Mountainman198
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Posts posted by Mountainman198
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We have the outdoor package with lp outlets and 30 gal tanks. Also have the typical lp firepit. It is ok but not a wood fire.
For a bit of a change we also travel with a very small lp firepit I made out of a surplus .50 cal ammo can. It shoots a nice flame and the lava rocks and hose are latched under the lid securely for transport. It is also easy to transport along with a 5 lb lp tank if you want to bring the fire to someone else’s campsite
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5 hours ago, rideandfly said:
Thinking about a set of wheels installed on new Ollies right now, just a thought for now.
https://www.lionsheadtireandwheel.com/Jaguar-Aluminum-Wheel
I really like the fully painted gunmetal ones, or even the fully painted black ones. Very classy
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Our delivery date remained as quoted by Oliver.
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We love the shiny, white interior. So much so that we ordered ours with white counters. The shiny, white interior provides a wonderful, contrasting backdrop for whatever pictures, etc you place on the walls. Just to be clear, we are coming from a vintage camper with lots of windows with rich, oak veneer ceiling, walls and fixtures. Worried we would miss the warmth of wood, this has been deemed unfounded. We love our Ollie!
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8 hours ago, thompsonkd said:
For those of us with composting toilets: is it necessary to make sure antifreeze gets into the water line behind the composting toilet by opening the valve behind the toilet when drawing in antifreeze, until it runs pink, as you would do with the vanity sink and the kitchen sink? Thanks.
David
This is how I did it. Cheap faucet line from Ace and the cut-off bottom from a antifreeze jug. No squirt, splash or mess to clean up.
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This is what we carry. Does everything we need on the road. Cannot imagine us needing the capacity and volume of a pancake compressor, given what we would need to offload to accommodate the additional weight/space.
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4 hours ago, kmoon4545 said:
I just ordered this RV Lock for the front door. It is currently $144 -- normally $240 (shipping is $11.99 - no sales tax in TN). Please post any other good Thanksgiving/Black Friday deals you find that may work for our Ollies.
https://www.rvlock.com/collections/frontpage/products/rvlock-v4-0-w-integrated-keypad-for-rvs
Wow, that’s a screaming deal. Purchased ours direct from RVLock for $198 and thought that was a good price
on a related note, there was a stripped stud on the upper lock mechanism on our lock and RVLock was very quick to respond to my warranty email and send out a replacement part free of charge along with excellent instructions on how to replace the defective part Highly recommend this company
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Welcome to the forum and to your future Ollie.
We too came from a 12v compressor fridge background, running a Dometic 35CFX on 100W solar and 160aH of AGMs. When deciding on options for our Ollie I asked but was told there were no 12v compressor fridge options, so ours too was delivered with the standard 3-way. After using the standard fridge on propane I can honestly say I like it. It keeps frozen items frozen and cold items cold and does not use much propane in doing so. We still have the dometic in the tow vehicle, powered by the same standalone solar and battery setup and are using it is a backup freezer.
As for additional gray water storage, we carry three 6 gal water jugs in the tow vehicle. Two are marked for gray and provide additional 12 gal capacity where we cannot legally empty to the ground with a garden hose (we also have the composting toilet, so no black water). The third container is for potable water only and is used to ferry fresh water to the trailer where it is added to the fresh tank thru the boondock port at the rear.
This Forum is great and we learned a lot before and after placing our order, refining the options we wanted through experience of others and asking questions
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3 hours ago, VBistro said:
I just spoke with Good Sam about insurance. 1) they wouldn't insure the RV only, but insisted on insurance for both the RV and TV and 2) the quote was for $2622 per year. That's a bit more than $500 a year... Time to call our own insurance company.
mb
We have the Ollie insured with Good Sam Insurance, tow vehicle is insured by another company. Colorado Good Sam quote was something like $700/yr. Full Replacement coverage. They tried to sell me insurance for tow vehicle and other vehicles in household but I declined. Something is not adding up with the quote they gave you. I hope you get it sorted.
If you live in CO and will register the trailer there, wait til you find out how much the State wants for annual registration. That'll flip your other sock.
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She is getting a tow to warmer climates
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Welcome to the forum and to your future Ollie. There is a growing number of us from MI (part and fulltime). Gotta know though, are you a Yooper or a Troll?
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On our way out West a couple of weeks ago we stopped to visit friends in Elkhart, IN.
For those who don't know, the vast majority of stick built (screw and glue) travel trailers and motorhomes for the U.S. market are built here. My friend works in Quality Control (post-build inspection), covering most of the major local SOB brands (Heartland, Forest River, Thor). From our talks I gathered that the US RV market is unsustainable at Pandemic level and signs point to not only a decline in sales but also many recent Pandemic (NEW) owners exiting the flanks of ownership over the next couple of years. He told me that some of the Mega RV dealer networks he supports are already reporting a return to 2018 sales levels.
Many of the new Stick-built units being sold during the Pandemic are being financed for terms of 15-20 yrs,
Many of the current Stick-built units are built with a rubber membrane roof, over luan and 2x2 wood framing, held together with lots of glue and staples. Lots of staples.
Many of owners of these new stick built RVs are storing their new RVs outdoors in sunny, rainy, windy and hail-prone climates. In Colorado, I see huge RV storage lots popping up along the Front Range to support storage not allowed in the nearby covenant-controlled planned housing developments
For the above reasons, I do not see many of these new buyers remaining as campers for more than a few years, or at least until the damage incurred by their trailers from outdoor storage is no longer covered by warranty and outweighs the ding to their credit from walking away from another 13-18 yrs of payments.
