Roger

After doing some more research I have learned that it is not the working load that matters for the safety chains but the breaking strength which I believe is usually 1/3 of the working load. I found a chart for RVIA that lists safety chain requirements by state. Generally, it appears that when a state has a strength requirement it must be at least the GVWR of the trailer. The only data I could find from the Federal Government related to commercial applications. For commercial applications the rules state the combined breaking strength of the safety chains must equal the weight of the towed vehicle. Based on the above it sounds like my chains are ok since (assuming the shackles are the weakest link) have a combined breaking strength of 6T.

I was looking at my safety chains and noticed they appear to be seriously undersized for my camper. The shackles holding the chains to the camper have a WLL of 1T. Since the trailer has a gross weight of 7,000 lbs. this seems to be seriously under-sized. The chain does not have a rating I can see but it also appears to be under-sized. I am worried now that the safety chains will fail if they are called upon. Has anyone up-graded their safety chains or had any issue?

Paul, You can also look at the the technical bulletin located here and try that. Roger

Paul, your battery wiring looks identical to mine. I have not paid attention to the discharge / recharge rate of my batteries so I cannot comment on that. I have noticed that the charge state of my batteries is generally not the same all the time and one battery in particular sometimes will show a lower charge state (by 5 to 10%) than the other batteries when I am boondocking. The wiring of the batteries is parallel which means that the voltage stays at 12 volts while increasing the capacity in this case to 390 Ah. I am keeping a better eye on my batteries that in the past and will chart their discharge rate and status during my next trip to see what they are doing. You have me curious.

My camper has a 3000 Watt Inverter and the Lithium Pro Package. Right after a camping trip last November I noticed my batteries were not charging on shore power at home. I discussed the issue with Oliver and they recommended I take it to a shop and have the surge protector examined. Rather than take it to a local dealer. I setup an appointment at Hohenwald (it's only a 5-hour drive for me). Yesterday I went to Oliver and they worked on the issue. At first Oliver thought it was the inverter which they replaced. However, this did not fix the issue. They then re-checked the surge protector and found the wire from the EMS to the breaker panel burnt as well as a burnt connector. They put my old inverter back in and replaced the surge protector and the batteries now charge. The work was done quickly, professionally and I was charged for only what was actually needed. While it was there I had them fix a couple of other small issues and grease my fittings. This is my second trip to Hohenwald for work on the camper since it bought it new. I am very happy that we can still go to Oliver for work and really appreciate that we can set an appointment and reasonably expect the work to be done timely, and well. It was nice to be able to drive up Sunday, drop off the trailer Monday morning and then drive back home Monday night with the trailer.

When is next year's rally, I can't find the date.

I also carry the Dewalt in my truck behind the back seat. I like that it can use a battery or a 12 volt cable. It has no issue inflating the tires to 57 psi which is what I keep the Oliver tires. When inflating tires it is actually my go to inflator rather than my big compressor. I carry some 6x6 blocks which I have used to give me a stable base for the jack to sit on as well as an extra few inches height the two times I had to jack up the trailer on the side of the road (once for a flat tire and once when one of the drum brakes locked up). When my children learned to drive I made them change a tire on the car by themselves. They had to pull out the jack and spare, jack up the car, remove the tire and put on the spare, lower the car back to the ground and then pull off the spare and put everything back where it came from. I just quietly sat in a chair while they worked.

When we bought our Oliver they offered couch cushions which we opted not to get. I just spoke to Anita and they no longer sell them. I often find myself camping alone and really wish I had a comfortable way to sit on the unused bed with good back support etc. What solutions has anyone found for this? Does someone with the couch give me the cushion measurements if I decide to make my own?

I have to admit I had another problem with the pump this morning. Closed the valve to the freshwater tank, opened the bypass valve to the hot water heater and filled the fresh water tank. After the tank was full, I turned on the pump and waited for it to turn off. And waited. And waited. Still running. Tried the faucet - no water. Checked the connection I tightened yesterday - still tight. Decided to walk around the trailer. Opened the door and heard water running. I forgot to put the anode in the water heater. Sigh.

I just had a similar problem in that the pump was running, never shut off and no water. Connected the city water and no leaks. I found that the connection to the filter before the pump was loose and the pump was therefore sucking in air rather than water. Tightened it and the pump is now working fine.

Here you go

I am very happy with mine and the location above the main panel has worked great. The best part is I can get a good idea from inside the truck for the side to side level. As Allen said, it makes it easy to find the most level spot and then fine tune it. I also like that it tells me how high in inches it needs to get to level; I find that very useful.

I mounted mine right above the switches just inside the door. It makes it easy to reach up and turn it on and it is out of the way otherwise. I used double-sided tape to attach it.

When we bought our Oliver, my wife and I had many discussions about how and where to store it at home. We finally decided to have a carport installed in front of my shop. This morning I was walking down to my shop and did a double take when I saw that an oak tree had fallen onto the carport. When I got down there, I saw that although about 10 feet of the carport was crushed it did not crush down to the Oliver. The carport did its job and as soon as I get it repaired, the Oliver will be going back under it.

I bought two of the dimmers you linked to and swapped them for the Porch Light and the Outside Courtesy Light switches. The dimmer switch requires a ground wire. When I pulled the panel out I found that each switch had its own ground wire. For the time being I am using a couple of brass washers on the front panel for the switch nut to tighten against. The dimmers do a great job dimming the outside lights.