SeaDawg

We carry a very small bag of tools, a charged drill and bits, a spare set of bearings and seals, a good sams road service card, and several credit cards. And, a tire plug kit. A multimeter. Often, a chain saw. And, two cell phones, one gsm, one CDMA. Last two, probably most important. When we deliver or rent rvs, we take an even smaller kit. Plus good sams and a couple credit cards. And, the phones. Maybe I'm just lucky, but we've rarely needed a lot more that we couldn't get at the next lowes, home depot, Canadian super store, or ace hardware, or rv center. Happy to report, never had to use bearing kit or tire plug kit. Its ok. Still keep them around. Those are trip killers. Carrying a few bits of pex fitting and tubing wouldn't add a lot of weight. We do also have duck tape, and a few scraps of wire, and a few connectors and a fuse kit . I guess we live on the edge. I don't want to drive a huge truck to carry a garage with us. It hasn't been necessary, in all these many years.

I think the screen capture was from an early rally . I don't think lithium is labeled. Can anyone tell us?

I often go there first. Local. Helpful. I like to think my little purchases help keep them in business. Mine has an amazing (though limited quantity of each item) selection of marine grade standards nuts, bolts braided wire, etc I love my local Ace. Never looked there for aluminum stock, though. They do stll rescreen windows.. My other fave Ace in east Asheville has just about every Stihl tool we've needed. Love those guys,,too.

I can sometimes get small pieces left from a custom job at my local alro metals. They have operations in many cities. They're called alro steel in some locations, but they carry a lot more. Topgun's idea of asking a local fabricator or welder is also good. You don't need much, and they might have a bit of cutoff in a scrap bin.

As i remember, you bought a pre-owned trailer. Your batteries may be suspect. Not sure.

We just had a similar situation with our 2008 Elite. Streetwise jack would raise, but not lower. We had to reset many times, as the supplied tool was too big. Used a socket for awhile. Added a few blocks, dealt with it, with the manual jack adjustment. I think our issue is in the switch and wiring.. We'll see . Here for awhile. Project for another day. Thank @John E Davies for another timely and informative post.

I also have a photo of mine that I can text. Paperless.

Totally swooning over the bookmatched grain drawer fronts. How much headroom does the acoustic panel take? 3/4 inch? Would you make just 2 for an Elite?

As to item #2, I carry business cards with our names, cell phones, and emails to make life easier when exchanging info. You can print them on the computer, or order them very inexpensively online. Next time around, I'm adding hull #.

Great story, and welcome! I hope you have many great adventures in your Ollie. Our #12 has many stories to tell.

When will you have power to the garage?

I totally agree with Oliver's rationale in moving to zamp. So much simpler than any other brand. With the proliferation of lithium, I can understand also an oliver switch to another venerable company. Victron can be a bit confusing at times. We have victron and xantrex on our boat. It's not as simple as zamp, but not that difficult, for us. It will work well, I'm sure, as it has for us, if that's the latest decision. Imo, zamp should have brought in an mppt controller. Theyve had time.

We feel that way, too. Best of luck on your pickup. I know you've done the research, watched the Ollie University video, and you should be ready. If anything crops up, we're here for you. Looking forward to your delivery photos. Safe travels, and hugs.

That's pretty exciting news

I love the Dakotas, but it would seriously be nice if old man winter would yield to spring sometime soon. Actually, three weeks ago... Sorry for the thread drift. Good luck getting the trailer out, and back on the road.

That is serious wind, and something for everyone to consider. I hope you can resolve your issue with insurance. With or without, very glad you were not injured when the wind flung you back. Trailers heal with money. We humans heal more slowly. With components, it's sometimes less expensive to replace than repair

Well, that's a bummer. I'd use white or clear duct tape for a temporary fix. Like many others, we carry rolls with us. Butyl tape is a sealant, not really a "tape." The door itself is damaged, right, not, the trailer hull? That is probably a Lippert made item. Your insurance may cover a new door. I'd open a ticket, and ask for Jason's advice.

So happy to see you back on the road! What a great looking rig!

We have an outdoor 12v in our 2008. It's mostly out of the weather, but a bad rainstorm can let a little water in if I forget to close the plug. It's great for our friend's 12v portable cooler, when he visits. I'd probably install a weatherproof cover, if putting a 12v outlet in the location you described. Certainly doable. Good luck.

Agreed. Blue sky, unlike zamp, isn't a quick button setting, for many things. But, bulletproof if you spend the time learning the ropes. The dip switches are a bit old school, but, hey, so am I. No bluetooth monitoring, yet, that i know of. My husband and I can't say enough about great response and walk through, when we needed assistance. Solid company.

I agree. Sunforge/blue sky is amazing. Ryan on tech services has helped us through several situations. Amazing service, and I can tell you after 14 years, the gear has long legs . It is, however, a learning curve to use the blue sky. A bit of time invested.. Zamp was definitely more user friendly/easy/ interaction-free for the industry, as witnessed by the general acceptance across the board, and industry . When we doubled our solar a few years ago, we added more blue sky /sunforge gear.

When you have this issue, is the trailer connected to the Jeep, and the refrigerator off, or on, on dc? If you're connected, and trailer is trying to pull power, for dc fridge, I'd guess it might(?) do that, sensing enough power,, then losing it to the dc fridge,, but otherwise, I think with a low battery, you should just get nothing . My daughter has a 2017 grand cherokee. Recently, when her starter battery was low, overnight,, but hey,, original battery,, she got nothing but radio and fan. Not that slow trying of several times, like the old days. With hers, she has enough power, or not. Start cuts out. Btw, hers has two batteries, and it's a pita, both under the passenger seat. One for starter and most systems, one for start/stop. To replace the starter battery properly, you must have 12v available with a bypass device while doing the swap, to avoid losing the vehicle's programming. This could possibly also be your issue, if new jeep battery was improperly installed. Idk. Just another guess. You "might" have lost some program, if improperly installed. (Actually, not that difficult to do the swap, except for battery access. Her boyfriend did the battety swap, without help, with the loan of our Viking jumpbox.) And, it has that vent tube thing, as well. Also check cable ends for corrosion, and proper tightening. You have to be a contortionist to actually get to my daughter's batteries, under the passenger seat. Really stupid design, imo. However, it's a really nice suv, and she loves it. And, of course, check alternator @FrankC, starter, and ignition switch. Oh, and low battery in the keyfob for the ignition. You can test that by trying to start with the keyfob touching the right spot. Even with a dead keyfob battery, you can start the car. Kind of a fail safe feature. That's another issue she's experienced.

What's your tow vehicle? And, what happens when it "struggles" to start?

James and Steph at fitRV just posted this video on installing and using a levelmate pro. As usual, good video. Yes, they drive a van camper, but it shouldn't really differ that much.

What batteries do you have? Solar? Are you running the fridge on dc or gas or off when traveling? Tow vehicle? Most modern vehicles simply won't start with a too low battery. Cabin lights and radio may come on, but you may just get a click or nothing when trying to start. I'd also suspect an ignition switch or starter issue, if your truck is fairly new.