GAP
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Posts posted by GAP
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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?!?
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On 6/1/2021 at 12:33 AM, John E Davies said:
It would be the height of folly to pull even a lightly loaded LE2 with a TV rated for just “up to 3500 pounds”. Legally speaking. Is there any reason not to buy the Gladiator?
John Davies
Spokane WA
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.
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8 hours ago, ScubaRx said:
Our trailer is over 10 years old. Belly band still right where they originally installed it. In fact, I don’t recall ever having any problems that I couldn’t fix.myself.
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.
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13 hours ago, rideandfly said:
I can only assume the holes were made for the hull assembly process. Can someone here explain the holes?
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.
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7 hours ago, Steve Morris said:
In thinking about this a bit more, I realized that permanently bolting the rack to the top of the bumper, the front basket (an idea I had a couple of days ago) or to teh back of the rear bumper as shown above, all preclude using the bike rack on my Land Cruiser when I don't have the trailer. So, I'm abandoning those options.
However, using the 2" steel receiver reducing sleeve (shown two posts up) in place of the Oliver 1-1/4" still seems like a better option than reworking the supplied receiver. Does anyone see a negative of this direction? Thanks!
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.
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On 5/30/2018 at 5:03 AM, John E Davies said:
This is a very good video showing how this unit is supposed to work. BTW, the shoes adjust while braking in a FORWARD direction, not in reverse like automotive drum brakes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2CHjTw9EA0
Dexter document, print and file if you don't already have this info:
My LF brake was grabbing badly, I thought I had fixed it (leaking seal) but now it has returned and I will have to go back into it.
Has anyone had problems with the Nev-R-Adjust system over- or under-adjusting the shoes?
I am tempted to just cut the stupid cables and go back to manually adjusting them, which is not difficult or very time consuming. At least then I will know then what the shoe clearance is and that should not change other than from wear.
Comments?
John Davies
Spokane WA
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.
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On 5/29/2023 at 10:13 AM, Patriot said:
@rideandfly Yes! this worked really well where we had a little area of the belly band lift. No issues since! 👍🏻👍🏻
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.
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On 5/27/2023 at 1:14 PM, ScubaRx said:
These are the best deal I found and it took me a couple of years to find them. They are solid stainless steel. No outer sheath. Seat is perfect and they look great. $3.67 each.
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
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22 hours ago, John E Davies said:
You haven’t got aggressive enough, by design it is really tough to remove. You need to abrade it with a sandpaper wheel or use a nasty solvent like MEK, but (straight) that will attack the plastic. I have had good luck with a brand new plastic scraper blade and 3M Adhesive Cleaner. It has a little MEK inside and works, but won’t hurt anything except your lungs, use with gloves in a ventilated area. It is my go-to cleaner, body shop use it for paint prep.
https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/66962O/3mtm-vhbtm-tape-disassembly-tech-bulletin.pdf
FYI if you live near a city you can buy the cleaner at any auto body paint supply store for about $15.
John Davies
Spokane WA
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
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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?
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18 hours ago, In Pursuit said:
I was set up at a winter campground, so I didn't have any issue with my batteries due to the fact I was plugged into a shore line.
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.
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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
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Just now, GrumpyChoi said:
I guess I would also be interested in how well the batteries perform in these conditions. I believe the operating specs for the lithiums are 3 degrees F on the low end, so should be a good test. And really cool pictures. 😀
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.
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6 minutes ago, Patriot said:
I won’t be running our Truma off a 2200i as I don’t own one.Most importantly it’s not recommended for the Truma. So why bother taking a chance and having an issue? I doubt the Truma warranty dept would come to anyone’s rescue. Maybe I am missing something here?
Patriot🇺🇸
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.
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On 12/24/2022 at 10:47 AM, SteveCr said:
Hello Ralph,
They did not seem to have a problem removing the Dometic. There was one guy on top and another inside.
