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Sunrising at Picacho Peak SP near Tucson this AM viewed from the Casablanca command center.... Oscar's still in the rack! Headed out to Dome Rock area at the "Q" to link up with about 5 more OTTs that have been arriving there over the weekend. Plan to land there before noon - not even through my first cuppa BRCC (Blackbeard's Delight, FYI).

Last night was our 100th night in our 2023 Oliver Legacy Elite II “Curiosity”! While not a big deal for a lot of campers, it is a milestone for us. Thank you Oliver Travel Trailers for building us a wonderful home away from home!

We have travelled extensively for months at a time during the height of the busy season and have never had a problem finding last-minute campsites despite (except that one time in Missouri on the 4th of July) not having many reservations. We stay in order of preference: COE campgrounds, state/provincial parks, USFS campgrounds, Hipcamps, a few HarvestHosts, and when we have to, private campgrounds (KOA in Boone was particularly nice on the J loop). We have never had to revert to Cracker Barrels, WalMarts, or Cabelas. We do plan a few days in advance and rely a great deal on Campnab to let us know when vacancies open up at certain desirable campgrounds. We use RVParky to identify sites in the general area where we are going, and have actually found google maps to be exceptionally good. Campendium often gives us information about specific campsites, and Campground Photos as the name implies, shows pics of many specific sites. Bottom line: no problems.

I have to agree with Bill, here. Over 9 years on our 6 gallon tank and the only maintenance has been changing out the anode, a simple 10 minute task. Noise isn’t an issue either, we run it on electricity when we have hook ups and it’s pretty quiet. 6 gallons is enough for two showers in a row with some left over. If you need to heat water quickly you can run it on both electricity and gas. I know the Truma is new technology and offers some nice features, but our good old hot water tank and good old gas furnace have both been simple to operate and maintain. Mike

Currently at Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park near Live Oak, Florida, for a fiberglass camper rally with 236 trailers. Tomorrow we head to Blackwater River State Park north of Pensacola for six nights, Fort Pickens on the Gulf for another six. After that we head to north central Florida to Salt Springs National Recreation Area in Ocala National Forest for almost two weeks. A short cruise out of Jacksonville to the Bahamas, and the north to Savannah, maybe Charleston, and then home. We should be back in northern Ohio by March 1st.

Don't forget about those "scupper holes" that are located in the bottom of our trailers. These are there to allow moisture to be "pulled out" from between the inner and outer shells. Bill

Hello John. I just saw your question. Our tech said that all the battery wires must be the same length which necessitates making the cables going to batteries in the battery compartment as long as the cable needed to go to the 3rd battery under the streetside bunk. We have opted to stay with 2, 300 aH batteries at this time.

I have often thought for very cold weather, that if we could just run our furnace fan on continuously (vs. it cycling with the furnace burner), many of our freezing issues would be ameliorated. Especially on the curb side. The benefit could be expanded to the Aft Port corner (where we generally first see freezing water systems) with the inclusion of an under bed return air duct to that area. An idea I suggested some time ago..... GJ

Two for two now, where the same cause is creating the same issue. The cause is the electric space heater, period. Your electric heaters are significantly over-heating the upper cabin. Try using an infrared gauge, and measure and compare the temps of your ceiling to that of your floor while running these heaters. You will likely measure a 20-30F difference when its cold enough outside. The electric heater is adding little to no heat in the basement, the lower cabinets, beds and seat cushions, flooring, the ENTIRE lower hull! Heat can escape the hull above in so many small orifices and the significant heat differential at ceiling creates a turbo effect, forcing this abundance of heat out in any available path. Heat loss through the fan vents, gaps in the A/C seal, the door and windows, the fridge vents, the perimeter around the sewer vent, through the upper cabinets and out everywhere OTT drilled holes for awnings, exterior lights, cameras, etc. Simple fact, the cold air coming in from below must be equal in volume to hot air escaping above. The furnace vents allow the largest opening to the basement below, path of least resistance is where it is coming into the cabin interior. The cold air from the entire basement (and exterior) is being pulled through the furnace ducts and because these ducts are under the curbside bed, it is your curbside wall and likely under that mattress where condensation is accumulating (colder surfaces). Those of us running the furnace are creating hot air below in the ducts and pulling cold air in through the intake in exchange. Just run the OEM furnace as designed and the issue that is bothering you will go away! Being frugal is good, but use your LP (prices coming down soon). Run your OEM furnace when you need to warm your cabin. The electric heater should be used for secondary or back-up heating purposes ONLY. I haven't use one and will not carry one with us. In the next few months, we will add the Atmos A/C with heat pump. The heat pump will be our backup, but we will still run the furnace as our primary heat. We much prefer an evenly heated cabin, not breathing hot air blowing in our faces.

