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You’ve got a really good truck and RV, so well equipped to overcome any anxiety! Ease into your adventures and you will soon gain confidence while enjoying the RVing experience!

Glacier National Park Grinnell Glacier hike with our son who joined us in our LEII for 5 nights! (All that humanity kept setting of the “propane” detector every night 😜)

Drill a hole down thru the two nuts and bolts that hold the coupler the tongue. Drive a hardened roll pin into the hole and spot weld it in place. Nobody, including yourself, will be able to simply take the bolts out. They could grind the bolt head or the nut completely off, but that would slow them down considerably with the chance they'll see it in the same light as Sherry and, "go on to an easier target". Don't forget that if they come with a ball mount that has a 1-7/8" ball attached, they can simply lower the trailer onto the ball, wrap and secure a short length of chain around it and slowly drive away. So this brings up two more deterrents that are needed. 1 - You need to have disabled the power to your front jack (although they could have brought a floor jack and the tool to manually lower the jack just in case.) 2 - You need a spare, appropriately sized ball with the shank cut off to keep locked inside the Bulldog Hitch to further thwart the miscreants. Or, you could just bury a perimeter of M18A1 Claymore's around the trailer. But this would probably involve a cleaner and/or a lot of paperwork. Really, just buy a Proven Lock for your hitch and fuggedaboutit.

After 8 years of use it was time to retire the Dometic air conditioner. I have looked at several brands and for one reason or another I decided on the Tosot brand which is the same as the Atmos brand and probably others as well. Since last summer the Dometic has been making fan bearing noises off and on and I’ve grown tired of climbing on the roof to oil the motor. After eight years I really didn’t want to replace the motor only to have something else fail so this was an excellent excuse to replace it with a higher efficiency quiet unit. We’ve been traveling out west for the past three and a half months and were passing “close” to Elkhart Indiana so decided to drop in and visit the SDG folks. The entire replacement process was perfectly coordinated and our installer Joe knew exactly what needed to be done. We’ve camped out in their parking lot the night before with 30 amp shore power available. The next morning at 8:00 AM I backed our trailer into their shop and about two hours later the job was done. They even printed a custom cover plate to cover up the holes from the old Dometic thermostat. We were able to sleep through the night with the air conditioner running for the first time in 8 years without having to use earplugs, and to watch television at half volume instead of full volume! The air registers force air towards the front of the trailer instead of most all of the cold air being forced onto the bed area. We’re parked in central Ohio for a few days and it’s very hot and humid but the air conditioner is keeping the Oliver very dry and comfortable. On low fan the unit draws about 9 ac amps. Running from the inverter the inverter draws 94 dc amps. The Dometic on inverter would draw between 130 - 140 dc amps under similar conditions. We are extremely pleased with the work that SDG provided and with the comfort and efficiency of the Tosot unit. I strongly recommend the folks at SDG for the air conditioner replacement. They have done several Oliver air conditioner replacements and have experience in replacing/installing air conditioners on many different rv types.

I am researching for boondocking sites in Eastern States, and happened upon this MAP VIEW on BLM's website. I hadn't seen this before and I find it informative and useful, so I just thought I would share it here. It's telling -- nothing is available for dispersed camping with BLM east of the Texas panhandle, with the few exceptions being far northern reaches of Minnesota and a couple in Wisconsin. https://webmaps.blm.gov/program_apps/BLM_Natl_Recreation_Opportunities/

I've seen some solar powered ones that don't need a power source.

Our Tessie was black and white. She and Maestro (cat #1) were travel buddies. (Maestro was the boss.)

Much better. TY

Hey John, Here is the link for RVlock.com - https://www.rvlock.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=1748190371&utm_content=69572607838&utm_term=rvlock v4&gadid=392517272318&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=1748190371&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5onGBhDeARIsAFK6QJYJgFt5RvAk6-wVwyX33R2FaM6mQ2LRvyTXSJpmPQMbw1L02n294R8aAvwnEALw_wcB As for the specific model I believe it is the V4, but if you give RVlock a call I am pretty sure they can get you the exact model you need, they have sold a lot of locks. It’s been a long time since purchased and I installed ours. Blueberries were at rest this season. We pruned heavily last fall. Next summer we hope for a good crop! 😊 Safe travels as you make your way back to SC! Hello to Wendy!

No easy path! 🤣 The outer and interior shells of the Oliver are tight and in-between, lot'sa luck in doing so. Many have asked, but nobody on this forum has demonstrated a viable build. Perhaps it's an idea that does not have a feasible solution. IMO, drop the idea. In the same vain, I wonder why some want an inferior 12V television, when with LiFePO4 batteries an inverter can simply run an 120VAC TV. 12V TVs have limited selection and truly lame resolution. Instead I prefer to run a 4K high-def Samsung monitor, 3/4" thin white and beautiful on 120VAC. IMHO...

