Leaderboard

Eagle Nest State Park , New Mexico park has been remodeled and is very nice, sites are electric only water fill available, no dump station cloudy and rainy and cold weather has us a little wet super nice Vietnam War Memorial Park nearby Remembering all of the men that served and the young men that never came home 🙏

My 2023 has the same outlet, and I think Tom is correct in that it is for AC power to the fridge. I used that outlet with a 12 ga extension cord to supply power to my exterior AC outlet under the folding table. I tapped into the fridge's 12V DC power for the cigarette outlet.

The Oliver Porch Lights are bright for a dark campsite, so we rarely use them. But if you need to light up the area they work great. I've often wondered, why isn't there lighting on the front and rear of the Oliver? I asked a year ago about replacement lights for our OEM Porch Lights and just purchased some recently. OTT should install these lights in all four directions. I would have done one up front too, but running wire would be difficult. I got something else for up front, more on that later. https://itcshopnow.com/products/assurance-exterior-flood-light?variant=50392962007319 I carefully measured the four Porch Lights OTT installed, as the distance from hull belly line, which btw holds a tape measure nicely, up to centerline of the Porch Light at the mounting screws. Turns out they were all installed at different heights +/- 3/4". As a special bonus, this light is 1/4" off from front to the rear mounting screws. My new Rear Porch Light, I promise is the straightest of the bunch! 🤣 It's not easy to choose the best spot to drill into the exterior of your hull, this one especially. I cut away some of the white insulation in the back of the attic. I used a 2-ft piece of metal fish-tape with the ends curled back, running it down the inside of the back exterior hull. Repeatedly, it measured 12" form the bottom of the OLIVER taillight to where the fish-tape hit the top of the rear window frame. It measured 12" so I figured I should go 10" max. Looking from the outside, there is a flat fiberglass frame around the rear window. Above that, the top rear is convex. I had to find the best spot so that the approx. 8" x 1 1/2" light would sit flat in both directions. If not water would get behind it. I drilled a 1/4" hole centered to the window, so the light is just above the flat frame area of the rear window. I soldered and heat shrink extra length of wire to the light. If they only attached 18" of wire! Offset the splices so that they would fit nicely into the drilled hole. It wasn't an easy pull but a few ins and outs and the light pulled flush (would be easier with 2 people, one in one out). I eyeballed the light level to the window frame. I wanted to VHB the light housing vs. drilling two mounting holes but the design of the light would not allow for it. They do not include hardware. Found the stoutest 1" course thread screws that would fit the openings and I drilled 6/94" holes after marking the centers. Wiring? I wanted to add the new rear light to the Side Porch Lights (streetside). However, I could not find the switch leg in the back corner of the attic and I did not want to remove all the stuff out of the kitchen cabinets. But that would be the right way to do it. Cabinets empty, you can easily run wiring up to the main switch panel. Our hull had a rear camera and a separate switch to power it. I removed the camera a year ago, so I'm using this separate switch with existing wiring. I copied something Geoff did, where he used a Sharpie to black out the word "Awning." Mine has a thin cut piece of black tape over the word "Camera" so it just reads "Rear" now! 🤣 I had to wait patiently for dusk and dark tonight! The hull looks great with the new Rear Porch Light to compliment the side lights. And finally, it alone lights up the yard! 😎

I've considered adding a forward facing light to the front jack housing using the existing light switch.

Boy, i have repeatedly taken and not taken a small step ladder along. There are an awful lot of things that are unreachable without it including my truck oil dipstick. So far, i have never used it on the short trips we take and i kind of feel like a worry dork taking it. Maybe with your encouragement i will take it with greater confidence. Sorry to be off topic of the main thread.

I have the zamp portable suitcase panel that I believe adds another 240 watts (this particular size is no longer available) Its awful heavy and the cable is just too short to be able to move it optimally with the sun on the streetside of the trailer. Several calls to zamp technical support did not result in being able to purchase a longer and heavier cable. When its only in the sun for a few hours the gain is not that great - we are typically in partial shaded sites. There is also the worry that someone will walk off with the panel while i am not at camp. Pulling it up and placing it back multiple times is a hassle. Finally even though we are at nonelectric sites most of the time, we typically dont need the portable unit. For all of these reasons, i find myself taking it along less and less. There are a few situations where i will be happy to have it but those situations are far and few.

