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We're in southern Mississippi just after traversing some pretty rough roads across Louisiana. We've retorqued the u bolts per Alcan's recommendations and then some. A few still need minor tweaking so I'll continue checking for another 1000 miles or so. The Alcans seem to be doing great and I'm glad we went that route. Lew and Tucker were a pleasure to meet and they taught me a few things :) I changed my Oliver shocks in July, in Maine, with Monroe Magnum 555001s. Upon completion of the springs install in Colorado, Tucker informed me 1 of the struts were blown and would not extend after compressing it. We continued on to our next destination without the bad shock installed and I re-installed another 555001 after a visit with O'Reilly (not a common stock item so had to be ordered ahead of time). All was going well until Louisiana roads...after reaching Lake Mary Crawford, a public fishing lake by Monticello, MS, I discovered 2 more shocks leaking, removed them and ordered 2 more from O'Reilly. Only 1 came in so I reinstalled the best of the 2. They would extend ok after compressing so I figure they has some life left, but had oil that had leaked from the top of the shock. I wiped the shocks down and will check on them from time to time until getting back to SC. I'm thinking the frequent severe porpoising through dips in the road for over 30+ miles may have forced the oil out and down the bottom outside cylinder. We will see if the struts continue to leak and report back at a later date. My TV now has 121000+ miles (over 21000 so far this year alone since leaving SC) on it and I'm seriously thinking about replacing the shocks on it when we get back. They're not leaking nor appear in bad shape but the truck seems to be a little more springy on hard stops and porpoises a little more than when newer. The tires are new so no unusual wear at this time. I have had zero problems with exchanging the bad shocks at O'Reilly's (lifetime guarantee...thanks Steve L) but am thinking I'll want to try another brand to see if it lasts a little longer. Still happy campers here... :) John

Hi GJ, I haven't had the Alcans but for only a couple of weeks (Colorado to Mississippi). Tucker did say he wouldn't be surprised if the stiffer springs would HELP with absorbing more of the road oscillations and make it a little easier on the shocks. We travel with the cruise on 62 mph...max. And most of the severe dips occur on the interstate for us. I try to use the tell tale signs of trucks black tire marks around those dips I'm talking about, but with a few floaters in my eyes I sometimes don't see them as fast as I should. A few on the back roads but mostly on the interstates. Potholes are the main surprise on the back roads, not so much on the severe dips. We attempt to avoid interstates if at all possible...fewer crazy drivers, better roads, and much better views (we don't need to get anywhere fast). We will continue to replace the shocks as needed for I feel they do smooth the ride out for the trailer (IMO). I could tell a difference when living in our Casita. Things remained in place better for the ride down the road. I have experience with and without shocks for the Casita. I'll take the shocks! I may take the speed down to 60mph...I'm in my own world at those speeds anyway :) Could be that the Oliver could benefit with a redesign to accommodate larger shocks similar to that of a vehicle. I need to find and test out a Bulldog shock, if I can find one. I'll post back in a couple of months to reveal my experiences. John

You may be the high mileage leader on the Alcan's. Sounds like you logged 21,000 after getting the Alcons. It us statically interesting that you would have problems with so many shocks from different stores over such a short period of time. We did over a month in Alaska two years ago, and also transverse fire roads much of our of our 3 - 4 month season each year. When I replaced our springs and shocks this past summer, we had seven seasons and 31K miles on the Monroe's and our Ollie. I frankly was surprised that all four shocks were still serviceable. I hope I don't get tared and feathered for even suggesting... But with such experience from several batches of Monroe shocks, a third possibility could be that with your miles you may have uncovered another hidden concern with having really strong springs under your trailer. Something to monitor as you gather up more miles and others with this combination travel. Stronger springs for a given load will have different rebound characteristics. For the Alcon/Monroe's, the Monroe's may not be able to handle the springs. Something to ponder further. GJ

Maybe a case of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" Just in case it would brick the inverter. Oh! I should install the firmware upgrades over and over until I *do* brick it. Then I'll have an excuse to swap in the Victron unit. 😉

In our experience ethanol fumes whether spilled near the sensor or dissipated by respiration after a few drinks is enough to trigger the CO alarm if the trailer is closed up. I’m sure the ethanol in the antifreeze would also be enough to trigger the alarm.

