bugeyedriver

Kit, welcome to the Oliver Forums ! ! ! ENJOY

When I told Oscar that Dillon & Poco were gonna fish for cats he said he'd love to help 'em whoop up on some of them whiskered critters. Count us in too for as long as possible!

Tom, AKA Meanderthal, is considering adding a macerator to his Ollie. I thought I'd post my thoughts for him on the forum for all to see in case they are also thinking of the modification. I am well satisfied with they way my setup works for my needs. It fixes the one unpleasant thing about RVing for me. Charlie is correct, however, in that the vertical drop from the outlet to the pump is less than optimum and it does "suck air" towards the end of a dump. Fortunately, at home if I use the system I am pumping slightly downhill over a distance of 100 feet or so and there is no problem. At camps, I love the 21 foot stretch on the hose. Makes getting to the septic a breeze. I raise up my rear jacks and extend the front jack to get a very positive rearward tilt of the trailer. This helps with the evacuation of the fluids, etc in a more positive manner, minimizing any "leftovers" in the tank. I follow the black gravity flow with a good hose flush in the black tank using one of those four holed clean-out extensions hooked to a regular hose. (I don't have that cool factory installed black tank clean out device yet) This helps with the clean out of the long black line running from the black tank to the outlet. This is then followed with copious amounts of gray water. Charlie, did you swap over to the "Tank Buddy System?" I wonder if you could attach this permanently - keeping it all tucked in the bumper space and simply swing it out and down for service? This might be the best set up of all. Tom, if you go that way, let us all know how it works . . .

khergert, welcome to the Oliver Forum. ENJOY!

Good idea to keep your circadian rhythms stabilized even during the down times. Perhaps you can get some night vision goggles and do some midnight geocaching. Makes it a bit more sporty he, he, he. Be sure to let all us southerners know how the Ollie does during a prolonged frigid camp setting. (better you than me, buddy )

Oscar & I look forward to another Hillapalooza in the Texas Hill Country. Perhaps we can get some more Ollies to join for some great fun.

Sherry, you're absolutely RIGHT! RV antifreeze must be used. Thanks for the clarification. I've never used it before. Do you know if it is concentrated and must be diluted, or does it always come in ready to pour containers?

RKSIMP . . . welcome to the Oliver forums!

Reply from Oscar the Smiley Dog to Dillon the retired drug dog: Golly gee willakers, Dillon, that's a whole bunch of tires on those funny tractor things! I can see your dilemma. I spoke to Pete about it and he said it'd be fun, but he has reservations to go fishing for some flies. I said "Why Pete? There's not enough meat on a fly to make a meal from." He gave me a goofy look and said that I also would be having time with Bob & Bonnie (fulltimers in a sun-blocker, real nice people ) to do some serious lap sitting which is my favorite thing in the world. and that we had family coming in to see the grandbabies . . . and he's gonna smoke a turkey. (I gotta get a picture of THAT ) Anyway, you get the idea . . . looks like we can't make it. I got an idea though. Why don't you have Larry keep your water bowl full and document the size and number of tires you can mark in a day, then go for an entry in the Guinness World Records! That''d be cool and I'd be able to tell everyone know Dillon, the famous marker dog! As for that pesky cat . . . ask Larry to bring home one of those big sugar beets that fell of the truck and have Poco play dead out in the grass. When the cat comes by to sniff at Poco, you tip toe up behind the cat and whack it over the head with the big old sugar beet. That'll teach that cat to mess with you guys.

Main! No wonder you're thinking about sub freezing temps. I find there is nothing to freeze in the hose and only a little over an inch of liquid at the pump entrance. To preclude an energy drain while boondocking from a light bulb or warm air source, how about simply diluting some antifreeze in a gallon of water and sending it down the toilet drain to mingle with the water staged at the pump? As a last resort, for cold weather ops, perhaps we could unscrew the pump from its mounting and swing it over the end of the bumper during operation, letting it hang down just a bit to provide greater vertical drop for the water. This should allow the pump to totally empty.

