bugeyedriver

How about a set of FRS radios with weather alert capabilities? You can plug them into your 12V outlet while in the charger, get weather alerts when needed, and have communications as needed. I also carry a hand crank emergency radio as a back-up when the power and batteries may be gone. You can find them at Radio Shack.

It's always a big surprise to see another Ollie. That means Austin had 3 Ollies pass through today. Oscar & I were northbound on I-35, passing through about noon! Chuck & Geri's trailer had a custom thin gold graphic going down the side. Its new owner lives in Canada. Perhaps he's been down south avoiding all that scary white stuff that's all over the ground back home.

I have enjoyed mine a lot. I purchased one at Camping World and it had a long enough louver section to make one for each of my rear side windows. One of my Casita friends said that if you call the 1-800 number on the box and ask them nicely to send you a couple of the rounded end caps and another length of rubber seal so you can cover another window, they'll send some to you. I did . . . and they did . . . no charge! What a great deal. If you use the supplied screws, it's a good idea to add just a drop of silicone to help prevent the screw from backing out on you over time.

Without Karen challenging my manhood, I couldn't pull it. Tom Whoa girl, put away that whip!! Jenn, Have you made sure your cable pathway is not crimped? I'd love to join you all at Miller Creek, but I'll be up at Jugfest III tossing out bait traps for the big catfish slaughter ...

Yes, thanks for the pictures. Unfortunately, I recognize Pete. Hey Tom . . . I've set up an appointment for you with my new dentist for when ya'll come honky tonkin' around these here parts. He'll take reeeeeeel gud kare of ya! (he, he, he) The other fellow that dropped in was Mark, owner of # 2, who may be putting it up for sale soon. He' has loved it but is moving on to a different phase in his life for the moment. Larry & Betty may remember Mark when he visited them up at Trujillo Meadows and the bear visited his Ollie and left paw prints all over it. LOL About them there overalls . . . they are real comfy like and you city folk that haven't tried them just don't know whut yer missin!

Full moon and prime fishing will be on April 17th. Oscar the Smiley Dog and I plan to join you to help break in your new boat and slaughter some more catfish. Yum Yum Yum!!!

Beautiful pictures of your winter wonderland. One thing missing though, you guys need a sled for those great snow covered hills! Have a Very Merry Christmas.

Terry, Thanks for the update. Glad to hear you've got it all fixed now. I understand all about being mechanically challenged . . . I do an awful lot of head-scratchin' myself when presented with mechanical or electrical problems. This and other forums will often have a solution for me. Do you keep #36 at home and will you be keeping it plugged in between sojourns to let the Charge Wizard manage your battery? Have a great trip to Florida! Pete

OB1, Not sure what your problem is, exactly, but I do note two things: 1 - A reading of 11.5 volts on a 12V battery system is exceedingly low. It could point to a defective battery or one that has just been run bone dead. If you haven't been plugged in for months, cold weather combined with the phantom draws (CO2 monitor, TV, etc) may have sucked all the juice from your battery pack and killed it. I'd have it checked. 2 - Your Ollie should have come with a Charge Wizard which you will find underneath the aft dinette seat. I think they were standard items. These intelligent gizmos are great for taking care of your battery. Read more about it at: http://www.progressivedyn.com/prod_details/charge_wizard.html I always plug the Wonder Egg in between trips for this reason and have recently started leaving the refrigerator on to keep the ammonia circulating and prevent it from getting musty. You might also check your ground fault interrupt switch found at the external plug outlet on the curb side. It may have gone bad. I carry an extra one of these just in case. If it fails you'll have no 110V electricity. You can get them at a big box hardware store. Good luck and let us know what you find.

Pam & Allen, If I get home and still need to empty the black tank, I hook the macerator to a 1" hose which runs to the back yard where I have a clean-out port for my septic system (about a 125' distance). I run the hose about a foot into the 4" pipe and turn on the system, followed by plenty of clear water which cleans the hose. I've never brought it into a house toilet. While technically feasible, I'd be concerned with the neatness of that process. Do you have a campground near you that might allow you to use their dump station for a small fee?

allenpamela, Sorry for the late reply. I've been traveling around in the Wonder Egg for a few months. The macerator continues to be a helpful addition to The Wonder Egg. I recently stopped in at Hohenwald and had the guys add a septic clean-out hookup. Now the "dirty job" is even an easier task, as there is no need to haul a clean-out wand through the front door. I simply attach the external hose to the clean-out port, pull the black lever and turn on the macerator, when the pitch changes on the pump I turn on the hose which does a thorough rinse inside the tank for 2 minutes . . . hose off, pump off, lever in and I'm done! Life is goooooood . . . .

