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Since those tires are (at least) 7 years old right now, assuming that what you are saying is that you will not be taking virtually any trips with the Ollie over the next two years, I wouldn't do anything other than think about what tire and where you are going to purchase them when you do plan on getting back on the road. The "normal" guideline for tires is to replace them somewhere between 5 and 10 years (with 7 years being the average) regardless of the number of miles. Congradets on the upcoming new addition to the family. Sounds like you will have your hands full with a face full of smiles. Bill

If you have Michelins as several of us do, they are well capable of lasting to the long end of TopGun's range. That means covered as Patriot suggests. If you choose to cover, keep in mind that your trailer is not as tall or wide as most covers are made for. I unknowingly purchased an Adco cover and it was two sizes too large. If you have an OE2, the "box" of the trailer is only 18' X 7' and the height of the box is just over 7'. Shop around and you'll find the "Custom Oliver" trailer covers are quite $$$$. Nice, but expensive for sure. Considering Grand Kiddo's: If I had known they were SO much fun, I would of had them first! Enjoy them! GJ

I would highly recommend if you don’t plan on using your Oliver for an extended time period to consider covering it. The UV and general pollution can take its toll on your gelcoat. I agree with @topgun2 with regard to replacing your tires. Congrats on the “littles” aka “grands”.

Steve - Some of us (still) refuse to join Facebook. Can you give us an idea of what you're referencing there? Thanks! Bill

Well, I finished my other projects, semi-retired and I was able to get back to the Shackles on the Oliver. I emailed Alcan around December 16, 2024 and the special die set for punching the shackles without bending them was on still on backorder. So I canceled my order with them. Got some hot rolled low carbon steel, and purchased some Cobalt drills from drill bit warehouse. BTW, I have never used the cobalt drills before. Man are they nice. Cut that hot roll like butter. Never use them in a hand drill they can break easily. Only use something like a mill, Drill press, etc. I only had a .002" variance in Center line on the holes and they assembled easily. I made my Shackles 2-5/8" on centers. The original shackles were 2-1/4". When I was replacing the the leaf springs originally, I found rub marks on all EZ-Flex arms where the original Dexter leafs had rubbed against the arm. With the Original shackles and the new Alcan leafs I had .040 clearance between the 2nd leaf and the EZ-flex arm. The thickness of the individual leaf was about 3/8. So I added 3/8" to the Hole to hole distance making them 2-5/8. THis set the distance close to what the original distance was on the Dexters. This lowered the trailer back down by 3/16", The Alcans raised the height by 1/2" so a net gain of about 5/16" in height. I also went back to the original Dexter Wet bolts. The reason I did this I was having problems getting grease pumped through the bushings with the wet (grease-able) shackle bolts from Alcan when torqued down to 60 Ft/#. The Dexter bolts are shoulder bolts and the Alcan's are straight bolts. The shoulder/wet bolts measured about .010-.015 wider then the shackles/leafs or hangers/leafs. So that meant that Dexter designed that .010-.015 of side to side slop so that grease could moved to all surfaces and the EZ-FLEX could move freely. So I am using the Dexter Wet bolts. I finished all of this before the end of the year. I decided it was time to change all my coolant hoses on the truck before a cross country adventure, added larger heated mirrors with blinkers to the old F250 SD diesel, and did some other maintenance. So I just got the Oliver out on dry pavement (that does happen often in the Pacific NW). I took her on a 105 mile trip. 45 miles was small curvy roads and about 10 miles was rutted, sunken, patch road. The Oliver performed great. I could barely feel her / see her move, and she didn't rock around all over like before. I did my Torques at 9, 45,68,105 mile points. I will plan on torquing her again at 250, 500, 1000 mile marks. I may also do more torques if there is any movement at the 1000 mile point. I feel comfortable where I am at with the suspension. I may go back in a 2-3 years when it is time to re-grease the axle bearings. At that time I will check bushings, wet bolt wear with the leafs and ez-flex. The ex-flex bushings in the arms are not the thickest metal. and I will replace what is needed. When I put the new leafs on I replaced all of the axle bearing with Timken bearings. I also had small spots of rust al over the 3" axle tubes and leaf plates. So I sanded the tubes/plates and what I could of the Brake Backing plates, then coated with a Rust neutralized, primed and painted and coated with Cosmomline RP-342 after everything was reassembled. Hopefully this will stop/deter the rust. I was disappointed that the tubes had a small amount of rust on it when we got the Oli at 9 months old. We also frequent the Pacific NW beaches a lot so that did not help the rust increasing.

