ScubaRx

You’ll sell it faster on Foy Sperring’s FB page. After managing the classified section for about a year, I decided that only about 50-60% sold. Based on the number of hits each seller got, there didn’t seem to be as much traffic as I expected. Don’t anyone hold your breath waiting on Oliver to change their mind. That ship has sailed.

The main reason Oliver started using the "touch" lights in the first place is because prospective buyers kept asking for them. On our previous Oliver, 2008 Hull #026, each light was outfitted with a little rocker switch. We enjoyed being able to control each light individually. Also, the original lights used a 12 volt Halogen T3 Lamp with a G4 Bi-Pin Base rated at 10 watts. These bulbs drew about 0.8 amp each and put out a good amount of heat. Most of us early adopters quickly swapped the bulbs out with LED's drawing about 0.1 amp each. LED's were just coming into wide spread usage in mid to late 2008 and they were still reasonably expensive. I remember ordering enough bulbs to replace all the inside and outside lights and it costing over $120. During our 2013 build, I was somewhat dismayed when I found out they intended to connect several lights together on a single switch. I convinced them to wire a switch placed right beside each of our lights. I love the lights in our current Oliver. There was a time around 2015 when Oliver got a bad batch of those lights and they started burning out quickly. Oliver came to the rescue with a bag of lights for each owner that said any of their lights had gone bad. Our trailer has now been on the road for 10 years and I've only ever had one to fail. I like the idea of them going back to lights with integral switches.

@jd1923 Is the valve with the blue housing a Misol brand or US Solid brand. If it is a US Solid brand the threads will be 1/2" NPT (National Pipe Thread - tapered threads) If it is a Misol brand be aware that the threads may be 1/2" BPT (British Pipe Thread - straight threads) Both of these brands are manufactured in China. I'm pretty sure that neither brand valves are using lead-free brass. However, the US Solid brand does have a SS version available. My original valves have BPT. knowing that there was a slight difference in the thread pitch, I used Teflon tape (several wraps) to make a watertight seal with the 1/2" NPT plastic nipples that I used to join the valves to the rest of the plumbing. I have never had any seeping or leakage, but I wanted you to be forewarned that it might be a good idea to seal those threads well. I like your plan to also be able to control the valves in such a way that you can also use the system to suck antifreeze into the pipes. The use of momentary contact switches is clever as well. The reason I did not include these functions into my system is because I don't use antifreeze here in the Deep South. I just blow out the lines with air pressure and keep a small electric heater going during the colder months (December thru January) to keep the entire trailer including the basement at about 60 degrees. The reason I did not use momentary contact switches is because the electric valves I used do not have any power draw while they are at rest. I have recently installed a compressed air system in the trailer that lets me flip one switch and it opens two electric valves that allows 40psi compressed air into the plumbing system to purge all the lines and the water heater for my minimal "winterization." There are back flow preventer's in the air lines to keep water from entering the air system when in normal use. I also extended the air lines to quick-connects in the wheel wells to make the checking and filling of the tires easier.

Check your rear gas valve. It sure appears to be partially open and may be leaking a little. Between the facts of propane being heavier than air and that you have a cap on the quick-connect fitting, it probably will not collect in the basement. You'll know it the first time the water heater or the furnace lights if it has.

I changed my valves over to electric about 6 years ago because of the difficulty of changing them from Normal flow to Aux Fill. You can vastly simplify that aspect of your project by using two of the 3-way valves and only one DPDT (wired for reversing) switch.

We made a 15,000 mile loop from home, through Canada, Alaska and back home in 2019. About 90 days on the road with 95% boondocking. We never had trouble finding a place to stay. In Fairbanks we stopped at a glassblowing shop and they invited us to spend the night in their parking lot! I'm not interested in spending money to park overnight. If we're going to stay a few days in a given spot - maybe, but not if I can find a place to boondock.

Take care Frank. Thank you for all your insightful posts and comments since you joined us back in November of 2018. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

Darn, I've been found out.

To overcome the ground plane issue, could you not just install a base plate of pre-famulated amulite mounted right up against the roof inside the fiberglass topper? It would seem to me that this would effectively eliminate any side fumbling between the novertrunnions and the grammeters. Sufficient cooling should be provided by the non-reversible tremie pipes normally provided with the purchase of the base plate but if overheating occurs, consider installing a good panametric fan. The best ones consist simply of six hydrocoptic marzlevanes mounted on a ambifacient girdle waneshaft. They can be run natively on 12 volts DC and are easily found and any Big Box store. This should increase your bandwith significantly however, to reduce sinusoidal repleneration or if forescent skor motion is required, you will need to install a left facing drawn reciprocation dingle arm.

