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valley of fire 45 minutes north of las vegas is an amazing place. also red rocks is worth taking a day to tour (no a place to camp at red rocks)

I feel like I have been hiding out from the forums for the last several months. Almost put this post in “introduce yourself” but that did not seem right, I already introduced Rebecca and myself when we picked up #1030 almost a year ago. Getting the Truma water heater replaced tied us up for the late spring, then work blotted out the summer, and shortly after putting the cover on Reset in September I fell off a ladder and broke my collarbone requiring surgery. (Ladder ,tree limb, chainsaw, stupidity … when we share a campfire I will go through the details but only if alcohol is available 🙂 ). We had to cancel four trips because of the simple fact that I could not get the cover off Reset. Fast forward to this weekend - I’m completing a month of Physical Therapy and with my son’s help was able to get the cover off yesterday. (Successfully not falling off a ladder - takes bow 🤣.) Rebecca and I are finally getting back on the road for a short shakedown trip this weekend, then out to Howenwald mid-February for an annual service visit / warranty punch list. So we are back - looking forward to sharing roads and campgrounds with all of you!

OK, Kevin. Apparently you were not aware of Texas Law BR-0459. No one over the age of 55 is allowed to use a ladder without two adults supervising. Further, nobody is allowed to say, "Hey Buddy, hold my beer." I fell about 16 months ago and had massive subdural hematoma. It required an emergency craniotomy. We'uns need to learn to be more careful.

Oliver has improved its design to place the receptacle for the refrigerator in a dry location. In our Hull #1291, that receptacle is under the "floor" of the cabinet under the sink. See attached photos. The first photo shows the bottom of the cabinet under the sink with the plywood cover plate in place. The second photo shows the receptacle underneath that floor, with the cover plate removed. Note that in Hull #1292, there are two such cover plates: one on the floor and a second on the vertical back wall. The one on the floor allows access to the fridge receptacle. The one on the back wall allows access to the sink plumbing. These are significant design improvements, in my judgment. I applaud Oliver for theses simple, but important, changes in their manufacturing process.

Hi Bill and Nancy, I cross load it into the bed of my truck so I can close the tailgate. I had to watch the payload weight, but have since purchased a GMC2500 which should resolve those worries. 1200GSA may be a tough load-out, I'm riding a DRZ400 which only weighs 320lbs. Use to have an Africa Twin Adventure Sports, it was too big and heavy to load single handedly into the bed. Really love having the smaller bike combo with the Ollie since I no longer need to ride the long distances to the ADV spots. Very happy with the setup.

We recently had to retire our iPhone 7’s as Apple is no longer going to push IOS updates out for our older phones and our phones could not be updated. Our phones kept getting “No service” icons and Apple could not fix the issue. Planned obsolescence?? (We learned this icon signaled a failure of an iPhone component.) So, the dreaded and costly update to new phones had to happen. We decided to bite the bullet and purchase outright (2) new iPhone 14’s and continue with our Verizon plan. I attached a tutorial video of the new iPhone 14 SOS feature. There maybe other better tutorials out there, but this pretty much covers the basics. The SOS feature is provided “free of charge” for the first two years and it’s a subscription after that. It will be interesting to see what Apple charges for the subscription service. Needless to say the SOS feature could really come in handy in an emergency situation where no cell service is available and we need emergency services. Just passing this info forward in the event anyone is looking at purchasing a new iPhone. Naturally we hope we never need the SOS feature, however it is a peace of mind to know that we have it available in an emergency. Happy and Safe Travels! Patriot🇺🇸

😆 The new woke FAA.

