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I'm BACK Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers - especially those that were specific to me and my family. We never lost power, satellite TV, or water/sewer in my sub-division. We had several trees down that blocked the roads into/out of our home but our City workers pushed those aside fairly early after the rain stopped and then my wife and I cleared the 95% of the mess up until I ran out of gas for the chainsaw. However, even though (as far as I know) the small town where I live "only" had relatively little damage, the storm had major effects on many areas around the entire Western North Carolina, north Georgia, and Tennessee. Specifically, the small town of Chimney Rock is basically gone. I don't mean damaged, I mean it is literally gone. There are highways that are gone, bridges gone, and, of course, buildings that are gone. I've heard varying numbers of deaths due to the storm but there are still areas that have not been visited because there is simply no way to get to them other than helicopter fly overs. Fortunately, these types of storms are not "normal" for us. Certainly THAT is good news. But, the bad news is that our infrastructure is not prepared for this type of thing. Also, our personal and governmental structure is basically not prepared. Curfews have been place since early on and I've not traveled so that the people, equipment and supplies that are needed can more easily get to where it is really needed. However, what little I've personally observed is amazing. We did get cell and land line phones back yesterday and just this morning slow internet is available. My wife went out early this morning in the hopes of getting some fresh fruit and milk. It took longer than "normal" but she returned with those supplies. Only one grocery store had those things in stock though and of the three stores she stopped into only one was accepting limited credit card payments. Apparently the local gas stations have received fresh supplies of gas but there are still long lines to get it. I'm guessing that by Friday things should be getting back closer to "normal". Unfortunately, I can't say the same for other nearby areas where I'm sure it will take months (if not years) to find any sense of "normalcy"😟. Bill p.s. I store my Ollie in a storage yard about 10 miles from my home. I'm assuming that it is still there and undamaged - I'll try to go for a visit by the weekend.

Camping at the Dinosaur National Monument, at the Green River campground, and couldn't eat on time because of the people wandering by saying "Is that an Oliver?" or "What kind of trailer is that?" I think most folks had already eaten and were doing their after dinner walkabout, but I got back late after hiking in the desert. Of course I'm not going to blow them off because I LOVE talking about my trailer. I had hoped to eat outside and watch the sunset but nope, by the time all the interested parties were gone, it was dark and I'm eating inside. I might have part of the blame for this.

A few lessons learned from the recent storm here in Western North Carolina: 1: Get and/or make a copy of any drug prescription(s) you may have. A neighbor of our went to CVS to get a refill for one of his meds. Due to having no computer and/or internet access the pharmacy could not verify his prescription and, therefore, had to deny his request. They advised him to go to the local hospital where he could see a doctor to get a new script. 2: Keep a supply of cash (in small bills) on hand. Since power and access to computers/internet was lost in the region, the only way to get any services and/or products was to have cash. 3: Keep at least a 1/2 tank of gas in your vehicle(s) at all times. First the power went out. This caused the gas stations to not be able to pump the gas that they had on hand. Second, the power came back on but then there was "panic" buying and long lines to get gas. Third, when the gas stations were re-supplied there were still long lines due to the "panic" and uncertainty of when or if gas would be available in the future. 4: Keep bottled water on hand. Obviously the amount partially depends on the number of people, the area where you live - to include climate and time of year. 5: Consider some type of satellite communications device. This can be something as "simple" as a personal communications device like the Garmin InReach mini, a satellite phone, or Starlink. Bill

This morning we had the 5 leaf pack installed on Hull #634 XPLOR at the Alcan shop here in Grand Junction, CO. We had an excellent experience from start to finish. We opted for the upgraded heavier duty wet bolts, nyloc nuts, Alcan HD 2 1/2” shackles. Our Monroe shocks are still in good shape with less than 2500 miles on them. Over all very happy with the work performed by Tucker at Alcan, he has installed the custom 5 leaf pack on a number of Olivers. Lew the owner was excellent to deal with and explained everything in detail. If you have questions about the install, parts or pricing, give Lew a call. Now we can get on with our trip to Utah, Wyoming and maybe Montana. Onward & Safe Travels! Drop off early morning - yes we hit the loves to top off with diesel, saving 76 cents per gallon with our TDS Open Roads Fleet card. We love LOVES. Ha! Thanking Lew 2.5 hrs later after the new leaf packs were installed. Gotta have a little swag.. Decal swag - Optional upgraded wet bolts. Torque specs -

@Mike and Carol Thank you Mike for your concern. As reported the Western NC foothills and mountain areas are in really bad shape in a lot of areas. A close friend of mine who works for Duke power told me it looks like a war zone. We did have had friends and neighbors check on our home and to our surprise we were spared and had no damage with exception of a few pines over on the ridge we live on. Sadly, this is not the same report for many of our neighbors. Our LNG Generac standby generator ran for 60 hrs before our power was restored keeping our home on 💯 full power. We are very grateful to say the least. All this said our hearts our heavy for ALL impacted by this storm. I40 which connects eastern Tenn with western NC is closed and it appears it will be for a long time. Our Starlink mini has been a game changer with regard to staying up to date. I have made several attempts to call and txt topgun2 and have not had any success. Mike I am glad hear you got through this morning. We are both relieved he and Sue are ok. I would ask everyone to take a moment and lift up ALL people impacted by this storm in your thoughts and prayers. David & Kathy

Did I say ordered? I did! That is incorrect. We put down money on one of the showroom demos. We are/will be owners of #1550. And going back to lessons learned: We were insured with Safeco for replacement cost. But, we only get the replacement cost IF we purchase a NEW "similar" unit. And that money goes straight to the dealer. If we never buy, we only get the valuation. That's why the valuation was so important. I believe another consideration for everyone is that with ~ 2000 units out there and with more on the market, a good first cut valuation is much easier for the insurance companies. Finally - on the long 6 hour drive home after the accident, the traumatic events settled on us and became real. We had lost a central part of our retirement plan in just a few seconds! The "what next?" question finally came up. I won't lie - we talked about the options of more room or a fridge that you can access without sitting on the floor. We quickly came to our senses and realized that if we were ever in a similar situation again - we wanted to be in an Oliver. By the time we got half way home we were dreaming of the quiet Truma A/C!