Mountainborn, thanks for "The REST of the story." I believe we understand, now. The newly simplified request for "two sentences about yourself" should not hinder folks from coming on into the forum. Overall, it's an improvement over the bazillion spammers that were attempting to worm their way into our family.

Andrew, That's pretty dang impressive! Normally, I shy away from the thought of carpet, but if anything was to change my mind, this nice looking quality carpet would. I'm currently hanging out in the Appalachians with SeaDawg, JuniorBridMan, ScubaRX, and Herm. The temps will be in the high 30's tonight, which can make the "2am dash" dicy. Does your friend have any contact information he'd like posted here?

Looks like the bolt failure is NOT an isolated incident. Oscar & I joined Aubrey, Rascal & Woodstock for a trip out east and out of curiosity, Aubrey took a look at my tongue bolt and discovered IT HAD FAILED!!!! I had checked it when this thread started. It was OK then, so I never gave it another thought. OOPS The nut was gone, bushing still held on by a thread, and the head of the bolt was starting to migrate out. Continuing in this manner without checking could have eventually resulted in tongue separation. The bolt that sheared was a hardened, extra strong, grade 8 bolt. Fortunately, Aubrey had another one handy and we fixed it on the spot. Moral of the story . . . check your tongue bolts on a regular basis to ensure all is well.

Window leaks plagued the Wonder Egg for its first 18 months. Light rain, no problem . . . gully washer, get out the mop! (OK, perhaps not THAT bad but it was still yucky) I traced it down with Daniel's help to being an early model and they were not always using an external gasket between the outer window frame and the outer fiberglass. Daniel sent me enough gasket material to do all the windows. I took it to my local RV guru and he fixed me up in no time. No problems since! The Wonder Egg sat outside as Tropical Storm Hermine slowly passed overhead giving us a real frog-choker. Totally dry inside. Pete's theory: The outer and inner window frames are joined by long screws. The inner and outer shells may have slightly different movement as we go over any rough terrain. This movement "may" result in a tiny crack around the sealant which only manifests itself in a large down-pour. The gasket between the outer frame and the fiberglass mitigates this problem. For my weep holes, I blow them out with a bottle of compressed air called "GASduster" purchased at the local OfficeMax.

Tom, You're welcome, happy to make you cringe, anytime! My tire/rim mismatch occurred after I upgraded to 225/75/15 Marathons, load range D. We discovered I was still operatiing with a 3500lb axle, so the company was sent me a 5200 lbs axle and paid for the installation. They also sent me new rims since I went from 5 lugs to 6 lugs. I had not told them which tires I had been using. The rims were too wide for my Goodyears and although they would carry the load if I had no water on board, a full load would have been slightly over their max load rating. Also, they were stamped for 6olbs maximum. Without a full 65lbs on the Marathons, my tires' weight bearing capabilities would have decreased slightly. The factory bent over backwards already, so I did some homework and purchased a set of MB 72 15"x6", 6 lug rims from Discount Tire to fit the bill. Pete ps Your case could have been worse . . . that "pop" could have been your ball joint!

Aubrey, I'm guessing that'll be the case. My trip was on a very hot & sunny day and I noted the side bathed in sunlight was the warmest. The best test of this will be on an overcast day . . . As I read the monitor, I take the pressure to be actual because the Indicator is directly measuring the actual air pressure from the valve stem, but the temp is more or less an of general temperature, as it's not "actually" the temp of the tire rubber, rather, it reads the temp on the end of the valve stem as it goes round and round. I'm thinking the temp reading going down a long, steep and winding mountain grade should reflect a spike due to the brakes heating up as they work hard. It is still a good indicator of what's going on back there and I'm happy to have it. The best thing I like about the monitor is the alarm it will sound when a parameter I set is exceeded, either high or low pressure, or high temp. The only thing I find frustrating is Oscar keeps telling me every time the psi or temp changes on either trailer tire which gets a bit wearisome. Hopefully he'll get tired of it and go back to sleep and dream of chasing chipmunks and meeting new furpals.

