Galway Girl

Steve, I have an Oliver in which we updated to the two large Lithionics (630AH). In our hull 505 we have the older on board Zamp Controller. Since it too is not connected to the external ramp plug, I simply plug my extra panels into that Zamp plug for the extra solar boost. The battery itself has smart charge sensors built so it accepts the charge from those two solar sources running in parallel. Maybe you can simply just find your additional panels and external outdoor controller and you'll be set. Here's the article from our blog on my build out of the external solar setup: https://4-ever-hitched.com/ggs-blog/f/here-comes-the-sun Craig Hull 505

Mark, Welcome to Oliver ownership and the forum. For your truck specifics, look at the RECEIVER of your F150 Hitch for a Rating Sticker. The one below is from a 2018 F150 with max tow package. It shows two sets of numbers, Weight Distributing: States max trailer weight and max tongue weight for the hitch if you are using a weight distribution trailer hitch (like the Anderson used on Olivers). In this case 12,200 lb trailer and 1,220 lbs direct downward force of tongue weight. An Elite II full of food and gear weighs between 5500-6500 lbs. The tongue weight is about 10% of that and can range from 525-700 lbs depending on how you've loaded the trailer. (10% of Trailer Wt calculated as tongue weight is a goal for a very stable tow with the Oliver Elite II) Weight Carrying: States the max trailer weight when you are NOT using a weight distribution hitch. This is just dropping a trailer on the ball and driving away. Note it's set to a 5000 lb trailer (like the Elite single axle) and 500lb's max tongue weight. Most of the time you'll find that a loaded Oliver Elite II will have greater than a 500lb tongue weight. (Ours runs in the 620+ range because we have a front basked full of gear. Implication: If you have an F150 with these receiver ratings, you should be using a weight distributing Anderson hitch with your Oliver Elite II for safety purposes. Hull 505 Galway Girl Craig Short

A while back I was trying to understand one key factor in towing, that is Vehicle Payload. For Ford Truck's I went around to dealers lots and looked at stickers on the door for various configurations. The ones shown below are all 4x4's but notice how starting at the Left, the F150 King Ranch has much lower payload than a more stripped down F150 XLT. This payload decreased with increasing luxury happens in all truck lines. When we started with our new Oliver Elite II , we had a 2018 F150 3.5 Ecoboost King Ranch Crew Cab 4x4... and it had a payload of 1557 lbs. What we found was after loading bikes, BBQ, camp gear and then added on the trailer tongue weight, we were always at or slightly above the payload limit . We would go to the scales often to double check weights. On one rather interesting 10% downhill grade in the mountains of Idaho, my wife turned to me and said...do we need a bigger truck. It feels like we're getting pushed by the trailer. Indeed the trailer and truck weights were very close to each other. That fall we moved forward in search of heavier diesel truck, and in our case chose an F350 with the 3440 Lb payload. I love the downhill compression braking capabilities and the stability of this truck and trailer in mountains. We don't get pushed around on the freeways either. We have all the payload and tongue capacity so we no longer need the Anderson hitch. (Which is sometimes difficult to get re-attached when at odd angles.) In any case...good luck making a choice. Pay particular attention to your style of driving, regions you'll cover (mountains in particular) and how much gear you want to take along as you make a truck selection. It's important to look at truck Payload as a key indicator of how comfortable your drive will be while towing the Oliver. CS

UPDATED: The 5/16" ID grommet from ACE and Zoro fit our door holders. Available at ACE HW and from Zero online. It has the center hole for the latch at 5/16". The holder on our door has a groove opening (also called the drilled size DIA) of 7/16". Also for specifying grommets I found this on a Grommet MFG site...shows how they specify grommet dimensions. https://rubber-grommet.com/grommet-size-chart/ Metal Part On Body Inside Diameter Groove Diameter Outside Diameter Groove Width Overall Thickness Oliver Measured 6mm or .235" 8.7mm or .343" 16mm or .631" 1.7mm or .066" TBD as needed

Ace,Lowes, Home Depot packages. I’ll look online in a bit.