I just got back from the facility where I store my Oliver. I'm very happy to report that all is well, Twist is still there high and dry. Unfortunately though I had several discussions with people that live in and around the town of Mills River. All of those that I talked to are still without power, water and sewer. Free water is being distributed in a number of places as is free food. Even while I was at the storage yard a young fellow drove by with cases of water in the back of his truck asking if anyone needed it. To his credit - he wouldn't even take the $20 bill I offered him to help pay for his gas. And, out of the five people that were near me only one took a case of water because the rest of us simply didn't need it. A local Holiday Inn is offering free showers to anyone needing one. FEMA has arrived in our town as of this afternoon and I noticed that several of the downed power lines that were down as I drove back towards town were being worked on. Our electric provider (Duke Energy) has posted that virtually all of the Transylvania County residents should have restored power no later than Friday evening. And, most important, it has been reported that there have been no deaths in the county due to this storm. Bill

I am talking to topgun2 as I type this post. He and Sue are safe and sound, with all services. I called again this morning and I was able to reach them. I’m sure he will have stories to share when has full communications back. Mossey

This long awaited swap-mod is now checked off my to-do list! Like many, I tolerated the noisy Dometic Penguin ll long enough; so glad I was finally able to take decisive action with this install. After a couple years of mulling over the various replacement models being marketed, a unit emerged that caught my attention; the newly available Atmos 4.4 seemingly met all of my expectations. I will forego the removal of the Dometic, here is how I proceeded forward: First and foremost, all AC and DC power sources were turned OFF! Scaffolding and equipment/supplies were then staged for Dometic ‘liftoff’ and subsequent Atmos ‘lunar landing’ (only appropriate since I live a couple miles from the NASA Mission Control Center in Houston). Roof area in need of cleaning. Notice the raised fiberglass landing on my year model and that the former condensate drain tube was simply disconnected rather than cutoff. Roof area throughly cleaned and prepped. I decided to adhere the square self-adhesive foam roof seal directly onto the fiberglass and then apply non-leveling Dicor around the cutout perimeter to further ensure the best seal possible. In positioning the foam seal, care was taken to center it as evenly possible, thereby allowing about 1/4-3/8” of exposed fiberglass to lay a bead of the Dicor and finger smooth to finish. Interior view of the Atmos being positioned over the roof cutout. Note the use of the mounting bolts as a guide, as recommended by SDG. Because the ‘rough cut’ edges of the three layers of fiberglass (inner and outer hulls, and spacial filler) were inconsistent, I used the foam seal as a reference to accurately center and align the unit; distances measured to each respective bolt. Initially, installation instructions were followed by adhering the supplied straight piece of self-adhesive foam onto the bottom of the unit as a rear support, but it did not make contact with the roof due to relief of the aforementioned fiberglass landing. Alternatively, the foam piece was cut in half and each adhered onto the fiberglass, in like manner as the square seal, along the outer edges of said landing. This adaptation proved very effective in application and purpose, as the last of the next three pics demonstrates. Now that the exterior unit is properly positioned and supported, it’s back inside to further installation. As a side note, I made use of a portable a/c to buffer the heat and humidity of the day! Although my son helped with the heavy lifting and positioning, I cut him loose and completed the remaining tasks solo. Before proceeding, I used foil tape to treat the end of the aforementioned condensate drain tube and secure it to the side. Next the installation of the fabric air plate duct subassembly was started (provided Dreiha Atmos 4.4 Manual details the process). Note I used foil tape on both the upper (at Atmos bottom) and lower (at mounting frame) duct plates, even though most installs viewed applied to the mounting frame plate only. Between the upper and lower duct plate installs, the ceiling assembly mounting frame was bolted in place and hand torqued using a screwdriver only (torque specified in Manual). The AC power connection was very straightforward. The ceiling assembly’s junction box cover was removed, a strain relief fitting installed at one end (the other end had a preinstalled protector) and respective wires routed inside. I reused the Wago Lever-Nuts from the Dometic install, but first tinned the stranded wires of the Atmos lead for optimum assurance in application; electrical tape was used to further secure the Wago connectors. Ground wires were secured per the Manual. The junction box cover was then replaced, DC thermostat wire bundle loom wrapped and tucked away for future use, and ceiling grille fastened in place. . I’m very pleased with this mod, quality of the Atmos and ease of installation! I should mention that SDG preinstalled a SoftStartRV. I will provide an update once the furnace wiring and thermostat mount is completed. A special shoutout to @rideadeuce for forging the way with his install of an Atmos!

We live outside of Asheville, about 35 miles. Total devastation in our county. Services have been knocked out; power, water, phone and internet. Trees down everywhere. Lots of bridges out. Many roads are simply closed. Topgun and Scotty live in Western NC; not sure how they are doing. We have been lucky-house okay.