Thanks! And I see how that poor quality photo could raise questions from observant folks. Only the spirit level was installed by Oliver. The bottom item is a 12vDC outlet for a macerator pump. Next is a rotary switch for electric valves that are used for freshwater tank drain, boondocking and winterizing line-ups. It’s described in the post “Electric valve control… with a twist.” Then there is a third water-pump switch for the outdoor shower, or when filling the freshwater tank from the boondocking port. This is described in the post “4-way pump switch for the outdoor shower.” Above that, are labeled LED indicators for the aforementioned pump and valves. Lastly a Levelmate with lengthened thumb screws for easy battery changing. They do look like toggle switches! Then my trusty pliers. . . they actually replaced quick disconnects that I found were too bulky and inflexible for my needs. Cheers! Geoff

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Our previous motor homes were older (quite a bit older) and didn’t have electric or gas/electric water heaters - only gas. So we didn’t have the “quiet” option - just the F-14 on full afterburner blast of the gas flame. I’d love a gas/electric option. In fact, with the terrible, terrible arrangement with the water heater being so far from the galley and head points of use, I’m tempted to install one or more point-of-use electric water heaters and only using the Truma for times when no electricity is available. That would also save running so much water down the drain waiting for the heated water to arrive at the tap.

I don’t have any high amperage devices, let alone on an extension cord. The biggest load is an 1100W ceramic heater plugged directly into the GFCI outlet under the dinette. The extension cords connected to the outside receptacle are 25’ long and 12AWG outdoor rated. The only load on that outlet is a 2.8A AC max draw fridge/freezer in the truck. I’m good. This was a rarity. I’ve only had to plug the fridge into the trailer one other time in two years, and it was fine in the rain.

Though I haven’t taken it up with Oliver, I’ve found Truma to be quite unresponsive to requests for warranty service. Though I know the outer door on the water heater is prone to breaking. (By people who think you should swing it down rather than lift it off the bottom tabs.) Ours has never been mistreated - but still developed diagonal cracks at both rear corners. I emailed Truma asking to get a replacement door - even if I had to buy it. Response? None. Not even a “Go to your local dealer.” I admit to not knowing how long the warranty is on the unit, but with my luck, by the time I need it - it’s expired. As for recalls, should one affect my unit - and be worth taking advantage of - I’ve not modified the unit nor done anything that could even be detected as having touched it myself. (‘Course, if they looked here in this forum, they see my admission!) I suppose if push came to shove I could find an ambulance chaser, um, I mean product liability attorney, who would love to chat with Truma about sending people out on the road with a gas appliance that -could- set their trailer on fire… When Oliver sent out the replacement valve cores for the tires, they included a gift card for some minor amount that would likely NOT cover having that work done at a shop. Certainly not enough to refill the tires with nitrogen as they came from the factory. Again - I did it myself because it was less time, trouble and $$$ than it would have been to take it to a shop. Dealing as I have with service people, I tend to like to do it myself. It’s very rare to find a mechanic who cares as much about your car or trailer as you do. Warranty work typically pays poorly and the quality of the work is often commensurate with the mechanics compensation and resulting poor attitude and work ethic. I didn’t intend to wax so cynical, but I have horror stories that back up my claims. So I always think -very- carefully before I let anyone work on my stuff.

