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I go down to the camper in the winter. Turn on the heater, turn on lights, turn on the tv, maybe watch a movie. The solar has snow and ice on it. Usually around 13.4 on the meter when I leave. The sad part is when I forget to turn off a light. Now get dressed again, after dark of course, find a flashlight, wade through fresh fallen snow. Only to find out it wasn't a light after all, it was just a reflection of the moon on a window. Just like camping.

I have raised the trailer without unhitching if it’s not too far off. I have also unhitched from the ball but kept the Andersen attached. When done, just lower back down, close the hitch and done. I also use blocks under the jack to limit the distance the jack has to move to just a couple of inches.

This isn't a gadget, but it sure is handy to keep around. Shoe Goo. My favorite hiking boots, and my favorite waterproof shoes, have both had issues with the soles coming detached in places, in the last few years. The stuff is waterproof when cured (24 to 72 hours). It's messy and true to it's "goo" name. Goes on like sticky putty, but it really works. Best if you have a way to clamp it while it cures if you're fastening the sole to the boot.

We picked up our Ollie II in August (Hull 657) and had what may be the same or related problem. In our case, we could not get into the trailer at a gas station. We had not locked either the latch or the deadbolt. After much anguish I finally got it open and figured out that the strike plate was very slightly misaligned from the factory and needed to be adjusted out maybe a 16th to 32nd of an inch. Otherwise, when the door was closed softly, the latch failed to extend all the way into the striker plate when the door was otherwise closed and latched. After several hundred miles of driving, the latch apparently became jammed in the half extended position. The simple solution was to apply a little pressure against the outside edge of the door by the lock until you hear a "click" when the latch fully extends. Once the latch has fully extended, the door opens fine with the handle.

Thanks, Townesw. I contacted progressive, they shipped me out a replacement panel. And the at did it. The 50 decibel hum that drove me crazy is gone. the silence is amazing!

It just so happens that when we park our unit it faces almost perfectly North and South. So with the panels being flat they catch the morning sun, the noontime sun as it passes over head, and the afternoon sun....all 7 hours or so. We probably also have more unexpected wind than sun, so being flat works, for us. Now an automatic tracker for the panels might be nice, but I have yet to exceed my power needs.

I go down to the camper in the winter. Turn on the heater, turn on lights, turn on the tv, maybe watch a movie. The solar has snow and ice on it. Usually around 13.4 on the meter when I leave. The sad part is when I forget to turn off a light. Now get dressed again, after dark of course, find a flashlight, wade through fresh fallen snow. Only to find out it wasn't a light after all, it was just a reflection of the moon on a window. Just like camping.

Given that I cover my Oliver while in storage, the rooftop solar panels are useless. However, I do plug in a small 25 watt solar panel for the purpose of keeping the batteries charged. The climate in Western North Carolina is kinder/milder than others I can think of, but, we do get down into the teens for short periods a couple of times over the winter. I make sure that everything possible is turned off inside the Ollie, I turn off the rooftop solar panels and I "trip" the two main breakers so that there is minimal current draw. Each Spring and the several times I check on the camper over the winter, the batteries are always fully charged and ready to go. Bill

As an experiment I have not plugged in our Oliver since bringing it home, while at home. That was 2017. I have plugged in at CG to run electric element in water heater and the AC heat strip, but not at home. The solar has kept me charged with ice and snow on it. The only caution I have taken is to make sure the batteries are topped off with distilled water at the end of the season, and again at wake up...

Lol...I have the Shoe Goo too. Funny, but when you think about it. Here I am, carrying around stuff to fix an old pair of favorite $30 sneakers (sorry, hiking shoes), in a $60k + camper, when maybe I should have gotten a new pair? But they have packaged the stuff in such a new small tube, and you never know when you might need it. And toothpicks to spread it with...

Shoe goo is great for in the field repairs. For home, barge cement works super well for soles that are delaminating. But carrying some shoe goo on the road is easier than carrying barge cement thinner (for cleaning old glue off before regluing) as well as the barge cement, and a little less nasty to deal with as well. And it also helps with filling torn holes etc. I have both on hand at home and have used each in the last year for sure.