After purchase of our OE II, I realized the first thing that I wanted to add was a cargo box for more external storage. Based on various posts in this forum, I decided to go with either the Arksen 29” Diamond plate (4.3 CF) or the Dee Zee DZ91717P (5.4 CF). While the Arksen has a look that more closely aligns with the Oliver, I chose the Dee Zee because of the larger capacity. As I will explain later, this turned out to be a problem. With regard to any modifications to our Oliver, my goals are to (1) minimize any drilled holes and (2) try to be consistent with Oliver installation techniques. With that in mind, I decided to use the same U-bolts that Oliver uses to attach their aluminum storage basket and purchased two of them from the factory (part #10839). This had an additional benefit since I only needed to drill two holes through the fiberglass (near the tongue jack) - the other U-bolt would be fastened at the tongue. Also, when it comes time to sell, it should be very easy to replace this box with Oliver’s basket should the new owner want to do so. Instead of buying the U-bolt plates from Oliver, I cut and drilled some old garage door hardware that I had laying around (apparently DW is right when she says I never throw anything away). To avoid the possibility of galvanic corrosion I placed pieces of vinyl siding between the steel plates and the aluminum tongue. Positioning and drilling the holes through the fiberglass was a little trickier than I had anticipated. They say measure twice, cut once. Not wanting to screw it up, I think I measured it six times. There isn’t enough space to get a drill directly underneath the fiberglass so I had to use a ¼” x 12” bit to drill the first hole, enlarging it to 3/8” from the top side. Once that hole was drilled, I used the U-bolt to determine the position for the second hole and drilled that from the top, first ¼”, then 3/8”. I then used my Dremel with a pointed abrasive cone to slightly taper the holes as others on this forum have advised to prevent cracking of the gel coat. Now comes the problem with the Dee Zee box. As you can see from the photo, there is an indentation in the rear of the box exactly where the rear U-bolt needs to be! (What did I say about measuring twice?) After considering other fastening strategies, most of which included drilling many more holes, I finally relented and decided to go with the Arksen instead. I trimmed a piece of interlocking foam utility mat (Designer’s Image 765-5058, 0.43” thickness) to use as a cushion between the box and the fiberglass. As luck would have it, I happened to have four 4” x 4” x 3/8” rubber vibration pads (UPE Group) laying around (did I mention that I never throw anything away?). After trimming to the width of the tongue with a razor blade knife I stacked the four pads and secured them to the tongue with 24” long cable ties. The ribs on the pads allowed them to interlock and stack nicely. And four of those pads adds just enough height to make the box level. To beef up the bottom of the cargo box, I added a piece of ½” plywood. To minimize moisture entry from the bottom, I used gasket cutters to make tight-fitting washers from 1/8” rubber packing sheet and placed them on the U-bolts between the plywood and the interior bottom of the box. The U-bolts were then fastened down with the steel plates using SS nylon-insert lock nuts. Permatex nickel anti-sieze was used on the threads to assist future removal, if needed. Overall, I am quite happy with this install. Special thanks to MAX Burner for giving us a tour of Casablanca at the rally in Alabama, including his own Arksen cargo box.

Checked our weather forecast and we decided to add two more days to our stay here at Fishing Bridge here in YS. This will give us a full week to enjoy as much of this gorgeous park as we can. We are staying put in our site! The staff here has been just really good to us. New Loop E is making a perfect base camp for us and I highly recommend it. The bath house and laundry facilities are huge and brand new and kept spotless. Fired up our trusty Weber and got busy grilling to carry us over for a few days. We have visited 5 NPs on this trip so far. Between a week at Grand Tetons and a week here at YS, Kathy and I both agree YS is our favorite NP. Truly a magical place to visit. Happy & Safe Travels! IMG_2005.mov

After four years of towing my LE II and reading countless threads on the Anderson and cargo capacities in general, I have come to the following conclusions. The Anderson improves the towing experience and aids in control of the vehicle in emergency maneuvers. The additional time to hook up the Anderson is negligible compared to the increased safety and driveability it provides If your manual states that a weight distributing hitch is required when towing over 5,000 lbs, it is because it is probably not possible to take advantage of the entire cargo capacity of the TV without using a weight distributing hitch. This is because cargo capacity as stated on the doorjamb sticker is always a product of the maximum front axle loading capacity plus the maximum rear axle loading capacity. It is often overlooked, but you can be driving down the highway with your Gross Vehicle weight 300 lbs UNDER the rated GVWR, but if the rear axle is loaded over the maximum rear axle weight, then you are overloaded. When a vehicle manufacturer states that a weight distributing hitch is required when towing over 5,000 lbs, they have assumed that when towing a trailer with a 500 lb tor higher tongue weight, it is not possible to load the vehicle to its rated cargo capacity (i.e., loaded to maximum GVWR) without overloading the rear axle axle. If you weigh at a scale, it is important that you weigh the front axle and the rear axle. If one is over its rating, the maximum rated cargo capacity of your TV is irrelevant. I am no expert and I hope others will correct me or provide the appropriate caveats to my description above if advisable.

Three of the six Olivers in attendance at the 2024 Ohio Fall Annual Egg Rally, held at Cowan Lake State Park, in southwest Ohio. @Ollie-Haus @csevel Matt & Sue Jones, Deb and me, the folks with the micro-truck at the Oliver Rally, who I've *again* forgotten their name, and an unknown E1 that pulled in but was not found while riding around. Plus a couple who spent about an hour looking at our trailer and talking to Claudia, who have found a 2019 EII and are considering buying it. A fun time, and beautiful weather.

