Leaderboard

We are leaving for a two week adventure to Canyonlands and Capital Reef at 6 am tomorrow. The precautions we are taking is to avoid crowds and wash our hands every time we go to a rest stop, pump gas, or handle anything else that is publicly used and not frequently sanitized. We are both healthy so not terribly worried. We plan to never eat out and limit access to our Oliver. IF anyone asks to see it we will only do so if they look healthy and then just allow a peek inside. We will not let them wander around inside. My computer has lots of inside photos for them to enjoy. We did take some advice from CDC and stocked up on Mucinex, OTC cough suppressants (with expectorant), as well as tylenol and naproxen in case we get sick. We made sure we had enough grub for our trip including the driving days.

In another thread, @Nan asked about Maintenance schedules. @John E Davies responded with a link to his post with spreadsheets for Travel Logs, Service Records, and Inventory. John mentioned that you might need Numbers (IOS or Mac) or Excel (Mac and Windows) for these files. If you don't own this software, an alternative is to use free software for spreadsheets, such as Open Office or Google Sheets, which is part of Google Docs. I am posting today because I just updated my lists of Springtime tasks for the Oliver, including Sanitizing the Fresh Water System. I try to keep documents like this and my campground checklists to a single sheet of paper so that they fit into a sheet protector. I also took some info that Oliver posted on regular inspection and maintenance, and put them into three single sheet documents. I am going to upload them as Word documents (docx), so that they can be edited to fit your needs. Please let me know if you would like a pdf document, or an rtf version that can be edited with other software. I probably missed some important maintenance items, and I hope others will chime in. Maintenance - Spring Items.docx Maintenance - Sanitizing the Fresh Water System.docx Maintenance - MaxxAir Fan.docx Maintenance - Water Pump Filter.docx Maintenance - Window Tracks.docx

My invoice is filed away, but it looks like the one from; 'Point Supplies + Outdoors', sku #77417. Described, funny I thought as: 4" Sea Dog SS Butterfly Vent, center knob. Price was $ 6.99. It is described as 304SS. I was going to put the butterfly one outside, and a standard louvered vent inside. That way any stray shower water would be reflected down and away. What I found was that the holes didn't match up. Luckily I had ordered two of each, because of another project. I picked up 4 each SS machine 6 -32 X 1" machine screws and locknuts at a local hardware. What I didn't have was a 3 1/2" hole saw. What I found was around $ 33.00 for a hole saw and then $18.00 for a mandrel, at the big box lumber and hardware stores. Hmm, for a one time hole did I want to spend over $50? What I found was a whole kit of many many different sizes that I might never use( including mandrel and case) for $18.00 at Harbor Freight ( also had a coupon for 20% off and a free flashlight). It worked extremely well and left a very crisp edge on the back side, and I still have the saw if I need or want to cut another hole. I used a small round file (chain saw) to notch slots for the screws, as they are just outside the 3 1/2" . The wall is actually 7 /16" cored with 5 layer plywood. We did coat the exposed wood with some white oil base paint, that we happened to have, to prevent any possible moisture intrusion.

We have noticed that when the bathroom vent is on, and the door is closed, the vent struggles to get air, unless the window is open. It creates what amounts to negative pressure in the bathroom. You can open the bathroom door and hear the fan relax. By the same thinking, or reverse scenario, when the heat is on, it must create a positive pressure in the bathroom. As the air will take the path of least resistance, it will flow out the two vents in the main cabin (if those vents are open), and that is where the thermostat is too, the bathroom will stay noticeably cooler. This is especially true if the door is closed. So, what we did, is cut a 3 1/2" hole up high in the wall between the two rooms. We cut it up high so no shower water should show up there. Without the furnace running there was no airflow through the hole. When the furnace came on, the airflow through there would almost blow the candle flame out. We put an adjustable SS vent cover over the hole in both sides so the the airflow could be restricted from either side, if ever needed. It will let the airflow coming into the bathroom have a path back to the furnace return vent. The easy way of course is to leave the bathroom door open, but that is an inconvenience when we are sitting at the dinette. I have pictures but this new device is hiding its secret on how to release them. AF26ACAE-E520-4482-A0BF-FF56435C2233.MOV AF26ACAE-E520-4482-A0BF-FF56435C2233.MOV

It is frustrating when you locate what appears on the map to be a great spot, right next to swimming and a boat launch area.... the reality is often less appealing. This is Porcupine Bay CG, on Lake Roosevelt WA, operated by the Corps of Engineers. Most of their other campgrounds on this huge lake are OK to excellent. They know this one is bad, because there is a display showing “Proposed Development”. But the info is about twenty years old, faded and peeling, and they obviously never got the funding.... Looks great from 2000 feet up, but the Campground is not where indicated, that is the day use area. The sites are off to the left.... Somebody had the bright idea to turn those neat pull-through “Ollie friendly” sites into DOUBLE sites, by placing dividers and adding extra sign posts. Site 6 on the left is just 14 feet long.... Sure, I want to camp my mini Motorhome with my back window touching my neighbors back window, or pay for two spots per night to park my Ollie there. The sites are so narrow you can’t unhitch and park the TV next to the trailer. The off season rates make up for it, if you could fit. $9.00, or $4.50 with the Geezer Pass. These pics were taken in March, midweek at noon, and there was not a single soul around, though the boat ramp lot had a couple of dozen parked trailers. I was without “Mouse” but plan to never return.... John Davies Spokane WA

Anywhere but Walmart is often best. Got that. 😁

There have been days when any spot was a good one.....

Added a small canister of wipes for gas pump handles to the cab, to supplement the hand sanitizer that i always keep in the door pocket. Camping in your own trailer is probably the safest way to travel today, I think. Sherry

One picture came through. I'll try another.

We’ve been carrying them around for years hoping to never need them. So far, so good! It’s better to have them and not need them than to be stuck with the hand crank... Mike

John, Now that appears to be a neat little utility trailer and space saver to boot! Apogee will likely do well in the US market. I believe my 14’ Aluma was right around $3k after a bit of haggling as individual dealers set their own prices. This could likely be due to how many units ordered by a dealer and shipping costs from the Aluma plant to the dealer. -David

Here's my procedure - Empty water tank. Open drain valve, both faucets, Truma drain, and turn on pump. Raise trailer nose and tilt trailer toward curb side. Allow to drain until empty, then turn off pump and faucets and close Truma drain and drain valve. Lower trailer nose to back level and tilt trailer slightly to street side. Mix ½ cup of bleach into 5 gallons of water. Set pump valves and pump all five gallons into tank. Reset pump valves to normal operation. Begin to fill the remainder of the fresh tank from the city water connection. While tank is filling, turn on pump, and run each faucet, both hot and cold, until you smell chlorine and all the air is out of the system. Allow tank to fill until water flows from the overflow by the door. Let sit for 24 hours. Turn on pump and run both faucets until all water is transferred to grey tank. Refill fresh tank . Let sit for 48 hours. Empty grey tank. Refill fresh tank and repeat step 5. Empty grey tank again.