I second the SeaDawg's recommendation of Shoe Goo. Several times while traveling, my wife has had sections of hiking boots or walking/running shoes come loose and flap around. Shoe Goo does an excellent job re-attaching the loose parts. I also experimented with various clamps, but have settled on using thick rubber bands stretched across the area being glued. Having about 8-10 thick rubber bands will provide the capability to fix nearly any area of a shoe. Carrying a batch of rubber bands around is also much easier than C-clamps and other tools. Also handy to have available is a roll of blue painter's tape. The tape can be used to mask of areas of a shoe to protect from spread of Shoe Goo.

They will contact you the week before delivery and tell you where to come. We were told to come to the old sales office and then we followed someone to the new (unfinished) office but by the time you take delivery it will likely be different.

Congrats! It is stunning!

A 50 amp plug has: a ground, a neutral, and two 120 v lines. A 30 amp plug has: A ground, A neutral, and one 120 v line. The adapter has eliminated one 120 v line, just what the Oliver was designed for. If you was to see the inside of the electrical box that has a 50 amp, 30 amp, and a 20 amp plug, you would only see 4 wires coming in to feed them. That wire carries all the power to the box. There is NOT a separate circuit for each outlet. That box is also only designed to feed ONE camper at a time. If you see a CG with only one plug in the box, it is either an older CG with older equipment, or a CG that is trying to eliminate people plugging into more than one plug at a time and overloading the circuit.

Use one quite a bit. No problems. The PI doesn't notice it and not sure it's all that finicky. It does what it's supposed to do, quite well.

2020 has been relentless . . . . . hoping for some relief in 2021

Let’s try a video. This is before replacing the PD converter module. IMG_1938.MOV

We tried that boondocking in Colorado. The darn thing turned on & off all night long but I never saw anything. Maybe it worked but I couldn't sleep & didn't put it out anymore. 🙈 Another good place to put it is behind your steps. Handy if you leave during the day & return after dark but failed to turn on courtesy lights. The key is to remember it when you leave. We only have two now. Oops.

Ken_Judy, yes indeed the videos on defeating other locks is pretty convincing. I have used a Proven lock on our previous camper standard coupler. I would lock it up and know that I did my level best to secure the coupler. If nothing else it your camper will certainly not be a soft target. I will also say the Proven lock is heavy as a boat anchor due to over the top engineering. Having owned one, IMO worth the peace of mind you have done your best to secure your Ollie. Happy Camping!

I've been looking at replacing all the switches with relays on a 16 channel board with a raspberry pi. That'd make easy app control, or with the an IO board, easy control with physical switches to include a big red button. Bonus in that you can now automate it all as well so you get "welcome home" lighting as desired. As for loud noises, we have a dog that will take care of that in abundance. Animals seem to similarly shy away when the dog goes ballistic. If someone wants to open the door when they hear the dog, then not much in blinking lights and sirens will work and they are probably high and it's best to turn to plan C. Front cameras don't look like they are offered anymore, but the wiring diagram says there is still power run for it. Front camera would cover the biggest blindspot. I'd like to get 360 coverage for parking as well as keeping tabs on what's going on outside without having to peek through the blinds - with recording. At a minimum, I want to be able to see who's at the door without having to peak out.

That definitely falls into the category of TMI.😮 Mossey

The holding tanks seem, to me, to be configured the same way that most of the industry is. The one labeled black is for the black tank, and the one labled gray is for the gray tank. Whether it is on the left or right matters not. The one thing that one should never do is get complacent around any dump station. As Jud Clampet said that is no place to see "bubbling crude", but probably it has happened there.. It is not the place to be adding fresh water to your tanks, or have any fresh water hoses laying around. A lot of those faucets do NOT have backflow preventors on them either. I have seen some untrained volunteers doing some strange things around there, so be careful and keep your eyes open. Also have seen a camper have her bare foot child standing on the dump drain, as she was rinsed off with the black tank rinse hose. Hopefully the " chunks" on the drain came off the child...