Ollie-Haus

This seems like a good thread to reinforce a certain logic when it comes to tow vehicles with regard to the LE2. Like a few others here have stated here, I have extensive prior experience towing trailers, to the tune of close to 50 years. This includes rather large livestock trailers and twin engine boat trailers, enclosed and flat bed cargo trailers all the way down to small motorcycle trailers. They all introduce significant challenges depending on the tow vehicle used. Over the years my overall observation in learning from the seasoned veterans along the way is that just enough truck is never enough and there’s no such thing as too much truck, within reason. I’ve pulled trailers that were on the margin of overloading trucks at times and know what that feels like. When people mention white knuckles and pucker factor as it applies to trailering, I’ve experienced firsthand understanding I was at risk on a few occasions. Similar to previous comments once you’ve been there, you always make a point to never let that happen again. When we began formulating our plan to purchase the Oliver, the choice of truck capacity was of little debate. Our previous camper was a 34’ standard with a super slide on one side. I chose a diesel crew cab dually for that rig, and it performed perfectly. For the Oliver I would be towing a couple thousand pounds less and significantly shorter, but I still wanted plenty of truck and decided to downsize to 350 crew cab short bed with a 7.3L gas engine. Still far above the margin of capacity, so a significant safety factor built into the choice. Best part is like others have mentioned, I don’t have the worry about what cargo I want to load into the truck. No white knuckles and no pucker factor. But most of all with the Oliver, we’re way below the need for a WD hitch and that’s important to me. A WD hitch is a way to compensate for when a trailer connects behind the rear axle and weighs in at near or more than the tow vehicle. It’s acceptably effective at restoring controllability to the tow vehicle, but introduces compromises in articulation and can add significant stresses to both vehicles when moving through uneven terrain. I really wanted to avoid the need to manage the rig through situations where I could be risking damage to vehicles or equipment during remote camping/ boon-docking destinations, etc. plus I just didn’t want the added complexity of hitching and unhitching. These kind of threads always generate “lively debate” and I guess that’s fine so that the inexperienced can read the many views people have and hopefully learn the key factors to consider regarding TV choice and safety considerations. If you choose plenty of truck, most of the discussion is just good general knowledge that you won’t have to worry much about. Long winded way of saying that I f someone is asking for my advice, always choose plenty of truck with an abundance of safety margin. Nobody ever complains about having too much truck, but many have learned through any number of experiences that just enough is often never enough. Cheers!😎

Happy birthday America!!!

This was reportedly the result of allowing a trainee to do assembly work while unsupervised!🤨 The problem was actually discovered by a seasoned employee further down the line. They have a record of which trucks he worked on.

Hang in there, they have run out and restocked repeatedly in the past. Walmart.com also stocks the same unit from time to time.

I think that's a first for me. I guarantee they are laying in a ditch within a half mile of our house. Had to source the replacements from several key services as well as the manufacturers, Over $200 combined. Live and learn..........

Sounds about right for us as well, except the e-bikes have separate keys for each battery with two batteries for each bike🤪. It’s kind of ridiculous! I have lost a full set of keys recently so I’ve changed tactics for “key management”. First off, with keys pads on TV and Oliver like @Patriot, I’ve always kept most of the keys ringed together in a safe location in the truck. Unfortunately this gives you the potential to lose all the keys with one mistake 🤨. The difference now is the keys are still kept safely in the truck, but ringed together in logical groups. Truck and trailer access, bikes, hitching related, and miscellaneous which includes cargo boxes and any other keys that don’t fit the other groups. I only grab the keys needed for whatever occasion, and of course never lay them down while in possession 🤔. The incident mentioned above happened by laying the keys on the bumper while making a hitch adjustment 😩. Some of these keys are very hard to replace because blanks can be very scarce depending on the design. Oh and now there’s a full set of backup keys in a safe location in the Oliver including a second key fob for the truck, and additional backups for everything at home. Not going through that again!!😆

FYI for @DaveK and @Patriot, when you receive the dehumidifier from Amazon, take it out of the box and set it upright on the counter and let it rest unplugged for 24 hours before you turn it on the first time. Like all refrigeration based appliances, if it’s turned on it’s side during shipping, it must be allowed to set in the upright position for 24 hours to make sure the liquified freon and the oils inside drain back to where they normally are during normal operation. This of course applies any time the unit is allowed to lay on its side or upside down. It will certainly be handled like any other package during shipping so don’t forget to perform this procedure to safeguard the internal systems. 👍