“2022 LE II Tail #22-1052” Patrick “Wolfpack”, do I detect a former, and fellow, Airman here? Love the tail number, I may steal the concept - we are waiting on Tail #23-1351 to roll out of the hangar sometime in early March. I was aircrew on AWACS and Joint STARS now retired (21 years) and looking forward to some serious down time. Still need to shake these pesky second and third career moves. Looking forward to pulling the plug in May of this year though. Re the phone…my Apple Watch has tried to “save me” a few times out on the mountain bike trails but, to its credit, I had taken a tumble but needed no assistance. Hope to see you guys at the rally in May. Brian

Sorry to hear about the accident but glad to hear you’re back in the saddle! Looking forward to seeing you around the campfire for the latest version of the incident! Mike

It will be interesting to see this space (no pun intended) grow. T-Mobile and SpaceX announced plans to get into this space as well. It is still early and it seems 2023 may only bring the ability to send text messages. A start is allowing every mobile phone to have no dead spots. Good and bad IMHO as some times it is really nice to be totally disconnected. Even if speeds are slow the ability to have an SOS connection to get word out is nice.

We spend a good deal of time off the grid and have been investigating various SOS soultions. Please find link to information about SOS if you are an Android users. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/01/qualcomm-says-it-built-a-better-satellite-messaging-system-than-apple/

@Wolfepack thanks for sharing all those important details. The more we learn and share the better it gets. 👍🏻👍🏻 Patriot🇺🇸

I discovered this last fall when we were somewhere with no cell service. My phone prompted me through the connection process to the satellite, then I had a little satellite icon where the cell bars were. Could come in handy, both the 911 feature and the location service. Mike

If he’s an aerospace fan, the Thomas Stafford museum in Weatherford Oklahoma is a great stop, just off of I40, and it’s also a Harvest Host location. We did an overnight stop there on one of our long cross country trips. The Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo TX is still a popular stop but the cars are covered in graffiti now and pretty well stripped of most parts.

Hello my Ollie friends! Haven't been hanging out here much due to the lovely winter weather we get to endure here in the Northeast. My ILOVHER is tucked nicely away under her cover waiting to go somewhere maybe mid March. My son, however, is a traveling ER nurse and has taken a contract in Madera, California at a Pediatric ER. He has been traveling for three years, an ER nurse for six and has just returned from a three month stint in Guam! This Sunday he leaves again with his 25' Coachman Apex in tow.. He just purchased a '23 Ram Power Wagon and is looking forward to some boondocking adventures. Attached is a RV trip wizard map of the route he's planning. For all of you cross country travelers, do you have any must-see stops, attractions and/or campground/boondocking sites that you could recommend? Any route modifications you would suggest? I wish I could follow him in the ILOVHER but other obligations prevent it and I'd never want salt to touch her! Thank you for any help! *As suggested here my son loves Nature, Off-Roading, Fishing Nut ~including fly, Hiking and Interesting Scenery, Photography, Rafting...the whole shebang!

Ours is the same. Significantly better. I see they didn't attach the zip tie on yours either. Leaving ours off unless the plug works loose.

I found three areas under the sink of our Legacy 2 (hull 770) which were badly leaking, causing a mess and delaminated drawer cabinet plywood. Two were located at both ends of the sink drain pipe trap/elbow. The collar which tightens the compression seal on one end was not tightened during manufacture and was literally pouring water. At the other end of the elbow the joint is a slip fit which normally would be glued together. In this case it was not and the leakage, although more limited, was still significant. At the compression fitting the collar was tightened, as it should have been at the factory, and the leak stopped. At the other end of the trap I obtained a silicone reducer sleeve, available at Amazon among other places, and used it to enclose the slip joint (hose clamp at each end). This allows the elbow to be removed or replaced if necessary). The other major leak under the sink was due to a split in the 1-1/4" overfill hose on the top of the fresh water tank. This split was due to the installation of a hose which was far too short to make a gentle curve from tank fitting to the hull drain. Instead of getting a hose of the right length, the installation crew bent the hose over nearly 70 degrees at the tank fitting, causing a split which poured water into the space between the hulls as the tank was filled. In order to access and fix the split hose, it was necessary for me to cut an access hole in the bottom of the drawer cabinet which enabled me to get at the hose/barb. I spliced in a section of hose long enough to allow a gentle curve in the overflow hose. In general the manufacturing of these trailers is far superior to be vast majority of RV's on the market but, speaking as someone who spent his working life in manufacturing, you cannot at any point drop your guard and slack off on your QC measures. In my case, the most superficial of QC inspections of these three potential failure points would have revealed their obvious leak potential. As it is, my grading of Olivers QC has gone from a B+ to a C.

