GAP

Much appreciated Patriot. I tried to give you a call and will follow up soon. Sounds like I simply need to switch the unit out so have ordered a couple from Oliver and looking forward to getting a peek behind the curtain from you.

The touch activated LED puck over our sink is pulsing pretty badly. Uneven blinking as if there is a short but does not seem to react to rocking the trailer. Currently still works but feels like it may fail sometime. Has anyone had this issue and, if so, how did you fix? It is pop riveted into the underside of the cabinet so I'd assume that switching the unit out is going to require some drilling?!?

I used a Chevy Colorado to tow my E2 for thousands of miles. Eventually switched up to a Ford F150. the Chevy was rated to 7000lbs towing and the Ford is 11,500. While the Chevy got the job done, it felt very much on the edge. Transmission ran hot, was super slow to get up to speed and, biggest concern, the brake, suspension and tranny systems were not designed to be able to pull that weight with any safety margin. t's likely that the Jeeps are in the same boat. If you can tow something with a vehicle that is barely rated for it does not necessarily mean you should.

Just a guess on my part but it's possible that as the company has grown and to producing more trailers at a faster rate, that some items fall between the cracks. Our E2 (hull # 701) had quite a few problems that were caused by less than perfect installation. Similarly to ScubaRx, we've been able to straighten them all out on our own but it's taken time and a bit of frustration to get there. These include unsecured wires in the neutral and grounding blocks, antenna mast hanging from it's wires, a window missing it's butyl tape, inverter with incorrect settings, lube bolts mounted with wrong orientation, to name a few. When I asked about our belly band coming loose, I was told the surface must not have been properly prepped during installation. As far as I can tell, Oliver has far superior quality control as compared to the rest of the industry. For comparison, check out the Airstream forum which is rife with sloppy manufacturer mistakes. Bottom line is that these are complicated systems and a one-off craft build so a bit of missing the mark is to be expected.

When fiberglass boats are made, the hull and deck come out of two separate molds. The seam, where the two parts join, is sealed with fiberglass tape both inside and outside. The outside seam seems to be taped in and there is a raised ridge of fiberglass all around. I think John is probably right that the inside seam is secured with some sort of pins. Not sure if there is any sort of aluminum framing between the shells but the pins must secure the top to the bottom and the inner to the outer shells.

I've used a bolt on steel 2" receiver on the back "bumper" for around 5000 miles so far. Used mostly preexisting holes from the original aluminium sleeve. Got Steel U bolts that were a bear to source and keep them from rusting by spraying a couple of times a year with a can of Fluid Film. Added a 3rd u bolt between the two existing ones as the spacing between the spare tire housing and the rear of the receiver was too close for our comfort so decided on a bit of overkill. As mentioned above, we use a layer of very thin but fairly rigid rubber matt between the receiver and bumper surface which I expect to switch out every couple of ears. We carry two beefy fat bikes (= heavy) on a tray style bike rack that speaks to a 2" receiver and is "RV rated" whatever that means. Been solid as a rock.

HOLY CRAP!!! As usual, John is spot on. I had always assumed that Nev R Adjust meant never needing adjustment. Inexplicably, while our trailer always felt like it braked well, neither pushing or pulling, the brake controller on our F150 had to be set to 10 (= 100%) to get there. Our E2 only weighs 1/2 of the towing capacity of the Ford but we didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth so let it be. The last time I lubed the suspension, while I had the trailer jacked up, we ran an informal test by spinning the tires and applying the brakes. Two of the wheels could still be spun with difficulty but not dead stopped by the brakes. Followed the process John laid out for adjusting the brakes and found that those wheels were wayyyy out of adjustment. Re-tested and all good. Have not towed yet to see where the new brake control adjustment will end up but having super limited braking on two of the wheels goes a long way towards explaining having to set the controller higher to do more work. I am super over due to replace the assemblies all around which is suggested for every 12k miles. Will either be upgrading the system to disks or dumbing it down to go with a Dexter manual set up on the next round Thank you all for the discussion.

