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Everything posted by routlaw
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The Ugly Duckling – the Restoration of our 2016 Oliver Hull #113
routlaw replied to jd1923's topic in Ollie Modifications
Nice job! Great work! -
Well it might indeed but given the smaller size of the Fogatti I would venture to guess it would fit. If you can fit a Suburban it should be a piece of cake for the Fogatti. The interesting and neat thing about the Fogatti is you select your temp, what ever you're comfortable with for showers or dishes and do NOT mix with cold water, using the hot only. Its very easy to go from one temp to another with the remote control. Also @Mike and Carol do make a good point regarding reliability in the boonies.
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@Olive2Roam No experience with the Aqua Go but as John stated about a month or so ago I did install the Fogatti WH. In short it works great, very quiet and has an awesome control system via a wired remote. It is much smaller, and much lighter than the older Suburban WH (empty) and you are not carrying around another 50 lbs of water while traveling albeit chump change in weight compared to everything else. Understand other than using it to make sure everything works I haven't been out on a trip this year at all due to knee replacement surgery 4 months ago yesterday so at this point cannot absolutely speak to its in field use and efficiency. It heats up fairly quick but not instant due to the cold water in the lines so we plan on having a container close by to fill with unheated water that will be pumped back into the fresh water tank later given the somewhat smallish Oliver holding tanks. Not that big of a deal really. We never used the Suburban in AC mode, only propane. FWIW I am not a big fan of Suburban products but especially their furnaces like the one installed on the Oliver. As John pointed out Truma is out of the question for a litany of reasons. It is worth noting we never had issues with our Suburban WH other than cleaning and anode rods but have had multiple issues over the years with the furnace and it is loud. I would install the Fogatti furnace in heart beat if there was room in the basement of the Oliver but the shape and size of the Fogatti furnace just doesn't fit unfortunately. It's also important to note DIY people can work on and repair the Fogatti appliances if the need arrives. The Fogatti WH is NOT an easy install however, or rather replacement with the Suburban. How that differs compared to what you already have I don't know. One thing for sure is the Fogatti is light years ahead of Suburban technologically speaking, Design, fit and finish is on another level as well. Suburban products look like relics out of post WWII era by comparison. Hope this doesn't offend anyone. LMK if you have questions about the Fogatti. Oh and they do go on sale from time to time and would expect a 4th of July sale or at least Memorial Day sale if not Dads day sale.
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The screen grab below illustrates the window I was referring to, however once they become this wide there is a vertical split cut in half with two operating windows. Looks at 3000 FVD
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@rideandfly I was looking at a different model that allowed a larger size but I see your point. I totally agree about frameless canopy windows and would much prefer those. One of the complaints about these 300 series from Lippert is they only open about 3 inches from the bottom but have seen videos where people made modifications which allow about 4-6 inches of total venting. I still prefer the windows we had on our T@b. That style of window seems to have evolved and now made by a few different manufacturers but non of them are made wide enough to fit the Oliver existing window rough openings. The largest I have seen has been approximately 36-39 inches albeit in metric values.
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Perhaps I am reading the chart incorrectly but it appears you could order a 48x20 as the smallest vertical dimension. It probably wouldn't be too difficult to cut an inch on the top and bottom away from existing cabin to accommodate the slightly larger vertical size.
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It does appear they have made changes to these over the years and perhaps even more than what is readily apparent with the upside weep holes with black plugs that don't work for squat anyway. Have also looked for replacement 8800 series but they appear to be unobtanium anymore or at least in the size we need and I certainly would not want black frames. No way would I cough up $987 a piece for this flawed design, $230 maybe. The 300 FV series looks much more promising as replacements IMHO. Regarding the 8800 series, anyone can take a garden hose to mimic even a light shower if they have the correct hose nozzle by shooting the water up gently toward the top of the camper allowing the water drain down with some water hitting the windows directly. One can actually watch the water flowing into the weep holes due to the 8º upward tilt. Or you can wait till the next shower put your raincoat on and do the same in real time with the same results as I have. The only way to fix this would be create a miniature awning or flashing over the weep holes though I am not sure how practical this would be, but it might solve the issue… sort of. Amazed you can hit them with a pressure washer, not something I would ever attempt in their current state.
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I might just take the thing completely off. Watched a couple of videos earlier illustrating how to change the fabric, doesn't look to be a big deal other than the height we have to work at. Might be easier to do this at a lower height as the video shows.