Another Oliver improvement. The original poster on this thread, Imelda, has this connection for the pull-down faucet in her 2020: Our Hull #1291 has a more robust connection, which should be much less likely to pull apart. See photo below. Note: If you happen to notice the drip on the side of the ABS p-trap in the photo (like I did, to my alarm), it is not a water leak. I put my finger on it. It is just excess ABS glue from when the fitting was glued together. In sum, I am pleased to find that Oliver continues to tweak, and improve, a number of things that have come to their attention through service tickets.

Thank you for that update, I missed that one. Although I must say, I don’t like it, it doesn’t make clear sense. A debate for another thread. BL

How many clips and bolts must be removed to change a light bulb on a newer Ford F250? More than 25! How many Ford engineers does it take to make a simple light bulb change that difficult? Only one. Why am I Toyota guy: let me count the ways....

Airmissioner

Oh my! So sorry to hear about your broken collar bone…ouch! I did have to chuckle at your second attempt success “taking a bow”!! Hope the road is smooth sailing for you from here on out and no more unplanned gymnastic dismounts off any ladder!

Glad you're back. But, you could have used all that "spare" time here getting ideas and planning your next adventures. Not to discourage you, but, I've found that getting the cover off is much easier than getting it on. Hopefully you will be fully recovered by the time you have to think about re-covering. Bill

If he doesn’t have it downloaded yet, the iOverlander app has proven extremely useful to me for finding boondocking spots (BLM land, National Forest campgrounds, State land and Wildlife preserves that allow camping.). There is no cost for the app and it shows not only boondocking sites but also established campgrounds, dump and water sites, truck stops and Walmarts etc

Thank you for sharing the video. I have the iPhone 14 pro-max and knew the SOS satellite feature was available but wasn’t sure how it worked. I think it’s a great feature and definitely gives some added piece of mind when going off grid.

Be advised the Crash Detection feature was enabled to the "Call after severe crash" on my phone iPhone 14 when i received it. How do I know? I went riding on my dirt bike outside of cell service for several hours while camping with my phone secured in my jacket. Upon returning to the camper I had multiple calls and texts from both the Florida Highway Patrol and Okaloosa County Sheriff. They had been notified via 911 that I had crashed and they were looking for me. The off road riding had triggered the crash detection which automatically, and without my knowledge, had started notifying 911. I made a couple calls to let the police know I was fine, and told them my phone had done this on its own because iPhone doesn't know how awesome I can ride. 😂 Anyway, I turned off this setting to prevent this in the future, it can be found under "Settings->Emergency SOS->Crash Detection". It probably makes sense to have this enabled for most folks, just not me. Just be aware that on my phone this setting was defaulted to the "Call after severe crash" position...my wife's phone was also triggered while she was running and fell. She was fine and didn't require 911. Be safe out there.

Thanks for the info I have a new I phone and every-so often I would see the sos feature pop up on the screen. I asked my wife what it was and she had no idea and said that it doesn't do it on her phone. Thanks for the answer and the video link. Hopefully we will never use it. Bill and Nancy

My condolences on the passing of your old phones 😇. Certainly for the two "free" years this feature could really help in those situations where you might be without any cell service. It would be interesting to see how strong the connection is to their satellites over time - if it is presently "slow" then what might it be like when more users start taking advantage of the feature? Satellite locators such as the Garmin InReach are obviously better but they come at a cost and you have to carry another device. Hopefully you never have to use this, but, it brings at least a bit of ease to the mind knowing the feature is there just in case. Bill

If he doesn't already have the app, he should consider HipCamp. He'll be about 60 miles from the Grand Canyon south rim, if he hasn't been there then it's absolutely worth the effort. About half way between i 40 and the entrance is a Hipcamp named Eagle #1, Free Man Camp. We stayed there, they have full hook ups and multiple sites, also pull through sites. You access the place via a forest road which seemed a bit sketchy and a little wash-boardy, but once you arrive it was absolutely worth the effort, and it's only about 30-40 minutes from the park entrance. Even if he just stops on the way through and doesn't spend the night he will be thankful for the experience.