We saw dozens of snowmen all around. Local weather station has a very detailed life size manatee snowman!

sorry, almost no service here, and photos have been failing to load on the forum. Let’s see if this works. Santa Rosa County Veterans Memorial, in Milton, Florida. There are memorials to every war and conflict. A moving and powerful reminder. It’s an unexpected find in a small town

This system is in it's final stages of development and looks to be a very compact game changer for boondockers. I would recommend getting hold of Coy Gayle asap and getting into the customer queue. I think these will be a hot item once they go into full production and the word gets out. Coy lives in the Huntsville area and always goes to the Oliver Rally. He'll likely be demonstrating the trackers there this April.

Not so much that it is a snowman, but that it is a snowman in Florida with Florida snow🤣

Agreed. Just after Spokane you can go the route that takes you through Leavenworth. It is a pretty little Bavarian town and the drive is pretty. Deception Pass is a really cool place to visit and go down to the beach. Also the Heritage Flight Museum up by Mount Vernon is cool and depending on timing you could be there for fly day. My wife and I will be headed that way in late April for a pickleball tournament we go to every year.

Coy Gayle (a member of the Forum - "hardrock") is the person to contact. Bill

I'm the only one I know of who has removed the door to reseal it. Super easy job. My door frame on my older 2016, #110 did have Olivers name on the Lippert factory sticker, so that might mean they're custom for Oliver's, or used to be. Would be an easy job to put on new door frame. Just have good quality butyl tape and double up the thickness of the butyl tape near the center areas of the door frame on both left and right sides. I have posted pictures on this thread .

Rather than travel straight from Spokane to Seattle on I-90 (which is not that scenic until you get to Cle Elum), I recommend you go the much more scenic northern route through North Cascades National Park via SR20 (The North Cascades Highway). From there, head to Deception Pass State Park on the Washington coast, via SR 20. Then down I-5 through Seattle to Olympia and up 101 to Port Orchard. As long as you plan to go to Port Orchard on the Kitsap Peninsula, you might consider a short side-trip to Olympic National Park. All gorgeous that time of year.

FYI: Quartzite "Proving Grounds" -- We opted-in on a Solar Tracker at the owner's rally last year which Coy and his business partner, Joe designed. It's been running straight through since arriving at the Q last Monday. The tracker uses onboard GPS, MPPT charge controller, and other programs to "track" the sun's progression throughout the day. It stows itself at sunset then "wakes" up after sunrise, resets its position and its 200W solar module angle to optimize power generation. Even with the low winter sun angles here at the Q, the tracker get's our 300A-Hr Battle Borns back to 100%SOC by noon-ish to 1pm. We're still putting it through its "shake-down" cruise during this trip. More later...

I would also recommend 30# LP tanks if you don’t have a set. We really like our 30# tanks and they have served us well.

Oh ok! I’ll remember this since I’m going back to that same area again in Feb. thanks for responding!

we have a 2022 with Dometic heat and we have camped in the high teens a few times but keep it around 58 and leave the bathroom door open. So fare so good Bill

Run the furnace at 64F or higher!

Rich, you caught me just in time! Leaving very soon to drive to Vegas (not towing today) to teach my PMP Prep class Mon-Thu this week. Next weekend heading to the Q with family and Oliver in tow! Hope to see you then. Turns out the Barker can be set at any height. You can ease it open which can be helpful when letting gray go in the BLM or NF lands (yes, it is legal when at a distance from others and water sources). Of course, when dropping the black tank into a sewer/septic system you would rather release all waste quickly, valve full open. Not the Valterra valve which is either all the way up or down. It must be due to the switch which could be replaced with another DPDT switch (pictured). The odd little breaker or reset button is odd. I would delete it adding a simple butt connector on the white wires in and out and wire a 5A fuse at the + bus. Without the faceplate this switch could be mounted where the pull handles are located, but I cannot determine if this switch is waterproof (unlikely). Barker has a 1 1/2" valve model and I have not been able to find one in the Valterra brand. I want to motorize all 3 valves, especially the 1 1/2" valve which gates the gray water from the bathroom. It will be great to merely push a button and remove the pull handle from the bathroom! I will do this work Feb-Mar, weather and time depending.

