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This is not a matter of talking sense into anyone, but only a matter of knowing a bit of the history of these older plaques. Anyone that has an older Ollie without a hull # plaque should contact me. Bill

We've been toting around the little Weber Q for years, long before we got our Oliver. I've gotten tired of this old grill, the folding side shelves, the rickety rolling stand. Recently, we became interested in the Napoleon PRO285-BK Grill. There are high-end models with built-in stands, but I thought they would be heavy and awkward to stow. It's a little bigger and heavier than the Q, but beats adding a second cooking device, like having a grill and a Brookstone (this has optional griddle inserts) and it offers indirect cooking, given the 2-burner design that cannot be had on a single-burner grill. List price is $329 plus tax (was $299 on Amazon last week, but not anymore). Then I found this company. I was a little skeptical at first, with their Chinese-like name (a Kansas Co, shipped from Hayes KS). And then when Trust Pilot and other online sources said good to OK things about them with a few years of history. I made the purchase last Sunday, they shipped Tuesday and we received it today in excellent condition, only a few scuffs on the box. You cannot beat this deal! Today the price is $228.65 but they do NOT charge shipping and NO sales tax! I paid $201.75 TOTAL last week, OMG. 🤣 Are you looking for a new grill? https://sansujyuku.com/product/napoleon-travelq-pro-285-sq-in-black-portable-liquid-propane-grill-pro285-bk/ We also purchased these extras. Leaving soon on a 5-week trip and can't wait to eat the food Chris cooks using our improved cooking equipment! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L6EMW0U/?th=1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077SLW6L4/?th=1

You may want to consider a much longer hose than 6’. We use an 18’ hose from the LP QC’s on our Oliver. 😎

NP You're welcome Steve & Mary Allyn! Let us know if you get one. I was amazed at the price with this reseller, and even with their recent price increase, it's a still $130 savings off vs. Amazon with tax. They emailed me after delivery to ask if all was OK. I replied to thank them positively, and they replied again with another $5 discount if I would post a review on Trust Pilot. I would have done so anyway. This newer company is legit. They seem to sells mostly tires with deals on some other products. Yeah @Geronimo John, like most LP appliances, except for high-pressure cooktops, you just need to remove the regulator in lieu of the Oliver onboard regulator. I didn't see the Napoleon hose and purchased this one, half price of the name brand. You just need two 3/4" or 19mm wrenches to change it out in a minute. Went for the 12 ft hose so we can tailgate without adding our Y-extension that connects our fire ring too. On short overnight stops, I can be lazy and not even lift it out of the truck! On cold nights and short stays, I've also fired up our fire ring just sitting in the front Oliver basket. I had some 1/8" thin rubber stock at home and cut a 2x3' grill mat. There are many fitting silicone mats for purchase on Amazon too. Any hose like this works. One this model you would not use the extra fitting used for 1# tanks. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NCXY39M/?th=1 Chris slowly seasoned the grates the day before in our oven (could have done it in the grill set at a low). We fired it up yesterday. It went right up to 400F in literally 2 minutes. Then I lifted the lid a few minutes to let it cool down, put both burners on the lowest setting, and temp sat constantly at 180F. Don't think this was possible in the Weber Q which stayed pretty hot on low. Two-burner control, indirect cooking and the griddle option should be nice. It's a bit bigger, though it still fits nicely in the back of our truck with room for our lawn chairs to the side of it. Countdown 4 days 'til we leave on our 5-week trip! (longest trip to date for us)

JD, that's a great deal for a Napoleon grill. Thanks for sharing. GJ, apparently the video is misleading. The manufacturer offers a low-pressure RV hose as an option.

Sure, but, they are already pretty. 😇

I got it. This was totally my error. I was clicking on the wrong place on my profile. The instructions were clear, paste on signature. Sorry for creating a cluster "F__K"🙃

Can you PM me the name of who you talked to about this? Bill

The video says it uses liquid propane. That's a tilt unless there is a conversion kit to feed it low pressure propane gas. Hopefully the video is not accurate of what it really is fed. GJ

What’s happening over there? This is as bad as them telling @John Dorrer $1000 to replace the main battery breaker (that went bad) with an ANL fuse and holder ($73 parts retail and an hour of labor). Ours has the #113 plaque which must have been added during a 2020 service. I would pass if I had to buy one. And come on, #45 is a true classic! Hopefully Bill can talk some sense in them…

Yeah Ken, I tried this when you first mentioned it to me. Didn't help on our valves. I found the reason when I got inside of the valves. The black cable was hard to pull due to 2 bends in the 12' cable. The gray valve had soooo much goo on the blade from past owners putting who knows what soaps and/or additives in the drains. I did silicone grease those rods per your advise during the install. A few trips and dumps later bother valves are still very smooth.

John, three words tell the story “made in china”! I used to have a giant pack of T&B wire ties. They had a stainless steel ratchet piece molded in. Once you pulled them tight you could not get them to loosen. They even lasted forever outside. It’s a different world now.

All looked good. I was able to snap the window shade back in after checking that the connection points were secure. Thanks for the help. John

I see there’s a bit of a gap between the window frame and inside wall (black arrow), when you have the shade removed check to see if the screws that secure the window frame (red arrow) to the main window are not lose, but pay attention not to over tighten them, they strip easily.