I won't even let the ends of my fresh water hoses touch the ground! Ewwwwww!

We have battery-operated water leak alarms under our sinks at home. The batteries last a long time. We plan to place one under the galley sink after we pick our Elite II in November.

Alternative solution, what about getting rid of the faucet/sprayer and just have a plain faucet. I think I'd rather loose the sprayer feature rather than lose the drawers. Another solution could be to have a "box" behind the drawers for the sprayer hose to slide in...if there's room We pick up our Elite II in a couple of weeks (quite excited) so my input is more hypothetical on this one

My personal opinion: The fridge outlet is put in place when the lower half of the outer hull is wired (in compliance with the RV code) to make it very fast and easy for the tech to connect the fridge when that is installed later. It would take much longer to connect a hard wired junction box and install its cover, perhaps another ten to fifteen minutes. That adds up in production costs. This is the same reason they use regular solid core “house wire” and outlets with “back stab” connections which are flaky and unreliable even in the stationary walls of your home…. . Those make it fast and simple for relatively untrained people to install electrical components, compared to the much higher quality (and much more expensive) marine grade multi-strand wire ….https://www.amazon.com/10-AWG-Triplex-Marine-Wire/dp/B06X6L6W2C ….. and crimped end terminals, which IMHO “should” be used in Ollies. These are used in those high end expedition vehicle$; no way would Earth Roamer select house wire…. Oliver would either need to just absorb that extra production cost or bump up the price again to compensate. Improvements like this j-box change are “death by a thousand cuts” to a company’s profits. They have to weigh that against customer satisfaction, future warranty costs, and the very remote likelihood of a lawsuit from somebody who has a lethal accident fumbling around back there with wet hands…. I think they are much more likely to switch to a GFCI outlet there instead of a waterproof solution like mine. That would probably cost less in the long run than the increased installation labor needed to hardwire a j-box. It is also a much easier solution for retrofitting earlier hulls if they ever decide to issue a Technical Bulletin. My OPINION. 😀 John Davies Spokane WA

I wonder why your plug keeps coming out? It sounds as if the outlet is defective. Mine fit very tightly. There is no way it would have worked it’s way out, it was fine for five years…. Did you ever submit a service request? At the very least, it lets Oliver know that there is a problem with some hulls. Maybe enough complaints will get them to install a junction box during production instead of this stupid setup😳. Or issue a tech bulletin about it for existing trailers. Even if it technically “meets RV code”, it is absolutely dangerous, especially in your situation, where you are constantly fumbling around in a (potentially) wet area! No GFCI protection! ZAP! Please take pictures, the LE may be different from the LE2. You can post them in this thread or start a new one if you like. Thanks. John Davies Spokane WA

John, Very slick to install that metal plate then mount the junction box to the plate. Am I interpreting correctly that you have have 4 screws securing the mounting plate to the water line backing plate? That should hold it pretty well as long as the backing board stays attached to the sidewall. Here's what I see inside my hull 505 with my impression of what you did: (*new backing plate yellow, mounting screws black, new box grey) As to your earlier post about the sink and the water coupler, my unit has no blue coupler on the pull out hose. The hose comes from the faucet, makes a loop back up to the nozzle with no coupler, but it does have a weight. I'll do the mod you just showed before I leave on our next long trip. Craig

re t Fabricate a bracket from 0.050" aluminum sheet, that will allow you to attach the box to the existing hose support. After installing the blank plugs and two threaded ports, seal them from the inside with PVC cement. Remove the outlet cover, outlet and the blue box. (The lower outlet screw hole was stripped, so the screw just spun. I bent up the outlet, cut the wires and removed the two screws holding the box to its support block.) Reroute the original wires to the new box after cutting and stripping the ends. This shows the new j box next to the old parts. Afer CAREFULLY joining the wires, install the box plate onto the water hose mount. Secure the inside of the each of the two harnesses with a nylon tie. Leave the two bottom holes unsealed, water cannot get in that way. Install split loom and secure the fridge power wire to an existing hole in the original outlet mount. This pic is rotated! The finished j box. Note that this shows the additional 1 inch R5 insulation I also added to this area and under the range top. Black to black, white to white, green to bare ground. Label the cover before installing it! I think this should be done at the factory, they could simply install a larger HDPE block and attach the box directly to that. EDIT: I submitted a Service Ticket with this request. I will update this thread with any new info. John Davies Spokane WA