We look at the press release for WHY and HOW phrases: Winnebago is likely pitching this to the board and investors as something that not only Pays for Itself, but is an accretive move that generates incremental revenues and strengthens Winnebago's market position for the future. What type of acquisition is this: 1) Technology Boost for Winnebago Engineering 2) Secure the critical technology as a supply chain vertical integration move. WHY Statement from Press Release: "The addition of Lithionics will provide Winnebago Industries with enhanced technological and engineering capabilities to offer consumers more differentiated products with innovative electrical solutions, as well as bring strategic sourcing benefits and secure a critical area of its supply chain. " HOW will this be integrated and paid for in the long run from press release: A key phrase is: "Lithionics will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Winnebago Industries." Unwinding that means that Winnebago's business strategy likely had several elements at play: 1) Supply Chain Stability ...the current sagging sales in the industry could take out one of their key small but strategic suppliers. Often it's way cheaper to acquire a private company with key technology than to invest to build it yourself or seek a replacement supplier. 2) Existing revenue from OEM sales by Lithionics is immediately accretive to Winnebago. It makes their overall $ revenue higher This new revenue helps Winnebago offset the acquisition cost. 3) Strong signs that the eRV market along with auxiliary device market which require high quality batteries exist and is growing fast. Winnebago has tagged this the eRV2 market. They've got several cool prototypes running now. They all feature an all electric van chassis for driving...and of course Lithionics for the house batteries. This is an opportunity for Winnebago to capture a new segment of the OEM High Energy Density Battery market. ( If Winnebago was facing a BUILD NEW CAPABILITY or BUY OUR WAY IN decision ...this one clearly came out BUY.) All 3 of these strategic elements have immediate and lasting value to Winnebago. Result: A guess on how things will play out.... Short term - 1 YEAR Lithionics will be left to run the show as is for at least a year as Winnebago figures out how work with Lithionics management to segment the market, and then define Winnebago In House Brands vs. Ongoing Lithionics external brand. The longer term goal would be to create differentiated branded offerings in the market and continue to support and sell to other RV and Trailer Manufactures who can't afford to invent new battery technology. This could play out as an exceedingly good strategic move by Winnebago. Look at the 14:20 second point on the video below for Steve from Lithionics describing the new battery and charging system they designed "for Winnebago" as a proprietary design.

Here's a checklist we used for the first 2 years with our trailer ( Hull 505) We've not been updating it as much so it's been good enough. GG Checklists.pdf Craig

If you want to double surge suppress Progressive makes this 30A supressor unit that you would plug onto the pedestal first, then 30 amp into that unit. If you want to test, and also have a backup suppressor you can buy both 30 A units for $38 on Amazon. I simply leave these on the power cord when I put things away as I tear down at a site. Craig

We're heading up to Alaska this summer - 2023. Here's the map of our route. I see Costco's in Fairbanks, Anchorage, Prince George BC. Any tips on Diesel along the routes we show below? Craig - Hull 505

The product Oliver sells as an option is called Hypervent. We've had it for 3 years and it's keep our mattresses dry from any condensation. It's sold directly from HyperVent but you might be able to get it through Oliver Service. Not cheap - you'll need 14' to do 2 twin beds... ($189.00) https://www.hyperventonline.com Hypervent is only sold by phone. Call 206-783-1696 to Order. Genuine Hypervent is $13.50 per linear foot.

If this helps: In 2019 - Hull 505 - The Cell Booster and WIFI power switches are mounted to the right of the upper storage bin above the front dinette seat. There's an access port in the left side of the upper bathroom storage cabinet (above toilet with the mirrored front.) Inside that access port is where the cables run down from the WIFI Booster on the Drivers Side FRONT of the trailer. The WIFI Router is mounted on the wall inside the upper cabinet on the right end (against that cabinet wall). The actual external WIFI Booster/Antenna's are mounted outside on the top of trailer just above bathroom cabinet. The Cell booster is at the far end in the upper cabinet mounted against the pantry wall. There's an access port inside the pantry wall. The outside cell antenna is a magnetic mount on a plate on the roof. The cable runs through that plate with lot's of sealant around it. The cable snakes it's way between the two hulls and eventually ends up in the pantry access area. What I've learned is new "wifi boosters" use a different kind of cable than the ones put in older vintage trailers. (Sigh) So even if the cable is inside the trailer it might not be the correct cable for todays boosters. Hope this helps a bit. Craig

I own both the Champion 3500W and now the 2500W Generator. I wanted to mod both to run off the Quick Connects from the Oliver...and also still have the ability to quickly setup with stand alone propane tanks for other applications. Both use the 2500W and 3500W us a dual stage regulator propane hose (one with the little finger, one without.) The first stage small regulator connects to a standard propane tank with the larger plastic ACME fitting. The first stage regulator knocks down the high pressure from stand alone propane tanks in prep for the larger diameter second stage regulator. This second stage (much larger size) provides a more precise regulation needed for the generator under various load situations. Stage 2 is really a flow regulator. It doesn't change pressure, it just restricts the amount of gas that flows into the generator. Without it you basically flood the generator with gas and it won't start. To make the Generator work with the quick connects from the trailer, one must remove that smaller first stage regulator. The Oliver Quick connects are already regulated to the correct pressure for the larger second stage regulator on the generator propane cable shipped with the Champion Dual Fuel Generators. In my case, I've disassembled the original dual stage and broken it into two pieces at the coupler between the stage 1 and stage 2 regulators. 1) The second stage regulator has been modified to have a quick connect male feeding into the larger regulator. That stage 2 regulator now connects to my long extension hoses that attach to the female quick connects on the trailer. 2) The first stage regulator is then coupled to a FEMALE quick connect for re-use with stand alone propane tanks. Shown below: First stage regulator with ACME fitting is modified to have a female quick connect coupler. The benefit of this mod is that I still am able to use stand alone 20lb propane tank by coupling the modified smaller regulator to the tank, and the larger stage 2 regulator hose to that this modified coupler. This may be a repeat but I was writing up for my blog anyway so thought I'd post it here. Craig Hull 505

Wrote an updated BLOG post on this after posting: https://4-ever-hitched.com/ggs-blog/f/whats-that-humming-sound In it I give part numbers for the two regulators that can be used. The original factory 345,000 BTU/BR regulator data sheet (top half) is here as reference.

