theOrca
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Posts posted by theOrca
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17 hours ago, Ronbrink said:
How far down were you able to install the rigid ducting, within the vanity or further under the floor toward the galley?
Just to the point it turns under the floor. The kinks and restrictions were between that point and the vent!
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On 8/3/2023 at 6:27 PM, rich.dev said:
@mountainoliver @NCeagle I absolutely love what you guys did here and want to do same, however, I cannot find this shower faucet mixer/diverter anywhere! Where did you buy it?
Search for "scanvik mixer" assembly.
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There have been plenty of other discussion and "how to do it" on most of my recent modifications. In fact I relied to a great extent on member posts on what they did and where they got the parts to do it. The modifications I made, in no particular order are:
- Installed quarter turn PEX shut-off valves in the hot and cold water PEX piping just prior to the outdoor shower.
- Insulated the heck out of the space below the drivers side bunk bed with adhesive Reflectix. Two to four layers, depending on the available space
- Used the well documented John Davies method of providing interior wall bump protection and anti breath condensation during cold weather use. (I had a wet mattress last Elk season just from my breath condensing on the wall near my face.)
- Modified the bathroom heating duct with rigid flex ducting and rigid elbows to greatly improve the air flow. Almost doubled the velocity of exiting air!
- Insulated the heck out of the undersink area of the bathroom, using the aforementioned adhesive backed Reflectix. Four to six layers in this case.
- Used pipe insulation to cover all exposed PEX piping in the undersink area of the bathroom.
- Installed a fixed bathroom faucet in the bathroom.
- Installed a Scanvik Shower Mixer and shower hose to replace the prior "extendable" shower.
- Installed shut-off valves in all four water connections under the bathroom sink.
- Installed a marine deck hatch in place of the prior washcloth rack. Installed the pump switch in the lower left corner of the deck hatch.
Photos will also show a prior modification where I replaced the kitchen faucet with one more suited to how I do dishes...
Photos follow. Enjoy!
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On 12/2/2023 at 11:33 AM, John E Davies said:
You are the one who brought it up by asking me why, publicly. I just clicked that sad button. Anyone here can have an opinion and nobody should try to silence or put down dissenters who don’t toe the line….
John Davies
Spokane WA
I agree with John on this. The “stern lecture mode” by ScubaRX kind of torqued me off a bit. A first for me on these forums.
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When my Bright Way batteries finally die I will switch to Concordes. (They are made in USA; but with some Chinese parts, which caused no end of problems for Concorde a few years ago. I had these batteries in a 5th wheel trailer 10 years ago. They started showing blue electrolite corrosion at the + post bases of both batteries. Concorde customer service said some sailor words, but then send me a brand new set of batteries (6V) for free. When I asked them what to do with the replaced batteries they said "give them to someone who does not mind minor leaks, or recycle them." When Concorde sez "sealed", they mean SEALED. You can mount them in any orientation, even upside down if you are so inclined.
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Is anyone else having trouble keeping the fresh water tank (and plumbing) free of slime mold? I have been using Chlorine Dioxide water treatment, and it just does not seem to do the job. For instance 6 weeks ago I flushed all lines in the trailer. I filled the fresh water tank with almost 100 parts per million of ClO2 in fresh water. I let it sit for 2 days, drained and refilled with a 10 parts per million solution (drinkable, but no taste). I am now getting ready for a trip, so I drained the fresh water tank again today. I saw dozens of colonies of slime mold exit the drain. Now I have to do the entire system again to be sure I got it all. That means all intake pipes, the city inlet has to hand pumped, and the filter has to be removed, washed and reinstalled. Grrr.
Is anyone having better luck with household or swimming pool bleach? Slime mold, yuck, gives me the willies...
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Meh!
The written by Lawyers comment is spot on.