I've done a lot of reading lately on tire/rim specifications and learned my rims were not proper for my tires. The rims measured 7.5 inches wide, and exceeded the acceptable width range for my tires. Having rims that are either too wide or too narrow for the tire's design moves what's called the flex-point away from where the tire is intended to rapidly flex during rotation and could result in premature failure. And the rims were not rated for the load they may be asked to carry if I put on a full load of water. Sooooooo, I now have three shiny new rims which actually match their application. JuniorBirdman told me he has a tire pressure/temperature monitoring system that allows continuous monitoring of your trailer tires from the TV. I thought that was a good idea. Now I have another gizmo for my "safety bag" from Truck System Technologies, Inc. http://www.tsttruck.com/Product_List.html I just went to Austin on a brief trip and it works like a charm.

Phil & Sandra, Welcome to the family! Congratulations on your rare find . . . it's sure to bring you many years of camping pleasure. Next time you're westbound on I-10, feel free to stop and say hello. I'm only 2 1/2 miles off the interstate, just northwest of San Antonio. Pete

Cruzer, Technomadia, (Cherie & Chris), are full timers and recently conducted a great interview with RV Travel TV on their nomadic lifestyle in the Oliver. The interview can be seen at: http://www.rvtraveltv.com/?p=167 Mountainborn, (Larry & Betty), spent all but about 19 days last year in their Ollie. As owners of hull #3, they were on the road most of the last almost 3 years enjoying their trailer. While they've recently gone to the dark side and purchased a 36' 5th wheel (something about traveling with grandkids - so they say) , Larry still checks in here and is a wealth of information. Tumbleweed & Earthdancer, (Chuck & Geri), also have extensive long term experience in an Oliver, (Until they went to the dark side and joined the world of sun blockers in a 30' 5th wheel. Something about two adults and two medium sized dogs and wanting to be a "Mother Ship" for little eggs during inclement weather -so they say) While not a full timer, I have been averaging about 6 months of wandering pleasure with my "Wonder Egg" each year since my retirement in 2008. With about 45 17' Olivers on the road there well may be some more full timers or extensive users out there. I'm sure you'll find us all very pleased with the overall quality, durability, and ease of care with our premium little trailers. Maintenance issues are rare and when they do occur, it is not unusual for the Oliver Travel Trailer folks to bend over backwards to make it right, even though they have halted the production line for the current time. If one can "do the headwork" and adjust the space between their ears to the concept of actually living in such an efficient use of small space for a looooooong time, I can't imagine a better rolling palace to own.

I just finished watching the recorded interview ant thought it was great! Well done, you guys. One really gets a good understanding about the high quality, uniqueness and flexibility of our small living space while being on the road in an Oliver. I especially liked the description of the "poor man's swamp cooler" using a damp cloth suspended on suction cups underneath the air vent using inflowing air. I gotta try that one on my next trip to a dry climate.

DuncanK, Welcome to the forums . . . ENJOY!

I just learned a very valuable lesson about wheel bearings. While going down Route 66, a fellow traveler called me and said my right trailer wheel appeared to be smoking. I pulled off the road, grabbed the fire extinguisher and found a few wisps of smoke coming from the wheel and a hub temp of, get this, 258 degrees! (I had become complacent and was too busy savoring the Route 66 and failed to check the hub temp at gas stops - - - dumb) Well . . . bearings were gone, brake drum damaged, yadayadayada. Fortunately I was close to a great trailer shop that allowed me to camp out overnight as the event occurred after hours. (Trailer Supply Center, El Reno, OK) I have the Easy Lube Spindle with a grease fitting on the end for squirting grease in and I thought this was sufficient. The technicians at the repair shop said the Buddy Bearing or Easy Lube Spindle systems were no substitute for good old fashioned manual repack of the bearings. Simply squirting through the easy fittings does not do the job at best and if done excessively, can result in grease coming into contact with the brakes leading to brake failure. The tech showed me where some of the excess grease was lying around the inside of the brake housing. While the situation was bad, it could have been a whole lot worse. (Thanks for the smoking tire call, Rich) I may have lost a bit of money, but there was no wheel separation leading to a major catastrophe, which easily could have occurred. Well, I had the technician manually repack the street side bearing while he was at it and have rejoined my fellow Route 66 travelers. Lesson learned . . . don't let this easily avoidable event slow down your travel plans.

Oscar & I have begun an epic trip down The Mother Road. It's a trip organized by Lane Aldrich, of the Casita Club and looks like a great group of travelers so far . . . watch on the blog, if you'd like. http://peteandthewonderegg.blogspot.com ... nning.html

Yeah, the phishing at Lake Greeson was a lot of phun.