Thanks for the tip on summing up all propane users for the trailer and comparing to the max BTU output from the regulator. Here's what I found out about my Hull 505 Propane Users: Propane draws Norcold N412.3FUI: 1,200 BTU/HR. *From Fridge Service Manual* Suburban Furnace: 18,000 BTU/HR. *Printed on Side of Furnace* Truma Waterheater: 60,000 BTU/HR. * Printed on Side of Water Heater* Outland Fire Bowl : 58,000 BTU/HR. *From Specs on Outland Website* Dometic Cooktop : 9,600 BTU/HR. * From Domestic Website* Sum of ALL: 146,800 BTU/HR Other BBQ’s etc: TBD So it appears the smaller 262,000 BTU regulator will work just fine and can feed all those things running at the same time...and I shouldn't worry about upgrading to the larger 345K BTU regulator that was originally on the unit. I still have one in the box if anyone needs it. Craig

Thanks GJ. I'll do that math exercise.

I recently had my original gas regulator die on Hull 505. I wasn't paying close attention when I ordered the replacement and ended up ordering one with a lower BTU Rating. The original Hull 505 part - GR-9984XF with 345,000 BTU from the Main Service Cylinder is what I should have ordered. The replacement part - GR-9994XF has 262,500 BTU from the Main Service Cylinder is what I have now sitting in a box. Since I learned of my error, I've ordered the original part and left the other new in the original box. I can't return it as the time's expired for exchange. Net Result: I have a NEW in Box GR-9994XF sitting in my garage. I'm wondering if the GR-9994XF would work as a spare for those of you with newer trailers that no longer have the Gas Fridge? If you're interested in the unit...send me a private message and we can work out details. Craig Short

In part the article stated: According to the RV Industry Association, total RV shipments for January fell nearly 62% from a year earlier, marking a reversal for the industry, which saw demand rise during the pandemic. One of the reasons cited for falling demand are rising interest rates for larger loans like those used to purchase RV's. ad

Thanks for the info. I ended up needing 3/4" bolts 1/4 x 20 along with the shoulder and lock washers. Project completed in about 4 hours thanks to all the previous excellent write ups. They fit perfectly just behind the red Andersen tubs we use for the stabilizers.

The length of the screws are important. Can you recall how long the screws were that you used and which stainless formula?

The platforms search tools are limited...I just recalled the specific post. We have the Lagun Table which blocks the drawer, and hardly ever use it...but each person's use model is different. CS

I put in a DC to DC charger as I added the two 315AH Lithionics to our hull as shown here: https://4-ever-hitched.com/ggs-blog/f/lithium-battery-upgrade Happy reading. Craig

Welcome to the family. Here is a link to our blog for inspiration and upgrades. You also will find links to the Oliver Outfitters Guide, a list of accessories we’ve compiled specifically for Oliver owners. https://4-ever-hitched.com/ Hull 505 - Galway Girl Craig & Rose

Welcome from Everett Wa. As inspiration check our blog on Oliver pickup and the “Oliver Outfitters Guide here: https://4-ever-hitched.com/ Hope to see you on the road. Craig & Rose

Ford finally launched their VIN specific towing calculator. After inputting your VIN it allows you to input values for Passenger wt, box payload, and choose between Goosneck, 5th wheel or conventional bumper trailers. it calculates remaining available tongue weight and total max trailer weight. link below: https://t.m.email-ford.com/r/?id=h74cb0e7e,8d77749d,7c1fa34e&e=Y2lkPVBST0RETTk4MTk5MyZiaWQ9MTk1OTQ2NDU3NCZwMT13d3cuZm9yZC5jb20vc3VwcG9ydD9lbWFpbGlkPUZEXyBUUlVDSyBUT1dJTkcgRVhQRVJJRU5DRSBFTV9GLTM1MCBPV04&s=5Ij45wNQTUXCV4HKKrOWf8DmysLGRqmuRHqVkfPBOSs The towing support you need. Towing just got a whole lot easier with the new Towing Calculator. Follow these steps to help make sure you’re within your vehicle’s towing capacity: Log into www.ford.com/‍support/ using your existing account information. Once logged in, click on the Towing Calculator tile in your owner’s dashboard. The calculator will automatically pull in your vehicle’s towing capacity based on your VIN number. Add your occupant, cargo, and accessory weight. Determine whether or not you’re within your vehicle’s towing capacity and make adjustments accordingly. It’s that easy!