While sad for these new owners, the indicators observed point also to a decline in occupancy at campgrounds coming soon
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We tend to camp when and where there are not a lot of others with whom to compete for spots. We are mostly dry campers from Jan-Feb-March in New Mexico and Arizona with some trips in the Spring East and then back West in the Fall.
Observations from Jan/Feb 2021 in NM are that we always found a place to set up camp, even though the NM State Park Campgrounds were closed. Even with Arizona park campgrounds open there were few nights where we wanted to stay at a specific State Park campground where we were turned away. At least in NM and AZ State campgrounds usually have some sort of overflow, dry camping spots available and if not, it pays to have a plan B and C in your pocket for other spots nearby. Our best tool for finding great dry camping spots is the iOverlander app. From what we have observed, those with new stickbuilt SOB trailers tend to migrate to campgrounds with full hookups and paved parking spots.
In the few trips we have made East and then down to pick up our new Ollie we had no issue finding campsites even without reservations, but this was in late September.
Perhaps it is the time of year and location where we travel but being flexible, having a few backup plans in pocket and being dry campers have worked well for us even during the Pandemic where State Parks were closed and tons of new people were out camping.
Best wishes
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I just towed the Ollie 1800 miles this week with this treatment and have the following observations:
- It stayed put well. No peeling at the corners or along the edges
- The vast majority of the visible flingings from the tow vehicle appear to have made contact in the 12" vertical area from the bellyband to the bottom of the trailer where I had applied the 3M product. NOTE: I run with a hitch-mounted, rubber rockguard across the rear of my tow vehicle (like rock tamer but a different brand).
- I have heard from some that 3M told them not to use their product on gelcoat. If anyone has been told this and reads this, I'd be interested in the why as it was explained to them by 3M. Is it due to the breathability required of gelcoat? Other reasons? I cannot imagine a 36"x12" application on each front corner would cause any worse issues than where the front Oliver logo and other vinyl graphics are applied.
UPDATE: I went back to my receipts and found that I spent $35, not the $25 I reported earlier for a roll of 12"x72" 3M paint protectant.
It really is simple to apply with the proper squeegee (also found on Amazon), a spray bottle of slip (just water and a few drops of soap).
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2 hours ago, Scott Johnson said:
Same here. Glad to hear I am not the only Ollie owner who plants feet in these two great states
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2 hours ago, John E Davies said:
Mine is a Sherline 1000 pound one. A heavier rated scale will be less accurate at the low end of the gauge. Do you know anybody who has one, so you can compare readings?
Mine is a Sherline 2000 lb
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48 minutes ago, John E Davies said:
That seems quite a bit high to me, for an empty trailer, when Oliver says 490 for a stripped model. I wonder if there is some significant error in your scale. What brand and model is it? Mine is a Sherline 1000 pound one. A heavier rated scale will be less accurate at the low end of the gauge. Do you know anybody who has one, so you can compare readings? Thanks,
John Davies
Spokane WA
700lbs is 13%. Well within the recommended 10-15% range. I dont have any issue with it but will measure total loaded and tongue on a CAT scale when I get a chance.
490 lbs seems light for a trailer weighing 4,900-5,000 lbs. i have towed trailers with 10% (and less) tongue wt before and it could get whippy. Ill stick with 12-14% as my target
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1 hour ago, topgun2 said:
Wow - that's heavy. What propane tanks do you have?
30 lb. now that trailer is loaded tongue weight varies depending on front vs. real loading. Have it back to 700 lbs and will monitor handling and adjust as needed to dial-in
It handled very well on the way home from the factory. I have always had good trailer manners behind me when the tongue weight was between 12-15%
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Using a tongue scale at pickup, without water and before loading anything aboard my 2021 it had a tongue weight of 700 lbs. Options include: solar, 6v agms, microwave delete, composting toilet and outdoor pro package. Total dry weight listed on trailer title was 5,235 lbs. hope this helps
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Installed 3M film of the front corners yesterday. Couldnt get in to a shop to have the whole lower front wrapped before leaving for a trip so this will have to do for now.
ordered a 12”x72” roll of 3M film from Amazon and decided the area directly behind the truck tires was the most important to protect. Cut the sheet in half and installed as shown (if you look close you can see the inner edge), vertically from the belly seam down.
I’ll report back on how well it works on this trip. Depending on the results it may
as it is or Ill order a sheet large enough to do the entire front, lower half.Total cost was $25 plus about an hour of my time.
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Just finished Winterizing and have the composting toilet. Fearing the geyser of water then pink stuff all over the bathroom and myself when purging the small toilet line, I went to Ace and bought a sink line ($10) and cut the top from one of the empty antifreeze bottles. Worked fine for mess-free winterization of the toilet line behind the Natures Head. Maybe three drops of pink stuff to wipe-up.
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On 10/12/2021 at 12:46 PM, John E Davies said:
The small line behind the toilet base with the 1/4" chrome ball vale IS hooked up to the fresh system, and you need to flush that out. Put a paper cup over the outlet or you will get a face full - the water or antifreeze comes out like a geyser. If you ever happen to open up the vanity, you could disconnect the line there and cap the tee fitting.
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Looks a lot like the one that was just for sale on Classifieds for $29k
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is the fan on your composting toilet disconnected/off?
Gauging Interest in a 2023 Boondockers Mini Rally in Colorado
in Events & Rallies
Posted
Love the idea and location. Lack of cell signal not an issue. Timing for us is not good as we will not be back in CO then. Have fun!