I've attached a simplified electrical schematic for my 2021 Oliver Legacy Elite II. This schematic will be "basically correct" for most Oliver models. The numbering and amperage ratings shown for the breakers and fuses matches the numbering scheme in my Oliver Owner's Manual. I made this diagram because my Zamp solar charge controller stopped charging the house battery, and I couldn't find a good electrical diagram online, and the Oliver Owner's Manual didn't provide a decent line drawing. So, I made this one. (my specific Zamp issue turned out to be caused by a badly corroded terminal on breaker B1 ... which by the way, any auto parts store will have a replacement for this thermal-type breaker). I also realized I didn't understand how the AC and DC systems work together, so I made a single diagram showing both systems. Often a simple diagram can be used to trace a myriad of symptoms back to a common component such as a breaker, fuse, or even the house battery. Or, to answer a simple question like "why does the inverter run when I'm connected to shore power"? (the answer is, it has to because the inverter is supplying power to the 25A sub-main that feeds all your AC loads except the refrigerator! And the inverter gets its power either from the house battery, or from shore power, or from the aux (generator) input). I hope people find this schematic to be helpful. OliverSimpleElectricalv2.pdf

We were in Hohenwald this week and saw some new products made by SEA BISCUIT METAL DESIGNS on display in the Oliver showroom. One product caught our attention, so we decide to visit Johnson City. The rear basket carrier and storage boxes are very well crafted. We already have the OEM rear bumper receiver option so installation was simplified. Since we weren't using the bumper receiver on this trip, we replaced one for the other. We're very pleased with the quality and the design. The lockable boxes increase the secure outside storage, and they're easily removed from the basket in case we want to use it to carry odd shaped/sized cargo. We went with two separate storage boxes, but they also have a larger single "coffin" box that spans the width of the basket. The low profile doesn't cover the original license plate location, so no need to move the plate and rewire its light. The CNC cut "Oliver" name on the carrier is also a nice touch.

Some pix from Acadia NP this week.

Revived an older thread here with an easy mod. Our $1800 Epoch mod is the largest single-dollar addition we've made to our Oliver. Tried to change the Southco latch with a model that has the cut key. though all keyed alike is not cool. Don't like the round key model, as it looks like it could be opened with a screwdriver. One reseller said 88 days for shipping on the Southco cut key model M1-20-81-78 (88 must be the default code for lots-a-luck). This only took me only a few minutes today. The tray steel is very hard, does not drill easy which is a good thing. Started small and finally drilled a 3/8” hole. The tray will only slide out an inch when locked. I tacked a 4x6" piece of 1" Styrofoam in the corner of the battery door so the padlock will not bounce around when towing. Had the old lock in a parts drawer for a zero-cost mod!

Now 5 weeks into our western trip our Starlink Mini has worked flawlessly with usually 4 devices attached. With our use, the upgrade to the unlimited plan is the way to go and it still has the pause feature when we are not using it. I can’t imagine having to ever deal with WiFi at CGs or cell phone hots spots. As soon as I deploy the mini dish which takes about 5 minutes, it immediately recognizes our devices. I am glad I purchased the aluminum protective case/cradle. The mini is really light weight and could easily be blown around by strong winds if not secured or weighted down. The added weight of the aluminum protective case makes a difference in my field use experience so far. An impressive useful piece of technology. It was a frosty 32d when I took this pic here in Yellowstone two mornings ago. As long as SpaceX keeps those satellites sailing we are in great shape. Ha!

After a great nights rest, we woke up to a 32d morning in our toasty warm Oliver. After a great hot breakfast, we loaded up in the beast and we were on the road to soak up America‘s first and oldest national park (1872). We are still pretty excited about being camped here inside the park. We enjoyed a day of touring and hiking around various areas of Yellowstone. We saw Bison, a wiley coyote, and a large black bear munching and lunching on a bison carcass from a distance (no pic as it was a blur from our vantage point) we saw lots of Osprey hunting. The mud volcanos were pretty impressive to say the least. The “Dragons Mouth” appropriately named was really just amazing.The falls were thunderous as millions of gallons of water crashed down into the canyon. My pics and vids are mere teasers as to what we saw. We have so much more to see and do in YS, we may extend, we’ll see. We have met and enjoyed so many nice people along the way. Tonight our temp drops down to 27d at 2am, no worries as our Oliver will keep us toasty warm. Get out there and travel and camp! If not now when? 😊 Our beast of burden and mother natures beast of burden standing super still and just sleeping. Full On!…..nap time. Kinda like us after our Bison corned beef sandwiches today. Ha! Our attempt at a selfie at the lower falls. We had all kinds of 2’ long lens pointed at our TV, this hot and tired coyote with a thick winter coat was just wanting to get away from all the peeps and the cameras. Us too! 😊 A closer pic of another lone bison just trying to put on much needed winter fat. The falls. Enjoy the what you can of my videos, no expert videographer here, just a work in progress.😊 IMG_1953.mov IMG_1940.mov IMG_1941.mov

