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A bit of rain last night with a low temp of 51 degrees at Lower Sunshine Reservoir just outside Meteetse, WY.

You are 💯correct on the stamping of the hitch sleeve being different on each coupler during BD’s production. This has to be accounted for and calculated when drilling new holes for a proper fit. My buddy who is a machinist measured each of the 1/2” coupler holes individually and then transferred and dialed in those exact measurements onto the new 2 5/16 coupler. He totally nailed and fit was better than factory. An inside pic of how different the couplers actually are. Pic of the bottom of the 2” coupler on the left and the new 2 5/16 coupler on the right. You cannot see the difference in the sleeve fold, but it’s not the same and thus requires exact measurement of each hole prior to drilling for proper precise alignment and fitment on the tongue. My buddies tools of the trade and his knowledge were invaluable today.

Wow. I am truly impressed. We just bought our 2019 Oliver E2. I am thinking I will have it cleaned and new coating next year. Had to replace the water backflow valve and my heater won’t ignite. Thinking it may need new sail switch. We love it. Thanks. Martin & Linda

Good discussion! Just measured the Bulldog 2 5/16" coupler and 1 7/8" ball mount/ball and discovered the following. With the 2 5/16" coupler with collar lock installed, a thief can easily back up to a trailer with 2 5/16" coupler, lower it on a 1 7/8" ball and drive away (not sure how far the 1 7/8" hitch would make it). My current 2" Bulldog coupler is still on Ollie stored at the airport, doubt it will slip over a 1 7/8" ball if locked with a collar lock like the Bulldog 2 5/16" coupler, but will check. At the most narrow inside portion of the 2 5/16" coupler with collar locked measures 1.91" A 1 7/8" ball measures 1.87" outside diameter A theft deterrent for the Bulldog 2 5/16" coupler needs to have the ball opening covered or filled to prevent this type of theft. I like using the Bulldog coupler latch locked with a long shank padlock while in transit and for storing the chains with the emergency brake cable snap-hook. Also use an inexpensive Universal Coupler Ball Lock that Fits 1-7/8", 2" and 2-5/16" couplers. Previous Bulldog hitch discussion:

That roof vent vents the black tank all the time and the gray tank only when the shower valve is open. There is an AAV - air admittance valve - under the kitchen counter in the back right corner of the kitchen drawers that should allow air into the gray tank when draining even if the shower valve is closed once the water level drops below the place where the kitchen sink drain enters the gray tank. The bath sink drain and shower drain flow through the open shower valve to the gray tank. Bill

I had removed the Dometic Penguin A/C prior to this work. I temporarily filled the 14x14” opening with a piece of plywood to keep dust out while allowing Cameron the room above to make the entire rear roof shine! It’s always a mess under an old A/C. Good thing we did because the new Chill Cube is a foot shorter to the rear. With my son’s help, we installed the new Furrion Chill Cube A/C. One last task was to restore the rear bumper area. I removed the mounts for the bicycle rack we don’t use, drilled out more rivets and removed the deck plate and folding bumper. I cleaned the inside waste hose area, and steel brushed, sanded and ceramic coated all parts. I've been wanting to write this up for a few months now. Chris is out of town on her annual "Sisters Trip." Adam's been working overtime and it's boring being home alone. That’s it – she’s all done! 😎 When it's time for some love again, I'll drop her off with Cameron for a renewal! No more Ugly Duckling, but quite the Beautiful Swan she is now!

"The Ugly Duckling is a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a duckling who is rejected by his siblings due to his unusual appearance. After enduring hardship and loneliness, he matures into a beautiful swan, illustrating the theme that true beauty comes from within and that one should not be judged by outward appearances.” We were fortunate to find our Oliver three years ago for sale right in our neighborhood! And at the time, we had no idea what an Oliver is and what makes it special! It didn’t take long though, since just 5 days after we first viewed our Oliver was paid in full, so the prior owner delivered it to our home on June 7th 2023. This day is also Chris’ birthday and what a special surprise it was. Chris loves every time we get away in our Oliver, and me too! I generally buy used vehicles in good condition, letting the original owner absorb the new-price depreciation. I enjoy fixin’ them up, making them as good as new and better, making them mine! From the start, I had planned on making repairs, mods and upgrades with a budget an additional $15,000, just for parts. With good patience, ample time and craftsmanship she could become something special! Hull #113 was well cared for; prior owners kept her clean and often kept her covered. She returned to the factory in 2018 and 2021 for maintenance and other services; new white blinds, new Atwood furnace and much more. Also in 2021, she moved from Florida to Las Vegas and was ceramic coated at the time. Always from the South and SW has kept corrosion at bay. Good records were kept and we are now the 4th owners. She looked good when we first got her and everything was in working order.

