliver. At 6' 6" tall very few showers are tall enough.

I must be miss-reading this, with my old brain. But "Agilis" CrossClimates are Michelin. They're awesome so far. But time will tell.

If you're talking about a stock Oliver with no modifications, I don't think you'll be comfortable. The bed will be tight and you'll need to slouch in the bathroom. But, as evidenced above, everyone's different. You really should see one in person. Lie in the bed, stand in the bathroom. I'm 6'. When we visited @StillGame to see their LE2 the bathroom was almost a dealbreaker for me because my head rubbed on the ceiling. Then they suggested I try it with my shoes off and that worked fine, so we went ahead with the purchase.

I feel that the 712 type gauge is very similar to a fuel totalizer. It is calibrated to measure the flow of energy and you need to manually set the capacity of the tank, battery, or battery bank. If your batteries are lacking a data port connection or Bluetooth you could wire up four shunts (one for each battery) and connect them to a cerbo gx or similar to combine the data (flow and reserve capacity). In your situation if all the batteries were purchased at the same time I would just treat the bank as a single battery. Disconnect them and test individually if you have a concern, otherwise just use a single shunt and concentrate on total reserve capacity.

My thermostat looks exactly like yours. I referenced the Dometic Operating Instructions for the thermostat and confirmed your assessment on use of the air conditioner set on AUTO spot on, thanks for the enlightenment! I now know the AUTO setting can be used for both heating AND cooling. See attached.

Try running without this fan. Could be it's upsetting the internal ofridge thermostat. We have the older 3-way and performs well as-is.

I greatly appreciate everyones help and will try all suggestions. For the record, the second sentence in my post stated I had a 2022 Oliver Elite II Hull #1069.

I am 6’3 and a 99.9% a side sleeper and actually sleep really well in the twin. We crafted 10” thick memory foam mattresses with a cooling gel in them. Essentially I took a Casper Queen mattress we purchased at Target and sliced it in half and cut the radius with an electric turkey carving knife. Long story short, it all came together and no trouble with getting a great night of deep Zzzzzzzzzs! 😴😄. Like @topgun2 suggested go see an Oliver especially since it appears you live in Tenn. Maybe take a day trip and do the factory tour. The factory tour convinced us that we were on point when we were thinking about purchasing an Oliver. Looking back, so glad we did.

I like, does it black out outside light completely?

Looking really great! Nothing like storing your Oliver under cover at home, well done! 👍🏻

Taping should not be required for a connector designed for automotive use.

Siding and trim work is done, doors are in, windows are in, garage doors/openers have been delivered and will be installed next week. Then, final grading and the asphalt people do their thing! Coming together!

Travel Summary #2 - DAY-7 We enjoyed a wonderful ride yesterday driving northbound on US-191 from Jackson, WY to West Yellowstone. Decided to spend most of the day in the Teton's before entering YNP from the south along the J.D. Rockefeller Memorial Hwy. We stopped at a lookout point near the Jenny Lake Lodge for brunch in Casablanca -- fantastic! Room with a view: The marina at Jenny Lake: We managed to get in a nice 5+ mile hike in with the Knuckleheads along the lake before heading out to West Yellowstone for the night. We hit Old Faithful in time to view an eruption which has been happening roughly every 90 minutes for centuries. Checked into a campground near and just south of West Yellowstone for a couple nights. Had a wonderful dinner here last night with the "boys"... We plan to Explor ( @Patriot take note!) the northern sector of the NP today... More to come for those interested... Cheers! A & D (Magnus and Oscar, too! WOOF!)

Scary scenario. From what I gather, the man reached under his Anderson leveler to pull it out and the truck/trailer rolled a bit, probably from the play present with the parking pins in an automatic transmission (I know my truck can move an inch or two before the parking pins engage.) This is why you never put your fingers underneath anything that could take a load (tires, jacks, cribbing, etc.). Also why I always walk back to the cab of my truck to verify it's in Park and the brake is set before I lift the trailer off the ball or pull any chocks. In addition, I double check the chocks and leave the safety chains on when I lift the trailer off the ball. I did have a truck/trailer combination start to roll on me once because I forgot to put it in Park. We also once had a "toad" car behind a neighbor's motorhome roll across the road and hit our trailer when they forgot to put it in park before unhitching. Large vehicles moving unexpectedly is very scary. https://blog.campingworld.com/lifestyle-activities/you-need-to-hear-this-story-before-you-go-boondocking-all-alone/