When Twist was in production I asked that the trailer be wired for a rear camera but I would supply and install my own camera. I decided that I would mount it in the spare tire cover. For security purposes this is a good place. However, for traveling down the road - not so much. The spray from wet roads makes this camera location virtually useless and even when its not raining it is difficult to use the camera in order to see beyond the vehicle that is directly behind me. Therefore, for driving, I now have another camera mounted in the usual high position (up near the marker lights) but still retain the lower camera too. If you decide to do as I did and mount a camera in the spare tire cover - PM me. The spare tire cover is NOT "in line" with the body nor the rear bumper. Because of this I needed to put a spacer in so as to compensate for the different angles. Bill

Welcome Brian, looking forward to hearing more re your project(s)! Is it worth it? An extra 100W is a drop in the bucket, although aimed at the sun it is more efficient compared to each 100W on the roof. We added a Victron MPPT 30A SC and the 30-LB Renogy 400W suitcase. I've found almost 2 years later that we rarely use it and should have saved the upgrade $$$. Wish somebody told me this 2 years ago! We move around a bit. I now believe extra solar is for those who want to boondock in one place for a week or longer. And you have to chase the sun all day in moving panels. There is an Oliver owner who sells a machine that rotates the panel, but it's another thing to carry and it only holds one panel. The only guys I see running much solar are the ones that live in their campers, staying the 14-day limit on BLM lands. Since we move around a bit, sometimes just one overnight, most often we stay 3 nights and then "on the road again." In this use case the DC-2-DC charger is a much greater value. We can charge 200 Ah while towing a half day drive. 😎 Our 400W suitcase will not add 200Ah babysitting them all day on the sunniest of days! Here are my two related upgrade links:

I believe that it's used for a certain model of refrigerator that used 110VAC. My '23 model has one as well. Oliver wanted to have an AC option available if they decided to change refrigerator types / brands. The end of the cord in my trailer feeds up to the back of the refrigerator but it isn't connected to anything (since I have a 12V refrigerator). It's basically an extension cord.

I am glad the CGI crew is now offering PPF on the front of Olivers. We have had XPEL PPF on the “blast zones” on the of our Oliver to include the dog house, aka LP surround and all the way down each side under the bottom edges of both sides of our Oliver. We have had it for several years now and it has really worked as advertised. Shortly after we took delivery of Hull #634 we had 10 mil XPEL paint protection installed. Here is a photo of our installer working his magic. The standard paint protection used on most cars and trucks today is 8 mil. The 10 mil material is naturally thicker and it’s really tough material. It’s presently the thickest p/p made by XPEL. So far, it’s held up great with no damage to our gelcoat. It’s fairly expensive to have installed, but well worth it in our experience. We use a product called Plexus to keep it clean and polished up. Our installers business name is Sun Stoppers located in Cornelius, NC. Also, we have PPF on all our vehicles. The 8 mil still offers robust protection from road rash, missiles etc. https://www.xpel.com This same fella installed 8 mil XPEL PPF on our entire Super Duty just after we purchased it in 2021. It was well worth the money and has kept our TV paint chip free 5 yrs later. If you trade vehicles every few years it may not be worth the expense. We tend to keep our cars and trucks for the long haul. I recently found and purchased a one owner, NC dealer serviced 2020 Toyota TRD Pro. It is in really excellent condition. So I took it to my XPEL PPF tech to let him work his magic. I could not be happier with his work as he exceeded my expectations. It’s all about the install and the installer. A few things to note: if you take it to an installer make sure you don’t have any paint chips on the areas you want protected by PPF. If any installer wants to cover areas on your truck or car with PPF with existing paint chips…in my opinion, you have the wrong installer. Find an installer that does high-end Teslas, Lexus, Benz, Lambos, Bentleys etc. After having a complete paint correction done, I had the headlights, front and rear bumpers, trim below the headlights, the painted grill surround, windshield pillars all covered in 8mil XPEL PPF. The prior owner already had the entire hood and mirror caps covered. The larger the surface area you cover, the higher the cost. I like XPEL PPF as it is hydrophobic and just repels dirt and dust with ease. You can also ceramic coat over XPEL PPF. ** Prices vary on installation, so its best if you’re considering PPF to get a quote from your local installer. My XPEL PPF installers shop 3 weeks ago. I also had XPEL 50% tint installed on the interior front w/s. A game changer in reducing heat and dangerous UV rays into the cabin. Note; check your State DMV on tint % laws. Post PPF install.