To all single axle Ollie owners, have you ever needed to have the black tank dump valve replaced? How much fun was that?! There is virtually NO room underneath to wrangle a wrench into in order to remove the bottom bolt. I’ve owned The Wonder Egg for 18 years now and it seems about every 9 years, the black tank dump valve begins to seep “water”. The first time I took it to my local, reliable, RV repair shop, Boerne RV, the technician stated that job was so difficult he almost quit being an RV tech! Well, here it is, 9 years later and I just had Beorne RV replace that *!%#! Valve again, I told them to feel free to make any modification to the trailer to simplify the process. Here’s the brilliant idea they came up with . . . A sealed, water-tight exterior access panel directly underneath the valve.

Glad you’re enjoying your “vintage” Oliver! Over time, you’ll be replacing and upgrading items as they wear out. There are a couple of backflow valves to watch, the one at the back of the trailer and one on the black tank flush line. The sail switch is one thing I’ve never done, our furnace keeps chugging away. The front cover did fall off once creating lots of heat under the bed but nothing coming out of the vents! Keep us posted on your maintenance and upgrades - Mike

Glad to see all that have been successful drilling holes in the new hitch that match the trailer tongue. I worked with a friend with a Comercial machine shop and we missed the vertical location for one of the hole sets in the tongue. We were close but it was a miss. The challenge for us was the lack of precision of the bulldogs production. The stamping folding the shape of the hitch sleeve is different between each hitch. Coaching will be appreciated.

New Bulldog 4B4 coupler drilled, de-burred, cleaned, primed and painted, installed and torqued down. Another project completed despite the smokin heat and humidity of the day. I could not be happier with the final product fit and finish of this mini mod. A big thanks to a close friend who owns a machine shop that does precision work. He measured twice and drilled once. For those running the S/S coupler, I applied double sided tape a few years ago on inside of the coupler to keep it from the metal to metal wearing the paint thin on the coupler. It worked great, so I reapplied it again with new tape. I opted for silver metallic to match the swooshes on XPLOR. A few mod/upgrade photos.😎 Safe Travels! My buddy Brian gotter done! Thanks Brother!!

Yep, they can use your safety cables, or any cheap truck mounted WINCH can pick up the relatively light tongue weight of the Oliver. At least with tongue down there would be no damage to the jack if towed away. Whether you have the cheap hitch locks I have or all the fancy hardware shown in pictures above, the fallacy is thinking the thief would need to mount the hitch ball to steal your trailer. When stealing a trailer, they are certainly not going to hitch up the way you do! 🤣 They will chain it up in seconds and drive away. When we travel, we only leave our Oliver for a few hours on a day trip, never overnight. At home, the Oliver is safe on our lot with neighbors watching. We have an Apple Tag with speaker disabled to locate her if needed. And the best preventive is there cannot be a black market for stolen Oliver parts! Winnebago parts maybe, OTT not so much! On this last point, we should all stop worrying. However, in your case GJ, leaving your Oliver stored out of sight for months while you're thousands of miles away, I would lock the frame or wheels to the foundation of the building or at least lock a pair of tandem wheels together. I used to store a cargo trailer on our lot here when we lived full time in Texas. Since it sat here 6 months at a time, I would run a HD chain locking tandem wheels to each other and then to the trunk of a tree! This trailer wasn't going anywhere and btw a cargo trailer likely has greater black-market value than a specialty trailer like the Oliver.

Of course, but the goal is to turn the fan OFF leaving the vent door OPEN. This doesn't work well. The noise starts with the first action and often ours doesn't respond quickly enough to start re-opening. Rubbing alcohol is one of the lightest solvents. I rub it on the gelcoat or ANY other surface to prep for 3M VHB tape. The fan is crystal clear after several applications. Yeah, basically to clean it thoroughly you must remove disassemble all parts. Yes, very strange and reason I contacted the manufacturer first. On our unit, the FAN OFF control closes the vent door too.