Yesterday we went to the white sand beach at Deaton Bridge in Blackwater River State Park in Florida. The river is crystal clear, but is tinted dark by the tannin from the trees, with a white sand bottom. There is an outfitter upstream, and I’m told it is packed on summer weekends. But on this beautiful winter day with snow still on the ground, we had it all to ourselves. weird, some are uploading upside down. I’ll try later after we move to the gulf islands.

In regads to the tires, at a minimum (if you are down south) I would buy covers for the tires so they do not see the UV light. With the fiberglass body, keep it clean and waxed unless you plan to buy a cover.

More than likely we will take possession of ours at the rally this spring. If so it'll be on full display then.

Looking forward to seeing yours😊

Congratulations on the "semi-retirement" - the only thing better is the "full-retirement"! The rest of your post is above my pay grade but it sounds like ya did good. Bill

Interesting crimp... somewhere along the way when I was moving most of the wires out of the battery box and installing (+) and (-) bus bars, I encountered an almost identical crimp... the lug actually rotated easily on the end of the wire! I have installed 2x Battle Borns in my son's van conversion, and I'm not a fan of the "upright tab" connectors. Bolting a big lug and fat wire to those tabs requires a bunch of additional space above the battery. Not sure how much vertical clearance your battery box has, but my 2018 Elite is pretty tight. The battery tray is smaller than in the Elite II as well... from memory something like 14" x 14.5" . The Epoch 420 mentioned above won't fit in the tray, and may or may not fit with the tray removed. I'm considering a single Epoch 300Ah, as you mentioned, replacing my current (2x) 6v 220Ah (in series) AGMs.

Thanks @KenB. Your info on the Bezel replacement lead me straight to the entire light replacement part on my 2016 Elite-II. I think I will order two lights, and three extra Bezels in order to replace all the bezels and have one spare light on-hand. There's other great hints in this thread for removing the Bezel. Thanks @Corvus Ordering from E-Trailer: Piranha LED Trailer Tail Light w/ Chrome Bezel - Stop, Tail, Turn - Red Lens https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Lights/Peterson/PE76XV.html Part Number: PE76XV $34.02 (as of January 2025) Peterson Trailer Lights - PE76XV Tail Lights Oval LED Light 7-1/2L x 3-1/4W Inch Surface Mount Stop/Turn/Tail Non-Submersible Lights Peterson Specs: Overall dimensions: 7-1/2" wide x 3-1/4" tall Light dimensions: 7" wide x 2-3/4" tall Diodes: 10 Operating range: 9V - 32V Limited lifetime warranty

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BPARPYFTV/?mibextid=wwXIfr https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0rDbdidNtoDWST9eodG5SYYHchyxcAPL1ePC8us8iQ7SVnPefMQ8fUBZQ3bCyjcihl&id=100064448631768&mibextid=wwXIfr

We have a Weigh Safe hitch which usually registers between 500 and 600#, similar to what you're seeing, when we're loaded and wet. And, yes, that puts us at 10% or less hitch weight. We do have a small cargo basket on the back. Nothing heavy in it, maybe 35-40# total. My tools are on the floor of the closet, as a counterbalance. No sway control, but we haven't had any sensation at all of the tail wagging the dog when towing. Maybe it's because our TV is a long wheelbase dually with the bed fully loaded with camping gear. I would be more concerned if our TV was a lighter vehicle with a short wheelbase, even though I've never heard anyone speak/post of their Oliver swaying.

