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SeaDawg

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Everything posted by SeaDawg

  1. Funny how we come full circle. Kids today can figure out (and, hack) anything electronic. Back in the day, it was just a few wires .. Thanks for the info. I have aluminum foil always in the trailer. Wrap it up. Simple Faraday cage, very cheap. Reusable.
  2. Thanks for the time travel, and trip down memory lane, @MAX Burner. The early first gen trailers had different fridges. Even today, today some 3ways work better at altitude than others, and no one really knows why. Theory is it can be a problem with the propane mix in the tank. Anyway... Glad yours functions well. Very happy for you. I have had a dc danfoss/secop compressor fridge for 6+ years now, and it doesn't care what altitude, nor (out of ) level I'm on. It just works, flawlessly.
  3. I remember that my 2005 Silverado needed a fuse, connected inline, for the 12v charger to work from my truck, to the Ollie. We had to add the fuse, to gain charging while traveling. It's a long time ago.... After we added solar, it was actually unnecessary.
  4. Roadside insurance is actually pretty inexpensive, and adds peace of mind, for me. Warranties are another story. If you keep vehicles "forever," as we do, a lifetime warranty can be a bargain. I doubt theyre sold anymore. (My Silverado, if human, would be old enough to vote, and buy alcohol, next year. 😀) The warranty on our 2008 Ram has paid for itself several times over. If we had kept it only a few years, not so.
  5. We haven't used good sams for vehicle and trailer, thankfully, but good sams for vehicle has been very good for us. (Coverage without the trailer in tow, several times.) My wish? Not so many renewal and advert notices. I'm looking at coachnet.
  6. I'm on year 7 with our DEKA/east penn AGM 12v batteries. Ryan at Blue Sky gave us the correct setting for our controller. I think the solar panels actually help with the longevity of the batteries. I'm not sure why anyone would advise you to turn off the solar. I try to not run mine below 70 per cent, keeping that last twenty as a safety net. Definitely keep them above 50 per cent. Even our flooded lead acid 6v batteries on the boat have managed over 7 years, with six+ years of solar, even after flattening one battery bank of 6 when we lost our alternator on a 300 mile race. (We added the solar after that incident. We were very lucky to be able to bring them back to life, as they were only a month old then, and not cheap. )
  7. Raspy, who still stops by here occasionally, bought a black series, and did a bunch of work on it to beef it up for four seasons. He has a different brand now.
  8. Elite 1, 2008 Ram 1500 4x 4, hemi, 5.7.
  9. This is another situation where experience gives us an edge. I don't care about "surfing the web," nor do I have to upload big files while camping, as working folks do. Yet another situation where time camping (sometimes involving frustration) gives us an answer to what we truly "need," and what we just want. If I wanted total connectivity, always, I'd get satellite, of some sort. I don't. But an emergency beacon, sure, when and if we're in the Yukon again. For most places we camp, in the USA and Canada, one of our phones "usually " works. One GSM, one CDMA. Even a very weak signal gets a text out. For emergency situations, I would never rely on tmobile or att. Nor verizon, even though we get better coverage with them than tmobile, in most situations. @Steph and Dud B, with both verizon and att/tmobile, you're covered in most situations. As are we. Out in the hinterlands,beyond cell towers, we'd need some sort of satellite sos.
  10. I'm truly sorry to see you go, but hang around. Once a member of the family, always a member of the family. To change your signature, go to account, account settings, then signature. It's not very intuitive, I know, but it is what it is.
  11. SeaDawg