We too have camped through some serious storms, most all of which were thunderstorms. I am always somewhat anxious during one while we are inside the Oliver. The fiberglass hull provides zero protection from a lightning strike. If it gets bad enough, we will leave the trailer and get inside the truck. This would be the only time that an Airstream is clearly better than an Oliver due to the fact that its metal body normally protects people from lightning strikes by acting as a Faraday cage. We have never been in a hail storm of any consequence.

I always wondered if that wouldn’t turn out to be the proper way to deal with the beads. If for no other reason than to be able to balance the tires the correct way.

Basically, an Oliver Owner has three choices on where to put his/her portable generator. 1 - Put it in the basket on the tongue of the trailer. 2 - Put it in the rear of your truck and deal with having to futz around with it when you want to use it. 3 - Put it in the garage at home and leave it there.

Ninety is probably plenty, but one hundred is OK too. Tighten in steps, say 50-70-90 or 100 pound/feet at a time. Important, check torque again after driving about 75 miles.

Did I mention that this rear mounting thing is a bad idea?

Richard, I know this is a little late in the game but I believe Badger's solution was to purchase the bonding plug that Phil mentioned.

I've never seen one physically attached to the trailer in any way other than in the generator (excuse me, cargo) basket on the front. This is a very poor idea, but I suppose you could fabricate some sort of carrier for the rear. Other than that, there's no other open space. Did I say that was a poor idea? Good luck, though...

I do believe I have high jacked and sidetracked this thread and I sincerely apologize.

The only good thing about the light is they will probably turn it off after a short time. Unlike those that build a stinking fire and go to bed with it still smouldering.

Those back-flow preventers (Allows water to flow only in one direction - note the tiny arrow on each of them in the plumbing graphic).

Let's just stick to answering the questions asked. Which you mostly did, thank you very much. @GAP please pass on John’s very thorough explanation of the retrofitting. I doubt it could be improved upon very much. The new owners probably have a valid (albeit personal) reason in wanting to change out the composting toilet for a regular one because there are also "SOOOOO many reasons" to not want one. One reason is medical. Most folks don't discuss their intimate bowel habits with the other members on an open forum. Even though it's true that 90% of new buyers choose the composting toilet, there is a plethora of medical reasons that these are not the necessarily the best toilet choice for everybody. The greatest obstacle to properly using one may well be the need to keep solids and liquids separate. What if your “solids” are usually mostly liquid. There is a wide range of problems that can cause chronic diarrhea; some of the most common causes include irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn disease and ulcerative colitis), mal-absorption syndromes, like celiac disease, in which food cannot be digested and absorbed. There are also infections such as C. diff (also known as Clostridioides difficile). There are, as well, many other less common causes of chronic diarrhea. There is probably no drug on the market that doesn’t include “diarrhea” among its many side effects. Ten percent of Americans have Type II diabetes. The most prescribed oral medication for that disease is Metformin, but its gastrointestinal adverse effects such as diarrhea, flatulence, nausea and vomiting can be a barrier to its use and quite possibly make using a composting toilet very difficult. I seriously doubt there has ever been a discussion between a sales rep and a potential new owner that checked off 'composting toilet' on their order list about any of these issues.

Yeah, but this thread lost all its focus before the end of the first page. Now it's a "What grease is best for my ball" or a "What beer can should I cover my ball with" question. If anyone wants to continue this line of inquiry, please start a new thread.

It is about time. When the Outlaw Oliver was being built in 2013, I specified that each light should have its own switch. If they do this, I can add it to my long list of our original ideas that have now become either standards or options.

I realize that it is a little late to jump in here with this information. The title of this thread is: Battle Born Lithium Ion 12 Volt Batteries in an Oliver? The Lithium Batteries that are optional on the new Oliver's and the Battle Born replacements are Lithium Iron Phosphate not Lithium Ion. There are some big differences in the two technologies and I'll not try to explain them here. Google Lithium Iron Phosphate vs Lithium Ion for in-depth information. Just an FYI, Carry On...

First off, let me welcome you to the forum and tell you something you probably already know. You have chosen the best fiberglass trailer that has ever been built. You should get many trouble free years of use out of it. This won't make your wait any shorter or any easier, but just a year or so ago the wait for an Oliver was over 12 months. The wait for an Escape trailer was 26 months and the only price guarantee they would make was that it would be several thousand more than it was the day you ordered it. They could not give you a final price on order day. Besides all that, when it was all said and done, you still only ended up with an Escape travel trailer. Not even a second choice for most of us. These next two months will go by so fast you won't believe it.

It should be simple to make a turkey out of it.