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Good grief, after washing and cleaning up the Fiamma this morning, now I can't get the thing to retract properly at all. Both ends are stuck partially open. Can't get in touch with customer support at the company either, messages do not go through.
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Update on Lippert 8800 series repairs due to leaking. The new glazing beads from Steele Rubber products arrived late on Tuesday and I went to work on the first one right away. It became obvious right off the bat the application of silicone spray or equivalent lubricant would be needed due to the new rubber having lots of friction. Once siliconed the seals went in easily yet provided actual connection to the sliding window. The window does not slide as easily indicating good connection thus less water intrusion. Thats the good news. The not so good news is the windows channels still take on water but this is due to the weep holes facing 8º tilt upwards toward the sky due to the Oliver body shape. While installing the new weather stripping seals I also took the time to plug the channel where the fixed window is screwed into that channel preventing water from infiltrating this area. Using rope caulk I jammed both the top and bottom area of this potential place for water intrusion. I also discovered the small black plugs installed into the weep holes at the top of the frames DO NOT prevent water from entering into the top of the window and then flowing down through the vertical channels carrying dirt debris mud etc. The top part of those channels on all of our windows were very dirty and stained. Removed all four from one window and found them to be completely encrusted with dirt and debris. Rather than re-install I decided to caulk those 4 slits and will also do this to the remaining other two windows. I had hoped to completely eliminate any water intrusion but early efforts at re-designing weather stripping were an abysmal failure. Effectively the new glazing bead weather stripping will help but certainly not fix the issue entirely. With this in mind what I will do going forward is carry and smallish portable wet/dry vacuum along and clean out the weep holes using wet vacuum mode. I have tried this numerous times now and it works quite well. Just this morning after washing our awning which allowed some water to flow down the Oliver side and window and into the weeps holes I was able to vacuum some 2-3 oz of water from the curb side window. Struck me as quite a bit of water given that the window only got wet indirectly. But for now its a fix for a flawed design.
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Well crap wouldn't you know my earlier unit does not have those adjustments to make. However I did discover two wasp nest buried in the awning compartment and one loose bolt on the mechanism. In fact it was almost all the way out. Doubt this has anything to do with adjustment fore and aft for retrieving the awning into its compartment.
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Thanks @rideadeuce will give that a try today.
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Hopefully you have better luck with your Fiamma than we have had with ours. Within a couple of years the rear part of our Fiamma would not completely shut or close and thus we tend to use strap on the rear of the unit to keep it closed. Nice looking installation on yours! Really good job.
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I ordered 25 ft from Rec Pro which is more than needed for the windows but wanted extra in case I goofed up a length or two and thought I might be adding some to other areas which I have not done yet. I cut each length to 56 inches which provides just enough overhang past the window frame. Hopefully adding caulk both above and below the gutter and especially at the ends might help the product to last longer too. On a recent rainy night I noticed water spots on the underside of the gutter indicating the benefit of caulking below as well as above. The real test will come this winter though with the extreme temperature variations we receive here in SW Montana. This method of slightly bending the gutter away from the windows seems to be working very well from my observations so far. Should be receiving new glazing beads from Steele Rubber today and will report back on those once installed. Good luck with your re-install.
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Yeah I hear you on that. Likewise have also been fairly diligent about cleaning the windows as well. Doesn't matter this is a very flawed design and made somewhat worse by the fact the channels lean in the wrong direction for proper drainage. By that I mean the side of the Oliver rest at about 5-10º in the opposite direction (inward) that would allow the water to flow out of the weep holes adequately effectively backing up and filling both channels of the sliding window. With that in mind I have drilled larger weep holes in one experimental window. Two holes per weeping slit on either side. Also looking into a way of eliminating the natural water adhesion which prevents easy water flow from the channels. Pipe cleaners have not worked at all. Just this past week we ran into the same issue, new twin beds installed and no sooner than that and we received several days of rain. Mattresses and all were very wet, had to remove the entire enchilada to dry and mop up and this was after having cleaned the windows out thoroughly the day before. Because of this I am now in the process of re-engineering a better prevention system that hopefully will mitigate water intrusion to begin with. If this effort fails we will be buying other windows to install. Is it any wonder so many stick built trailers have rot issues? Its not because stick building is so inherently bad, after all most houses are made with sticks but the windows installed on the vast majority of these trailers are designed to absolutely allow water to flow into the trailers. Previously I ad considered installing window awnings on the Oliver but didn't like the idea of drilling holes into the outer shell and didn't particularly care for most of the fabrics offered with what products I found.