That’s awesome news! We also invested in the tracker at the rally and are anxiously awaiting the results of your shakedown. I’ve been periodically communicating with Coy since the rally and I couldn’t be more pleased with the attention to detail in there development process. I trust we are going to be more than satisfied with the final product. Thanks for the update! 🤩

We left southern Illinois last Thursday for warmth and good food. Arrived in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, last Friday. It was cool. Moved to Gulf Shores on Monday. Look out! Record breaking snow. The old record was from 1895 and was 3 inches. We had 8 inches here with lots of wind. Oliver performed great! Lows have been in the teens. I left the water dripping and my hose froze but luckily I had another. Oliver was not frozen. I then left the water running at a small stream with no more issues. We had full hookup so dumping was not an issue. We ran the propane furnace. Normally we use a small electric heater. Restaurants and everything else were closed for 2 days. It was enjoyable watching the locals reaction to such weather.

Good you did, Mark! Otherwise you would have had freezing issues in the Oliver basement. No snow yet in Northern Arizona. Not even on Mt. Humphries and the Arizona Snowbowl at 12K FT! Hopefully we get deep winter snows during Feb-Mar.

Both you and your Ollie did good! Sure will be something to remember. Bill

Nice, anybody out there with a Seabiscuit Oliver rear basket? I’m in the market for one and need some measurements. I’m at La Posa South and can swing by.

He’s got more hair than I do!

Steve - That's what I call a "bad" hair day!

I am no longer apologizing for our Florida weather. We are setting new records, all along the i 10 belt, and so very cold (to us) in Tampa Bay. When the wind is cold and moist, we are kind of like the iguanas. Immobilized. Looking forward to a few nice days, soon. We've been through a hot summer, hurricanes, and crazy cold, now. It will pass.

Gotta go with the circumstances!

For our "style" of boondocking our 300AH bank of Battle Born's are serving us well. At Quartzite now, low sun angles, and overcast, our 200amp "Solar Tracker" is augmenting our roof modules. We are burning through about 70AH/night and the tracker is bringing us back up to 100% SOC by 1300 - 1400hrs every day, FYI. The "tracker" is proving very efficient as a much lighter weight module than our 35# Renogy 400W suitcase IMG_3551.MOV Photos.app.zip

Overnight low was 15*, with a high today of 38* and sunny. No problems at all! The Mopeka app shows me using about 1% per hour of propane from one of the bottles. 👍

We had a very rare Texas Snow Day yesterday, rather more properly deemed a Snow Half-Day! Taking advantage of this unusual low temp event to ‘cold smoke’ some sushi grade Scottish Salmon today, following two days of preparations. Looking forward to ‘rolling smoke’ through tonight until temps start to rise mid-day tomorrow. After which a trip to the Cow Barn to see how the Oliver survived this cold snap, winterization is also a very rare event in Texas, as well! UPDATE: Perfect Nova lox!

Hello. Love the name and the story behind how you came up with “curiosity”. The graphic on the front says it all. Last November my wife and I bought a used 2022 LEI we have named “My Imagination”. After hearing about “curiosity” we wanted a name that reflects a similar note for our future travels. Thanks for sharing.

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.

@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.

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.

👍

You need to have windows cracked to allow airflow. You need to be using a dehumidifier. You need to use the trailer furnace to heat under the bed. This is really operator error. Please don't take this the wrong way. Worst thing to do is keep the trailer closed up. You need to know when it is time to move to the furnace. The furnace will also help to remove moisture When camping with temps below freezing we crack curbside and dinette windows, 1"+. We really have never had a condensation issue. Best of Luck.

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

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.

Just in case, before you install an electric valve: If you disconnect the cable from the existing valve does the cable pull out of its sheath easily? If so, the resistance might be in the valve itself. That happened to us. Valve lubricant worked for a while but the valve eventually leaked and had to be replaced. Still cheaper than an electric valve and less to go wrong in the future. (Electric gate valves add a motor and wiring to a previously simple system.)

The BS 17” griddle has served us well and can be used with the Oliver QC ports with a simple adapter. I have a 36” commercial grade flat top at home and there is nothing cooked on it that can’t be cooked on this smaller griddle when camping. Perfect for 2-3 person food preparations, compact, carry bag/griddle cover, easy to clean, fun to cook on, ‘nough said!