    Leak

    Any hull penetration can leak, at some magic moment or another. This is true of any camper. And, like any other roof. Start with the most likely/biggest area, and work from there. Duct tape has been our friend, on various campers, narrowing the field. Roofer friends tell me to "think like a rain drop, and do visual inspections. " That's all good, except visually inspecting caulk doesn't always tell the story. Covering areas, one at a time, with duct tape, tells the story, next heavy rain. A leak down the rear window can come from anywhere, if you're high in the nose, and the rear is the lowest point. Logic. Think like a raindrop.
  12. Yes, I believe this is true in many "modern" trucks. Ours is a 2008.
  13. If upgrading to lithium, I would disconnect that charge wire. You might be fine, but honestly, you don't want to fry your alternator. There is a reason why this circuit is disconnected for trailers originally equipped with lithium. Best of luck with your conversion, and we'll look forward to hearing about your process, and progress!
  14. I have, like many other old school trailers, 2 x 105 agm 12v marine batteries. So, 210 ah, total, marine deka/East penn group 31 batteries. I probably come close to your description above. We can get appreciable charge, when traveling. We also have 400 watts of fixed solar, now, so less important, these days. But still important for those who don't have solar, and have lead acid/agm batteries. Level the front, with the jack, disconnect from the truck. With the plug dangling, not too hard to remember to reconnect in the morning.... Remembering to unplug from the tv is kind of ingrained, from old school days, so not a big deal. We're used to it. Many years of practice. As times change, and most people get lifepo4 batteries, Oliver may discontinue the charging wire. As may other manufacturers. We'll see. Times change. Batteries change. Practices change. Just saying, for those of us without lifepo4 batteries, the charge wire is helpful . PS, we live quite well, many months of camping each year, with 210 ah of battery power. We have learned power management. We camp, don't have an inverter. Everyone has a different camping style. Mine is different from yours, I'm sure, and I'd never criticize yours. We each decide what is most important, and work within our defined limits.
  15. Sweet! A few questions. Where do you attach this? How does it function in windy conditions,? Does anything bend/sway/ rub on the Oliver? Is your pole fiberglass?
  16. Cute fur buddies. Glad the barrier works for you.
  17. Definitely disconnect the black 12V+ wire from the tow plug, regardless of battery setup. Definitely, if lithium. If you have lead acid, or agm (still lead acid) important to unplug from the tv when stopped for the night, to avoid draining your TV start battery. The umbilical cord basically draws from all battery connections. Times are changing. Most people seem to gravitate to lithium, of one brand or another, initial order, or retrofit. We're still old school, agm. Power misers. .
  18. I'll leave that judgment to the tax professionals. Not my wheelhouse.
  19. So, I'm a bit confused. You swapped parts from another drawer, but these will work as a replacement in situ? Just one? Even if other side has old bulkier mechanism? Just trying to understand. Obviously, new part is smaller. Glad everything worked out for you!
  20. SeaDawg

    Leak

    Maybe Steve could just move the demo to your site. Send him a pm. He loves to help folks.
  21. @DavePhelps, if you carry an inflater, you can always reduce tire pressure/deflate the spare, if it doesn't fit. Not totally ideal, but it can work. Others have done it in the first gen trailers. Our 2008 has a smaller cover than yours, so can't help on your original question.
  22. That's a great idea. We e often thought about just hiding a cheap phone, cheap plan, and linking a camera or two. Leave the phone plugged into 12v, set charging at 85 per cent max to extend battery life, and, voila. Communication! I asked, because most published plans have a cap on high speed data useage, even if "unlimited" and the user will get slowed down to 3g or lower, if the cap is hit. I have one on each of my plans, but only hit it once, when 6 people were logged onto my account as a hotspot , including a vr viewing device, which really gobbled my high speed data. It was fun to fly across the continents, virtually, though! I'd suggest a second plan with Verizon or visible, vs att, in my experience. ATT rarely gives us more connectivity than tmobile. I think they even have some tower sharing agreements, now. Tmobile works great for us in many places, especially Europe and Australia, and many parts of Canada. Just, sadly not in the mountains of WNC. Thank you for sharing the info on Calyx. I think it will be of interest to many.
  23. @shhQuiet, thank you for the videos of Oliver #1405 in use. I enjoyed traveling along, even though my kayaking skills are much more limited! Our Oliver has been a means to an end... traveling, adventuring, and our sometimes stationary mountain "summer home" for 16 seasons. I love seeing how others use theirs. happy travels, and please share more!
  24. It's a worthy cause. Do you know where your caps are on 5g/4g lte on your free service? Tmobile still doesn't work for us on our camping property in North Carolina, and it's disappointing. We have a tmobile phone, a Verizon phone, and a Visible phone (cheap moto, cheap plan, uses Verizon towers) as backup. Years ago, we had an Alltel, then Verizon jetpack, but gave it up when smartphones improved. My phone is my pocket computer.
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