Thanks Rich, it looks easy to fix. I see that I used the wrong term. I meant the window shade. Thanks again for finding that video. John

We've had the same issues with our blackwater valve cable. Impossible to pull out and when closing the valve, it never closed completely so I always had to go back into the trailer to push on the metal stop to ensure it was well-seated. In the last few days, we installed a Barker AutoDrain. The switch is located along the upper edge just inside the basement. We placed it there because the switch is too large for the space created when we removed the black tank handle. We also located it where we felt the risk of damage would be reduced, but we still need to be careful when stowing supplies in the basement. As long as we are talking black tanks, I have been perpetually annoyed when, after dumping the black tank, having to go back into the trailer to turn on the water pump so I can wash my hands. To address this minor annoyance, I added a marine-grade, water-pump switch that is mounted where the black tank valve handle was previously located, and I can now turn the water pump on and off from outside next to the shower. No more going in and out of the trailer at the dump station to wash my hands.

The red arrow is not the window frame, it’s the window shade. Here is an Oliver video that shows how the window shade is removed/secured.

Heck - some of us are scary enough even without getting dressed up! However, a mask just might do me some good.😁 Bill

Sept & Oct are very popular shoulder months for those of us who travel long distances. It will be interesting to hear what attendance will be like. We won’t be attending.

More info - https://www.napoleon.com/en/us/grills/products/portable-grills/travelq-pro-series/travelq-pro285-pro285-bk

Final update: After 3 internal fires and 2 failed complete Truma units, and a request for a Truma Escalation, the company (Truma) stepped up and replaced our whole water heater unit and external (kinda warped/melted) door under a "warranty exception" after finding another problem in the unit during testing of the new Recall burner. That make the 3rd Truma water heater installed in our hull. This one now is fully registered and has a 1 year warranty. Hope this one is the last we need to install. Craig (Hull 505 - aka Galway Girl)

@Rivernerd - Thank you for the tips and positive feedback! I will be mindful of downshifting in the mountains; in Florida, driving is practically all coasting (haha). It's good to know that the Sawtooths are a solid pick for my first foray. Given the timeframe, I am set on the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway (my 3B) plus hiking in Twin Falls. Unfortunately, the 'reservable' cg spots around Redfish Lake and Stanely Lake were already full last week; also full at many of the nearby locations, but there are quite a few FF as mentioned, so I am hoping for something to be available. It will be mid-week when I drive through the area. If wildfires or extreme heat don't deter me, I plan to drive back to Idaho later in the summer, making a different pass at fishing and camping. I also found references to the Dark Sky Reserve, though they don't have any events posted online yet for this year. That Highway 12 looks very interesting, as well as the Rte 75 north to Montana. Definitely looks inviting. I think I may take this route later in the summer. I remember that you mentioned the dredge on another thread, and it looks really interesting. Plus, the FISHING! Yay! @John Dorrer - Crater of the Moon is my first stop - the camping is limited and FF, and I will be arriving on a Sunday, so fingers crossed! Thank you all for your input!

The VIN is printed on the two labels on the lower forward street side of the trailer. To the right of the reflector in the photo. It’ll also be on your sales paperwork from Oliver. Unfortunately Oliver doesn’t do a more permanent stamped number on the aluminum frame somewhere, at least not on ours anywhere.

Oliver is very protective of owner information. If a directory is to be created it would have to be a private endeavor. And even then I would not post a link to that info here. Owners are very proud of their Hull #'s. I think it's a great tradition and glad that Oliver came up with the plaque idea. We got ours (#145) at the 2019 rally and mounted it above the switches LH side of the entry.

Do any other manufacturers like Airstream do this? I was quite pleased when mine arrived a while ago. Thanks for the history lesson. I would like to see a company FAQ page with the full story of the early days, with comments like the one above. John Davies Spokane WA

The plaques were started sometime in 2019 because there was a problem that arose using the last 4 digits of the VIN as your hull number. Oliver had been assigning hull numbers in that manner since the first trailers were built in 2007. Each year's production just started with the VIN that was one number higher than the last years final VIN. Then in 2019 the state of TN told them they could no longer do it that way and each year's VIN's had to start back over at 0001. Rodney Lomax asked me just how important the "Hull Number" was to the owners. I replied that in 2008 Larry Harmon (Hull #003) and I had discovered the way the trailers were numbered and we started keeping up with who had which number way back then. We owned a 2008 Elite (Hull # 026). I told Rodney that most current owners would feel they were important enough to keep the system going. Thus the numbered plaques. At the annual Oliver Owner's rally in 2019 at Guntersville, AL, the appropriate plaques were given out to each of the owners of older trailers that were in attendance to be mounted in their trailer. Since then, the plaques are installed at the factory upon completion of each unit.

I mounted ours on the sidewall of the microwave cabinet, inside the door, under the switches. We were really happy to receive ours. The early hulls, like ours, didn't get one originally.

Well, that's not the case anymore... Inquired about a month or so ago and they said they wouldn't send one out for free anymore. They are more than happy to sell me one for $237.00 dollars though! 😲