It's like my sealed transmission in the Tundra just not worth the effort if it goes bad, just replace it with another sealed unit IMO and Toyotas. The refrigerant side of things for a sealed unit is not manufactured to be serviceable. Second, I amended my last statement to state the manufacturing of 410a (not the selling of) units will stop at the end of this year. Phaseout sell-off of inventory is a given. @GJ definitely not trying to school anyone, I just felt like there was a bit of fear mongering with the statements concerning R-32. Although each refrigerant has strong and weak characteristics. I feel like there is a lot more positives to converting than not to which I didn't even get to: 30-40% more efficient, GWP 2/3s less than R410a... bottom line better for the planet without much drawbacks IMO. Cheers mate! On to putting up new MaxxFan shroud/shade with LED light in the cabin.

I had the dirt guy add class 5 fill to the side of the garage for an additional parking spot! It gets nice and rock hard for parking on and so vehicles won't sink into it. Although, I think I may have a class V hitch on my TV now that I think about it since it's a 2.5" receiver. I'll have to check...

This is unexpected, and a little concerning. On my 2015 LE1, the water heater and refrigerator have separate fuses, as they should. So to Ron and Phyllis, check your panel! Dave

No the Road Trip will work off the quick connect. The regulator for the Road Trip is a removable. You can buy an adapter hose on Amazon with a connector that screws into the same fitting as the regulator used for the 1 lb green bottles. No need to by pass the trailer regulator. Weber, Blackstone, and others will work. There are kits where you remove the grill's regulator so it will work off the quick connect. They are all low pressure. The issue is with high pressure devices like Coleman and other camp stoves. Even if you remove the regulator they will not run at proper temperatures. For those you do have to by pass the trailer regulator. Some solutions is carry a spare tank. Or they make Y connects you can use on one of the trailer tanks. Hope this helps

Same here. 👍🏻

If you have the room, you could always bring along a 15lb propane tank and connect to your grill using an adapter hose. Less expensive and wasteful than using hose small tanks plus it could be a backup for your Oliver's tanks. Personally, I'd try and remove the regulator and add a quick connect to the grill so I could use the Oliver's quick connects.

Have you removed the regulator on the Coleman stove? It won't work correctly if you haven't.

I think you are correct. The thing I really wondered was what the E-1 got before they started building E-2's. That wouldn't affect this.

My final water upgrade, a cute minor addition! I never was much for RV outdoor showers but given the Oliver wet bath they seem more viable, when at times not wanting to get everything inside wet. Problem is you got to hold the shower head, making it difficult to take a quick shower. So, I wanted a holder for the shower head and found these: JONKEAN White Handheld Shower Head Holder with 2 Hanger Hooks, Strong Adhesive Shower Head Holder, Adjustable Shower Wand Holder Wall Mount, Bathroom Waterproof Shower Handle Holder No Drill Need - Amazon.com Comes as a 2-pack. Being 6' 2" I mounted one as high as the shower cord could extend. The second one will be down below for our dog wash! You only have to leave the clear mounting plate on the Oliver and the holder itself fits behind the outdoor shower door with the shower head. With the new water pump, the stream is now so much better!

Ours haven't come off on just a few miles of AZ washboard. Prior owner had new blinds installed by OTT a few years ago.

I received the replacement/upgraded part today and it took about 30 minutes to swap out. Turned everything back on and flipped every switch previously causing issues and it works great no noise at all

It's sounding like PD is suggesting an upgrade of the converter section of the converter/charger: Or are we missing something? Our Ollie is a '17 also, but isn't behaving as @Going Coastal has described... it appears to function correctly without crickets.

@Patriot I like your setup, I have seen several use this BuiltRite plate. Two quick questions, is your 890 mount bolted to the rack? If it is, I assume you attached it during installation. Second question, did you purchase the backing plate for the dash rack? They say most people do not need it but I am curious to see how many people actually get it or what the performance is without it. Thanks in advance for the info. Brian

As topgun2 said there are many mounting options. My bride aka “navigator” likes being able to remove the 890 on the fly and type in directions while holding the 890 in her lap. The magnet works great quickly allowing her to place it back on the dash mount. We used the 890 all last summer visiting 16 states and 22 CGs. The location of our 890 does not obstruct my view will driving our factory lifted F350 has a tall stance, so no issues. Thank you Bill for recommending this gps! The RV890 is a game changer! 😊 This large magnet mount works great. It allows us to store the unit in our console vault when ever we exit the vehicle for an extended period of time.

JD: I think we ALL agree with you on the backwards hinge/removable cover issue. What a PITA!