Leaderboard

FYI - Garmin has released a map update for GPS devices (at least the 890 and the 2797 models). This update must be fair large in that it took about 45 minutes to download and install. Bill

Love our Truma and glad you got it resolved! We learn from experience that we learn from experience! 👍🏻😊

@Wandering Sagebrush Look at it this way. You have now taught all of us OTT owner's to make sure the shower water knobs are completely shut off. Thanks for posting that great lesson.

The best news is everything works, so embarrassing ones self is a lapel pin we all wear. It is a club of honor.😊

Ideally you would connect the manometer in place of the device, in this case the Truma. If that is not practical then try where the gas line Tees off from the main line. If you have the front and rear quick attach propane ports I would also try to get a reading there for a base line. Another thought is to check where the propane is fed into the Truma to mix with oxygen if it is not completely sealed. There are insects that can get into small spaces and build their nest out of dirt, clay, ash, etc. like a Dirt Dobber only much smaller. They got into my refrigerator propane mixing chamber and restricted the flow enough that it would not burn clean. It was obvious from the soot around the chamber that it was not getting enough oxygen so that might be another sign to look for. Although I have a Truma I'm not very familiar with them so I'm just spit balling from my experience with other propane devices. Good luck with getting it figured out and working again.

Your update took so long because you tasked it with displaying all the best trout holes in the US.

You might have read a post of mine, a month ago, re a water leak. We left for a week in the mountains north of Tucson. First night at Lost Dutchman, no leak. Second night we had a leak coming pretty good out of the hull weep holes rear curbside. Due to the location, I figured it was the lines near the water pump but I didn't want to deal with it on the road, so we only turned on the water pump briefly while using water. Later it leaked right front, and on another day left rear! It depended on the level, so I had no idea where it was coming from. When back home, I thought why no leak for 24 hours and then leaking for the next 5 days? I thought to mentally retrace my steps during our first overnight. Then I remembered, I had used the outdoor shower to rinse some equipment. I had left the valves on and it was only the handle switch keeping it from pouring out hard. We all do dumb stuff! 🤣

Thanks for letting everyone know! Relax in the knowledge that you are not the first and will not be the last to have this kind of issue. Certainly, I've been in that boat a bunch of times. Bill

Had that happen once...the cause was the exterior faucets were on (but the nozzle off) causing internal mixing of hot/cold water. The time I had winterized I forgot to turn off both the hot and cold taps. I didn't know they were on because the nozzle was clicked off. Once I made sure both hot and cold taps we're OFF, the unit heated right up. Craig

Thanks to Neil’s RV in Orem Utah! Our ‘shakedown’ trip completed (5000 miles over 18 days!) with 50-70 mph crosswind gusts… Very happy!

This is the extent of me rolling the dice. June 1 – Home to Siloam Springs, AR June 2 – To Hardesty, OK June 3 – To Taos/Santa Fe, NM – Stay 3 Nights - Pilar Campground and Río Bravo Campground (FCFS) Highway 570 Carson, New Mexico 87517 575 758-4060 Lat / Long: 36.291658, -105.782192 June 6 – Denver, CO June 7 – Booked WY/ – Stay 3 Nights – Buffalo Bill State Park 4192 Northfork Hwy, Cody, WY 82414 - 1-307-587-9227 June 10 – Wing it June 11 – Booked KOA Whitefish Kalispell, MT – Stay 3 Nights June 14 – Wing it June 15 – Booked Manchester State Park, Port Orchard, WA – Stay 7 Nights June 22 – Booked Cape Lookout State Park, Tillamook, OR – Stay 4 Nights June 26– Booked Harris Beach State Park, Brookings, OR – Stay 1 Nights June 28 – FCFS Goose Creek Recreation Area, Lakeview, OR – Stay 3 Nights July 1 – Booked Washoe State Park Carson City, NV – Stay 3 Nights July 4 – Roadside Stay July 5 – Springdale, UT – Stay 3 Nights July 8 – Booked Homolovi State Park Winslow, AZ – Stay 5 Nights July 13 – Booked Cochita COE Campground Peña Blanca, NM – Stay 3 Nights July 15 – Wing it home - 2 Nights

I'll try to remember that the next time I'm standing in the shower ankle deep in water because I forgot to open the drain valve.🤪 Bill

Good advice. Thanks

Thanks Bill, I’m just irritated at myself. But… some good stuff were a result.