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47 minutes ago, Rivernerd said:
Although it was hard to swallow the $3800 Truma upgrade cost (versus the $1500 cost of a RecPro, since we believed we would be o.k. with the Suburban water heater and furnace), we are now glad we have the Truma Varioheat furnace, the Truma Aquago water heater and the CP Plus wall control. The benefits of the Varioheat furnace, which we did not know were part of the package until we took delivery, include more robust ducting and a return air vent in the bathroom.
Since we had to drive home to Idaho in sub-freezing temps, we were also glad we had the Truma antifreeze kit as part of that package.
In hindsight, we feel we made the right choice for us, and received good value for the upgrade cost.
Do I read that correctly? Do you have a Truma furnace as well as AC and hot water.
I don't see that offered on any part of Olivers web site. How did you find out about it??
Thanks,Bill
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4 minutes ago, theOrca said:
Slightly less? That is like OMG less. Thanks for the info Steve.
We are so screwed on the West Coast. Truma has only two service centers, Lakeland Florida and Elkhart, IN.
Bah, humbug!!
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1 hour ago, SteveCr said:
A slightly less cost approach.......
2021 Elite 2....just completed replacement of my Dometic jet engine with the Truma Aventa Eco.
It was installed by the Lakeland Florida Truma service center.
So far, it seems to work as advertised...no opinion yet using the remote...seems simple. Hot weather performance test pending!!!
For the heater....the Truma installer recommended we keep/use the Dometic AC control box and thermostat vs a mechanical or Emerson digital thermostat.
I used the propane heater while camping this last week. Using the Dometic thermostat was no issue.
Cost = $2,705 walk out price....includes Aventa ECO, Aventa Air Distributor, Condensate drain kit and installation labor. (included tax was 7%)
Slightly less? That is like OMG less. Thanks for the info Steve.
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When I read the email announcement about the upgrade I thought: "FINALLY!"
I have found it very hard to get restful sleep with the Penguin A/C roaring in my trailer. The Truma Aventa Eco sounds like the solution...
OK, the price is <!!!> but heck, some of the things we do with our trailers is financially nuts anyway. (My heating system upgrade probably cost me a thousand bucks in parts and tools, not even counting the hours of labor.)
I have called Truma, and they confirm that the CP Plus control panel "will/can" control either heat + hot water, or A/C + hot water. They promise to update their website to show that capability. We will still get a remote, but with the CP Plus panel the remote can go into a drawer with all the other ones I don't use.
Before I jump on this and schedule a 5,000 mile trip to Hohenwald, does anyone see a downside that I may have missed?
Thanks, Bill
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Well, evidently trip killers to me are merely minor inconveniences to some others. Who knew? I remain comfortable with my choice, even in the face of some minor snark in one of the above posts.
BTW, Oliver handled this in an outstanding manner. Evidently a “one of” type failure. -
The RV world is very familiar with the concept of "Trip Killers." Things like: no heat during a mid winter hunting trip, a roof leak over the bed, tire blow-out which does severe damage to the trailer, etc., etc., and etc. Most RV'rs are able and willing to make small repairs on the fly as needed, but some things are just not doable. I just discovered a new catagory which is engineered-in to the Legacy Elite II.
Two days ago I left Oak Harbor on my way to visit Hohenwald and get some delivery warrantee problems fixed. I got as far as Stevens Pass, a three hours drive. When using the toilet, a loud "snap" sound occurred and the toilet came completely free of the trailer hull. I took things apart and found that there is a plastic bracket made by Oatley which is evidently modified by Oliver (according to Mike Sharpe) and then used to join toilet and hull. Service said they could ship me the part, but.... it would be three days to get it. (I'm not sure that UPS would deliver to the roadside at Stevens Pass..) My choices were: 1. Wait, install part, and drive hard to make my appointment, 2. Wait, install part and make a rescheduled appointment later this summer, or 3. hire a commercial hauler to take my trailer back to the mother ship. I chose number 3.
You can be sure that my spare parts kit will now also contain one of those "special" brackets that I cannot buy at the average RV parts store. Dang, but I hate trip killer failures!!
