Patriot

Bill, Great photos! The fall colors are really popping! Glad you and Debbie got to enjoy a great trip!

This is what I use and I usually get it on sale. It has strong reviews and has worked well for us with the exception of setting off our LP/CO alarm. https://www.lowes.com/pd/SPLASH-Non-Toxic-50-50-Antifreeze-Cooling-Fluid-1-Gallon-For-RVs-Boats-Pools-Ethyl-Alcohol-50F-Burst-Protection/1001303072?store=612&cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-hdw-_-ggl-_-CRP_SHP_LIA_HDW_Online_C-D-_-1001303072-_-local-_-0-_-0&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD2B2W9hRI4Nvwfs2K7-hTSUpLL-r&gclid=Cj0KCQjw4Oe4BhCcARIsADQ0csloYKcIQ04k3NO6UEfmyjY02U09-6gIeVxeIl5hbVkoZO4zZ16R5bkaApkAEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Thanks for this report. A trip to Alaska someday has been on our radar. To your point, frost heaving can really make it rough on equipment and an exhausting no fun adventure.

@Dennis and Melissa Not to throw a shadow over your trip plans. As this was a possible contingency trip for us IF our recent 48 day 14 state trip out west fell through due to wild fires. We did a fairly deep dive and learned that the roads in Newfoundland are really in rough shape. Everything from pot holes due to frost heaves to “deep pit holes”. For whatever reason the funding is just not there for road maintenance. If you do go, I would highly recommend a spare leaf pack if you have the OEM dexter 4 leaf pack. We also learned from a few recent Facebook posts that Nova Scotia roads are just are not that great as well. It’s a beautiful area for sure, it’s just too bad the road reports we read on FB from a few Oliver owners were really not good. One person said that as long as you don’t mind dodging pot holes in the roads, you will be fine. 😟 All this said hopefully you can learn from somebody that has recently been up in this neck of the woods this past summer for more updated info. Just wanted to pass on what we have learned. For now, this area a no go for our future trip planning. Glad we did the Western Loop, it was epic. Patriot🇺🇸

Bays fan here they are the best!

No chemist here ha! The customer service rep said their company would replicate the RV anti freeze odor and determine if that’s causing the detector to alarm. She said they have had several calls after people have winterized and immediately there after their CO/LP alarm sounded. I guess we will wait and see what the experts come up with. This is the second time around for me. It was interesting to hear her say they have had multiple calls this week on this exact same issue.

Yes, a design flaw for sure. The rep that I spoke with said here in California we don’t winterize our campers. 🙄 I suggested that they place a cup of RV anti freeze in a cardboard box with the detector inside wait for it to alarm and consider recalibration. She seemed to think that was a good idea. We’ll see if that happens.

An interesting video on using Anker Prime portable battery packs to run the SL Mini. Naturally the larger Anker Prime battery provides a little more run time. This is all subject to how one intends to use the mini. Nonetheless kinda cool data.

@St8ofbeing I will save you a search on the forum. Last year we had to replace our RV Safe LP detector while on a 42 day 6000 mile trip. I purchased the detector at Humphrey RV, in Montrose, CO and it was a fast simple install. We got home and winterized and the new detector I had just installed alarmed and would not reset. So I called RV Safe and explained the issue and long story short they sent me a replacement. The gal was really nice and also sent a prepaid return envelope for the faulty detector. The gal I spoke at RV Safe said well RV anti freeze should not set the alarm off but anything is possible. We had no LP turned on, no leaks and the alarm only sounded after winterizing. I admit the RV AF order was quite strong inside our Oliver. I just don’t understand why the antifreeze odor would set it off. Fast forward - I just winterized last week after an 48 day, 7400 mile trip out west and the LP alarm went off and would not reset after winterizing. So I will be calling RV Safe again explaining what happened and requesting a replacement. If you contact RV safe make sure you specify a white trim replacement. They also come in black. I would caution against adding an on off switch to your LP detector. I opted not to as it could be deadly if one forgets to turn it on. https://rvsafealarm.com/contact/ Edit and update - I just spoke with Andrea she is the Customer Service Rep and is sending me a replacement. I will return the existing detector. Patriot🇺🇸

Thanks for the report John! Safe Travels to you and Wendy my friend. David

Bingo!