I wanted to construct a dog bed for use with the twin beds that was large enough for our golden, provided room to easily get in and out of the bed, and collapses to lay on the floor. The two cushions were made with foam from Amazon and the covers by an online custom cover supplier. The cushions can also be used for a backrest for both the twin beds while watching tv and when converting the dinette to couch. I attached felt to the edges of the platform and applied clear adhesive film to the fiberglass to prevent wear.

Where's the pic of the pup?😀 Bill

I just wanted to share the absolute amazing experience we had with David and Kristine Hess, Jeff and other team members at Sea Biscuit Metal Designs, Johnson City Tennessee. We had the Oliver rear basket installed today. What great service! David, Kristine and Jeff greeted me, and Jeff got right to work on the installation. The rear basket is extremely well crafted, made with high grade materials and expert craftsmanship. An awesome addition to the Oliver!! For those who do not have the Oliver OEM rear bumper receiver option (like us), no problem as Sea Biscuit will provide the hardware necessary to mount the rear basket. Now what happened next is service I have never experienced before! Long story short, after all the hugs from Kristine and David, (yes they love meeting and hanging out with their customers!) I hooked up the trailer, did all my checks, put the tv in drive and as I slowly took off I felt some resistance. Must be the emergency brake I thought, well, turned out I forgot to raise the tongue jack! Yes, I know, I guess I was just so impressed and excited about the new basket, and the excellent service that I forgot about the jack! I usually use 6”x6” blocks on all the jacks for 2 reasons, to avoid extending the jacks too much, and secondly for this exact reason, ie if for whatever stupid reason I forget to raise the jacks they will just slide of the blocks. Needless to say, the tongue jack inside shaft was bent backwards approximately 45° and buckled. Anyway, that’s when David, Jeff and team jumped in, Dave cut off approx. 4” where the shaft was bent/buckled, aligned the 2 straight pieces then welded them back together. This was shortly before noon, so the team worked into their lunch hour and David had to push out another appointment! I obviously offered compensation, but David refused! I cannot express my gratitude enough to David, Jeff and team! Sea Biscuit is a great company and David, Kristine and their crew are awesome people!!! Thank you so much again!

Gary, an early thought I had was to remove the tray as Mike did who started this upgrade post. A couple weeks later I decided to go with 2x 300AH Epoch Essentials that fit nicely in the tray sideways. Several other members have made this same battery choice. I believe only @rideadeuce has removed the tray. Mike could chime in, but how to removed the tray should become obvious. Once you empty the tray of batteries, slide it all the way out and you should se the mounting bolts. If I ever decide to add a 3rd Epoch 300A, three would fit in the bay only with the tray removed. Maybe someday. Which batteries did you order?

SOLVED - I think… Well, I feel a bit foolish, but the outside shower valves were open. They didn’t feel like it, but they were. Turning right (righty, tighty) there was considerable resistance, so I assumed (ass-u-ME) they were closed. Not the case at all he said blushingly. Dang I feel foolish! I believe a good test coming out of winterization, is to try and turn the shower valves on. If you hit a hard stop, they are on. A slight wiggle when turning right just may indicate an open valve. The temps went up to 96° before I turned the water off. The good news is the Truma is decalcified. Bad news is I am embarrassed.🙈

I would consider a trip to the Mothership. I'm another with very limited electrical and mechanical skills. No one knows the trailer better than Oliver. Definitely get lithium batteries. Without solar on the roof, you will always being playing the AMP Game. With AGM batteries you don't want to go below 50%, and 12.3 was always our minimum in our truck camper. All it takes is dropping below the 50% one time to damage AGM's. AGM's aren't forgiving. Damage one battery and you have to replace all of them. Lithiums are forgiving and will provide years of peace of mind. I would upgrade to 300w portable solar. Just my 2¢. Have a professional do the work or an Oliver Owner that knows his "S--t. Lots of good info provided by Craig (Galway Girl) and others.

Absolutely, they treat their customers like family!