Another copy of @Snowball‘s mod just used different but almost the same components. Took a few pics. I was able to save about 2/3 of the upper front maple crossbar. Real trick since the sink is 2 in deeper was maintaining drainage grade. Had to remove metal tube securement (screwed to the back of the cabinet) and was able to reuse the 1 1/2 in ABS but may end up cutting it under road side bed to shorten a bit to get more of a grade. But seems to be draining ok… we shall see. Love the sink and faucet. SO much more useful. Just have to close up top left drawer with faceboard some how. Oh, I did shim the middle between the middle maple cabinet support and counter, the counter had small bow in it. Easily corrected, then was able to silicone the sink to the counter top. Amazon Links: Brushed SS Sink 17x19x9 18g sink, 11g sink rim https://a.co/d/ I wasn’t able to use the deep drain basket that came with it due to limited space. Grohe Bar faucet https://a.co/d/hK5IcRy Best, Mike

This modification was a break-out from an old and long thread that Mossemi started: “Only one switch to operate streetwise and curbside lights . . .” It concerned a common complaint that the curb side porch lights can’t always be used because the street side lights also come on and they can annoy the neighbors. Mossey posted a new photo of the main switch panel wiring yesterday, and it showed a ground wire labeled “porch light”.” I hadn’t noticed it before, so I tried my circuit signal probe again and finally found where the circuit crosses over to feed the street side porch lights. It was in a sheathed wire bundle behind the attic side board, deep along the right bottom corner. It can’t be reached through the attic without disturbing the insulation, but it can be reached through the right rear speaker hole. The duct tape dust cover will have to cut open then re-taped afterwards. The wire bundle has enough slack to splice it though the speaker hole. I pulled the positive “red” wire out of the “split-sheath” wrap and verified it was the right one with a clamp-on amp meter. It read something like 0.9 amps with the lights on. I cut the wire, capped the end coming from the old switch, and spliced a new blue wire to the lights end. A Wago connector was easier than trying to crimp a butt splice in the tight space. The new wire was sheathed for extra protection and routed to the main switch panel. It was tie-wrapped to an existing wire bundle on the forward edge of the attic ceiling. With the left attic side board also removed (they are held by two small lag bolts), the wire can be passed into the left side upper cabinet. A short stiff wire will help fish it through. The upper cabinets have thin laminate floors fastened with a few Phillips screws. Remove them to expose a channel that the new wire can lay in all the way to the main switch panel. I also removed the microwave outlet for more room to feed the wire into the switch panel area; just snap off the cover plate, loosen the two mounting screws slightly so the wings fold in, and it will come right out. I had a round rocker switch in my stash, and they are also available from Amazon. I installed it in the blanked hole for the “Street Awning” switch, and blacked out the word Awning with a felt marker. The switch just says “Street” now, for the street porch light. Very unprofessional, but I hope someone will had a better solution. If you don’t have a blanked spare switch hole, then a switch can be mounted on the other side of the switch panel, on the inside cabinet wall. The switch was wired with the new blue wire going to the middle terminal, the red hot +12Vdc to the bottom, and the yellow ground to the top (needed for the blue neon indicator.) The other ends of the hot and ground wires went to existing six-port push-in terminals that feed other switches. There were some unused ports. This is easier than it sounds, but it’s good to have a clamp-on amp meter and/or circuit tracer to help find the street porch light wire. I included a photo and list of the tools I used. The inexpensive brands work well enough, and I’d recommend owning them for other electrical projects, troubleshooting and repair work: Digital clamp-on ac/dc amp meter, also a multimeter, can check your shunts and loads too! Circuit tracer for finding wires, shorts, and breaks Metal fish tape, I cut short pieces off the end for these kind of jobs Cable tie gun, you will wonder how you ever got by without one Auto wire stripper, just makes it easier Thomas and Betts crimpers, 50 years old and still my favorite go-to Inspection mirror Fluke multimeter, when accuracy counts Cheers, Geoff

So long Steinaker SP, what a great stay! Onward to Wyoming in the morning. We just had to have a nice 59d evening campfire on our last night here. Happy and Safe Travels!

As usual (19th year in a row), Twist spent two months in the western states enjoying the scenery while I enjoyed the fishing. This year I basically did a repeat of the past few years by starting the fishing west of Buffalo, Wyoming and exiting via Dubois, Wyoming. Stops (in towns) on the way included Ten Sleep, Worland, Meeteetse, Cody, Cooke City, Moran Junction, and Dubois. Rivers and Creeks included Ten Sleep Creek, Wood River, Greybull River, North Fork of Shoshone River, Elk Creek, Clear Creek, Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone, Beartooth Creek, Hoodoo Creek, Dead Indian Creek, Cantrell Creek, Gros Ventre River, Fish Creek, Torrey Creek, Horse Creek, Frontier Creek, etc. Trout landed ranged from 8 inches to 18 inches and were brooks, rainbows, brown, cut-bows and cut throat. Early in the trip at about 5:20am the Ollie started rocking! Checking to make sure I was alone I peeked outside thinking I might see a grizzly bear. Yes, the fur was black but it was only a couple of cows scratching their faces on the bumper. Here are a few pics from the trip. Bill

Yesterday I had the Alcan 5 leaf pack installed at Alcan. This morning I decided to crawl under XPLOR for a closer look and check the torque on my 16 of my 9/16 Ubolts torque setting on the high nuts juuuuust to satisfy my OCD. I found in the short trip back to the our base camp (only 9 miles) from Alcan the Ubolts definitely required retorquing. Each of the (16) high nuts needed at least 1-2 full rotations to bring them into a torque spec per Alcan of 90’lbs. I am glad I checked these high nut fasteners as it is clear that the new Ubolts will stretch in a very short period of travel. This is why Alcan repeatedly recommends you check the torque on the high nuts and wetbolts. I will check again at the required interval of 50//50/500 mile mark. Passing this forward! Happy and Safe Travels All from Grand Junction, CO! You will need a 3/4” deep well socket which can be purchased alacarte at a local HF store.