Bill
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I recommend you go to my posting on this subject. I have what, where, and how-to with pictures.
Bill
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On 10/24/2016 at 3:56 PM, Raspy said:
There seems to be a lot of heat delivered to the "basement" from the hot supply duct as I've noticed the bathroom delivery temp is cooler than the temp back by the beds. Plus the whole basement gets warm and stays warm. Also remember there is insulation against the lower shell.
I wouldn't worry about freezing any lines unless you are doing no heating and it's very cold. Also, if you have the water heater on, that would also help.
Raspy:
This thread is very old, but I hope you will see my post.
I have remote read thermometers located at three locations between the hulls. When Elk hunting in Republic Washington last October it was 8F at night, and warmed up to 21F during the day. The first night my between the hull temp on the drivers side of the trailer dropped to 28F. I took emergency action and opened deck hatches. and raised the front dinette seat to put a space heater between the hulls. I got things stabalized at 33 F for the remainder of my time in Republic.
I have just finished opening a third duct from the heater and running new ducting to dump between hull heat to the drivers side. I installed ducting dampers controlling the amount of heat AND how much stays in the back half of the trailer and how much goes forward.
The other trailer in our party had their water freeze for 14 hours a day. Mine would have as well had I not acted. Some of us camp in colder temps than others!
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I modified my sail switch by bending it so as to make it more sensitive to the fan air. Fixed that. Now if I can just get the darned limit switch to keep from kicking off the propane every minute or so (for 20 seconds)... Oh well, at least the sail switch is workingl..
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I think I have figured out why Oliver no longer uses the Dometic Awnings...
My "purchase" date of Hull 615 was 6 April 2020. I had it delivered, so the first time I saw it was 11 April. Within 10 days I had noted a hole in my awning, and deep drag marks in the fabric, in the fore and aft direction versus open and close direction. I sent pictures to the Oliver Service department, and was told that I would need to take the trailer to a Service Facility for a Dometic Rep to take a look. (That was actually an error, as I found out that I could have communicated with Dometic myself. Camping World merely took pictures and sent them off to Dometic.)
Dometic denied my claim! They claim that I only had 30 days to make such a claim vice the one year warrantee that is stated in the awning documentation.
The awning has only been opened two times that I know of. Once by me, and once by Camping World (who agree that the defect was Dometic's fault, and should be covered by warrantee.) I saw no rush to get the awning looked at since I had documented the defect, and did not intend to use the awning again until the fabric was replaced.
This coming week I will raise the issue with Oliver Service and see it they will intercede with Dometic for me. If that fails, I intend to lawyer-up an sue Dometic under Washington State law, which is pretty specific as to warrantee issues.
No wonder Oliver dumped Dometic. Even United Airlines has better customer service than Dometic...
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4 hours ago, NCeagle said:
Here's a propane-dependent solution I'm implementing to warm problem areas along the curb-side basement. I have found that by default, the street side basement runs about 10 degrees cooler than the curb-side basement when the furnace is on. The difference increases as the outside temp decreases. My simple goal is to balance the basements in order to protect the street-side plumbing. It's not particularly difficult to run another HVAC line down the curb-side and it takes advantage of the existing furnace.
First, I just used a T connector on the back side of the furnace and tied into the line that goes up to the curb-side all the way to the bathroom. Here's a picture. I'm going to install a manual damper inline so I can restrict flow as needed.
I then removed the flimsy plastic walls on the side and rear of the basement to make room. Here's the view looking into the basement from outside after removal:
You can see the plumbing running along the back bumper area. This area runs a few degrees cooler than the street-side basement, so it's important to get some heat here as well to prevent freezing. I used 4" dryer duct to run along the back bumper plumbing. Then it's reduces down to a 3" solid duct that runs along the basement roof out of the way.
