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Rumline

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Everything posted by Rumline

  1. I've recently looked at the new Ram 1500. I also loved the Limited with air suspension for its creature comforts as well as the way it drove. However the version with the regular Hemi (no eTorque) only has 1300lbs of payload capacity. My Ollie's tongue weight is 650 lbs, plus hitch, me, wife, kid, dogs, and extremely limited cargo inside comes to 1150 lbs payload. So just be mindful of what you'll actually be carrying and if you'll want to load up that bed or not.
  2. I make sure to deploy this when we set up camp: Sorry, I couldn't resist. On Android I use "eWeather HD" because I've found its severe weather alerts to be more configurable and superior to other apps. For forecasts I also use Accuweather.
  3. I'm glad you sustained no damage to the trailer. From what I've read this is a common problem...electricians see the plug you want installed, think it's a 240V dryer connection and wire it accordingly. I would recommend printing out the diagram that John posted whether doing this yourself or hiring someone. Then once installed probe the two blade connectors and ensure you get 120 and not 240.
  4. Yes you can, as I found out the hard way and much to my chagrin. The grey tank won't drain properly if both the bathroom drain valve and the kitchen sink stopper are closed. I think having either one open will allow air to enter and the full contents of the tank to drain.
  5. Being a newbie RV owner, I researched this subject extensively prior to picking up our trailer. The results were that Happy Campers and TankTechsRX seemed to be the best options. I decided on Happy Campers and so far have been happy with it; no odors at all. After dumping and flushing the tanks I'll add a gallon or two of water to each tank along with the HC powder. I leave that in the tanks to slosh around while we drive. When removing from storage for a trip I'll flush and drain the grey tank for maximum capacity. While camping I'll add a little HC to the grey tank but the black tank is already treated. I decided not to do TankTechsRX because I like to flush the black and grey tanks, and I thought that this would eliminate the benefit of that product since not much gets left behind for the bacteria to work on. For those of you who use TTRX (T-rex?) do you find that it remains effective if you flush the tanks? Or do you never flush anymore to keep it going?
  6. That's right. To calculate total and/or tongue weight you need to weigh your tow vehicle with and without the trailer. To make it easy on yourself have the same load of people / cargo in the TV both times. Then add steer and drive axles together on each weigh ticket. Next subtract the sans-trailer axle weight sum from the with-trailer axle weight sum, and the result is the trailer's tongue weight. Add that to the trailer axle weight and you have total trailer weight. So my tongue weight is exactly 10% of the total loaded weight. Awesome design!
  7. Here's the weigh ticket from my mostly-fully-loaded Ollie. I thought I had a full fresh water tank but it turned out to only be 2/3 full. Grey and black tanks were empty. That's with the whole family and dogs loaded in the car too, so I calculated tongue weight to be 620 lbs. (I have previously weighed the car empty) Since the fresh water tank is right over or a little aft of the axles I'd expect tongue weight to not increase with a full load of fresh water. As far as options we have that would effect weight, we have the 4x AGM batteries, 30 lb propane tanks, solar, two awnings, instant water heater (no 48 lbs of dead weight), and maybe the mattress upgrade adds some weight.
  8. Hmm, I'll take the Oliver company at their word. At the end of their Plant Tour video on YouTube: "We are building a product here that the Oliver family can be proud of, and that you can own now and pass it down to the next generation. That's why we call it the Legacy." It may have started as a tribute to John's legacy, but they are now marketing it as being "your" (the buyer's) legacy.
  9. On my Jeep, 4 Low locks the center differential, which from my understanding is not good to do on pavement. I've got this nice warning in the owners manual: Do not drive in 4WD-LOW Range on dry pavement; driveline damage may result. 4WD-LOW Range locks front and rear drivelines together and does not allow for differential action between the front to rear driveshafts. Driving in 4WD-LOW on pavement will cause driveline binding; use only on wet or slippery surfaces. Does your Land Cruiser's 4L operate differently?
  10. I have one of the Ambient Weather multi-sensor thermometers and I mount my outdoor one to the far back of the rear step bracket using 3M Command picture hanging strips that are velcro-like. Then whenever I move the trailer I pull off the sensor and attach it to another spare strip that I've mounted by the entrance door. I've forgotten to move it back inside before and drove home three hours through the rain. When we stopped I realized my mistake but the sensor still works great. Anyway in its deployed location it's out of the sun for the vast majority of the day. Been pretty happy with it.
  11. Where are your rats nests? I have a pretty recent build and I'm happy to take photos if you tell me where to look.
  12. I agree, I wish the Oliver install was less table-like. I actually like what they did for Overland's panel layout. The flexible panels leave much to be desired at this point. Although I like what Kimberley does with flexible panels: bond them to a second "tropical" roof layer which has an air gap between it and the main roof. This eliminates the heat issue and provides secondary insulation benefits against the sun beating down. But there goes the weight advantage from flexible panels.
