mossemi

Have you thought about using a butt connector with heat shrink and solder using a heat gun instead of a soldering iron? I also use the method below for connections where a stronger connection is needed such as pulling a wire that I have lengthened. Mossey

John, glad to hear that you are back in the saddle and have a new toy to play with. It looks like a great camper and certainly equipped for you style of camping, off the beaten path! Mossey

I’m glad I already have most of the stuff listed, it gives me a chance to avoid the crowds! And hopefully we only get some rain.🙏 Mossey

I think the wiring from the solar panels to the battery is an opportunity. Getting familiar with the cutoff points and the associated breakers and the wiring path is good information. It’s not necessary to remember all of it, just get familiar with it. Mossey

I'm from Florida and have well water at home. I also believe that we have worst water available anywhere excluding industrial, manufacturing or agricultural locations that have been polluting groundwater for decades. I can dig a 36" deep hole in my yard and hit water most of the year. So I often refer to my well water as coming from a mud puddle. The point of this is to say that I use swimming pool bleach or sometimes hydrogen peroxide to sanitize my water system. We do not drink or cook or ingest our home water, ever. And I don’t know anything about the water I put into the fresh water tank from any other source after we leave home, so the water use statement above also holds true of the fresh water in our Ollie. And more to the point, if you sanitize you fresh water tank and shortly there after you still have bad water coming out, I would suspect the water source. To my comment above about ground water pollution, my parents were from Ottawa, IL. and Ottawa was the location of one of three factories in the United States that was operated by the United States Radium Corporation . If you don’t know the story of the "Radium Girls" and are curious about why I bring it up, click the link above. It is a story about industrial pollution that had a terrible effect on the people of these three community’s. Mossey

Thank you to all veterans for your service to America! Y'all earned this camping privilege, enjoy it! Mossey

I forgot to mention that we often times walk the campground at odd times of day and night, trying to minimize the chances of meeting other dogs. And a final note, we camp in the neighborhood of 20% of the year so that leaves us with about 80% of the time when behavior problems don’t affect other campers. I also think the payoff we get every time we come home to Nick is priceless! Mossey

Thank you for the Govee suggestion. Our big problem there is inconsistent wireless service. Maybe I’ll fix that with a proper wireless network one day. I do have the ability to monitor the temperatures with 4 Ruuvi sensors remotely when we have wireless coverage, but it’s those other times that worry us. Mossey

Yes, Nick always camps with us and we have never been asked to leave a campground. And dogs led us to buying a RV. When Krunch's parents were still with us, they were our dog sitters. When our dog got to be too much for them, we started staying in hotels that allowed dogs. And we soon realized that most hotels considered smoking rooms and pets allowed rooms to be the same. When smoking rooms were outlawed in most states it made things easier, but the Ollie was the game changer. National Parks are a real challenge with limited dog friendly areas and COE's are extremely dog friendly in our experience. If we leave Nick alone in the Ollie, we try to limit his ability to see anything outside and sometimes we will leave him in the bathroom with a radio on. Our biggest fear is an electric failure and the loss of the of the air conditioner so we try to limit the amount of time we are gone. And I must say that one advantage of the Dometic AC's are their ability to drown out outside noise😎. Like David and Paula mentioned above, behavior modification does work and consistent direction is the key. Research clicker training for information. And don’t give up, you be rewarded with a loyal best friend! Mossey

I can sympathize with you as the owner of a very reactive dog. He loves people, but anything on 4 legs sets him off. He is never off lead except in our fenced back yard. He has been this way since we brought him home when he was 12 weeks old. A 3 month long reactive dog class did not help and we have excepted his limitations around other animals. Nearly 10 years later he is a little better and will play with other dogs in our fenced yard and will behave around other family members dogs, but we really don’t trust him 100%. We love him and he’s ours until the end. Mossey

Good thinking! Mossey

You can adjust the trailer stabilizers and run the water off the roof in the most desirable direction until you determine the problem and fix. Mossey

It would seem that you taught her well, congratulations! Mossey

Did you follow this post? Mossey

We all have our tips and tricks! I started using Absorber Synthetic Chamois towels while motorcycle camping. And I still use them when camping in the Ollie. Then I finish with a small microfiber cloth. I usually cut one in half and make two towels out of one. Who cares if they dry out or not, they work better wet just like a real chamois. And it’s harder to drag on the floor using a half of one. Plus a half is easier for me to wring out. Mossey

I assume Oliver provided the picture of the San-T-Flush vacuum breaker and you haven’t taken yours apart yet. Mossey

Mine looks like yours except it is accessed from the forward dinette seat. Is that a typo? Mossey

Do you know which Xantrex 2000W inverter you have? Oliver has used 2 versions of the Xantrex 2000W inverter. The original is a PROwatt SW Inverter. And they newer inverter is a FREEDOM X / XC Inverter. The original has a hard coded High and Low voltage cut off, which can not be modified by the end user to my knowledge. The newer Inverter can be modified by the end user. Is this the model you have? Mossey

Are you measuring battery voltage with a multimeter at the battery terminals? Can you also measure the battery voltage at the terminals of the inverter with a multimeter? This method might provide a more accurate cable loss measurement than the internal display. Mossey

I think I would just cut off enough of this one to fit a future Clam and seal the cut ends. Mossey

And that huge mat might push the Beast a little closer to its max payload.😃 Mossey

Kind of like Ollie's, sometimes you get what you pay for! And I have to give credit to Overland for the original post about CGEAR RV mats. I bought our 8'x20' Orange/Agave mat in February of 2020 on sale. It was the only color available in that size and price and Krunch does not like it. It is big and heavy and if I was to buy it again, I think I would op for 2 smaller mats, especially if we had a Clam shelter. Mossey

I’m feeling kind of primitive with my battery maintenance schedule. My Ollie is plugged into a 20 amp circuit while in storage and I turn the battery charging breaker off when the batteries reaches 100%. Then I wait for Victron's VRM service to send me an email letting me know that the batteries have reached 35% SOC and I trudge 25ˋ up the hill in the snow and turn the breaker back on until the batteries again reach 100%.😂 And then I repeat the sequence. I have thought about incorporating a relay to automatically shutting off the breaker and maybe that’s a future project. We all have to figure out what works for our non camping lifestyle! Mossey

I will say that if I am going to waste money on Victron gear, I hope it's only $40! Mossey

Are you referring to the release handle used to remove the drawers? The reason I ask is because Oliver has been installing an additional locking devise, as pictured in a post above, to their drawers for several years. Mossey