I think Tucker is right, but only with the assumption that the shocks have the dampening capability to do so. More detail follows: The dampers job is not only to control the rate of energy transfer to the spring, but also the rate at which it is released. The process takes the movement (Up and Down) and converts it to heat. Generally speaking stiffer springs require stronger damping to deal with the heat being generated by the stiffer springs. You can see this in many Asian suspension systems that use stiffer springs and are tuned with stiffer damping. Spring rates and damping are definitely connected. An increase in spring rate will require an increase in rebound damping to control it. This principle is in my opinion why I think that the Monroe shocks we are using do not have sufficient dampening capacity when used with the Alcon's. The net result I believe is that the Monroe's are being damaged by the heat generated by the Alcon's. For those wanting a deeper dive, here is a great web site to guide you through the math to do so: https://www.shimrestackor.com/Code/Sample_Applications/Spring_Change/spring-change.htm Just be aware that you'll get into some deep math pretty quickly. LOL! GJ GJ

John, just read this again… I would check your wheel bearings regarding cupped tires. In a TV it means alignment but there is no alignment on trailers. To do so, lift each wheel off ground, hands on tire at 3 and 9 o’clock positions to check if there is any shake. Turn the wheel some and shake hard a few times. If you find ANY wobble at all then the axle nut needs to be tightened. If you have packed the bearings in the last 1-2 years, just tighten the nut. If not, it’s time to clean and pack the wheel bearings. I’m not sure but thinking bad shocks or even no shocks should not affect tire wear. Shocks merely stop the pendulum effect of spring bounce. I guess excessive bounce could affect tires, though less likely than bearings.

JD Tucker at Alcan shares that view as well....that's why we don't mind driving with the bad one removed until I can replace it. Good point about extras. I'm getting pretty good with the changeouts :) My bad experience was having to change out the severely cupped tires that I suspect was the fault of the sheared shafts on the front 2 shocks (previous post). Hopefully changing out the TV shocks will help.

I throw a greeting out to whoever I saw this morning up in the texas panhandle headed north. I was on my last day of the return trip from alaska back to san antonio. This trip I've seen my first 2 "wild" Ollie's. One out on the Homer spit a couple months ago and the one today. Sorry I didn't get a chance to say hi I think it was hull 747 or 757 I don't recall but we tent camped for a night on the spit just to say we did but the wind was so brutal that night we were hunkered down.

Hi Kim and David, No on the recommendations. I like the lifetime warranty from O'Reilly but dislike the replacement frequency....don't know at this time if it is the TV causing the problem or the Monroe shock. Will provide update as time goes on. Next course of action for me is to replace all shocks on my TV. It appears the unavailable Bulldog may be the only option (but that is not much of an option if unavailable). I asked O'Reilly if 555001 leads to other option but they saw none.

A huge thanks to Mike for letting me photograph his bathroom plumbing upgrade back during the rally in May, and for sending details on the connections and hardware. I’ve had the Scandvik and High Sierra components for months, but just now getting to that project. I’ve mocked up the system for location, and I just need to collect the fittings to tie it all together. And drill those big holes! Have I read that a diamond grit tipped saw is best for fiberglass? Or is a fine toothed carbide tip a better choice? Thanks @mossemi!!

One tweak to the above settings if you experience low battery shutdown when using the 3000-watt inverter to power high-wattage appliances (like the microwave) with some later 2022 Elite II hulls: reset setting No. 02 for LBCO (Low Battery Cut Off) voltage to 11.5V rather than 12.1. Our Hull #1291 has the "new" 12V bus bar, which Jason Essary advised requires that LBCO be set to 11.5V.

This is the 2nd year in a row we have had CO alarm from the alarm under the dinette in the first few days following winterization. Last year I called Oliver and they sent out a new RVCOLP-2 unit and I replaced it. No more issue till today after we winterized on Sunday. My thoughts for troubleshooting are to order a handheld CO detector from amazon and put the CO unit back in. Once it alarms test using the handheld. Could this be caused by AntiFreeze smell coming from the toilet? Do we need to air out the trailer post winterization? Any other thoughts? Is there a better CO detector I can buy and install? Thanks in advance.