We are installing the MP 2 as we speak. Here is a photo of the mounting bracket under the streetside bunk made from aluminum and PVC that our tech made. Is is mounted horizontally on the fiberglass wall with epoxy and two s/s screws for safe-keeping through the wall. We live in the Keys so our tech specializes in wiring boats. He said 1) this is fairly simple compared to a lot of installs on sailboats he has done, and 2) that heat that is produced is also not an issue compared with other installs in engine compartments, etc. Nevertheless, we are installing a fan on the bulkhead to the basement to dissipate heat. We considered the Mulitiplus 2 bracket (https://battlebornbatteries.com/product/multiplus-ii-free-standing-mounting-bracket/) but it really won't mount well to the deck. 2018 LE2 Hull 344, LE 2.

Not sure if things are better or worse today. Mid 90's we left Chicago for a June Colorado trip. We had a reservation west of Colorado Springs and the place turned out to be a dump. We spent our third day looking everywhere in south central CO for an alternative and everybody reported June is usually fully booked. We finally found a cabin up near Monarch Pass west of Salida CO at 10,000 FT, getting sinus headaches overnight! Visited Gunnison and the areas around. We where traveling by Van and did not have a trailer for camping, so that's of course different. Either way, June is one of the busiest months for highway travel and camping. If it was me, I'd be on Campendium and other sites and make some reservations along the way. Know where NFS and BLM lands are, get your maps downloaded. For the east half of your trip, find city and county parks along your path. If we had to spend more than ONE night at a Cracker Barrel in either direction, I would not be happy. Last time we did, asphalt camping at it's finest, 🤣 and the breakfast food was not what it used to be. Should have cooked breakfast in the Oliver, but we wanted to give them business for their hospitality. We are leaving here on Memorial Day for 6 weeks, getting back by the 4th of July. It should be awesome, our longest trip to date has been 3 weeks. Our end point will be Minnesota to visit Chris' sister and family. We'll likely head east on a southern route first and after MN take a northern route back. I should start planning some of our stops ASAP! If you do, it will add to the quality of your trip. Yes, planning is a pain! You know in Arizona, except for Quartzsite and other BLM or USFS lands, if you want a winter reservation at a AZ State Park, a Maricopa Regional Park and others, you need to be ready at 6AM local time, 6 months to the day out to book, otherwise 98% of campsite days are booked!

I agree with the necessity of planning on our travels east of the Mississippi River, we live near St Louis. But we’re planning on leaving soon for a month in Texas and I won’t book anything more than a day in advance, we’ll just wing it. But you do have to be flexible, and having a fully self contained rv frees up a lot of options.

Congrats. We keep a list of nights. 2024 was big for us ,105 nights. 2025 is scheduled to be bigger.

Problem solved! The exterior receptacle is not a GFCI out, but is downstream from the one under the dinette. Unplugging the refrigerator extension cord solved the problem. We’ve had worse rain than this before, but usually plug it into the power pedestal. This campground doesn’t have a 15A outlet in the box. I use two 25’ extension cords, and the juncture was underneath the trailer. But with the rain, it was half buried in wet sand. I took it apart, and cleaned and dried it, but apparently not enough, as it tripped the GFCI outlet immediately when I plugged it back in. So for now, I’m using one Bluetti to power the fry while the other is charging inside the trailer. I’ll swap as needed until I get things dried out. Thank you for all of the help and advice!