JD: Two thoughts back: A lighter and less expensive option would be a simple HVAC drip pan with drain fitting. Would slope it towards the drain a bit. Below is a sample for concept. Due to it's proximity to the fresh water tank, any possibility that the drain could be tied to the water tank overflow line in such a way that a tank overflow could not flow back to the drain pan? GJ

Does anyone know? Makes me wonder if the refrigerator receptacle is GFCI protected, like other 120V receptacles in the trailer. Does anyone know? If it is, then the NEC may allow it to be located in a potentially wet area, like a receptacle next to a bathroom sink.

I would like to point out one important factor! If you normally use the city water connection, the leak under the sink could go on for a very long time before it was discovered. OTH, If you normally use the 12 volt water pump, it would immediately be obvious that the system was not holding pressure, because the pump would cycle rapidly. I have never looked under my sink (though I plan to ASAP) but I know that the pressure hoses are OK, but there still could be leakage from the sink drain and trap. This should probably be added to your annual maintenance checklist. I am going to investigate, and think about installing a stainless drip tray with a drain hose going out the bottom of the cabinet. John Davies Spokane WA

Replace the warped, delaminated, blackened wood, that is mold! You don’t want to keep that inside your trailer. I can’t tell you how to remove that entire cabinet, but that is what I would do. If you can’t do the woodwork repair yourself, find a woodworker shop to do it correctly. You must use the blue plastic clip to hold those two sprayer hose parts together, did you find that, and is it broken? It won’t stay together without that clip. You should also put a new oring on that upper part, the old one could be damaged. Now it’s time to look under my sink…..😳 John Davies Spokane WA

@ImeldaYour profile shows you have a 2020 OEII. Are you sure that your faucet doesn’t already have a sprayer? Grab the end of the faucet head and pull it down. It is held in place with a magnet. The sprayer hose is inside the faucet neck.

We recently met a very nice couple with an Oliver at a campground. I was walking around their Oliver and we were talking about our trailers when I noticed water trickling down the curb side rear stabilizer. I asked if I could look under the curb side bunk and after looking for several minutes I could not find the source of the leak, but from where I was seeing the water running from underneath the insulation I suggested that he pull the drawers and take a look under the kitchen sink. We exchanged phone numbers and I left. With in just a few minutes of leaving their Oliver I received a text saying that he had done as I suggested and he had found his p-trap coupling loose and water from the drain dripping on top of the fender well under the kitchen sink. This leak made its way between the insulation and inside of the bottom hull to the opening where the rear stabilizer goes through the bottom hull.

boy oh boy, looking at all this makes me nervous, do I need to pull the drawers and check all those connections when I take delivery?

This is a major implementation flaw. Instead of the water running down to the basement and out the scuppers, where it may be detected, it flows down the retractable water line to pool in the bottom of the wood cabinet then rot and fester. The stench from mine was unbearable, lots of ammonia. Ruined a lot of things in the drawers by nurturing rampant mold colonies and shortened the life of the drawers. If the weight is pushed behind the cabinet the weight will not work properly, bangs into, and has the potential to drip water into the 120v receptacle. Now the very few pieces of wood in the trailer are compromised by this inability to understand basic physics combined with using substandard parts. The only support from Oliver for this was what faucet was used in our trailer.

I highly recommend that everyone pull drawers and check this area early and add it to your routine check list. I discovered ours had started leaking at the latest four months after taking possession and suspect it was leaking on delivery day. The source of this leak was the faucet where the water lines screw into the the base at the handle. I replaced it with a household Dura faucet.