ScottyGS

Thanks again Everyone, Karen, We are fully winterized and dry camping now. Not too much of an inconvenience since we are mostly staying with friends or at a campsite. When I saw how cold it was going to get I decided to winterize before rather than after the trip. Thanks for the advice though. I am sure it will come in handy sometime.. Bill, Thanks for the I-40 heads up. We went through there when we picked up the FST heading east. Now I will hit that road in both directions over 3 days. I will keep away from the TT's. I usually try to do that anyways. Scotty

Thank you All! We are at Mama Gertie's Hideaway campground in Swananoa NC. Will be returning here after a run to Hohenwald to get some work done on the flying sea turtle. Nice to know that will be able to run the onboard heater when we are not plugged in. Here is Donna and Piper having hot dogs for breakfast.

As I write this we are camped in Swananoa NC and will head over to the mothership tomorrow for a Suburban Heater repair. My question is......... when you are NOT hooked up to electric, are there any limitations on running the heater. We have the Mr. Heater jr we can use but I would like to use the Suburban instead of or in addition to. We have the 4 AGM batteries, would the heater fan drain the batteries ( too much) through the night? We are looking ahead to some cold nights. Thanks, Scotty

Thanks for the excellent write up. Looking forward to meeting you. Anyone who wants to play GOLF please let me know. We have one foursome so far. Scotty

Mr. heater buddy Junior report - did an overnight at the Winchester Virginia Walmart Saturday, November 11. It was cold outside! Temperature was down to about 27. Used the Mr. buddy Junior but unfortunately had a bad Can of gas so it didn't really warm the trailer up that much. At 2 AM when I changed the can out I got that nice orange glow and it warmed the trailer up just fine. One can lasted about three hours on High temp so I'm assuming one can on low will last about 6hours. Didn't really find the ideal place to put the heating unit. If I put it in the bathroom like in the picture it warms the sill of the bathroom a little too much if I put it on the kitchen counter it warms the overhead fiberglass a bit too much and if I set it on the floor the dog can get at it a little too much. So still looking for the perfect spot to put it but so far so good on the buddy jr unit. It did the job and even though I worried about it, we didn't really have any problems other than a bit of condensation and slight propane smell. Both of which I will gladly accept to stay warm.

John & Matt, thanks very much for this video! The Flying Sea Turtle is full of the pink stuff and my mind is at ease over it because I know it was done right. Looking forward to the De-Winterizing Video very soon! Matt, see you next week at the Mother. Ship. Thanks again Scotty

Here is the clam site with the panels you can get to block the wind. http://stores.clamoutdoors.com/quick-set-by-clam.html

We have a clam! It does go up & down very easy. They are heavy. And storing in the bed of the f-150 is challenging. We have been putting in on top of all the totes filled with stuff..... so it has to be shifted or moved to get at anything. Will be trying something new for the November trip. Built a crude shelf where the cap bolts onto the truck and will store it there .. along with chairs and other bulky things. We have a cargo glide so getting to the totes underneath should not be too much of a problem. In the summer the clam can be hot. Breezes don't penetrate the netting easily. It's pretty big so you can fit a couple of camp chairs and a small table in pretty easily. Sometimes can be tough finding a spot for it in a small campsite. All in all we are glad we have it. Scotty

Congrats Robin & Susan! Love the Ladybug and the story behind her. Hope our paths cross soon. Happy Trails.. Scotty

Nope... never been there. We chose the E section because of people we know on the forum. Might not be too late to change. And... no worries... People will be able to find the ONLY red Oliver at the rally. :-) Travel Safe and see you in 2018 Gregg