From a Pharmacist's standpoint this should NEVER happen. From a corporate standpoint there should have been an immediately initiated memo stating that anyone that had lost their maintenance medications due to the storm should have them replaced AT NO COST to the patient. When Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005 there were thousands of displaced persons seeking refuge in and around Tupelo. Even though I did not work retail Pharmacy except on a relief basis, I still saw many people that were unable to get to their meds before evacuating. We never turned a single person away and never charged them a cent. They had too many balls in the air to have to deal with not have vital meds.

we just had our Dometic ac replaced with the atmos 4.4 unit and we are so happy so much Quieter now I am using the lithium batteries and I will attach a few pics. At least when boondocking we can cool down for a couple hours on a hot afternoon. for us it is a huge improvenent over the Dometic our Olliver Elite came with when th compressor cycles on each battery is showing 37 amp burn After 1 hour battery level down to 96 % IMG_1675.mov

@Geronimo John previously requested in one of our recent thread on "Relocating Bath Water Pump Switch and LED", for us to post a new thread discussing options for opening up storage under the bath/shower (HEAD) sink. In that earlier thread, G-John referred to an insulation modification engineered by @John E Davies which is actually an element of this suggested mod as well. D and I wish to thank both G-John and JD for their combined encouragement for this and other OTT modifications we've logged to date. FULL DISCLOSURE: We haven't completed the mod, but members should get a good idea of the direction its going - and we will continue to update progress. 1. Background: We mentioned in the WP Switch/LED thread, the PO installed a marine-grade deck hatch on the front side of the sink cabinet after removing the "cubby shelf" which housed the PW Switch/LED package. The deck hatch is available on Amazon: As shown above, the hatch is configured with 2 "dogs" that adequately seal the compartment within as we have yet to discover water intrusion after showering - believe me, we've checked! Higher quality deck hatches are available at a higher price point than this one, for sure. On the plus side, the rubber seal used in our hatch cover is totally replaceable. In fact, some are available that more closely match the latch hardware OTT uses for the upper storage cabinets in the main area. Here's how ours is configured: 2. New storage area: When relocating the WP Switch, we cleaned up the wire bundles and PEX lines in the void below the sink. JD noted in his "How To" thread about how to better insulate this void - especially since PEX lines are located there. We will do the same insulation upgrade in Phase-2 later this summer. D is calling this a "game-changer" for her because it opened up the space below the forward dinette seat for other items - now that the void serves as storage for dry paper goods previously under the seat, as shown below: 3. Path forward: We're planning to add shelving in this compartment for better organization after the insulation upgrade. I'm actually hearing rumblings from D of converting the forward seat storage area into a mini wine cellar - more on that in another update... So as @Patriot might say, "Mod on..." Cheers!

Beautiful sunrise at Pancho Villa SP, Columbus, NM this AM - headed to Old Mexico for lunch today... Magnus guarding the perimeter with D and Oscar inside enjoying their BRCC morning Joe (note our newly minted wooden signage made for us by our friend, Coy): @Patriot - FYI: we stayed at Norris CG and loved it there... We felt it was closer to the sights and hikes we wanted to explore. We've also stayed at Fishing Bridge and Madison and thought they were just as awesome. Enjoy, Explor, and Experience it all, brother! Cheers... IMG_2848.HEIC

Last year while messing around under the bathroom sink, I adjusted the weight on the “pull-down” faucet hose so that it would pull out far enough to rinse the toilet. That worked for awhile, then the hose started kinking when it was pulled all the way out. Rats! So while preparing for the next trip, I decided to try another approach. I found a 1/2” x 10” spring at the local Ace that fits snuggly over the hose (when little snap-on clip is removed.) The spring was tie-wrapped in place and it allows the hose to bend tightly without kinks. Now the hose easily reaches the toilet for better rinsing. This is a quick and easy mod, particularly if you have done the “Bathroom Vanity Cubby Modification” by Frank C. It allows cubby to be quickly removed without having to re-caulk every time. I was also adding a little water freshener today, so thought I’d share another idea that's probably not new. We always carry a 5 gallon bucket and tall kitchen bags to use as an outdoor trash can. If we want to fill the fresh water tank from the Boondocking inlet, we use the bucket with a new trash bag as a clean liner. We also carry a short piece of garden house for this purpose. Saved us a few times. Cheers! Geoff