Could be a number of different things, but it wouldn’t have anything to do with the circuit breakers or park power. The fault will be at the GFIC outlet, or one of the downstream outlets fed by it. GFIC’s are not overcurrent devices, rather they detect minute circuit imbalances where either the hot wire or neutral wire is leaking current to ground. So one of the most common problems is moisture, usually in the outdoor outlet/box. Make sure the cover seal is good and dry it off as best you can. Another common cause is improperly wired devices, so make sure everything is unplugged. If that doesn't fix it, then disconnect the "load" side of the GFIC outlet and see if it’s still tripping. If so, then replace the GFIC. If it doesn’t trip with the load disconnected, the GFIC is okay and I’d go back to the outdoor outlet and really dry it well. Good luck!

You are my new hero.. I want to be like you.

Yep. I got Dyrt Pro. I like it.

We use KOA on almost every trip. Upcoming Texas will have San Antonio and Galveston. Galveston because we maxed out our 14 days at the State Park. Trip after Rally will have a couple and Washington trip a couple. Most of our stays are State Parks, COE's, and National Parks, with KOA's, Harvest Hosts, and a few other places.

@Galileo I experienced the exact same issue with cold air intrusion via the heater vents. Since in a CG with electric hookup, I was using my small space heater rather than the gas furnace; this was not in freezing conditions. As a temporary fix, I taped plastic film over all of the vents for the duration of my stay. Prior to covering the vents, I noticed running the wet bath vent exacerbated the issue. We generally don’t camp in cold conditions, so never really tried to chase down this problem. I too would like to know why this was happening. Thanks for raising the question.

I threw a fireplace tool with a 90 degree bend on the end in the basement years ago. Hooks the milk crates I store stuff in pretty good and use it for the campfires too. Won't go without it and am paranoid about leaving it at a campsite.

Check the furnace in the basement. If cold air is blowing through the ducts, it must be blowing through the heater. There is a cover panel to see into the heater. Have you inspected the basement area around the furnace? It is worth running the furnace overnight as previously suggested. You would replace “cold air blowing” with warm air blowing. This is certain.

Ww have been toldcthis by friends in the marine industry, as well. Thanks

👍

Not sure where cold air is coming in, but since it is the curbside check that basement area and climb under the trailer in that area. There are 3-4 LP lines that exit the hull to the frame below (Furnace and HWH are easily visible in the rear and further up are lines for gas range and a 4th if you have a LP fridge). Not sure of your hull # but in our older hull all caulk around the LP lines had moved and there was an 1/8" to 1/4" opening around the perimeter of the drilled opening. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND you store the electric heater for a while and run the furnace. It will heat up that basement area and you will not have the condensation and cold wall between the bed and window. You must have seen my mod post on this. Now that I've done this work, closing the heating duct under the bed and adding an intake filter the furnace works great now and is much quieter. Electric heaters save money with paid hookups of course but LP is cheaper than the issues you are having and perhaps more. You mentioned Florida, where it is always humid. When we travel somewhere colder, I like to know the furnace is not only keeping us warm but the hulls, the floor, and inside the basement areas to keep the plumbing above freezing. An electric heater will only keep the cabin and upper inner shell warm.

Relying on campground supplied water pressure regulation alone has risk to the care free enjoyment of our wonderful Ollie's. But WHY? It comes down to physics. The CG water system typically are sized to accommodate the anticipated max load when built. Rarely do the owners of the CG plan for much future expansion, pipe scaling, or future site space density of users increase. So over time the site's water pressure delta between high flow and low flow periods increases. But WHY? Increased demands over time, the flow efficiency of the system decreases due to due to flow friction. More friction begets lower flow, and increased static and dynamic pressure differences. The problems start cropping up at those customers at the furthest site from their water main connection. Low flow complaints lead to the owner reducing the pressure modulation on their end to increase pressure to serve the end of line flow requirements during peak times. The Delta Pressure between low and high flows can easily be 25 PSI. So effectively to be conservative with what pressure you want your Ollie to see is your own water pressure regulator. Hence, for all of the above reasons, we do not leave city water pressure "on" to Ollie unless we are filling the fresh water tank or using the dedicated black water flush system. GJ

I’m also in the experienced DIYer camp, but Truma products are ‘hands off’ when it comes to their and Oliver’s policies regarding warranty and recall issues. I would hate to have to pay for a new unit if another recall or failure occurred, and a full replacement was required.