I have been on this forum for many years as my wife and I researched, learned, and awaited when it made sense for us to join the clan of Oliver ownership. First, I want to thank this group for all you have shared and knowledge over the years. My wife and I were introduced to Oliver a few years back. Like many of you once we saw the quality, community, and how Oliver conducts themselves we had a hardtime accepting anything we saw in other places. We have camped with our kids as they grew up and camped in many different ways including car camping, tent camping, yurt camping, popup camping, teardrop, and renting a few different types of TT. We thought it would be a few more years before we jump into Oliver ownership since we still have one at home for 2 more years. But all the stars aligned this summer and we decided to pull the trigger. We are now the owners of hull #1305 after working with @Snake River Idaho who were great to work with and had a wonderful trailer they had decided to part ways with (such great people to work with and a great reflection on the Oliver community). We just got home from a one-week trip to bring her back home. There is certainly a lot that goes into anyone making this decision. For us, we had heard stories on this forum about health issues making it hard or impossible to do things like this. We have also been personally close to a number of these stories with quite a few of them happening recently. So since we found ourselves in a place financially to do it we decided we were not going to wait any longer even though we have to account for a 3rd sleeper for 2 more years (which on the week trip home she did wonderfully on via the dinette setup each night). The trip home was wonderful. Despite spending a few years learning and researching, doing it for real still had me learning and trying to figure things out. We did have a few minor events on the trip home we had to figure out like the overly sensitive LP/CO2 sensor that woke us up in the middle of the night the first two nights. Or that leather cushions on fiberglass don't stay in place and slide right off (does anyone have a remedy for this?). But we got to experience things on the trip home we have always wanted to but never had before like Bannack State Park Ghost Town one of the most well-preserved ghost towns in Montana and a beautiful sunset in the middle of nowhere outside Dillion MT. Or the Atomic Museum (way cooler and more educational than my wife, I, or our girls expected) outside Arco Idaho along with Craters of the Moon (meeting up with some friends who just happened to be passing through). Not to mention and most importantly having some dedicated time with our youngest laughing, talking and playing games (she is in the final two years of High School and missing her older sisters so getting her away from all the teenage struggles and into a quiet place allowing her to connect with mom and dad and nature and history was wonderful!). We did the showering in the Oliver and I have to say it was easier than I thought. I am 6 foot 1 and while tight it worked great. We had a couple of nights when all our girls were able to come meet up with us and we spent those nights in the Ollie playing games, and eating dinner while watching the Olympics. I have to give a shout-out to @Foy_Mirna for his lagoon table as it was a major win for those nights being able to get all 5 of us around the table again (I expected it to feel more cramped with 5 in the trailer but it did not)! Towing the trailer was also a great experience. I am glad because my wife towed pretty much the entire trip given I was on a business trip the day before pick up and lost my wallet so no driver's license for me. We live in North Idaho so going up and down mountains will be a thing for us no matter what direction we head. It and the truck did great up and down passes, construction zones, and passing semi-trucks. We even had a day driving where we saw 20 MPH wind gusts and my wife did not even realize how windy it was until I told her. My wife did great (she even backed us into a camp spot on the last night and did great!). We head out on the next trip in a week and are very excited! Thanks for letting me learn and take part in this community over the last few years. We hope to see some of you on the road in the coming years.

My "old" toaster oven decided to retire itself after many years and miles of use. It seems that toaster ovens have not been watching their diets since I last bought one and they all have gained a considerable amount of girth. So, I've been on the search for a toaster oven that fits into the cubbies above the dinette and I - finally - found one. Certainly not the most expensive or feature filled, but, for toast/english muffins, warming pizza, etc. it does the job. It can be found HERE. Bill

Nope - the Dutch ones! 😁

Seems to be a recurring theme... same thing happened to our unit yesterday. Just replaced the original Atwood detector with an RV-Safe detector in April due to the Atwood repeatedly false-alarming. Worked fine all season. Shortly after winterization (maybe an hour?) it went into (CO) alarm and would not stop. Tried 'reset' twice and it began to alarm again shortly after the reset each time. Propane turned off for 2 weeks, no appliances running, RV anti-freeze in the toilet, traps and water lines. Fortunately we are done camping for this season, so I pulled the fuse and visibly tagged the detector as "OFF". If we had had to winterize at elevation this month while still camping, this would be a bigger issue. Sounds like a design flaw???

Contact Lew at Alcan Springs in Grand Junction, Colorado. I have been in contact with him and he has a shock in mind for when we visit him in April for a five spring leaf spring replacement of our current four leaf. John

@Gliddenwoods Here’s the link to above post.