Not to hijack this thread. We have an LE2 and this lives in the back of our TV when we travel. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GJJZ5NI?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&ref=cm_sw_r_ud_dp_KA0NVZ9NHHFNSBGZS58H&ref_=cm_sw_r_ud_dp_KA0NVZ9NHHFNSBGZS58H&social_share=cm_sw_r_ud_dp_KA0NVZ9NHHFNSBGZS58H There are many choices out there. I wanted a large base and a jack stand combo for stability. The user reviews are strong. Now back to OP’s original questions on travel. 😎

A white object reflects all wavelengths of light, so the light is not converted into heat and the temperature of the object does not increase. I bet Oliver took this into consideration when designing the first Oliver. I like the white and will keep it OEM.

Lew owner of Alcan Springs gladly tossed the Dexter China 🇨🇳 made springs in the junk scrap metal pile. Glad you got scheduled John! You will never need to think about leaf springs again. 👍🏻🇺🇸

Starlink Mini Dish Open Source info - This compact, portable kit includes a built-in router that supports 2.4 and 5GHz bands, 802.11ax, and 3x3 MIMO. It also has an Ethernet port for connecting wired devices. Based on our experience we see no other reason to mod our Oliver with any other comm now having used our SL mini on a 48 day trip through 14 states. We won’t leave home without it. At the extraordinary rocket powered pace that Elon and SpaceX are deploying more satellites, SL will rule the day in comm. We are considering a SL home dish based how much we liked our mini on this last trip. Just plug it in to a power source with no obstructions and your on line.

@Joey Congrats and welcome to the forum! If you have not already done so check out Oliver University for a lot of great info! This is the place to learn about mods and ask questions about your rig. When you have a moment add your TV and rig info to your signature on the forum. It’s huge help when any of us need to help you with info. Happy Travels! Patriot🇺🇸

Not sure when you plan to install the new rain gutters. We installed ours when the weather was in the high 70’s low 80’s giving the adhesive time to cure and just making the gutter material much easier to work with. Something to consider when you install the new product. It also made the trim easier to line up, cut and apply after laying it stretched out in the sunshine over top of my truck. I think we left the blue painters tape on for a day or so. No issues yet. I hope it all works out well for you.

Starlink Mini power cord storage solution. On our recent long trip I decided I needed to come with a solution to store our Starlink Mini power cord when we are traveling. After a deep dive, I ordered this reel and it will hold the entire 50’ SL mini power cord nice and neat. Winding up the power cord by hand each time was time consuming and usually it ended up looking like a rat nest. This musicians cord reel should be easier for deployment of the power cord as well as retracting when packing up our SL mini. Everything SL mini packs up nicely in our HF 3800 hard side storage case. I ordered a second reel for our spare SL mini power cord. Happy Camping from Hull #634 XPLOR https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WYCR42L/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We have dual 30# LP tanks and I agree it was a worth the upgrade at least for us and to swap out to 30# tanks after our first year based on our camping needs. In our recent 7400 mile 48 day trip we were really glad to have the larger tanks. We only had to top off one of our 30# tanks 3 times during this entire trip. Many CGs out west if not all, have LP available or will tell you where you can easily purchase it. Everyone needs it at some point. If you don’t have adequate pay load capacity with your TV, or are concerned about tongue weight, or physically cannot lift a full 30# LP tank then keeping the 20# tanks is probably the right thing to do. Honestly I am not even sure an E1 will accommodate 30# tanks.

We have the Truma 13.5 BTU Aventa AC and we do not have the Truma soft start. We use a Honda 3200i to run our AC and it’s a quiet and a very reliable genset. As posted above a Honda 2000 or 2200 will not run your 13.5 Truma Aventa unless you have the Truma soft start installed.

@rideandfly Bill, Can you have the Anker power pack plugged in and charging and still run your Mini while it’s plugged in for pass through use while still charging the Anker?

After a good wash and detail inside and out we winterized and covered up XPLOR today. We used approx 2.5 gal of RV antifreeze. Agree with @John Dorrer super easy to dewinterize should we decide to head to the coast of somewhere beautiful. 👍🏻🇺🇸😎

Welcome Jason B! Hull# 634 XPLOR

It should arrive tomorrow, I will keep you posted! 👍🏻

After our SL mini shake down trip out west I have decided to purchase a cord reel for the mini to keep the cord neatly buttoned up during travel. As well as a little quicker to deploy and roll up. I also decided to scoop up an extra SL power cord as well. If by some unlikely chance the cord gets cut by a grazing Bison well…you sorta flapping without a spare. This big guy was grazing on the nice green patch of grass next to XPLOR and he actually tugged on our SL cable and fortunately did not chew through it. Smart Bison! I will post up on how the cord reel works out. I highly recommend a back up spare power cord. As we all know things happen. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WYCR42L?ref_=ppx_hzod_title_dt_b_fed_asin_title_0_0 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DB21PPSC?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title