When we plan a destination, I have found the need to book ahead for good parts of the trip. We will be in Washington, Oregon, and California after Labor Day. State Parks in Washington have a 9 month booking window. Montana just dropped their state park booking window to 3 months. For us we want the main part of our trip booked for State and National Parks. The negatives are forking out the money so far in advance and issues if our tow vehicle has issues. You are really traveling in prime season, so you might find places booked You can always hope someone cancels. We booked State Parks in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina for after the rally. Florida has a 12 month booking window for residents and 11 months for non-residents. I book as soon as the booking window opens. I spend hours planning our trips. I use Mapquest to set maximum 4-5 hour drives. I use Dyrt Pro to locate one night stops. We use Harvest Host. I enjoy the challenge. Each Oliver Owner is different and many just roll the dice, with little planning. To each his own. Good Luck.

You’re welcome, even the big national parks, Yellowstone, devils tower etc., have openings in the middle of the week for first come first serve spots, especially if you go in the shoulder season.

Other than Friday and Saturday, I’ve never had any trouble booking reservations same day or day in advance, anywhere west of the Mississippi River. There are exceptions of course, but I’ve taken 6 week trips out west and paid for camping just 3 nights, between harvest hosts, ultimate c.g., rv Parky, blm etc…. My favorite campgrounds are c.o.e., they’re always on water and with the American the Beautiful pass, they’re half price.

100 night - nice! Just starting to feel like home? Be safe out there. Bill

Your working too hard 😊. We have been using eley hose quick connects for several years and they have served us well and do not leak. A quick and simple way to hook up our water hose sans pliers. https://www.eleyhosereels.com/products/garden-hose-quick-connectors?srsltid=AfmBOorhl73lbWlG-pTRQ_aHjougxYv88x-aD4DfsGjJACCyuZjoAX0t More info here -

I only see one good-looking "old guy."

At Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park near Live Oak Florida for the 9th Eggs ‘n S’mores Fiberglass Rally. Then bouncing northern Florida until late February and a short cruise out of Jacksonville. It’s a lot nicer than the snow at home in northern Ohio!

pix may help clarify Burner unit shown below only has end 2 tabs bent to crimp unit to frame. This is the old design being recalled. Newer units (being replaced in recall service) have all tabs crimped.

Visiting Scott and John Oliver in Tampa,FL. They are in town for Oliver TT demo days at Lazydays RV. Lazydays has 3 locations in Florida with Ollie's in stock for your viewing pleasure. Mossey

We could swing by you too! 😂 Looking forward to meeting you.

We are planning to be at Quartzsite on Friday, 1/17. We're camping with family at Hi Jolly area. I'll be wearing my Oliver hat. Say hello if you see me! Paul

I believe the batteries need to be in close proximity of each other. Cable length is significant. Hopefully someone can confirm that.

There are only a few miles of route 66 through Kansas, but it's actually kind if pretty. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/route-66-kansas-places.htm#:~:text=Despite its short length%2C the,%2C Riverton%2C and Baxter Springs.

Just watch out for that "flat bed Ford"!

I definitely want a picture of me/us standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona, such a fine sight to see!

Coy is coming through San Antonio in January with Steve and Tali on their way to Q. We’re meeting them for dinner with Pete while they are here and I plan on picking Coy’s brain on his trip along Route 66. Thanks for reminding me about Jason’s post, I’d forgotten about it. Mike

One time we camped close to Rt. 66 Winslow AZ, Homolovi State Park. https://azstateparks.com/homolovi Nice SP and happened to be a car show on Main Street @ Winslow on Rt. 66. Just off of I40, too. Very enjoyable day.

Lithium packages were not available when we ordered our 2020 Oliver. The AGMs have been serving us well! 😊