Aubrey, Living so far south, I hadn't given that much thought . . . hmmmmmmm . . . what would you think of a light bulb wired into the area to provide a small amount of heat?

Welcome to the Oliver Forum lbaker!

Rick, welcome to the Oliver Forums . . . Enjoy!

Parish532, Welcome to the Oliver forum! ENJOY!!!

It is not uncommon for there to be a bit of condensation found on the inside of the outer shell if the Ollie is shut up tight. You can feel it by opening a cabinet and reaching to the outside wall. To overcome this, simply opening the roof vent a small crack will usually do the trick. A tiny window opening also works. A small cube heater will still adequately warm the trailer even though you've cracked a window or vent.

Guitarman160, Greetings from the Kerrville Folk Festival and welcome to the Oliver Forum! May the information and friendship you find here strike the right chord for your liking.

Mountainborn & others, FYI . . . while Oscar was chasing chipmunks with Dillon, Leo, & Poco at your campsite for ten days, our Dometic purred right on along without a hickup.

Yeah, well you may think I'm part mountain goat, Mountainborn, but you're the full Billy Goat, what with your high-fallootin' adventures of the steep kind with your stock Jeep Wrangler that you drive like it's Hummer Loved the visit with you guys and am looking forward to next year, perhaps the bear will be in the cave then! Woohoo!!!!!!

Well, after the birth of twin grandkids, here in Texas, Oscar & I took off for for some cooler temperatures. We started in the low mountains of Fort Davis, Tx and then visited Roswell, NM to look for aliens. After Roswell we headed into the mountains a bit higher to stay at Monzano State Park, NM and then headed out for the summit of our trip to visit Mountainborn & Butcherknife at Trujillo Meadows in Colorado. What a wonderful 10 days (except for the 6 1/2 hours when Oscar was lost in the woods in bear country but that's another story, he's back!) We're back in Texas for the birthday of another grandchild and will be camping with her & her folks at the Kerrville Wine & Music Festival over Labor Day. I'm camping there now helping with preparations for the festival. Next, we have the Pineknot-V Rally followed by fly fishing at Octoberfisch in Junction, TX. Life is gooooooood . . .

Well golly gee-whiz, Mountainborn, way up yonder at the height yer at can't ya jest reach up an electirk cord and plug directly into that there sun? Oscar & I are looking forward to boondocking w/ you & Butcherknife to see how our single roof top mounted 100w panel will do in the rarefied mountain air.

Andrew, I've always liked that placement for the solar panels ever since I saw the two panels on Seadawg's Ollie. Your angular swing of the panels from down to up is large. Will you be able to fix the panels at numerous angles to maximize energy capture or will it be all or nothing? Getting more amp hours would also be a gooooood thing. I think Technomadia's batteries are the highest amp hour capacities I've heard of on an Ollie - at a whopping 260AH! Ther'e a discussion thread at: Can't wait to see the finished project and hear how it works for you.

Charlie, Did you have the front of the Ollie raised up during your dump operation? I've found this helps a lot. Good to know about the direct gray to black capability, now JuniorBirdMan won't need to worry about which tank he's siphoning.

Tangodude!! Welcome to the Oliver Forum

If your tires locked up during braking, that could cause a flat spot. Just today, I saw one of those car carriers that looks like an erector set lock up all 6 of its tires at a stoplight. It had no cars on it, so it was very light. He had just come out of a dealership and I wondered if he had the brake controller set as though it had a full load. I know you had another full sized tire based on your tire cover modification (which I have done also and call the "Kiefer Cut") Some time ago, Mountainborn posted about his purchase of a 12V impact wrench for tire changes. I bought one last week and it works great. So, with the full sized spare, an electric stabilizer that lifts the tire off the ground and a 12V impact wrench and my external 12V connection by the door, I'm hoping to minimize the hassle should I experience a tire failure. I'm thinking of adding an infrared temperature sensor to check the hub and tire temps while on the road.

Wow, CANADA - Does this mean you guys win the award for the first ever, Oliver on eastern Canadian soil? Maybe BuffaloBob will come up with a plaque or something . . .