The only settings that I change on the Xantrex phone app are the "breaker rating" and "charger current". If I'm at a site with a good 30a outlet, I'll turn the breaker rating all the way up to 25a or 30a, but if I'm using a little 120v outlet (like at a friend's house) I dial that back to 10a or even 5a to make sure I don't trip their breaker. The charger current gets dialed back accordingly. A third thing I've changed is the "custom absorption voltage". I was having a hard time getting the batteries all the way up to 100% SOC. They seemed to stop at 97% or 98%. I contacted Lithionics and they told me to change the custom absorption voltage to 14.6v, which I did, and haven't had that problem since.

That's the new roll pin. I suppose I could ask my travel partner (my wife) to help, haven't done that yet.

After a 3 month trip to alaska and back I'm finding dust in places I didn't know could get dusty. If I ever get a wild hair doing a wrap with a different color for the bottom half is on my list of probably someday projects. I kinda like the idea of doing either a teal or red on the bottom half to give it kinda a retro look but a grey to match my silver truck would be pretty rad. I just find the giant white egg look a little odd when you come across it tucked away in the woods.

Has anyone actually ran a soft start truma on a Honda 2200? The main reason I didn't get the truma package was because I'd need to get a larger generator since the soft start wasnt an option at the time and as a full timer I'm pretty limited on weight/space. If it's certain that it'll run it I'd love to swap out my dometic for a truma.

Probably won't get the TV shocks changed until Dec and won't know the effect until our trip out to Quartzsite mid January. Will follow up!

I used Milwaukee multi material hole saws and drilled slow and steady in reverse. I did all of the layout on blue tape over the fiberglass and used new hole saws. If you are really uncomfortable drilling the holes, call Oliver service and request some scrap fiberglass pieces to practice with or find a place in the Ollie you would like to place an air vent and practice in a location that is less visible. Maybe an air vent in the wall between the toilet and the basement area below the front dinette. Mossey

Thanks for the report John! Safe Travels to you and Wendy my friend. David

Try the service knowledge base here: https://support.olivertraveltrailers.com/portal/en/kb/articles/xantrex-inverters#Inverter_Settings

Starlink Mini Dish Open Source info - This compact, portable kit includes a built-in router that supports 2.4 and 5GHz bands, 802.11ax, and 3x3 MIMO. It also has an Ethernet port for connecting wired devices. Based on our experience we see no other reason to mod our Oliver with any other comm now having used our SL mini on a 48 day trip through 14 states. We won’t leave home without it. At the extraordinary rocket powered pace that Elon and SpaceX are deploying more satellites, SL will rule the day in comm. We are considering a SL home dish based how much we liked our mini on this last trip. Just plug it in to a power source with no obstructions and your on line.

Starlink Mini power cord storage solution. On our recent long trip I decided I needed to come with a solution to store our Starlink Mini power cord when we are traveling. After a deep dive, I ordered this reel and it will hold the entire 50’ SL mini power cord nice and neat. Winding up the power cord by hand each time was time consuming and usually it ended up looking like a rat nest. This musicians cord reel should be easier for deployment of the power cord as well as retracting when packing up our SL mini. Everything SL mini packs up nicely in our HF 3800 hard side storage case. I ordered a second reel for our spare SL mini power cord. Happy Camping from Hull #634 XPLOR https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WYCR42L/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

David, Tested the Anker power pack while at 100% charge, the power pack output USB-C1 port is 0 Vdc output when charging on the Anker charging dock, but the Anker charging dock also has three output ports and there is 19.9 to 20Vdc output from the USB-C1 port rated for 100W when testing with the 6' cord plug that connects to the Mini, this should be enough power to run the Mini, will test with the Mini later today. The Anker 100W charging dock also has an AC input of 100 to 240V 50-60Hz. Here is another thread where Snackchaser successfully powered the Mini with a 12V to 24Vdc Victron converter. I'm learning a lot from folks here.

As you can see, this is an old case, but very rugged. Also use Pelican cases on motorcycles, broke a latch on one a few years ago, called Pelican, all they wanted was the name & address to ship a new latch to, no other info needed. When I purchased the Pelican case, it came with egg-crate foam in the lid and two sheets of foam in the bottom of the case. Now I only have one sheet of foam in the bottom of the case since my laptop was too thick for two sheets and I used the second foam sheet for another use. Use two soft foam blocks to secure the Mini in the case. Additional foam blocks should not be needed if the case still comes with two foam sheets in the bottom of the case in addition to the egg-crate foam in the lid.