Hi Dave, sorry it took so long to respond. I leave our Oliver plugged into shore power when parked at home, and with the lithium system there is never a complete “power outage” that occurs in our situation because it takes over when the grid power blinks or goes out temporarily. For that reason I couldn’t answer your question without running an actual test of the dehumidifier’s recovery system. Well I did that this morning in the garage by shutting down the circuit I had the appliance plugged into for a minute, and you’ll be pleased to know that the dehumidifier comes back on at the previous setting when power is restored. I hope this helps you and others in deciding whether to invest in one. 👍

That’s interesting your experience with the dehumidifier. Which brand/model did you purchase? There are two primary design principles for electric dehumidifiers, the desiccant principle and the refrigeration principle. Desiccant dehumidifiers only work well at warmer temperatures and loose efficiency quickly as temps drop below 60 degrees, and in general they don’t rate very well in consumer reviews. Refrigeration type dehumidifiers work much more efficiently all the way down to near freezing. Most commercial dehumidifiers work on this design principle. The model I referenced in my post operates on the refrigeration design and you can literally watch the humidity in the Oliver cabin drop on a hydrometer while it’s running. But the best gauge for humidity and comfort is my wife, and she loves the effectiveness of the little dehumidifier we are using. As a matter of fact, the identical model runs in our bedroom at home every night. 😆

We did not have any fresh air coming in for this particular situation as the humidity outside was considerably higher than inside the camper. One unique characteristic of the Oliver design is you are sealed into a “plastic bubble”, if you will. Normally you will want to ventilate to alleviate the tendency to build up moisture in the cabin, but in this situation bringing in outside air would have reduced the comfort level significantly. My point in the original post was that while we were experiencing cool, rainy, humid weather outside, the comfort level in the Oliver was able to be maintained by only using the portable dehumidifier. Using the Air conditioner would have made the cabin chilled inside in order to try and control humidity, and turning on the ventilation fan only introduced cool air while increasing the already humid conditions inside. It was kind of a third option to use the humidifier only, and turned out to be very effective in keeping the humidity under control. The side benefit was the humidifier puts off a noticeable amount of heat so it actually warmed the inside of the camper while reducing the humidity. Thus not needing the AC or furnace in these particular conditions. You could always crack open a couple windows for ventilation, we just chose not to because it was so comfortable throughout the night. Again, with experience you will find that the one thing everyone battles in an Oliver is humidity. The AC works marginally at best regarding humidity control, and if the outside humidity is high with lower temperatures, it’s a losing battle. The dehumidifier is a game changer for us and an essential tool in the arsenal of comfort ( think menopause 🙄). 😆 Regarding the AC and fresh air intake, the AC only recirculates cabin air, therefore the ventilation fans and open windows are the only option. I don’t think CO2 is a problem, although some may be sensitive to slightly increased levels. It would be interesting to bring a CO2 monitor into an Oliver to test levels inside for different scenarios. On the other hand stale air is always the issue with the camper sealed tightly so some ventilation is usually the solution. Hopefully this helps answer your questions.

You can get smooth white Kytex sheet from McMaster Carr and cut it and bend it with a heat gun and some wood blocks into a Z shape and attach to the side of the fiberglass with clear double sided silicone tape. I did this to the curb lights on our Oliver to redirect the curb lights straight down. For that I used some extruded aluminum Z channel, cut to 5" long, painted white and attached with the same double sided tape. I couldn't find aluminum Z channel big enough for the porch lights. The attached pictures illustrate the concept. Kydex: https://www.mcmaster.com/8650K12-8650K123/ Aluminum "Z": https://www.mcmaster.com/7062T32-7062T323/

I’ve picked up an EcoFlow dc/dc charger that’s going to be installed in the truck for the purpose of fast charging the EcoFlow lithium battery we keep in the truck for the same refrigerator purposes. For us redundancy is a necessity. 👍

The hose is soft and pliable even in cold temps. It rebounds to its original flat shape, self draining in the process. I roll mine up in a flat coil for storage. It’s specifically for potable water. When pressurized, if it gets a kink, just give the hose a flip and the kink pops out. We’re a year into this hose and won’t be going back to a “ regular” hose ever again. It comes with a very good warranty on top of all that. Home Depot is the source.

Yes, and if you run it on normal setting with a humidity set point, the compressor cycles on and off. The power consumption drops to around 30 watts while the fan alone runs and the compressor is off. This little guy sips power. 👍

Another benefit to the dehumidifier is if you run it while running the AC on a normal cooling cycle, it helps reduce the humidity spikes that occur when the AC compressor shuts off. The comfort level in the Oliver is much improved in this scenario.