Good point JD. When I leave our Ollie in a location where it could be at risk, I lower the tongue (via the jack) closer to the ground and remove the fuse. If not in use (think power to the frig.) I kill the master switch. The thief would need to pick up the 560 pound tongue or haul it away using the safety cables. Doing so makes our Ollie more of a PITA to relocate. A collar lock and other means is gravy to boot. GJ

Walker Fork Campground (BLM) approx 15 miles north of Chicken, AK. 33 degrees this morning but warmed up nicely while we panned for gold...not much luck...this time. Dirt courtesy of Top of the World Highway coming from Dawson City, Yukon Territory.

Just 4 days after our Oliver was delivered, I joined our great OTT Forum. My two favorite sections are "Where's Ollie" and "Ollie Modifications" where I frequent often! Early on, Bill @topgun2 referred to our hulls as "cousins" (our #113 and his #117). There are a lot of us with 2016 and older Olivers. These 10+ year-old Olivers have had nothing but special care through the years. I hear Scotty is just starting a renewal project of his own! You wrote "cost of ownership" vs. purchase price." As written above, I had budgeted 15,000 for upgrades (plus 1000 +/- hours in sweat equity) in addition to a very good used price for the hull. My detailed spreadsheet has documented a total of $16,120, so I'm a little over budget. This includes new D52 axles with Alcan Springs, 5 Victron devices, 900 Ah Epoch Essentials, new Chill Cube A/C and so many other documented upgrades. It includes an Emeril Air Fryer, new luxury bedding, new custom upholstered dinette seat cushions, additional shelving, multiple exhaust fans, etc. It includes every bracket, roll of tape, every nut and bolt I used in the last 3 years. I figure our cost of ownership, everything included, is 70% of the cost of a fully optioned new Oliver. Wouldn't trade her for a new Oliver, no way! I've made better choices in our upgrades, and I do better work than the contract installers OTT hires. Then there's the little things like this for example: Yeah, couldn't wait to ditch the dish! That thing was HUGE! I put a Winegard RZ-7500 TV antenna in its place (using 3M VHB tape, NO screw holes). It still appears to be large, but it's actually less than half the size of the Dish! As far as Starlink, I have that and our Pepwave cellular router built into the tow vehicle instead, so it's always with us while camping and on day trips. Picture shows the front roof completed, but before the detailing work. I hate caulking and I'm not good at it. I made a mess with Dicor caulk, not using that product again! But it looks great from the ground! 🤣 And no more useless Wi-Fi Ranger and cameras up top. Yes, the older hulls have some bonuses, some you mentioned, and the little things like separate switches for Entry and Side Porch lights (ours now have lights fore and aft too). Oliver Hull #113 is a family member. Our son Adam got to know her, camping the month of April around the Prescott NF. She will always be with us. 😎

An autobody professional I’ve used before suggested a local guy who runs a detailing shop at the far end of Chino Valley, the town north of Prescott. Cameron came by our home, looked over the Oliver carefully, at every angle. He explained what he would do and gave me a reasonable quote. We picked a start date and shook hands. He asked for 2 weeks, so he could work on our Oliver along with other scheduled work. When 2 weeks had come, he asked another two days to “to really get her right!” She was a thing of beauty, in that every square inch of the hull was shining so brightly! We have never seen our hull in this amazing condition. While Cameron was working on the shine, I was working on restoring or replacing all the trim parts. I painted the fridge vents, the furnace and HWH covers a medium gray to match the Oliver graphics and the gray on our truck.

Maybe I can glue some astroturf to the inside of the door. Or, use some of the rat fur that’s inside a Casita? We’ll probably just live with it. Mike

Same here Bill, Possibly Lippert had a bad run at some point? It sure is a costly replacement for something that should last a long time. 😒

Or you have to replace your refer...... If so, then either you remove the door, or take a saws-all to the ole Dometic inside the cabin. What a mess. Not a good design decision..... GJ

I heard it from a naked rat.