Here goes the 3" duct through the basement wall (pvc board) into the street-side basement:
Here's the final picture for now, looking from the back of the trailer towards the front (you can see the inverter on the right). I ran out of time yesterday so I just terminated the connection inside the street-side basement. It's super easy to finish running the 3" duct the rest of the way up the black tank drain pipe to where the footwell for the dinette is. I'm going to put some strategically placed holes along the duct now in order to balance out the temps on both sides at something reasonable.
Still need an all-electric backup, but I feel like this is a good start. Easy, quick and takes advantage of the existing components.
Wow! Your "easy" is several orders of magnitude beyond mine.
What a great job!
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20 hours ago, NCeagle said:
Thanks for sharing this information on your various temps. I also have 5 temperature probes and have noticed the big temperature differentials between the curb side basement where the vent / heat are located and the street side which has nothing and therefore colder temps. I tried leaving a top partially off on that are to see if any air would be sucked in when the ducted heat was running but that didn't happen.
So I've been thinking about this too and I was leaning towards putting 2 small vents under the dinette seat and street side bed with some DC fans (like computer fans) to pull air in from the "warm" cabin. Along with a switch, I'm also considering attaching a thermostat underneath so they come on automatically when the temp gets below 40 or so in the basement. I put a small fan above the partially opened top cover of the street side basement and the temps warmed up considerably so in theory fans should work.
There's also enough room in the street side basement to add another layer or two of reflectix on top of the installed stuff (which is very thin reflectix).
I'm just curious, what made you decide on small 100w DC heaters? I guess it's like running a 100 watt incandescent light bulb in each basement - will that be sufficient?
I chose 100W heaters as a function of maximum load (three heaters, or 300W). That wattage at 12 volts equals 25 actual amps. I think even that amount of load will seriously deplete my battery bank by dawn on a really cold night. Hopefully the combination of my Honda 2200 for 3 to 4 hours the next day, PLUS the solar will allow full recovery. I will have the option to run one, two or all three heaters as needed/possible.
I cannot see any way to get more reflectix between the two water lines and the lower hull on the drivers side... (Bummer!)
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Note: I'll bet that only the outside lamps of all four assemblies are the ones lighting up....
The running lights are the wire right next to the 7 pin "hot" wire that goes to the batteries.
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I just posted a similar story...
Disassemble your trailer 7 pin connector. The moisture and corrosion is on the back side of the plug, not the front side. You are going to find a mess. Clean it up. Add a bunch of dielectric grease and put it together again.
LED lamps have a very low "light off" voltage. Leakage which you would have never seen with old style lights will show up early with LEDs;.
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On 9/23/2020 at 2:58 PM, John E Davies said:
I have two sets of heavy chains that I could use to get around in a disaster, or drive through bottomless mud, or Snowmageddon, when you have to get the gal in labor to the hospital, no matter what, through two feet of unplowed snow. With studless snow tires I have never actually had to use them on my Land Cruiser 200. But OTH I am not towing a brand new $65,000 three ton trailer over slick winter roads.
Hi John:
Skill counts for quite a bit. I watched a friend bring his 1 ton Ford towing a 15,000# toy hauler work his way down the east side of Waconda Pass into Republic on 4 to 6 inches of compact snow and ice. (A lot of ice!) West side of Waconda was snow free. He thought he was in 4 wheel drive. Turns out his truck was lying to him. The front auto-lock did NOT lock up his front wheels. His voice was getting squeeky by the time we rolled into Republic, but he made it. I was very comfortable with my Oliver and 1/2 ton Ram in 4WD
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1 hour ago, SeaDawg said:
Orca, do you remember at what elevation you were camped during the hunt?
Sure do, 2,800'.
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Just a simple data point: During the second half of a recent hunting trip the temperatures averaged 24 degrees at night. In 6 days I used 7 1/2 gallons of propane for the RV heater, and only 2 gallons of propane to run the Honda 2200 for 3 hours every night. I have the Hutch Mountain conversion.
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Important Update about Oliver Service
in General Announcements
Posted
Swell, just swell !