Geronimo John

From the pictures, it appears that the tracker pivots around this end as the sun transverses the sky. Is that correct? GJ

I use the same Kestrel every day we are flying HG and PG's. We also like to avoid "inadvertent launches". Great idea being able to automatically Stow the sail ... errr panel in high winds. Will discuss this in Alabama. Thanks for the follow-up post. GJ

Yes. Better said! Thanks gj

The 4,000 miles round trip to do so would get to be expensive and "Tireing" . LOL GJ

Art (MaxBurner) likely will have his there as well. After 6 years, I finally will be able to attend the Alabama rally. Looking forward to it for sure. Generally were I boondock there are extreme winds daily. Morning one direction, evenings the other. So wind stability is always top of my mind. My solution is to keep our 200 watt panel close to the trailer and sand bagged down. I'll turn it during the day 1 - 3 times to optimize solar collection. This could work nicely, but it likely would need a lot of weight to stay earth bound. In the mean time I'm stoked to see this idea in action. Great post GJ

I hope so as I'm a long way from 70,000 miles that I got on my last set of Michelin Defenders. My tire guy at Discount Tire said that this is a old myth from the old tire days. Modern radial tires are much less MORE resistant to flat spots. Just run them slow for a few miles after storage and they even out. Going on seven years and 42,000 Ollie Miles without any tire issues. But I do give them a good look over every year and they only see daylight 3 - 4 months a year. But they are stored in a barn the rest of the time covered. GJ

Even the best wax will not totally stop oxidation. Some almost don't even slow it down a lot. I believe that any Ollie parked outside needs to be well detailed, waxed AND covered for good protection. Then there is the ceramic route, and that's both out of my wheel house and pocket book size too. Steve: For your two year+ sun soaked baking of your Ollie. In order of likely cost, least to most expensive: Cover it. If you go this route PM me. Find barn space for rent and cover it. (This is what I do) Find a commercial overhead cover storage facility and also cover it. Do nothing. Then plan on spending $$$ for ceramic. And then plan on having it renewed every few years. Likely only $$, but not in my wheel house. Do nothing. Then plan on spending $$$$ for OTT to restore it. Build a storage out-building or Man Cave like MaxBurner and others have! (My dream solution) Good discussions for sure as many Owners struggle with this very issue. GJ

If you have Michelins as several of us do, they are well capable of lasting to the long end of TopGun's range. That means covered as Patriot suggests. If you choose to cover, keep in mind that your trailer is not as tall or wide as most covers are made for. I unknowingly purchased an Adco cover and it was two sizes too large. If you have an OE2, the "box" of the trailer is only 18' X 7' and the height of the box is just over 7'. Shop around and you'll find the "Custom Oliver" trailer covers are quite $$$$. Nice, but expensive for sure. Considering Grand Kiddo's: If I had known they were SO much fun, I would of had them first! Enjoy them! GJ

Does it really matter? If either of those issues are present, I would want my unit replaced. But that begs the question of "With What?". On that point, I'm in the BoondockingAirStream and Seadog camp. Give me something that works for 20+ years that I can maintain.

I agree. None the less, I am elated that OTT recognized the issue as a life safety one and launched their recall so quickly. That's taking care of our family first! With your experience, you may take the step to advise Air Stream, NHTSA and RVMA of your Air Stream thoughts about this product as well as Oliver's "stand up" actions too. Again, the right thing to do. GJ

When flying solo with Ollie, it is more of a challenge to find a stop for the night without prior planning. I for sure know where all the Interstate Rest Stops and free federal lands are along the way. That helps especially out west. However with my spouse on board, it is a LOT easier. I drive she finds the options based on how long we want to travel that day. In the mountains where snowmobiles run there are lots of huge parking lots near trail heads, with near zero people there during non-snow months. Another option for sure. GJ

I have often thought for very cold weather, that if we could just run our furnace fan on continuously (vs. it cycling with the furnace burner), many of our freezing issues would be ameliorated. Especially on the curb side. The benefit could be expanded to the Aft Port corner (where we generally first see freezing water systems) with the inclusion of an under bed return air duct to that area. An idea I suggested some time ago..... GJ

Listing them on Craig's List generally results in your getting $500+ pocket cash. Having the soft start and a really cleaned up and staged for pictures is a great start. But taking a video of it running with a date and shot of your pocket thermometer showing the discharge temperature was what sold mine for above that number. Bill: Any chance you could post a link to your post. Sounds like a great idea to be emulated. Thanks GJ

I really like the idea of having the hose connection "T" before the filter idea. I often need a hose sprayer, but generally have little control over flow when using one of the camp ground taps directly. I have a spare connector in my basement as shown below. Having both the lines out with their own valve would allow use of the hand hose without putting pressure or flow into Ollie. Thanks for waking up the idea! GJ

Relying on campground supplied water pressure regulation alone has risk to the care free enjoyment of our wonderful Ollie's. But WHY? It comes down to physics. The CG water system typically are sized to accommodate the anticipated max load when built. Rarely do the owners of the CG plan for much future expansion, pipe scaling, or future site space density of users increase. So over time the site's water pressure delta between high flow and low flow periods increases. But WHY? Increased demands over time, the flow efficiency of the system decreases due to due to flow friction. More friction begets lower flow, and increased static and dynamic pressure differences. The problems start cropping up at those customers at the furthest site from their water main connection. Low flow complaints lead to the owner reducing the pressure modulation on their end to increase pressure to serve the end of line flow requirements during peak times. The Delta Pressure between low and high flows can easily be 25 PSI. So effectively to be conservative with what pressure you want your Ollie to see is your own water pressure regulator. Hence, for all of the above reasons, we do not leave city water pressure "on" to Ollie unless we are filling the fresh water tank or using the dedicated black water flush system. GJ