Attached is a pic of the Dometic bottom side. There are a couple of thick foam pads with a thin sealer layer of what seems similar to butyl tape. I'm unsure if there was something else stuck to the trailer roof hole. The Oliver was delivered May 2021.
It took them a little less than 3 hours to complete the job.
Steve
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.
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On 12/21/2022 at 3:58 AM, Patriot said:
Rivernerd,
This past summer I installed the Hutch Mountain trifuel conversion kit - LP, LNG, gasoline.https://www.hutchmountain.com The Honda eu3000is runs whisper quiet off LP. We ran our gen in our initial shake down after the LP conversion and were pleased with how quiet it runs even while sitting in the gen basket.
You are right about tradeoffs. The trade off with the Honda is it’s a bit heavy. The upside is no gasoline storage to be concerned with. Due to its size and weight it’s not so portable that a thief can just pick it up and walk away with it. Lifting it in and out of the gen tray takes two people with strong backs. We look forward to seeing how well the Honda runs the Aventa post install in May. I think it will be plenty of clean inverter gen power and run our Ollie fine.
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?
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On 12/19/2022 at 8:10 PM, bhncb said:
I too would like to hear some opinions from anyone who has had the replacement done by Truma. Looking at the Oliver website photos of a 2023 LEII with the Aventa, the unit appears to be noticeably higher than the Penguin II. Maybe just an illusion but it would be nice to know if the height of the LEII has increased.
There is an article in the latest TruckCamper magazine about the 2023 Lance campers and how they are going all in with a 100% Truma solution. Near the end, when they talk about the Aventa, they specifically address the power requirements vis a vis generator size. Lance is quoted as to how the A/C operates fine with the 2500 watt onboard generator but that they had to implement an EasyStart for it to be reliable using the 2200 watt Honda portable. Interesting concluding. comment was how they "are working with Truma" for a resolution.
Since Lance is one of Truma's largest OEM partnerships, I interpret this to mean that Truma knows there is a shortcoming with the Aventa and will most likely have to either approve EasyStart installations or offer one of some flavor as their own option.
I'd be looking for more info on the subject from Truma, and/or Oliver, before I jumped in. I won't be though. because my Houghton 3400 is working fab.
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
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On 1/30/2023 at 12:29 PM, Patriot said:
There a number of owners that use the nocked out receiver (including me) with thousands of miles carrying their bicycles. I have yet to read about any failures of using the knocked out receiver. I took it a step further and called and spoke to Oliver Service and was told they have not had any bike rack failures reported. Based on this information and talking with other owners and having 4000 miles using this hitch mod, I am not overly concerned about a failure. With periodic inspections, I have not observed any wear and tear that would cause me to discontinue using the Oliver 2” receiver. Naturally one has to proceed with what one is comfortable and their risk tolerance level is when it comes to securing your bikes.
We cover our bikes when traveling and our rear Ollie lights are still very visible. We have also added the 1Up license plate bracket holder. We really like the 1Up bike rack with is certified for use on a TT.Travel safe and 🚲Bike On! 😊
I have a similar set up with a Kuat rack, a bag that fits over our two oversized fat bikes and bungy to hold everything in place. Our bag actually covers the bikes to the point of wrapping under the tires and around the hitch. Upside is even when driving on messy winter roads, the bikes stay clean and clear of the hideous snow melt chemicals. Downside is, as opposed to your rig, our Ollie rear lights are entirely blocked. Was a pricey and time consuming endeavor to rig our own lighting. Didn't want to drill through the trailer to hook into the rear lights so 1) got a "snakebite" splitter to turn the single 7 pole connection into a 7 pole for the trailer hookup and a 4 pole to do the following, 2) ran a jacketed 4 wire line under the trailer to the stinky slinky compartment terminating in 4 pole connectors on both side and 3) used a 5' pvc tube to make a housing to mount the turn signals built for rock tamer mud flaps. I attach that bar to the bungy netting around the height of the bike pedals. Very bright and does running lights and turn signals. Does not need to be hard wired to operate properly like standard truck light bars and is easy to remove and stow when not in use. Looks a little Frankenstein though.