Wow I did take picture of Serial and specs. Looking through my pics. R32 Softstart was recommended by Tosot support

THIS is a YouTube video by a fairly well respected person that covers the issues with a lithium conversion. Bill

Oh my goodness! That was exactly what I was doing! I can’t believe it didn’t dawn on me to put the nut on the back side of the Furrion cover! I spent the next hour in a panic, mumbling bad words occasionally, searching Amazon for a panel mount with longer screw threads! (I found one eventually.) Geez Louise.

JT, I'm not sure which connector you have, or how you're installing it, so forgive me if I state the obvious. I think you might be trying to put the nut on the inside wall of the trailer, that would probably be too thick. The nut goes on the back of the Furrion cable TV port after it's drilled out to fit the Rj45 panel mount. It's assembled on the bench, then installed on the trailer with the 4 mounting screws. The hole through the Oliver might need to be enlarged a little, this is best done with a step drill bit. I sure hope this helps you out!

A few days ago I completed an installation of a front receiver hitch on the Savana. I previously installed same on the Silverado, specifically to carry a bike rack when underway for use with our folding ebikes once in camp, and liked its functionality. However, no such hitch was found available for the van and thus, removal and modification of the one that was on the former TV was in order. Once a mounting plan was devised for proper fitment and securement, necessary cutting, shaping, welding and painting was done. Modifications in progress. Hitch readied for install. U-bolt and plate securement. Front spoiler remounted with thru-hole, hitch extension installed. Formerly fabricated roller skid plate I made to protect the bike rack got new paint job. Savana sporting hitch/skid plate and QuikrStuff dual bike rack with ramp.

Yea after miles of dirt road the dust gets everywhere. We missed cleaning under the caps but I'm not concerned about it. To get the ethernet cable from the attic to the outdoor garage, you will need to remove the attic's street side wall panel, it's held in by two hex head screws. Also remove two screws to partially pull back the garage side panel. From both locations, you will see the clear poly drain tube for the air conditioner. The gap is wider here, and I was able to snake a fish rod along the side of the tube straight down to the garage without restriction or obstruction from the insulation. A cheap Amazon sectional fish-rod works well here. Always pull an extra string with the cable because it gets harder to get the rod through with each wire added, and you may want to add wires later for my "Turning On The Rear Camera Automatically" modification😁 https://a.co/d/fl9XvxS

Nice work JD! Perfect loss of 4 holes and creative cable stabilization assembly (AKA Bolt). A+

Yea this stuff could drive anyone nuts! Forgive me that Iv’e showed this before, but it still might help you save $$. I looked at the SmartPort way back when, and was appalled at the price. Also it would stick out like a sore thumb on the Oliver. You can buy another matching Furrion outlet for $9 and a RJ45 panel mount (two) for $16. Just have to drill the Furrion hole bigger and the RJ45 panel mount will fit right in. It’s a double female, so any Cat 6 RJ45 patch cord will work on the inside, just fish it up the wall into the attic. There is a clear path next to the AC drain tube. Gosh, that photo looks like it's mounted crooked🫢 A female 5.5 mm barrel connector will screw into the Furrion without any drilling if you want to go that route. You can even make your own Starlink Mini power cord from cable, at least #16, and run the Mini without boosting the voltage. https://a.co/d/6ZfCA1Q https://a.co/d/5YNGSrP https://a.co/d/9p1RQpP https://a.co/d/hszApCd

I appreciate this conversation. Thinking through what is needed is not easy for me and I can get analysis paralysis. My non-POE solution includes the SmartPlug data port, which is expensive at $100 plus the two keystone ports to fit it: one for ethernet and one for a barrel jack connector for the Starlink power cable. Together that’s $137.29 for the port to exit the camper. Keystone components make it easy to snap in though. I do wonder if I could repurpose the two Furrion TV and Satellite ports instead, one for power and the other for ethernet. I’m sure it would take some cutting and modifying though. If I go the SmartPlug port route, then also adding the Victron Orion-Tr 12/24-5 to step up the voltage, and I would also need a stepdown regulator for the 5V/3A I would need for my GL-iNet Beryl router. I’ve found a cheap one with a USB C port for $9, and I could repurpose the 12V cigarette outlet in the attic for that. Total for that solution is $210, but if I could repurpose the existing Furrion ports I could save $137 and forgo the SmartPlug port. The POE solution is the MobileMustHave.com POE kit for the Mini at $149. This would be a much cleaner solution to me, using the wiring to the 12V port in the attic to power the POE injector. An added benefit to this one is that the injector has a USB-C 5V/3A output built-in, so I could use it to power my Beryl router as well. (It also has a 12V output for a Pepwave.) I don’t have to worry about wiring a separate boosted power supply for the dish and don’t need another power source for the router, and would only need an ethernet pass through coupler to get out of the camper. So the $149 POE kit and a $12 pass through coupler for $161. Decisions, decisions . . .