Could be handy for the three-way units especially. It would need to include a means for terminating the propane flow. The 120 and 12 volt power sources would eventually ground and blow fuses so I would not be overly concerned about their contributing as reignition sources. GJ

This is a life safety issue. PLEASE SUBMIT A TICKET WITH THIS POST. It is a candidate for a massive recall. GJ

I like using my Garman RV satellite GPS for that. There are several different models depending what you need or can afford. That said, I don't use a Satellite Navigator to navigate our Ollie into the barn for storage. But I do back it in and out very carefully. the barn floor is about a foot above outside area grade. So I had to move a bunch of dirt and gravel to create a compacted 20 foot long flat spot in front of the 10 foot AFF clearance beam at the entry. Something to keep in mind if you think the storage facility could give your Ollie A/C or antennas a BUZZZ hair cut. JD: I didn't know your picture was on the cover of Mad Magazine. You are famous!! GJ

Bad description above. Thanks for highlighting it. I should said along the frame. I want the frame to at least somewhat protect the cables during off roading. Also not stated is that Ford requires all such cables to be run in high temperature loom to keep their warranty. Thanks GJ

The Victron Orion installation requires circuit protection from both sides of the system. One at the TV battery and another at the load side of the connection. JD prefers two fuses and that works great for him. I am in the Circuit Breaker camp on the TV side and a fuse like JD suggests on the Ollie end of those 4 AWG's. Of the two, I think the load end is the most important. Reason is that if you have a direct short our Litho's easily generate more than 3X the power that the TV battery can. The fuse sizing criterion includes: Amps, Volts, and Potential Power. Sure we could put a small fuse with a small 10 Ga wire on it. But if short circuited, it would be blown away and certainly not contain the potential energy generated by the 1800 amps or more that three Battleborns can generate. I would not want to even guess what those twin 360 AH Litho installs could put out but would bet they can melt 4/0 cables in two seconds. Hence using quality fuses as JD suggested or a quality circuit breaker and fuse.

For your purposes that may well be true. But for at least one of us when we are not connected to Ollie, we like to go play where off road conditions sometimes involves stuff impacting our undercarriage, frame and floor panels. Would like to avoid that, but stuff happens. That puts our cables that are exposed at some risk. I prefer to kill the breaker at the TV battery and not worry about it when doing so. Sure we could have run the cables thru the frame, but John Davies taught us that doing so we can not secure them from bouncing around. Since the frame is welded, I am not so sure that they ground down any of those robot welds smooth so our cables would not be taking a slicing as we bounce around out there. Sure there is a price to pay for the power loss through breakers. But I have come to terms with that loss as compared to the time of unbolting the fuse each time I go play. So, I guess I'm the Flipper Camp and you are in the Screw It Camp. Just the way it works out some days. But the good news is that we both agree that circuit protection of those lines IS in fact a very important safety element of our DC to DC charging systems. You did mention not knowing of any quality breaker makers. I don't know myself. So let's ask! After all, this sort of question was asked a few years ago and a fellow owner nicely introduced me to BlueSeas product lines. So here goes? Anybody know of a good quality circuit breaker for under hood install in the battery area that is rated at 60 amps?

I agree. But a switch has only and on/off function. Better is a circuit breaker or a fuse. Either provides protection to down range wiring in both the open and closed position. If you only have a switch, and something damages the conductors going to Ollie, an on switch gives you no short circuit protection on the wires from the TV Battery to the Orion DC/DC unit. My preference to use a circuit breaker and not a fuse at the TV battery. Quality fuses of this size and amperage typically are bolted in fuses. Compared to a flip of a breaker, undoing the two fuse bolts, is far less convenient.... especially when you drop the washer or nut into the manifold and have to wait an hour for it to cool down to fetch with your fingers because you forgot to pack the magnet on a stick at home! 😞 GJ

I'm with both of you on this one. I connect my TV to Ollie via a Anderson 175 amp connector. I have a 60 amp breaker at the TV battery. Disconnect the Anderson only with the motor off as well. I like having a breaker at the TV Battery. That lets me not worry about potential damage to the under frame cables in transit threat when not in use. I do not YET have a second 60 amp fuse on the Ollie end. I assume it should ideally be mounted at the B+ terminal on Ollie. I am assuming it's purpose to so kill power should a DC/DC charging B+ cable headed forward goes to ground. Correct?. GJ

Ditto. Just make sure you have the head room under hood for them. GJ

JD: Good ideas for my Phase 2 efforts. Phase 1 is to adjust the parameters and add cooling fans. That Snackchaser 3% loss per a few degrees of temp rise of the Orion 30 amp unit was an eyeopener! If the numbers don't come up to something close to 28 amps to my Battleborns, then I'll circle back to your two suggestions. Both have merit. But they also are not pretty much free as what Snackchaser suggested! 🙂 I would however modify your "with and without the hitch connected" test. To also include disco the Anderson Chains, Safety Chains, 7 Pin Connection, and for grins the emergency safety cable for the Dexter's. Basically severing all metallic paths between TV and OE2 except my 4 AWG cables for the DC to DC system. But then I suspect that's what you were suggesting to do. GJ