Good suggestions on how to apply tape over pre-existing tape. We preferred to start clean as we have a dog who has black hair and were concerned that two layers of foam tape would allow enough of a slot for har to collect, sticking to the tape edges. Tried acetone, paint scraper and elbow grease which worked but was super labor intensive and would have taken hours. John's suggestion above to use adhesive cleaner would have probably been more efficient. In the end, we did the entire job with a belt sander with 80 grit paper. The best technique we came up with was to put the vinyl band face down on a towel and start at one end working towards the other. Held the sander at an angle with the "fresh tape" leading edge lifted slightly. This would heat up and push the gumpy residue towards the direction of travel. When enough of a sludge line was formed, would "jelly roll" the sticky material with finger tips and remove. Was able to do about a foot at a time. Blunt force instrument but did a great job. Cleaned the edges (which are translucent) and prepped the surface with acetone. Will reapply using two 1/2" strips of 3m double sided tape, leaving the paper on the outside of the tape which can be slid back as we go when reapplying. Had we known about the Gorilla tape, would have used that but had already ordered the 3m stuff which, for better or worse, was what Oliver used on the original job. Spoke to someone in the shop there who thought it was likely that the surface had not been properly cleaned before original application. Will prep the surface on the trailer with denatured alcohol before reapplying - then cross our fingers.

ScubaRX, it's hard to tell from the brief description on the order site, are these nuts bulge acorn style? My '22 E2 must have aluminum wheels

Sounds like really good ideas John. As far as the sandpaper wheel goes, would that work with truly gummy tape? Not sure if Oliver always uses the same product but the tape left on the band is super gummy

The belly band in the rear of our E2 that wraps from the galley to the pantry, over the twin beds, started to come off. The adhesive tape is intact so my guess is that the gel coat surface was not prepped well. I decided to remove the band to clean it up and prep for reinstall. I'm looking for input on how to remove the two 3M lines of tape that held the band in place. They are stuck on the vinyl and are too sticky to peel off. Have tried using a razor blade and putty knife, have put it in the fridge to help firm up the tape and also tried a heat gun hoping to soften enough to slide off. Neither Goof Off or alcohol would loosen it either. Any ideas?

I'd like to hear more about your winter camping water usage. We've had problems with our pex lines freezing. Can you share some details such as - did you keep your trailer winterized or activate the water system: If the system was active, what sort of prolonged temps did you encounter? I've found that our trailer is fine (after mods) in temps to low teens if daytime tempos get above freezing but is problematic when exposed to multiple days straight of frigid conditions: What is your hull number and do you have the newer Truma heater? Thanks much on sharing that information.

Forgive me for asking a question that has already been answered but a search on this forum came up empty handed. The window over our streetside bed has leaked occassionally since we got the trailer. Has been survivable but is a pain in the butt. We are convinced the source is the window itself and, from previous postings, am guessing the butyl tape (or lack thereof) is the culprit. Can anyone share the link to the blow-by-blow description of how to pull the window, replace the tape and reinstall? Much appreciated Gerry

We've insulated the door on our battery compartment (minnimally with two layers of reflectix) and have run a heat duct to the streetside that snakes under the battery box. Even when temps dropped below 0 Fahrenheit, the digital bluetooth thermometer sitting on top of the batteries showed that temps stayed in the high fifties. The bluetooth feed from batteries themselves as displayed on the LifeBlue App shoed the batteries maintained an internal temp in the 60s. I can't think of an apples to apples test to compare performance to summertime conditions but we've been happy with the performance.

This option was brought up earlier in this chain. I'm looking into Houghtons vs Trumas and having to run a bigger, heavier, more pricey generator is a consideration. Good point Patriot on the warrantee thing.

There may be an post on the following questions but I've been unable to find it. Have any of you fine folks with the smarts and experience to have swapped out their Dometic AC for the Houghton, had the opportunity to do a full throated write up on the process? I am curious as to how involved it is. Been eyeballing the unit with the heat pump. Am also wondering about options for draining.

Now that warmer weather is upon us, was anyone able to follow up on the possibility of the Truma AC running off a Honda 2200I?