The houghton IS a great unit. But if they have not gone back to their SET 1 configuration with a remote thermostat and where the fan shuts down when the compressor shuts off then that is a significant concern for most owners. WHY? Most owners will not want to risk making the two mods to fix these SET 2 issues. Once the mods are made, then I still feel that the HOUGHTON 13.5 k unit is GREAT. It however does not have a condensate drain system as of last week when I I checked. But the larger 15K does. That said, I think the 15K unit is oversized for even hot weather use and would not recommend it as such. Also check the height difference. The 13,5 is a reduction over the Dometic OEM on most OE2's.

With the Atmos, the foam strip supplied to support/level the aft is the same density as that used around the roof cutout, which supports the weight of the unit.

Thanks for your kind words @GaRambler, I hope to get to a rally and meet other Oli owners too!! You folks with the Starlink Mini may also be interested in this compact, self-contained Starlink power supply. It gives the Mini extra portability so you can take it to the campsite of an internet-needy friend, or hiking, or a remote picnic. It uses six common 18650 rechargeable batteries that will power the Mini for several hours. This DIY “StarSled Go” was cleverly designed by @Everlanders using a 3D-printed case and electronic components from AliExpress. It has a power switch, voltage meter, and built-in BMS/equalizing charger. The case can be printed for a couple of dollars’ worth of filament, and parts are so ridiculously cheap that I built extras for fun and gifts. Message me if you’re interested in one. Cheers, Geoff

I guess I was thinking some kind of durable plastic material (HDPE, LDPE?) cut or milled to shape and “glued” to the room with RTV or some other sealant would be required. “Foam” is a kind of vague term. Could be squishy, compressible foam, or could be rigid. (I’d assume rigid would make more sense.)

So is the “fiberglass landing” actually part of the roof construction or is it an additional molded fiberglass piece bonded/glued to the roof? The reason I ask is if it is a separate piece we could purchase it from Oliver and glue it in place to support the air conditioner. If it’s part of the roof on the newer models……well I’d have to use part of a new roof gasket for support. Thanks

Haha, reminds me of what my brother-in-law said he learned in the marines about assume - it makes an ASS out of U and ME. I hate to admit that the older I get, the more I am reminded of that quote!

I too had the intent to simply replace my aging Trojan T-105's with AGM batteries when the time came. But, back in December, 2023 I decided that I had trusted these Trojans for a total of 8 seasons and I simply wasn't about to press my luck any further. So, I started the process of looking for a new set of AGM's. In doing this I was looking at various YouTube videos for recommendations and ran into a Will Prowse review of Li Time lithium batteries. The price and features (capacity and low temp shut off for charging) plus a big thumbs up from Will Prowse caught my attention. After I subtracted my 8 percent military discount (5% for those that didn't serve) from the Holiday sales price plus free shipping and then added back in the price of upgrading my on board charger to one with lithium capabilities, I was basically right at break even versus the price of decent AGM batteries. This plus the 5 year guarantee and what has turned out to be good customer service and 10 plus years life and half the weight, I'm now in the crowd with lithium. My point is that we are now at the price point where lithium is (at least) a serious contender even if one doesn't consider things like weight and longevity. Bill

Trojan has been the "standard" to be measured against for a long time. Not sure if that's really true anymore.. But from my research, I'd have zero hesitancy buying Brightway, if I were replacing today. (I'm not.)

Decalcified the Truma, but it’s good news- bad news. The water is much warmer, but it’s in low 80s. The temp is consistent now, so I guess I’ll run the decalc process again. Almost had a genuine OH SUGARFOOT moment. I did the flush in the bathroom, forgetting to open the drain. It had about an inch to go when I remembered to hit the switch 😳