It would be great if Olivers stuck with their original 2" hitch and added a second set of lights way high above the existing ones to make it easier to carry bikes. It was explained to me that the hitch was choked down to 1.25" after someone pulled into the factory with their trailer, towing a car using the existing 2" hitch. I fully understand their wanting to minimize liability but wish they had settled for a warning sticker instead.
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14 hours ago, Mike and Carol said:
Don’t freeze yourself out of the back and forth… the more input the better! Mike
FREEZE myself out? Pun intended?
Thanks much for the support.
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9 hours ago, Rivernerd said:
I believe I am the one who coined the term, in a post on this forum, "four-season trailer in the South, where they are made," not Jason. I don't want Jason (for whom I have high regard) to take the blame for my choice of wording.
I accept full responsibility for that statement. For what it's worth, I believe it accurately represents the true design capability of the stock Oliver trailers, including the ones, like our Hull #1291, that include the Truma Varioheat furnace with a return air duct in the bathroom.
Jason's post of February 8, 2023 may be the one you are thinking of. It appears here:
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.
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21 hours ago, ScubaRx said:
In a side note, we will be coming thru your area in June and I would be happy to hear your ideas on what you think would be needed. I've done many extensive mods on our trailer thru the years and if I could offer you any assistance, I would be glad to.
21 hours ago, ScubaRx said:I am not sure how to respond to your points in the body of your response but will try to do so here.
- As to folks living in an Oliver in Alaska: I did not say this was not possible but did not believe it could be done in a stock, unmodified unit. Do the folks you know of, camp through the winter without any mods, without a skirt, with their water system on? Either way, I'd love to learn how they are doing it.
- The source of the claim that these trailers are 4 season for southern climates was made on this forum, by Jason, from the Oliver shop. I could not find which chain he posted in so if anyone knows, please share. To the best of my memory, he shared that by 4 Season, Oliver intended that to apply to where they are built in Tennessee.
- I appreciate you pointing out the Oliver can do Mods. In all my questions about winter use, none of the shop folks have suggested that they can do alterations that would have a greater effect then what I've already done. They have made few productive suggestions for improving frigid weather performance or helping me decide on approaches for my mods. Considering that I purchased this trailer under the claim that it already was outfitted for winter use, I would be dubious about asking them to perform additional work specific to that goal.
- Not that it makes me any sort of authority but I was a winter mountaineer and instructor for years. Has always seemed to me that the conditions described by the term 4 Season is widely accepted as: Winter = 0 to 30 degrees, Spring and Fall are 30 to 60 and Summer is 60 to 90. Anything above or below that range seems to be considered as extremes by the outdoor industry.
Thanks very much for your thoughts and questions on all this. I am not normally a pot stirrer and am not looking to be controversial.
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4 hours ago, Rivernerd said:
Or, buy a trailer or motorhome that has factory--installed 12V tank heaters, and a furnace design that properly heats the area where the tanks and plumbing are located. Stock Olivers are true 4-season trailers only in the Southern US, where they are made. Knowing what I know now about the stock Oliver trailer's performance in below-freezing temps, I believe it is remarkably "aggressive" marketing for Oliver to include on its website photos of its trailers being used for snow camping.
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.
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On 1/30/2023 at 8:06 PM, SeaDawg said:
Yes, I understood that.
I was actually pretty excited to see you were good at zero. We've never camped in those temps. Actually, probably wouldn't enjoy it, either.
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.
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17 hours ago, Coastal Aggie said:
@GAP @topgun2 How much of the piping is actually accessible? Ive just had the idea of using heat tape on all the piping. I know it would be a much bigger job than i currently have time for and would probably only be feasible for on shore power but if its possible to reach the majority of the piping or at the very least the sections that are susceptible to freezing then it shouldnt be that difficult to rig something up.
it would probably be a pretty easy option for oliver to add at the factory as well.
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.
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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.