Coastal Aggie

I have State farm comprehensive coverage. looking through the current build sheet with the payout theyre giving me should cover at least 98% of the cost of a 2023 as the price has increased quite a bit since last year but thats not too big of an issue for me. The truck did manage to escape unharmed aside from the hitch needing to be replaced.

It is with a heavy heart that i signed away the papers on #1285 today. She lived a brief though exciting life and her replacement will be loved just as much. A few trips with my parents around the Texas hill country and an incredible trip from San Antonio TX to Fairbanks AK and most of the way back. For those that were ever curious, while Ollies can certainly hold up significantly better than stick trailers if rolled the repair cost is simply too great and insurance will likely total it as they have mine. Im not interested in nitpicking why it rolled other than saying it was my own fault as there were several compounding mistakes i made that caused this. Fortunately there is a bit of a silver lining in that insurance payout will actually be more than i originally paid for it and will sufficiently cover the cost of replacement which should be before the end of the year.

I realize this is an old topic however, my 2022 does have the dometic thermostat with bluethooth however the app seems to only be available for iPhone. I'll probably be swapping it for that one that corvus shared. With Temps in the single digits up in alaska I've been ripping through propane in only a couple days keeping the furnace going. I'd like to be able to control it from an app so that I'll remember to shut the furnace off when I'm going to be away for the day and have it warmed back up when I'm on my way back.

Night 1 of my texas to alaska trip results in the first problem I've found. Solar is not charging the batteries even in highest sun. My parents used it on shore power and I didn't have time to do a test night on batteries. I've verified that the panel switch is on I measured 13.8V on panel side and battery side of zamp controller. If I understand it right after the zamp it should be a straight shot to the batteries with a fuse or breaker on the positive run am I wrong? I'm having trouble identifying which one is for the solar the manual lists a red/black wire leading to it but the only red/black wire I can find under the dinette seat doesn't look like it has any sort of breaker on it before it goes to the bus bar

I think what ill end up doing for now is jus blowing the system out when i start the journey north. Ill have plenty of time to mess with it as ill be spending probably a month and a half hanging out up there and i have no set schedule or itinerary. ive found some heat tape that would probably work rated for 12v and 2.5w/ft but ill need to just spend some time looking at it all to figure out what the best way to do it is. Im a Ships engineer so im no stranger to working in tight spaces. @topgun2 im going to look into it once ive got the time but it may be possible depending on the heat tape used to apply that inside the tubing insulation before hand and use that to push it into the hard to reach spaces.

@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.

Do you think adding the extra insulation would be sufficient for a week of single digits at night and 20's during the day enough that i can actually use the water system? I can of course leave all the cabinets open as well but its not the end of the world if i need to blow out and winterize the system until it warms up a bit. I do carry a portable compressor already and i can just fill a jug in my friends house if i need to. No i dont have the truma unfortunately, now that i know more about it i may end up having it retrofit in someday. But Ill definitely be taking the shower idea. im not big on the outside shower idea to begin with.

As luck would have it my upcoming trip to Alaska is going to be happening a bit sooner than i had expected in only 2-3 weeks. It looks like by the time i get up to fairbanks ill still have about a week there before it ever gets above freezing. Most of the winter camping modification threads ive been able to find on here are focused on the LE2. Can anyone point me in the right direction for stuff specific to the LE 1? i know there was a thread the other day that mentioned the lines to the kitchen sink freezing but does the LE1 have any other problem areas i need to keep a close eye on? Im planning on boondocking the whole way there roughly 7 days from Texas to Fairbanks but i should have shore power from a friends house once i get there. Ive got the lithium pro package and composting toilet and ill have probably 3-4 days in texas to get things ready to go before i head off.

i drove from San Diego CA to Fairbanks and then back to San Antonio TX this past July/august before i got the ollie just tent camping along the way. by that time of the year lots of the Canadian campgrounds would be full or very close to full if pulling in around 6 or 7 pm as i was, I've got google Fi so it'll pick up most carriers networks and there were still quite a few times i was without cell service for the night but would pick it up fairly quickly after getting back on the road in the morning. It worked out for me to stop in a town somewhere with cell service for breakfast and to plan where i wanted to stop that night so i could have a few alternate campgrounds picked out that i could just punch into my trucks GPS in case the one i was shooting for ended up being full. saw many trailers spending nights in pullouts all the way through Canada and Alaska though i wasnt interested in tent camping alone on the side of the road given the bear population.

@ScubaRxI dont know what model his is but he assured me it was within his limits so probably the 6400. They've already taken it out camping twice and remarked about how well it towed with the Anderson. Im excited to get home from work so i can finally take it out myself.

John, i have managed to find a product called a sync lockpick or something along those lines that will allow for using the camera while driving. however im having trouble finding any information on using it on 2017-2020 trucks. It says it works with all ford 8 inch screens however their vehicle compatibility list only goes up to 2015 and the website i found it on doesnt seem very well organized. Ive contacted their support email to see if it will work but waiting on a response.

Ive been trying to find whatever i could on how to do this as i dont want an extra monitor just for the camera and it looks like the one that Ollie-haus shared and this one https://www.americantrucks.com/raxiom-f150-trailer-rear-vision-kit-for-ford-8-inch-display-9002-7805.html#customer_q_and_a are the only ones ive seen that will do that for anything older than a 2021 ford. it works off of having a manual switch to change the camera source for the backup camera. unfortunately it looks like it will only work in reverse so it doesnt do any good if you want it displayed while driving.

well that looks to be exactly what i was thinking of making. probably just gonna go with this rather than messing about trying to design my own in the limited time i have off from work.

SeaDawg, your question got me looking into this as i have a 2018 f150. it appears that its a new feature on the 21 and 22 model years and i cant find anything about it for older models though apparently the super duty's have had it as an option for a number of years. got me thinking it might not be impossible to essentially create your own though. my truck already has the backup camera in the tailgate and im thinking i could maybe buy a oem replacement camera and wire it in with a switch that could be flipped to switch between the tailgate camera and the trailer camera. only issue i can think of initially is it would probably have to have its own plug at the hitch. gonna start researching this to see if its even possible.

Ok thanks i wasnt able to see that on the pictures when i ordered it. Im trying to organize everything while im away for work in guam right now. unfortunately i wasnt able to get the build date to line up with while i was still stateside so i had my Oliver delivered to my parents a week ago and am letting them play with it for a couple months till i get back. trying to get everything figured out through pictures and the time difference makes things more complicated than they should be. thats why i originally didn't bother ordering the Anderson from the factory but since i had to get one for my parents to be able to tow it i might as well use it.

For those of yall that use the Anderson hitch I'm curious how you handle taking your trailer offroad for remote boondocking. I know most people with traditional leveling hitches will unhook the bars and let them dangle if they expect to run into some severe articulation but with the Anderson using chains i cant seem to find any information about what the most popular method is. Loosening the chains from the nut seems like it would be rather annoying having to reset it each time but unhooking the triangle plate while its seems that it would be quicker looks like it wouldn't have anything securely holding the ball in place and you'd have to figure out a way to secure the plate and chains from dragging. I do have access to a full metalworking shop while im working so i was thinking maybe machine a placeholder ring that will secure the ball in place without having the triangle plate attached? I originally wasnt going to even use the Anderson and didnt order it from the factory but im going to be letting my parents play with it for a while until i return home from work and they needed a WDH for my dads tacoma.