Our beloved 686, one of the last 2020's and one of the first with solar+lithium, was involved in an accident 3 weeks ago. It was deemed a total loss. First, we are very thankful that no one was injured. Second, I'm posting this to as a reminder to review your current insurance position! And, so others can learn from our experiences. The needed facts: our Oliver was struck on the curb side then rolled to the street side. The TV was a F250 and suffered a bruised hitch and a hole in the tailgate. Things we learned: Be acutely aware that your lives can change in a matter of seconds. Keep digital copies of insurance info in your phone wallet or shared drive. Go download their app now and make sure you can login! Even at the accident scene, we were naive enough to think "we will just step inside and get it from the cabinet". That's just not going to happen in a roll over. Know and understand your coverage. Go way beyond the declarations and read the policy. We had "Replacement cost" but there were caveats and rules that we did not know! Know if you can use a repair facility of your choice. If you can, are there penalties for going over on parts or labor? Our accident occurred 6 hours from our home. After grabbing a few things, we drove straight home. Then 4 days later, accepting the reality that it might be totaled, we drove the 12 hour round trip to gather and salvage anything we could. None of that trip was covered on our insurance! I had always assumed the things inside were covered; on our policy they were not! Get a dashcam! Understand and know that in today's insurance world, no one is coming to appraise, touch, or review your damage. You are going to use an app and take 9 pictures (one being the odometer. Yep, they will want you to photo your odometer on your trailer). You will probably not have an advocate. We purchased our insurance through Roamly (listed as our agent). They had a message that said "call your insurance company, not us". That being said, OTT was our ONLY advocate. On our return trip to the impoundment lot, we took over 170 detailed, labeled and scaled pictures and shared those with Mike in service. In less than 2 hours we had an estimate of the damage from him ($77,000). Oddly enough, after about 6 days, we got a repair estimate (from the 9 pictures) from the insurance company that was $1000 more. Keep a record of every penny you spend on the Oliver from the original bill of sale down to the rug in front of the door and the command hooks on the wall. With the help of Oliver and our own record keeping, we raised our valuation by $10,000 from the original insurance valuation. Take lots of pictures. First at the accident scene and then of the damage. Get every angle and multiple zoom levels. Again, please set aside some time and review your insurance! Over all, our story ends well - we have ordered a new Oliver!

Just to follow up on this post... I finally scraped away the caulking from the towel bar in front of the bath vanity to investigate whether I had a detached vent pipe. It wasn't nearly as much a chore as I anticipated...took all of 15 minutes! To my dismay there isn't any loose pipes or fittings. There is a faint black tank smell in that area but I was unaware that the space around the black tank is contiguous with the space under the dinette seat...so any smell I have there would also be inside the vanity. I'm still perplexed as to why there is a smell at all but I'm assuming my sniffer is just overly sensitive. I'm happy that I tackled this as I'm going to use a gasket around the towel bar (thanks Steve Morris) to prevent water intrusion and keep it accessible for the future in case I purchase a new faucet. I'm just going to use the original screws and snap caps to secure it down since I don't anticipate going in there very often.

We bid Teton Valley Resort in Victor Idaho, and the Grand Tetons a fairwell today as we headed to Yellowstone NP. We managed to land a nice 20X60’ concrete pad with FHs which we will enjoy for 5 nights inside Yellowstone NP at Fishing Bridge. Loops A, B, C, and D appear to older much tighter/cozy less desirable sites. Loop E is fairly new freshly paved, and very well laid out. It will make a great base camp for us to rest and enjoy the park. The cooler weather camping and hiking just works for us! Happy Travels from Hull #634 XPLOR My bride and awesome navigator. 😍 So long Tetons! A little interesting info about the glaciers. We had to pull over and admire Lake Jackson on our way to YS…wow factor. No complaints with regard to our 20X60’ concrete pad site with FHs! This is much more than we expected inside a NP. Happy Base Camp!

This won't be helpful for anyone with an OE I but on used pricing for the OE II, here is a plot of asking prices since early 2023, mostly from RV Trader. I stopped updating this about 2 months ago after we bought ours. FWIW.

After a great nights rest at Teton Valley Resort here in Idaho, this morning we headed up to the Grand Tetons. Such a beautiful NP! We really enjoyed the scenic drive over Teton Pass. Soooo glad we have the diesel engine brake, as I rarely used our truck brakes at all. Ford nailed it with the 6.7 10 speed and diesel engine brake. After hiking up and around Jenny Lake a few hours we headed into Jackson Hole for lunch and of course hit a few T shirt shops and just walk around town. We walked into the Million Dollar Saloon which was kind of neat to see. We landed for lunch at place called “Hatch” Needless to say after a light breakfast we were both ravenous and the food was really fresh and delicious. We have 3 more nights here and plan to spend a lot more time touring and hiking in the Tetons before heading to Yellowstone. The temps are perfect! No AC needed at night as our low this morning was 49 and mid 70’s during the day. As you can tell by the park road entrance pic, it was not very crowded when we arrived, which is just the way we like it. Cheers and Safe Travels! Teton Valley Resort…nice digs and we are enjoying our stay here. It’s not very busy at all. The kinda road we like to see inside a NP. Less crowds, less people, less traffic on the road less traveled. We really enjoyed the cooler temps while hiking around Jenny Lake. Lunch at the Hatch… wow factor for the foodies we are. We were both hungry after our morning hike. The Elk Antler Arch… Our Beast of Burden doing Tremor things… The Beautiful Tetons are really amazing.

Based on how light and compact the Mini is, I wont be considering a permanent mount. The main reason is if I am parked where there are any obstructions I will have to move the mini to a northern unobstructed view for a solid satellite connection. Now this is just based on our experience so far on this trip. The SL mini has a reported latency of 23 milliseconds according to SpaceX. We have not used it for any zoom meetings, but we did stream the entire Presidential debate last night without any interruption issues. I am going to keep it simple and deploy it from its carrying case. So far we are very pleased with the mini and it is serving our needs perfectly. One thing we have both noticed and really like is that it connects instantly to our (4) devices after plugging in the dish. Perfect! Onward!