Hi everyone, I have been compiling a list of folks who have registered for the rally. There will be quite a lot of us and thought it might help people get to know each other. Put a name to a forum face. OK... i have a horrible memory and this is for me. But, I am happy to share. Please send me a PM if you would like to add information to the list. (either I missed you completely or some info is missing) This info is all compiled from this forum but if you don't want to be on the list please let me know and I will make the adjustment. Thanks.... Here is the list of so far: Names Forum Name Spot # Lives at Hull # Gregg & Donna Scott ScottyGS E-17 NJ 145 Steve & Tali ScubaRX E-9 TX 50 Brandi Shaffer Bshaffer B 06 TX 10 Mike & Carol Thompson Mike and Carol E-10 TX 135 Greg & Janet Gato Greg & Janet Gato F 42 FL 122 Grayson & Ann dharmardr E 13 CT 112 Mike & Gerri MikeandGerri E 22 ? 189 Foy & Mirna Foy_Mirna G-24 FL 227 Laura & Dean (casita) DeanCHS1980 D-4 KY Casita ? trumpetguy D 8 FL Airstream Supersize Life SupersizeLIFE E 31 AK 249 ? dedrol E 21 OH 238 Clair & Kathy Clever Beast Kayrae51 ?? TN 245 David Stillman DavidS D-10 UT 164 Don Thompson donthompson E-39 IA? 126 Dennis & Pat G 15 NY 153 Malcom and Ursula M. Monlezun ?? CO 204 Bill Topgun2 G13 NC 117 hardrock hardrock ?? AL 73

Dave, Thanks for the link to the liability issue article. This is exactly the reason that I got the Anderson WD hitch. Scotty

Donna, Gregg, and Piper the Westie are in! Spot E-17 Who is up for golf? Have Ukulele.... will travel. :-) Scotty

Second on the dielectric grease. Use it and it apparently has no bearing on the disconnect issue. Glad to hear that the Ford dealer update worked. It did not for me. When we remember that we are driving trucks with computers embedded in them, problems like this and their multiple solutions start to make more sense. One comment on the Tow Ready 20142. It does solve the problem but..... I believe that it does so by fooling the truck into thinking there is a trailer connected. If you leave it plugged into the F-150 the truck thinks it has a trailer connected even when it's not. Not sure if this would pose a hazard, or as much of a hazard as the warning going off all the time. I would start getting worried about an actual disconnect if I saw the trailer lights go out in the side view mirrors, or if I notice a difference in braking. Until then... All Hail the Mighty Tow Ready! :-) Thanks again for everyone's help on getting this problem fixed. Best of Luck and Safe Travels! Scotty

All Hail the Mighty Tow Ready 20142! Glad to hear it's working for you. Best of Luck. Scotty

Hey Brandi, I was digging through some pictures of when we picked up our trailer and look what I found. I thought you might like to see these. I remembered that we had seen your trailer when we went to the factory but forgot that I took some pictures of it. Hope you enjoy them. Good Luck on the road. Scotty

I don't think you would need the pole as support. The table nests into the ledges on the seats and seems plenty strong. I got some self stick insulation striping at home depot and ran it onto those ledges and they make it very stable and keep it from sliding or "chattering". The existing cushions cover that distance perfectly and you can get a blanket to wrap it all up. See our picture. As for back cushions, you could get those made or use throw pillows. The big negative in using this area as a couch is leaning onto the window shade frame. I am always afraid that leaning on that too hard might crack it somewhere important. Hard foam backs would help reduce that. The good news is that you can make the switch right now and try it. If the decision would be to make it permanent you can design the cushions to make accessing the hatches easy. Post some pics of what you come up with. Good Luck, Scotty

Clair & Kathy, Picking up tomorrow? And, I notice that the Clever Beast is 100 away from the Flying Sea Turtle, hull # 145. Best of Luck and enjoy a safe trip home. Looking forward to seeing your pics. Say hey to Anita for us. Scotty

Hi Everyone, I had this great idea.... Put the Dinette area in bunk mode to use as a couch. We never really use the dinette seating. It's not the most comfortable, so if we are relaxing inside we sit on the bunks, but that gets old so I figured let's try the new configuration. I quickly found that you are most likely NOT going to be able to remove the post by hand. There are 3 tongues that fit under the floor bracket that attach the post to the floor. You have to loosen the black flange and then rotate the post holding the table. Very difficult if not impossible to do by hand. Finally figured it would be best to use a strap wrench. $9 and a home depot trip later and I was able to get the post removed. I used the strap wrench on the flange first and then on the post itself. A rubber mallet and some blue language were also employed. :-) Pictures attached.... Comment appreciated... So far we like it this way and will probably leave it in this configuration. Safe Travels, Scotty

I just completed the ZEP Floor Finish / Polish treatment on our 2016 LE2. Attached are instructions that I found on a fiberglass RV forum and updated a bit. I have read that the ZEP looks streaky until the third coat, but I found that the first coat looked pretty good. This treatment is highly recommended for bringing oxidized gel coat back to life and protecting it from the sun. If anyone else is using ZEP on their Ollie, I would like to hear about your experience. Scotty Instructions-for-Waxing-with-ZEP.doc

Hope you are not late to this party. Hope you are NEVER to this party.