Quick question. forgive me if you answer elsewhere. If your houghton is working well, why are you considering going with the Truma? Just starting doing my research here, but am looking to compare pros and cons of those two units. Gerry

FREEZE myself out? Pun intended? Thanks much for the support.

For the record, I am a big fan of Jason's as well. He has always been straight with me and offers very knowledgable guidance. I did not attribute a quote to him but was referring to a concept introduced in his post. I can only speak for my trailer and my testing process which points to the cut off for water freezing in pex lines on a stock Elite 2 to be in multi day temps in the low 20s. Just about anyplace where it snows is likely to see colder conditions than that. If my lines stayed liquid down to single digits with no modifications, I'd have no cause for complaint. I fear I'm cornering the market on cold weather posts, which is not fair, so will pipe in less in future discussions.

Diplomatically stated. We may very well be alone in this but our purchase of an Oliver was contingent on the manufacturer claim of 4 season capacity. Day for day, we use the trailer as much in sub freezing conditions as not. When questioned, our salesperson told us that she knew of a couple that lived in their stock Oliver through the winter in Alaska. This is simply not possible. We are very disappointed in the exaggerated claim and a bit insulted by the recent caveat that they are 4 Season Trailer - in the south. That is misappropriation of a widely accepted term in the name of marketing. Given our style of camping (primarily boondocking in ski resort parking lots - we are concerned that no amount of consumer level modification will allow reliable mid winter use. Oliver can and should do the mods, even if offered as an add on package, to accomodate reasonable winter use or should curb their claims of 4 season capacity. All that said, we love our trailer and appreciate it's build quality and aesthetics. Thanks to this super knowledgable community for your thoughtful feedback on this subject.

I just returned from another trip camping in temps below freezing. In the last two seasons, I've now done more then two month's of camping with temps staying below freezing even during the days. Have done the mods to assure that all areas of the basement stays above 50 degrees even when outside temperatures have dropped below zero. Tested with registered digital thermometers. I've now had multiple frozen lines under those conditions. I'm confident the culprit is the insulation (or lack thereof) and especially the type of insulations used - reflectix. This type of insulation does OK with radiational heat loss but not good at all with conductive heat loss. Translation is the pex lines freeze at points where they actually sit directly against the reflectix allowing the cold from outside to transfer through to the lines. The lines froze after a couple of days where temps were consistently in the low teens. My take is that these trailers without extensive mods are not safe to use the water system when outside temps sit in the low 20s for more than a day or so. By allowing air to flow through the basement, this threshold drops another 10 degrees. Without running heat tape along pretty much all pex lines and tank adding warming pads, an Oliver cannot operate with water below that. Our experience may not line up with others. Have asked before and do so here again for anyone who has used their trailer free of mods and used their water in ambient temps below the mid teens to share the particulars of their story. I'd love to be proven wrong on this but feel that, as sold, Olivers are not built for the type winter conditions found where snow is a common place thing.

Pipes are not the only problem. The tanks are sitting on one layer of reflectix which has proven itself to allow for plenty of conductive heat loss so those would need heat pads for sure as there is no way to remove them and insulate more sensibly underneath. If tanks are only partially filled, a pad on top would not do much good so longer narrow ones applied to the tank sides is the option. Exterior ports froze in my case. Guess blowing them out after usage MAY prevent that problem. If applying heat tape, make sure to get behind the flimsy wall at rear of trailer as all that piping is super vulnerable. The lines run parallel but not always right against each other so you may have to run multiple tapes or tape between and wrap in insulation to share the heat. Under the floor (easy to remove) just inside the garage compartment is the exterior port valves for city and fresh feeds. Those should probably be looped into the heat tape application. As to the pipes, you are spot on that using heat tape and pads would either require shore power or daily generator goosing of the lithiums. Certainly not enough usable sun in winter to do the job. TopGun has a great suggestion on snaking on insulation where you can't get heat tape to. When I looked into this there were options for smart tape which is always on but adjusts it's output to the amount of heat needed. would certainly want to wire in an off switch. Very pricey stuff. simple tape and pads can be wired into cheap digital adjustable threshold thermostats so you can set to something like "on at 35 and off at 45". Have a great trip.