ScubaRx

I got to meet both Magnus and Oscar in Q. They are the coolest dogs.

I’ve had four different tow vehicles. Finally found the one that works for us. @HDRider thanks for doing this but please list which model trailer the owner is towing in your results.

The problem you and I and all the early owners are always going to have is the rear inset and cover are too small to accept a tire like those that originally came with our trailer. Now that they’ve gone down to a 15” wheel as standard (WTH is up with that?) and if you’re interested in going to a smaller wheel and tire the spare probably would fit under the cover. I wish 18” tires would fit the trailer, then the tires on the 3500 Silverado and the Oliver could interchange.

@Rivernerd is a retired attorney. I suspect he knows what’s up.

In Hull #050 it is a 3” bathroom vent with the two cabin vents being 4”.

Are coming to the rally as usual? If so, and it is still not repaired, I will personally take care of it for you. We might just make it a ‘how to’ demo for the group to watch and learn from. We can do it down at the Buckeye pavilion. Let me know.

I believe it is 43 pound/feet.

Woo Hoo

All the cool kids will be at Dome Rock. We are at 33.64345° N, 114.30113° W.

I think all of this is acceptable. We just spent 4 days in sub freezing temps including a cold night on the I-210 bridge 140 feet above Lake Charles in Louisiana. I don’t recommend traveling with zero water in the fresh tank. We started out with clear water lines and nothing in the fresh but a full water heater tank. I was a little concerned about the WH but we filled up with water yesterday and fired it up with no problems. If you’re concerned about the water freezing in your fresh tank, study up on the thermodynamics of water freezing. I’d be more concerned with a full tank than a half tank.

I can count the number of power outages that we’ve had lasting more than 5 minutes at our home on one hand. That includes all the tornadoes and ice storms we have. And that’s over a forty year period. Almost all the power losses I’ve ever incurred have been due to squirrels shorting the breaker on a pole right in front of our house or some bonehead driving a vehicle through the neighborhood that is too tall to pass under the lines and pulls one down. Have you ever seen a squirrel that has been turned inside out?

I don’t see why. The front axle weight rating of any vehicle that would serve as a decent tow for an Oliver would likely support the weight of a motorcycle much less that of a couple of bicycles. You can see them while driving so you don’t end up at your destination sans bikes like one owner reported to me. They don’t block the rear trailer lights so than problem is eliminated. I’m unclear on what the cost of the bike has to do with the best place to carry it. My last resort location would easily be in between the truck and trailer.

Excellent work, Art. (@MAX Burner) Are you already in Q ? We’ll be there in a few days. Hope to see you there.

I have asked this question before, and no one has ever answered. I am not sure if that is because no one knew the answer or just weren’t interested enough to reply. Why not use a front receiver that can be bought for any full-size pick up for barely over $100 and carry the bikes there? They will all support up to 500 pounds and they are all 2 inch receivers so any bike rack would work. In addition, the front receiver has multiple other uses. I actually don’t see how anyone gets by without having a front receiver.

I too think that going to the smaller RV shows could be advantageous to Oliver. The issues I see with a larger show like the Tampa thing is several fold. It is obviously geared toward folks in Florida. Since Florida is not on the way to anywhere else in the entire country, I know I wouldn’t drive to that show even for the delight of seeing an Oliver. If your goal is to see an Oliver virtually everywhere in the nation is closer to Hohenwald than to Tampa. so why not just go there? Another issue is the expense of paying for a booth at the show vs any potential sales generated by that expense. Oliver does participate in smaller rally’s and gatherings (they’ve been to Quartzsite many times) and have had good sales as a result.

I'm surprised that you could pull your trailer up the shear side of those mountains. Carol must have been behind pushing.

We feel exactly the same way you do about the way the trailer looks with the beds made as in your photo. But we wanted to sleep with our heads toward the galley so that we could watch the television. So, we compromised, We sleep with our heads pointed forward and place the pillows aft when we make the beds. And, strangely, if either of us takes an afternoon nap, we do so with our heads at the rear.

30 feet of 2awg red + 30 feet of 2AWG black will cost nearly $250. 60 feet of each would be about $470. The wire is not cheap, but I suspect that it is the labor that is tearing you a new one. Is there any reason you wouldn't want to do it yourself. I am about to do the same thing and I was figuring well under $1000 for materials. I can't afford the labor fee I would charge. The job is not technical or particularly difficult, but it is time consuming to do it correctly and there's not a lot of folks I'd trust to do this job like I would want it done.

Every trailer Oliver built starting Hull #001 has used that same distribution center. The door has always opened the the "wrong way". Our 2008 Elite and now our 2014 Elite II both have the same issues. For those owners that are not constantly updating electrical wiring and modifying circuits, like Sherry, it amounts to very very few trips down under the table. MY 16 Oliver seasons have found me under the dinette hundreds of times. As an aside, for those of us who actually have a need to access that area, be it often or hardly ever, it's much easier to work in that area if you just break down the table and set it aside.

For anyone this is or is anticipating making their own battery cables this is all VERY GOOD advice. Learn from John's previous experiences (I had to learn from my own mistakes thru the years). If you already have a $150 utility cable cutter, you're in good shape. If not, I have successfully used a band saw to make a nice, square cut in 4/0 cables. No band saw either, put on your thinking cap or get out your charge card. Remember, the goal is to get as smooth and square a cut as possible on the end of the cable. I use a small tubing cutter to remove the insulation also, but his method of leaving 1/4' on the cut end is brilliant and I guarantee you'll be hard pressed to come up with a better solution for getting all the strands into the lug prior to crimping. I bought a hydraulic crimper off eBay years ago. I paid about $35 for it. This is a tool I thought I would use a few times and then it would sit on a shelf in the shop for the rest of my life. Not so, I have used it dozens of times for various things. Need to make a pinched locking nut? A 10 ton press will flatten a nut if you're not careful. The fact that I have it makes it useful for many tasks that require a lot of pressure that are difficult to do other wise. I would not be willing to pay over $50. You won't find $150 worth of usage out of it, or will you? If you do, the $50 model will do it just as well. A bench vise is a very useful adjunct to this project. If you don't have one already, you now have an excuse to build a shop...so you'll have a place to mount that new bench vice.

I was referring to the photo you posted and I included with my inquiry.

Our trucks automatically set them when parked on a slope.

Is this one table or two?

@Liana Oliver has moved outlets around through the years. I have one in the basement, one on the outside and five more inside the coach and that's besides the two used by the refrigerator and the microwave. Some folks have them mounted in the sides of the nightstand also. At first they would just put them wherever you wanted them, but that went away when they streamlined the assembly line to not included anything that went outside of the normal layouts.

There is a quick fix available until a more permanent one is developed and implemented. The recommendation is to use a 20-30 foot length of stout rope and tie off the vehicle to the nearest tree. Sounds like a plan to me!