Reason to ask more questions! There's no such thing as a dumb question (what I tell my students daily in project management training). Many members here want to help. All questions are good and you've already shown you search the forum first, ask good questions, and have quickly added a proper signature. To operate trucks, tow vehicles effectively, and towing trailers requires a wealth of knowledge! What can we help you with! 😂

https://onnaisafe.com/

Bring up your cute little kitten soon in the Oliver and s/he will love it. Spend time in the Oliver and driving in the tow vehicle regularly, no problems. Dogs are easy. Charley loves the Oliver, though he prefers the TV and the sound of the Cummins! We better have him in his personal back seat in the truck, before I start 'er up, or he thinks we could leave without him! He doesn't understand we would never leave without him! 🐶

Similarly to the map for BLM dispersed camping, I found this map for USFS camping. It does have a lot more available in Eastern States. https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/a695e1dbdeab4e8ba5c6ad4fd06a0ba0#zoom_to_selection=true

No recent mention of the many tracking devices used and recommended by Oliver owners in this forum. Not to highlight the referenced tracker in the above 2016 post, but rather bring attention to the fact that GPS trackers are readily available and a useful tool in the event of theft.

As @ScubaRx says, invest in the Proven Industries lock and go camping. If you pull into a CG that just does not feel right, rely on your gut or sixth sense move on. 48 days out west last fall and we never had a concern about our Oliver being stolen. Certainly wise to be really careful where you boondock as well. Leaving your Oliver unattended in a remote location is certainly a more welcome invite to a thief. Have the best insurance you can buy. Just a note, the search engine on this forum is just well….ok at best. If you have a subject you really want to dive into try and google it first. This approach will likely get you to the topic on this forum much faster. Many questions you may have will likely have been covered already and if you can’t locate them through a google search ask away on here or take deep dive in Oliver University. Oliver goes to great lengths to provide DIY videos and manuals. Welcome to the community and go enjoy your Oliver! Here is a quick link to a Proven Industries lock. - https://www.provenlocks.com/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=623644265&gclid=Cj0KCQjwoP_FBhDFARIsANPG24P24V7cZluGHT9hqzS1qag2vawvTXC7gbReb0s4vqcAJnJaBvIhm9saAmYsEALw_wcB

Welcome Pat to our wonderful Oliver TT Forum and Community!

Thank you. There are more subjects coming...and working on our signature.

Where there is a will, there is always a way. We all do what we can to make our trailers take more time to deal with, and hope they'll go on to an easier target. Imo

Our SL mini arrived today. Very impressed with the ease of a 10 minute set up including PW and latest updates. I think this will do the trick for us as far as comm goes. It even fits down in my Osprey Day Lite pack. Waiting on the Stiker protective case which is scheduled for delivery this sat. I will post up more user info once we get back on the road and put this tech to use. SpaceX we have a Starlink lift off!! 😊 Front yard initial set up. The mini fits easily in my Osprey Daylite plus pack.

I ended up taking the rails and nightstand off. I ordered a custom mattress from Tochta to fit the space. Made a wood platform to span the middle and use the area underneath for storage and the dog bed. John

We have the twin bed version of the LEII. After the first year we realized that we were so used to sleeping together that it would be nice to be able to occasionally convert the twin beds to a double bed. I made some plywood pieces to span the gap between the twin beds and we bought some foam to sit on the plywood and create a double bed. We went with this for a year+. The problem was storing the foam when we were in the twin bed mode. So, we measured and discussed and this is what we came up with to eliminate the extra foam. We are leaving tomorrow for a month or so to go up to South Dakota so we’ll see how it works. Here is the gap between the twin beds. It measures 18” X 51”. It’s actually 50” from the nightstand to where the curve starts on the bed frames. Here is the same gap with the plywood. There are three pieces measuring 19” X 17”. It’s 3/4” plywood. The plywood stores easily under the mattresses when not in use. I cut a 1/2” X 1/8” recess on the short side of the plywood so that when placed on the fiberglass mattress frame is locks in place and won’t slide. In order to eliminate the extra foam that required a place to store we reconfigured the dinette cushions. We had new cushions made that included a larger back cushion that measures 25” X 19” and is 6” thick. In the dinette it sits on the fiberglass, not the bottom cushion. The new bottom cushion is smaller, 25” X 17” and butts up against the back cushion. The larger back cushions sit on the plywood when in double bed mode. Here are the new dinette cushions. Notice the back cushion does not sit on the bottom cushion. Here’s a shot with the cushion removed to make the double bed. Here are the cushions on the plywood. We were a little concerned that the dinette seats wouldn’t be as comfortable with the thicker back, but sitting in the driveway the last few days it seems okay. Also, we wondered if the bottom cushion would stay put without the back cushion sitting on top of it. We’ll see how it works out this next month on the road. Mike

We've also had 2 RVLocks fail. Will install something else next time.

We've had two RVLocks fail, on the first one a circuit board failed, the second one had a mechanical failure which we were advised (by the manufacturer) to loosen the internal screws that held a metal plate in place; I don't have a lot of confidence in the second fix but it seems to be working for now. Lot's of people seem to have this lock and are happy with it though.

Thanks...I'll try to limit my dumb questions...Never owned a truck, never owned an RV...KInd of overwhelming...