After our install of Alcan leaf pack we decided to tour the Grande Mesa National Forest here in Grand Junction. We also highly recommend the Colorado National Monument a must see if you’re in this area. We also took the ski lift up Powder Horn ski resort the views from the lift were epic at 10’ elev. It was really cool to see that they allow mountain biking in the off ski season. We had a light lunch at the base of Powder Horn before our lift ride to the top. The weather was perfect. As you can tell, no traffic to speak of and no crowds. We are convinced that after Labor Day is the perfect time and temp to visit out west. Happy and Safe Travels! The Beast even got in on the action… IMG_1617.mov IMG_1627.mov IMG_1630.mov The good food at Powder Horn hit the spot! My sweet bride!

Look on the spring retainers. Mine was stamped there. Model PR4B is what came from the factory on my 2021 E2, 3,500lb axles, 4-leaf springs

Your LP regulator may not be functioning properly, check if the cooktop operates correctly or the QC ports, if equipped. Switch the regulator to the other tank, a tank valve may have been opened too fast and has an internal shutdown. If that doesn’t work close each and reopen slowly for the first quarter turn to reset.

Enjoying our last what we thought was going to be a nice quiet evening here at Fishing Bridge CG in Yellowstone, we had an unexpected Oliver visit and showing. Where does a 2000# Bison graze? Anywhere he wants!! I kept real quiet, he had no questions, but he loved our Oliver. What a last night at YS send off! 😂 The Beast head to head with our Beast of Burden. So glad he did not munch our SL mini cable. He tugged on it a few times as he ripped grass out of the soil. Glad we decided to enjoy dinner inside.

@TxMN2020 now is the time to take a deep dive into Oliver University and also the forum. This knowledge will give you somewhat of a leg up on delivery day! Congrats on your choice of a world class Travel Trailer!

I'm so sorry that you have had to go through this ordeal but I'm glad to hear that no human was hurt in the accident. Its also nice to hear (but not surprising) that Oliver was a great help to you. I keep telling people that I've never dealt with a finer group of people/company. For me, they are really what makes the Oliver Travel Trailer so special. From your picture above, it appears as though the Oliver basically remained in tact. Were there any cracks in the exterior or other signs or major structural damage - of course I'm assuming that the exterior was roughed up a bit and I noticed the odd angle of that axle. Additional pictures would be of interest if you can share them since there have been relatively few Ollies involved in major accidents. Bill

This doesn't solve the problem. But this past weekend, I got to see the modification that @Ollie-Haus made on his 2023. It is a 5"+ length of 1x1x1 aluminum Z-bar, painted white, and adhered to the trailer with double-sided tape. https://www.mcmaster.com/7062T15/ I'm going to do the same, but before mounting the shield, I will cover the lens with amber Lamin-X film (that I bought before getting the trailer but have yet to apply...) It makes a huge difference, and even while still a cool white, it is less objectionable than just covered with Lamin-X like the trailer beside us had. It was great to compare the two, which is what convinced me to do both!

sorry to "pop" the bubble, but while many of us indeed DO use our three jacks to level (or even jack up one side to get the tires off the ground), Oliver advises against using them for anything other than stabilizing. Therefore, if you want to level the trailer you can use products like Beech or Andersen levelers (there are several very similar systems on the market, or a product affectionally know as "legos" stacking blocks or even assorted thicknesses of wood that (similar to the "legos") are simply placed under each tire on the side you are trying to raise until you get the trailer level. For the purposes of leveling the trailer (side to side) there is no need to really understand the suspension system. Just make sure that whatever you do to one tire on the side you are trying to level, you do the same to the other tire. Bill p.s. if you travel alone a reasonable amount of the time, levelers like the Andersens or Beech are well worth the price.

And, then, there was the Wally Bee. Looks a bit like a UK fiberglass trailer of its time but, hey, it's very cool. Aluminum was cheaper, back in the day. Fiberglass was a newer, expensive process https://www.airstream.com/blog/airstreams-foray-into-fiberglass/

I believe that the the "Airstream" question is a result of the general look/shape of the Ollie vs the Airstream. My normal response to the "Airstream" question is, "No, it doesn't leak like an Airstream".😁 Bill

A few pics of Arches and Canyonland NPs. This time of the year it is best to get your time entry permit for as early in the morning as possible. The temps with the extreme low humidity made it really comfortable on our hikes in both parks. Spectacular view and vistas for sure. Free entry with the America the Beautiful pass. 😊🇺🇸🇺🇸 The visitor center at Arches…we got there early. The parking lot was slammed when we departed and headed to Canyon Lands. IMG_1655.mov Balanced Rock at Arches. This formation is called the 3 gossips at Arches. My sweet bride! 😍 Delicate Arch. I called this the runaway hiker lane. Behind me there is no further path out. The Tremor aka “Beast of Burden” doing Tremor things… Canyonlands… IMG_1699.mov IMG_1699.mov Arches on a hike. IMG_1676.mov

It fits. Sort of two orientations it’ll drop into at different angles. For reference, the top is about 2” from the ceiling I have the optional wall mount because I have all the components to do the separate shower valve and new faucet. But I haven’t gotten around to doing that yet. The adapter is a temporary step to use the shower head until I start that project.

If anyone is in need of new rubber wheel/tire chocks - Harbor Freight has these on sale now for $4.99 each (versus $7.99 regular price. The coupon code is 11893027. They are only at this price through 9/15/2024 and there is a limit of 4 per customer.

That was exactly what I did. Used a light and mirror from within the forward dinette seat hatch to eyeball a prospective point of entry; care must be taken to avoid existing plumbing. Once identified, a 1/8” drill bit was used from outside taking care to only penetrate the hull thickness. Then another look from within to verify a clear path with no obstruction for a larger hole to run the cables.