Hey JBM.... Nav systems are not so high on my hit parade, but the Pro Backup Assist IS! I looked at a ton of TV's and drove just about everything out there. Toyota, Dodge, Chevy, both SUV's and Trucks. In the end it came down to the Silverado and the F-150. The pro backup assist pushed us over to the Ford Column. (But the Silverado was plush... like sitting on your living room couch) Here is a youtube video worth the few minutes to watch.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HLcJiPcumM If you are a trailer newbie like me... this thing is worth it's weight in gold. Wonder when other mfg's will get something like that going. Thanks again everyone for your help. Scotty

Problem Solved! - At least for the last 700 miles I have come to believe that the solution for this problem may be different from truck to truck. We have (as a group) tried a lot of different solutions and some have worked for others but not for me. So, here is a quick run down on how I got to problem solved with some info that may prove useful to current or future sufferers of the dreaded disconnect message. So, in the order that seems best, here they are: 1.) Selecting Electric over Hydraulic brakes - I am not sure if this will solve the problem. What I am sure of is that the reduced braking on the trailer was not safe. I did a 25 mph brake test on a level road using both the Electric and the Electric over Hydraulic setting and the latter scared the heck out of me. Low speed and level ground and I could feel the reduced braking... A LOT! I changed the setting back and will never use that setting again. So, scratch this one off your list. I am towing an LE2 and the difference may be less with the single axle Ollie 2.) SSM 45508 / SSM 45803 update - This one was interesting. This SSM says to update the trailer brake controller to version 98.02 or higher. This is for trucks built before 11/04/2015. My truck was built after this, but I was pretty explicit with the dealer that I wanted this update without regard to mfg. date. The dealer did the upgrade for me "on the house." Upon clarification I learned Ford was not going to pay for the upgrade because my truck was made after the specified date. But the dealer took care of me. So, if you are going to get this update, you need to be specific with the dealer on the issue. Don't accept the "your truck has all the updates it needs" line. (Thanks JBM!) All that being said.... the update by itself has not fixed the problem. I still get disconnect warnings unless I use ....... 3. The Mighty Tow Ready 20142 - After determining that the update did not fix the problem I connected the Tow Ready adapter (Thank you David!) and this has apparently solved the issue. We just finished a 700 mile round trip and had no disconnect issues when using the Tow Ready. In fact, I left the Tow Ready plugged into the truck but NOT pulling the trailer, and the F-150 told me the trailer was connected. You can get this on Amazon for under $25. Conclusion: The Tow Ready really does work. It plugs in between the truck and the trailer pigtail. It is secure and only adds about 4" to the length of the cable. Locking tabs were secure and I did not need any straps to secure the Tow Ready. If you find that it does not work for you, I would suggest you get the version 98.02 update and try it again. My thanks to everyone for the assistance in getting this problem solved. It has been over a year and very frustrating and distracting. Returning from the Spring Fling in May I was on 287 approaching the Tappan Zee Bridge at night in the RAIN... and the disconnect thing was going off repeatedly. It was not fun. Thanks again everyone. If I can help anyone with this or any other issue I would be most happy to return the favor, or pay it forward. Scotty

Don't check with Pete..... Check with Bosker, he really runs things in that rig! :-) I have an appointment with Ford on Monday July 10. Trip scheduled for July 22-30. Will be taking the towready , Foil hat, and any damn other thing I can think of. Will report. Thanks guys, Scotty

Thanks very much. Have this printed out and will get down to Ford to have it done. Then we will have at least two data points. Scotty