  13. I'm sure some of you are getting sick of me writing this, but for insurance purposes your trailer GVWR must* be less than or equal to the tow rating of your tow vehicle. * This may vary between insurance companies but it was the same guidance I received from inquiring with claims departments of both State Farm and Geico. However it's a pretty low bar to meet so I consider it a minimum requirement.
  14. Those provide insulation but not circulation. HyperVent provides circulation and not insulation. I would not say they do the same thing at all.
  15. Are you getting the latex mattress option? If not I would not purchase either. I got whatever was cheaper but only because I wanted air circulation under the latex mattress. Regarding scratches, the edges are not sharp except where you cut the material. I have duct tape around those edges for now but plan to melt them a little with a heat gun. The duct tape doesn't show since it's along the outside edge.
  16. When I saw the thread title I thought "Good Lord, this truck size insanity has finally jumped the shark." Freightliner explains it better than I can: Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon are mid-sized pickups, as opposed to full-sized pickups like F150, Silverado, etc. I tow with what some consider less capable than a Chevy Colorado and I feel like my tow vehicle is adequate to the point that I don't need to rush out and replace it. Yes even driving in the mountains of Colorado.
  17. Thanks for the replies. I hadn't considered the importance of being level laterally, or even slightly higher on the curb side. And David thank you for reminding me of the board leveling method. I'd ruled out such a solution for traveling but just keeping them in the garage at home wouldn't be much of a burden. Un-hitching, leveling, and then re-hitching is a hassle I'd prefer to avoid, but for boondocking having a full water tank is more important.
  18. We just got back from our first dry camping trip, which was was awesome except for our fresh water situation: when we arrived and set up camp our fresh water tank meter read only 65%. Before we left I filled the tank with the Ollie parked on the street in front of our house until water came out the overflow vent. I thought that was good but apparently it wasn't. Now the street in front of my house is at a decent angle, maybe 5-7% grade.* I had the Ollie parked with the nose pointing uphill, attached to my tow vehicle. My driveway is even steeper than the street is. So my question for the forum is, do you have to fill the tank with the trailer level? And if so, what is to stop water from just coming out again when you drive up a hill? * I haven't measured the angle of the street, but when we first brought the trailer home from Hohenwald and parked it on the street for a few days, I had to lower the hitch to just a couple of inches off the ground in order for the trailer to be level. Obviously the trailer was unhitched at that point. I found a thread from last year about losing water out of the vent: http://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/losing-precious-fresh-water-out-the-vent-on-rough-roads/ In it, Overland shared the following picture that shows the vent hose: Given that the vent is in the middle, I could see how in my situation water could be flowing out of the vent hose before the tank was all the way full. On the other hand, maybe I lost water due to bouncing up the gravel forest road to get to the campground. Thoughts?
  19. Nice! We spent two nights at the Blue Springs Lake Campground just east of KC on I-70 last month on our way home from Hohenwald. We met a couple in a Casita who said that another Oliver was in the same campsite we were in the previous night. So not quite an Ollie sighting but a "near miss".
  20. According to page 161 of your owner's manual, a weight distribution hitch is required for trailers weighing over 5000 lbs. This is a common restriction for all 1/2 ton trucks so don't feel like your truck is inadequate in any way. Some people believe strongly that manufacturer guidance such as the above is hogwash and just lawyer-ese. I do not subscribe to that theory but you are of course free to reach your own decision. Ollies are pretty well balanced (from my reading here as well as my experience taking mine to a CAT scale) but you still need to ensure you're not exceeding either of your gross axle weight ratings (GAWR) as listed on the sticker in your driver's door jamb. A weight distribution hitch will help with this. The Ollie on its own is unlikely to push you over any limits, but if you also plan to take an ATV or other heavy stuff in the bed of your truck it could quickly become an issue.
  21. We just got back from the Westcliffe area, inbetween the huge Spring fire and the much smaller Adobe fire. We got lucky with the winds because we experienced zero smoke in the air. When we made reservations three weeks ago we got the last reservable campsite, but when we got there, over half the sites were empty. So if you're able to gamble (I understand allergies and asthma are not something one should typically gamble with) you might get some great camping anyway. Before we left I monitored news on each of the fires as well as the wind forecasts on windy.com, so it wasn't a complete shot in the dark; I had reason to hope that the smoke would not be coming our way. Your mileage may vary but just thought I'd share what worked for us.
  22. I believe because some folks are interested in propane generators, though the explosion risk is relevant to anybody who uses or transports propane.
  23. It also happens to me on Android using Firefox. Chrome does not exhibit the same issue, but I don't care to use Chrome if I can get away with it.
  24. The only thing I can speak to is time to delivery. We put our deposit down at the beginning of January with a mid-March production start date (because we wanted a later delivery) but the earliest production slot available at that time was mid February. From there it took 10 weeks for the trailer to be built and finish their QC process. So I'd guess you're looking at least at a 15 week wait from the time you put down your deposit and reserve a production slot, unless you get lucky and there's an earlier hole in the schedule that you can jump in.
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