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Cleaning the gap around the linoleum floor
routlaw replied to Ken Root's topic in Mechanical & Technical Tips
I gave up years ago. Probably too much glue/adhesive oozing out from underneath the flooring allowing dirt and debris to become embedded. You might try some chemical or petroleum based products which might be effective, just don't over do it. -
Perhaps I am beating a dead horse on this subject and thread but wanted to add a few things that might be of interest to those with Lippert 8800 series of windows. This past week I ordered 3 sample packs from Steele Rubber in NC which includes many if not all of their rubber weather stripping and glass sliding seals they manufacture. They arrived today. The samples seem to be well made, albeit very expensive for what they are. On my unit the outer most rubber w/s does not nor has it ever touched the sliding glass window and in fact misses the glass by a full 1/8th of an inch. Needless to say our windows were more like a sieve than a sealed window. Weeps holes do little to nothing to mitigate the incoming water during heavy rains. For those of you who need to replace their exterior rubber w/s for what ever reason the part # I have ordered is 70-4500-257 and this sample does indeed provide a relatively tight seal against the sliding window. This part also has a tighter fit in the channel, a good thing. No doubt the wrong w/s was installed on our windows given its rather loose fitting in addition to it not being wide enough to seal against the sliding window. Effectively the original does nothing at all to seal water. Steele Rubber company has a huge amount and variety of gaskets and seals making it nearly impossible to determine the correct fit without the sample packs. They also produce a much different type of glider seal/track that appears to be better and less likely to allow further leakage into the window channels. The ones that came with these windows do nothing to prevent water from entering into the channels and dripping into the cabin. The part # for that item has conflicting information between the website and the sample pack ID's they sent. It is either 70-3577-58 or 70-3577-256 come in 8ft lengths and priced at nearly $49 for each length. The exterior w/s piece is sold by the foot at $7 per foot. In addition to the effort of sealing the windows I have also finally added gutters over the windows. I put this off for a long time mainly because I didn't have faith in these small channels being effective during a downpour. I also installed them a bit different than most by gently curving the ends diagonally away from the window. The sharp bend pointing toward the ground never made sense to me and also caulked above and under the J channel to provide a longer lasting seal, hopefully. Thanks, hope this helps some others
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We probably have the same Dometic unit though I have never checked its model # but my hull is #70 so not too far apart. No issues on mine so far. Given your description I would be inclined to think you might have to take the unit out of the Oliver to work on. You are already much further down the pike of knowledge on this thing than me. Best of luck with the repairs and working through this. Rob
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Cabinet instead of Stock Convection Microwave
routlaw replied to HDRider's topic in General Discussion
We ordered our Oliver #70 back kn 2014 without the MW. It came with a built in cavity of sorts which I guess one could call it a cabinet. The cavity was wood line probably 1/4 inch Luan plywood. Oliver installed a rather unappealing door during the build but did use the standard SS latches seen on the rest of the overhead doors. Once home I built a new door to replace the original one that appealed to us. -
Uh oh.
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https://res.cloudinary.com/lci-cloudinary/image/upload/v1734451736/Design Team/Sell Sheets/Lippert_-_Sell_Sheet_-_3000_Series_Windows_OEM_-_2023002334-WEB.pdf https://corporate.lippert.com/products/rv/windows For all the people interested in these other windows, link above. Not easy to fine.
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Nice but too much luxury for my crusty 'ol a**. Couldn't take where I like to go either. Definitely not camping at this point.
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Oliver windows, how I hate them let me count the ways. Like others here I am now searching for replacements for the original windows. The only good thing I can say about them is they let a certain amount of light in along with an equal amount of water when it rains or snows. Otherwise they are a relic out of the early part of the 20th century. Just spent part of the last week cleaning and disassembly only for it to rain the next day with leaks galore coming into the cabin. Pipe cleaner wicking had no effect whatsoever. New mattress was soaked. Imagine buying a $100K car or truck and having to deal with such nonsense. I don't have a solution yet but am searching. To the OP I imagine one would have to completely take the entire window assembly out of the cabin to remove the stationary portion of the window. Surely a local window and glass business could repair one of the components if taken out of the Oliver and delivered to them? Good luck @dewdev with your repairs.
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Difficult to tell from the existing picture but it's also possible the duct work has dropped out of the knockout panel. If you haven't already I would move your bed aside, open the hatch from above to make sure the duct has not vibrated loose and onto the floor.
